YES! LFC Fans Still Celebrating

This is the famous burst and flattened beachball look. Priceless!

I am still celebrating even though I know it was only a battle we won and not the war. But still, how often have we felt this euphoria in the last, say, 20 years? Not so many times. Anyways, I bet many of us fans have had friends or collegues gone missing the past two days. Well, who asked them to support the Mancs in the first place haha!

Some of the media and pundits have not stopped slagging and slanting Rafa. I guess their punditry and journalism skills are sadly very much limited. That's the price you pay for not having enough imagination.

While we talk about how Pepe was incredibly the first player to reach N'Gog after his goal and the messages on beachballs thrown by our fans on the pitch saying Yanks Out and supporting Rafa, the so-called sorry-excuse-for- pundits have no other ideas for their rantings while deep down inside feeling exactly like Fergiescum as shown above, who keeps on with his senile mumbling attacks on the Ref hoping that we overlook the fact that his days are numbered and his failure to outwit Rafa for the last three games.

YNWA!

Priceless Bounce Back for LFC

And sign of a great Captain:

Carra making sure Giggs could not influence the ref during the halftime walk to the dugout...priceless!

Let's Rally Behind Our Team

I feel the game against the Mancs is timely. What better way to show to the fans our resilience if not by winning this much-anticipated game. This is the sort of games when form is thrown out of the window.

What I would like to see today is a game in which all our players give their all and play themselves to the ground. I am sure Rafa has a game plan and the players are expected to deliver it to the minute detail. And I don't think the players need any kind of motivation other than the fact we are playing the Mancs.

How they play will indicate how much support they give to the Gaffer and the fans. And I also hope that the fans get behind the team all throughout the game. Even if we did not get the result we all hoped for, at least we would know that the players have tried their best and that will be something positive amongst so much negatives associated with LFC at the moment.

The fans in Liverpool have planned a march to show their protest against the owners. For those members of the anti-Rafa Brigade, I hope you start wondering why there is never an anti-Rafa march or protest. At least at this moment, because I am sure if ever it were Rafa's fault for our so-called slum, the fans in Liverpool will be the first to show their feelings.

Anyway, I have a good feeling for tonight's game. And hopefully the Ref's influence in the outcome of the game will not be needed.

YNWA!

To All Anti-Rafa Fans

Granted that all LFC fans want us to succeed but to agree along with what the media have been calling for non-stop now would be ridiculous. They want Rafa's head to roll. And this after what Rafa has achieved even with so many obstacles (need they be mentioned again and again?) in front of him. 

Here's something from the www.liverpoolfc.tv official site:

HOW RAFA'S 200 COMPARES TO RIVAL BOSSES
Jimmy Rice 23 October 2009
  Rafa Benitez will take charge of his 200th league game for Liverpool on Sunday - and we've unearthed some fascinating statistics comparing the Spaniard's record to rival managers.
Benitez has won 113 of his 199 top-flight clashes since taking charge of Liverpool in 2004 - an impressive 56.8 per cent.
 
This compares favourably to the records of Alex Ferguson and Arsene Wenger in their first 200 league games.
 
Ferguson won just 87 from 200 (43.5 per cent) after joining Manchester United in 1986 - and it took the Scot almost seven years to collect a league title.
 
Wenger triumphed in 110 (55 per cent) of his first 200 league matches following his appointment at Highbury in 1996 - a stat which was good enough at the time to win him a championship trophy in 1997-98.
 
Meanwhile, just one Liverpool manager from down the years can boast a better record than Benitez.
 
Kenny Dalglish won 120 of his first 200 (60 per cent) league games.
 
Bob Paisley totted up 113 victories (56.5 per cent), Bill Shankly 106 (53 per cent) and Gerard Houllier 101 (50.5 per cent).

Go figure! 

Paul Tomkins' Latest - A Must Read for all LFC Fans - updated

The latest article by Paul Tomkins, which is for public viewing, is a must read for all LFC fans.

Here is the link:

http://tomkinstimes.com/2009/10/my-day-with-crisis-hit-benitez/

This is the latest:

http://tomkinstimes.com/2009/10/the-aftermath-after-meeting-benitez/

Off With Rafa's Head They Say!

Looks like if some Liverpool fans are given the powers, they will sack Rafa Benitez immediately. The reason? Because we are not at the top of the table at the moment, we have not won all the games we have played so far this season, and we have not won our games by a 5 goals margin, all scored from 20 yards I suppose. And it is only October, mind you.

These 'supporters' want quick fix. They think that everything will be okay and the above will materialise after the managerial post is taken over by Dalglish or Klinsmann or Mourinho. They fail to see the obvious beyond their one-tunnel view, and would rather follow the bandwagon that is the filthy media and their lazy journalism.  Some fans in Liverpool kept mentioning to us about these post-Istanbul supporters, who by the way are not appreciated at all by the true Scousers. Some even suggests that LFC should be relegated for one season (Horrors!) so that these so-called supporters would go and support some other team.

There is so much information on the internet, it is a surprise that some people still believe the lies that are being told in the media. Or by the two donkeys. As for Rafa's achievement, it is there to see by everyone who wants to see it. Take this argument for instance. It is by Gerry at www.thisisanfield.com:

"Firstly, I think we can all agree that Rafa inherited a pretty poor squad when he took the job. At the beginning of this season only Carra and Gerrard remain from that original squad, so for those of you watching in black and white, that means that with the exception of those two players an entire first team squad has been rebuilt in the 5 years he has been here. 

Now what you need to do is consider the list of players he has brought in, in his time here and take away all of the free, cut price and compromise signings he has been forced to make and just focus on the first choice signings he has been able to make. When you have that number divide it by the five seasons he’s been with us and when you get your answer ask yourself these three questions:

1. What other top manager could achieve what Rafa Benitez has achieved with such limited resources?
2. What other top manager would be bothered?
3. How in the name of Shanks, has he been able to keep us firmly in the top four, been able to mount even a remote challenge for the title and how could we possibly be the current number one ranked side in Europe?

Nuff said!"

Enough Said indeed!

Keep the Faith and YNWA

Perspective View

Paul Tomkins is one of the best writers in the football world, who puts things in perspective especially for us Liverpool fans. He does not manipulate statistics to suit his views and does his research extensively. 

To read his in-depth analysis nowadays we need to subscribe, which is value for money. Some of his works are for public viewing such as the one below. Fans are recommended to read them before making a simplistic conclusion to what is happening in the EPL.

http://tomkinstimes.com/2009/10/the-cost-of-premiership-success/

Result: Rubber Ball 1 - Liverpool 0

It has been a while since I last posted due to being heavily burdened by workload. Since that last post, we lost to Fiorentina in the CL and Chelsea, and just now to Sunderland, in the Premier League. Although I did find time to follow the news and the whatabouts on my mobile.

It is a very trying period for supporters of LFC. Expectation was so high after such a good performance last season, but unfortunately things have not gone our way so far. Imagine being beaten by a beachball, for freakin sake!

Sunderland scored via the deflection of the rubberball but according to the commentators (who kept saying it was a balloon -- both needs new glasses -- until it really pissed me off) the rulebook says it is the prerogative of the players i.e. the keeper in this case to burst the balloons thrown into the pitch. Well, I don't see how players on the pitch could burst a beachball, and also in this game, the ball was thrown into the six yard from the stands minutes before (by a Liverpool fan apparently) and no way Reina would have wanted to shift his eyes from the football.

Anyway, what's done is done. We played terribly in the first half without Torres and Gerrard and improved tenfolds in the second but couldn't break through the three buses parked in front of their goal. Buses that suddenly transformed into F1 cars during counter-attacks that nearly scored 4-5 goals for them.

It is quite sad to see how things are going for us. From the media that tries to shove the carrots into our backside at every chance they get, to the managers of national sides such as Spain and England who insist on taking our players to meaningless games and get the players injured, to former players and brothers of the players of the Mancs giving the game to the Mancs, to the freakin cowboys called the owners of LFC who are the owners of the carrots that the media keep shoving up our arses... and the list goes on and on...

Two meaningful things stood out for me in this game. One was our outnumbered supporters singing YNWA eventhough they were booed like hell. And the second was the 7 minutes injury time awarded for the game. I cannot recall when we were given that much injury time whilst we were losing.

Chin up! We are Liverpool Supporters and We Will Never Walk Alone!