Pre Match - Everton (a) - Wed 20:15

[Fallon]

Superstar 😀

 

[StevieM]

It’s hard not to feel sorry for Everton and their plight.

It must be heartbreaking for their fans - it’s all such a tragedy.

We should all find an Everton fan to empathise with and support through these dark times.

It’s guaranteed to bring joy into your life.

 

[Frogfish]

Thiago was very good last night.

Agree. It utterly amazes me what some people think they see - even against the weight of stats and pundits.

 

[Halmeister]

Agree. It utterly amazes me what some people think they see - even against the weight of stats and pundits.

Stats are bullshit, and some pundits are fucking morons.

I like Thiago and have defended him. I just don't think he played well last night.

 

[rurikbird]

 

[rurikbird]

 

[Fallon]

Would've been better had the photographer known about depth of field.

 

[Modo]

 

[Aidan O' Neill]

Only thing that I am going to say on this is that Rafa may have been the manager of Liverpool when we won the CL in 2005, but I believe that he had so very little to do with the final result.
It way not his tatical or managerial skills which won us the game, but rather his lack of trying to control what the team was doing on the pitch in the second half and just letting them play..
I can respect the teams that he as put together for Liverpool, but not the fact that he sets up teams with the first thought of not to lose games rather than going out to win games, nor the fact that CL was all ways his top target when the Title should have been.

And what he said to Klopp was having a dig at him believing that Klopp, saying that he would always be more loved by the Liverpool Supporters that Klopp because he won the CL.
Loss any respect I had for him right there

You can be mad at Rafa for whatever he said and also not like his pragmatic approach while also recognising we got past two teams far better than us in Juventus and Chelsea in the knockout stage before beating (on penalties) the best club team at the world at that time to win the Champions League

 

[Markeh]

lovers, old friends and a mental patient

 

[Farkmaster]

lovers, old friends and a mental patient

Firmino has obviously had a word with him.

 

[Judge Jules]

 

[Judge Jules]

Reminds me of the one about a copper on duty outside their ground on match day who looks up, sees a fan climbing over the wall and yells "GET BACK IN THERE!".

 

[LeTallecWiz]

 

[Modo]

Are we going to discount the previous 12 games or so leading up the final that he also managed?
Just a quick recap of some his ability at the time in no particular order:
- sign Alonso, no way are we signing him without Rafa who was instrumental in the campaign
- Beat Juve and Chelsea over 2 legs, both on paper vastly superior teams to us.

Rafa maybe past it but let’s not rewrite history, for 5yrs he put us back on the map as a European power house.

Exactly, and if we had cash like Chelsea did, we'd have Alves, Villa, Martinez, Agüero etc playing for us.
I really don't get this Rafa hate.
And about the final, who made the changes? People talking about Rafa being forced to make changes. But he could just as well have replaced Finnan with Josemi and not Hamann. That was Rafas decision.

 

[Judge Jules]

Denying Rafa credit for that win is just bizarre. We went through that competition for round after round, including the final, coming up against stronger-looking teams and beating them with a squad which didn't even finish in the top four of the Prem that season. Rafa needs to find something other than management to occupy him now, but without him the Istanbul miracle would never have happened.

 

[Whaddapie]

That 2005 squad is amoungst the worst to ever win that tournament. One, maybe two of our players would have made the Milan team for that final, FFS. Rafa may have had those changes forced upon him, but they were HIS changes, as were the tactics that got us past two other far superior teams over two legs before that. Pretending anything else is just plain nonsense.

 

[Hyena]

"Among the worst" is an understatement.

It was abysmal. Some of our players then wouldn't get into the Brighton squad of today. From that goal against Olympiacos on every game felt like a bridge too far.. until it wasn't. We won it almost by sheer willpower and stubbornness. How can you not credit the manager?

 

[Fallon]

As much as it could've gone to shit at any point I knew we were going to the final when Luis scored v Juve (didn't know if we'd win it, but felt we'd get there), you could see the effect in game it had on the team with even the likes of Igor 'meat windmill' Biscan tracking down like a man possessed. I got nearly 8/1 for a no loss result away to them the week after 😀

 

[King Binny]

 

[Whaddapie]

"Among the worst" is an understatement.

It was abysmal. Some of our players then wouldn't get into the Brighton squad of today. From that goal against Olympiacos on every game felt like a bridge too far.. until it wasn't. We won it almost by sheer willpower and stubbornness. How can you not credit the manager?

Agreed. Maybe only Stau Bucharest the year they played for penos from the first kickoff V Barcelona are worse.

 

[SummerOnions]

Finally my first new display pic since Klopp started