No, his time is up now and it’s best he leaves in June with dignity or the pressure from the start next season will be too much and he’ll be sacked during the season, ruining next year too.

Its so sad that Benitez is blamed for what is happening to me its the media, opposong fans and someone very powerful who wants Benitez out. There has been a continous campaigne to see that this great coach gets ousted. My appeal to the Anfield board is to get behind him both in terms of moral support and Financially and in thatI mean give him as much as 120 million so he can replace the garbage players like crouch, kuyt,benayoun,rise and replace the woodworm with Alvez quaresma villa then these same people who are making his life a misery choke in there hate!

Benitez as a coach is what a player dreams of a teacher/ an ordinary person will not understand this only a qualified coach will understand me. he teaches how to develope your skill. how to handle a situation. is building a youth team from scratch giving them the right work eto’s etc. If the board back him they will see is hard work repaying for all the sacrifices. believe me

Red dawn what u talking about? are u on drugs u say get rid of bennayoun he’s played well this season its all rafa’s fault he picks the team so he should be sacked A.S.A.P!

The side That Rafa put out should have beaten Barnsley quite easily. There was enough talent on the field to do that. We had a Very bad day at the office. There are no excuses. If you get 30/40 thousand pounds a week as a striker you are paid to score goals regularly. Apart from Torres we do not have a consistent goalscorer. Get rid of Kuyt, Crouch and Voronin and play Babel alongside Torres. Babel is not a winger but put him in the right position and he will score goals.

As the rest of the Premier League fans say…. ‘In Rafa We Trust’.

hehehe…

quote… ‘If you get 30/40 thousand pounds a week as a striker you are paid to score goals regularly.’

erm…. we’re talking 75k a week, and thats for that 7ft dongle called Crouch. Kuyt is on 80+k a week, but worth every penny……….!!!!!!!! NOT!

Benitez should go as soon as a decent manager who understands the Premiership is available, unfortunately not too many of them about. Too many poor signings, too many silly rotations and a very definite defensive attitude about the way the team is always set up. The ‘Great One’ is the only person availble at the moment. For the future Martin O,Neill and eventually Gary McAllister. I think Rafa is vastly overrated by a lot of people who should know better!

Rafa must go before he destroys Liverpool completely.

Inter is going to inflict a humiliating defeat. Let it be if it means the sacking of Rafa.

I wish i didn’t see the game i was stune we lost yet again i used to think that Rafa is a good manger and he is but he should learn form his mistake for God sake man get ride of the rotations system. the Egyption manger just used 15 player of 23 to win the african nation cup and he dint ge bay as much as u do so please for the love of God no more rotation you are killing me, i will say one thing i wish for us i wish that liverpool will meet Inter Milan but, bewared of what u wish for Inter Milan only was beading one God help us

Its time for Rafa to leave. Lets get someone who knows which and how to use a player in any given game. In my cards, the only outstanding, winning manager available is jose mourinho. As LFC fans lets just forget the past and put the differences a side, we know what he can do and so lets give jose a crack at managing LFC and i’m VERY SURE he’ll win us the league. He understands the players and knows how to use them to full effectiveness. We might have had misunderstandings with the man in the past but its time now to surrender and give him a chance because if not him i personally dont think there is anyone available who can win us the league. Anything for the best of LFC, anything….
YNWA

man u is where there are today only because against all odds the board gave alex just a bit more time.he had taken atkinson’s top 4 and only just managed at times to finish in the top ten.also at the time alex didnt have to compete against this modern day kind of financial muscle.rafa is by a distance the most tactical boss on the planet,he has kept liverpool in the top 4 without a top 4 purse,people are just a bit more hurt because under him they have once again gained belief that pool can beat anyone in the world,and thats why it hurts so much to lose.give rafa the kind of contract that will stop him and the players worrying bout the future and we will start to see results.give the guy a chance,speculation and the press hasnt helped our season..we buy torres and babel,man u buys tev,nani,anderz and hargreaves.drobga goes to africa for two weeks and chelsea buy anelka.wenger has done 11yrs on the youth and its starting to pay off,but in 3yrs rafa has the best youth system in the country..letting this man go will be our downfall,afterall,the root of the bad press stems from those who hate liverpool and will do anything to disrupt.i pray rafa stays on….

Sometimes it is so funny to see people talk as if they were experts and have had experience in managing and coaching a big team like liverpool. And most of the times, having a one-track mind as if things were so simple as ‘take out the coach’, ‘buy this or that player’, ‘it is the manager’s fault’, etc..bla..bla.. Give these people a team to manage and see how they perform..geeez… I guess none of them have any inkling of running a football team..

So it is Kuyt’s fault is it? Or Rafa’s fault for buying him perhaps?

How many Liverpool fans can honestly say they didn’t want Rafa to sign Kuyt?

This is a Dutch international player who had scored 71 goals in 101 league games for Feyenoord. I remember fans being delighted when he signed, so it’s nonsense to then turn on the manager and say is was a dreadful decision.

It’s the same as the morons who were critical of Rafa for signing Morrientes. Who can honestly say that at the time they thought signing Nando was a poor decision?

The hypocritical hindsight of the clueless football fan.

No one can fault Rafa on his youth development work at the club. This and his success in the Euro Cup.
I have watched Liverpool from the days of Sir Bob and Rafa is not in the same league when it comes to winning the Premership. The roatation policy under Rafa is geared towards the Euro Cup. A Master Tactician umm!!
I have watched Rafa during games and the style of football Liverpool now play is painful. Why does Rafa always seem to get his Substitutions wrong? Ie Babel (our biggest threat) yesterday for Kewell. Master Tactiction? It was through injury during the 2005 Euro Final that brought Hamman on (Rafa had in on the bench). Master Tactiction? I Blame Rafa for leaving crouch on the bench during last years Euro Cup Final. Is Rafa the master i think NOT.
He does not seem to have the capabilty to learn from his mistakes!.
Why has he not learned from Alex Fergie? !!!.
What is zonal defending all about at set plays?
He has not learnt to play your strongest team ! ( Does he know it)Master Tactician i think not a good cup manager maybe.
It is time for Rafa to stand up and show us what he has got. Figure out your strongest team and play them.
Watch Rafa Substitutions and make your own mind up if he is a master.
I think it is a case of the emperor has NO CLOTHES ON.

It’s down to quality of palyers at the end of the day and Rafa is partly to blame. Sure he cannot have the resources that Man U have but that’s precisely the point. If he doesn’t why does he persist with rotation. If anything playing Gerrard and Torres at least in the first half would have increased the chances of beating Barnsley. He could have taken them off in the second half. Rafa has had his chance. He’s blown it.

If LFC want to win the Premiership in the next three years THEN SACK RAFA. If they want to win it in the next ten years THEN KEEP RAFA but make him in charge of the Youth/Reserve team where genuine talent is for once in a long time beginning to emerge. For now, RAFA has been his own enemy with the rotation system, some poor recruitment, sacking PAKO and generally lacks season-long plans. He is more of a one-game show.

I absolutely 100% want Rafa to continue.

I’m amazed at Red Dawn thinking opposing fans are trying to get him out.

I’m an Everton fan and I want Rafa to stay for ever!

SSSSSSTTTTOOOOOOOOOPPPPPPPP IT!!!! WHY THE F**K ARE WE ARGUING AND BLAMING EACH OTHER?!?!?!!? just calm the f*ck down! get in some bloody quality. and get rid of the deadwood. 30 shots on goal, one goal scored. WHAT THE F**K CAN RAFA DO WHEN THE PLAYERS CANT PLAY?!??!?!

Please LFC keep Rafa he gives us Evertonians so much satisfaction in watching The Red half Humilated so many times this season, all we heard at the beginning of the season was “We`ll win the league this year!”
What a load of idiots you now look.
In rafa Everton trust HA HA

Trying to make individual players responsible for the failings of the team is despicable. Kuyt may not be scoring the goals he did in Holland, but then who in the team is playing well?

People are going on about changing the manager, (which I totally disagree with btw) but for who? Someone of the calibre of Klinsmann? Who hasn’t even managed a club team. Anyone who were to replace Rafa would want money to spend, and these owners don’t seem to have it. If they do, why won’t they give it to Rafa.

We have been trying to compete with Arsenal, Chel$ki and Man Utd with not enough money. Count how many £20m+ players Chel$ki and Man Utd have, and the Liverpool. Chel$ki were able to put out nearly a totally different to team yesterday to that which we played last week, but not a mention of it because they won. I thought rotation didn’t work. It does if you have the quality, and sadly we seem not to have it. Only money can help that. Arsenal are different in the way they build a squad, and must hope nothing happens to Wenger, as I think that is when it may all stop for them.

They are all not living up to expectations, manager and players alike, but the manager has sent the team out to create the chances, which they are, it is up to the players to put the ball in the net, and take responsibility when they are on the pitch.

Let’s not pick on individuals as it does no good at all. At least Kuyt is getting a sweat on on the pitch, some don’t even need the kit washing.

RE: FLETCH

Well, I can tell you that I never wanted Kuyt. I saw him play for Holland and I could see his ineptness. I wanted Huntelaar and I still do.

Who can say that they didn’t want us to sign Morientes?…Me. I wanted David Villa who was available at around the same price. Ok rumour has it he didn’t want to go to England but that doesn’t mean I wanted us to sign Morientes.

Rafa’s decision to buy him annoyed me. His decision to bring off Babel all the time annoys me. Kuyt’s ineptness annoys me. The fact that Riise still can’t use his right foot annoys me. Hyypia’s lack of pace annoys me. I question what is going on in training. Are we practicing shooting? Crossing? Passing? Is Riise practicing using his other foot? Things need to change. I don’t like getting rid of a manager I just want Rafa to wake up. Giving him a good dry slap would do lol.

RAFA SHOULD BE SACKED. IN 4 YEARS WE NEVER CHALLANGED FOR THE LEAGUE, LOST TO BURNLY AND NOW BARNSLEY IN THE FA CUP AND NEVER WON THE LEAGUE CUP. HE DID NOT BUY QUALITY PLAYERS KUYT, VORONIN AURELIA ARE JUST A FEW EXAMPLES. HE DOES NOT READ THE GAME WELL. YESTERDAY WAS ONE OF OUR BEST PLAYERS ON THE FIELD. ASTONISHINGLY WITH THE SCORE 1-1 HE REPLACED HI MWITH KEWELL ANOTHER FLOP.
IF HE DOES NOT WIN US THE CHAMPIONS LEAGUE THIS YEAR HE SHOULD BE SACKED. WE HAVE TO ADMIT IT….RAFA IS A FLOP

RAFA SHOULD BE SACKED. IN HIS 4 YEAR TERM WE NEVER CHALLANGED FOR THE LEAGUE, WERE BEATEN IN THE FA CUP BY BURNLEY AND BARNSLEY AND NEVER WON THE LEAGUECUP,HIS ROTATION POLICY CONFUSES EVERYONE, HAD DISAGREEMENTS WITH PAKO AND THE OWNERS AND HE NEVER ADMITS HIS MISTAKES. HE ALWAYS MOANS WHEN IT IT TIME TO CONCENTRATE ON HIS JOB.
HIS SUBSTITUTIONS ARE ASTONISHING. YESTERDAY HE REPLACED BABEL THE BEST PLAYER ON THE FIELD WITH KEWELL WHO SINCE HIS TRANSAFER WAS A FLOP. RAFA DID NOT BUY ANY QUALITY PLAYERS KUYT, VORONIN, ITANJE AURELIO ARE EXAMPLES. THESE BESIDES THE ONE WHO LEFT SUCH AS BELLAMY, MORIENTES PALETTA JUST TO MENTION A FEW. IF RAFA DOES NOT WIN US THE CHAMPIONS LEAGUE THIS YEAR.. AT LEAST THAT WHAT THE SUPPORTERS HOPE FOR, HE SHOULD BE SACKED AND REPLACED BY A MORE CAPABLE MANAGER

Rafa is a joke, i’m stunned that about half the people on here are still backing him and Kuyt.. are you lot serious..? Rafa has had a fair chance, time to make changes, time to build his own team, plenty of time to notice Kuyt is a poor signing, and plenty of time to notice we aint good enough to rotate our team because he aint bought enough quality.

Rafa aint cut out to win the premier league, he makes to many silly mistakes with his selections, he leaves himself very short in certain positions, he hasnt got the bottle to play attacking football, and like Houllier he has a mad fasination with defensive midfielders.
why on earth is he interested in Diarra from Madrid for £20 million..??????
these sort of things just wind me up, if we have £20 million to spend surely we could spend it any other area than midfield, a nice winger like Theo Wilcott, Muntari or Queresma, a striker who atually score goals maybe.. someone like Benzema, Berbatov or Keane.. these players would make a difference..
what is Diarra going to do…??? sit on the bench, because he aint as good as Masha or Alonso, Lucas if he get enough time on the pitch would also prove to be better, i have seen enough of Diarra to know he aint no Vieira, his passing is very sloppy, hasn’t got much of a shot on him, he’s just a big lump, i’d rate him around £5-7 million and would expect to see him at a club like Villa or Spurs..
please pleasse please sack Rafa, dont let him buy this kind of player when we have better on the bench.. we need to move forward not backwards..
lets get Rafa out and Hope he takes that DONKEY Kuyt with him..

Rafa has had a net spend of just over 18 Mill over the 4 years he has been in charge let alone all the off he field back stabbing and instability. People want him to compete with the Chelsea over 200 million, Man U 75 Million this year, PSmith out spent us not to mention Man city, Spurs etc. You want us to compete in every competition and win, with what resources, unless he is given time like Wenger 9 years with the budget he has been given there is no hope in hell. Remember he has completely rebuilt this team with third and 4 choices as we could not afford Berbatove, Alves, Malouda, Vidic, Teves. Also remember while rebuilding we have won 4 cups in three seasons and reached another 2 finals. Wenger has rebuilt and won nothing for the last 3 years. So as fans who is letting who down. At this time the team needs to stand up and take responsibility for some abject performances.

Interesting article. They say a good manager is a lucky manager, well Rafa must be great then given the huge luck that fluked the Istanbul peno comp win. He has made liverpool a good cup side (apart from domestic cups. like the FA Cup of course).
Perhaps expectations should be adjusted. With the massive debts perhaps it is better to sell the overpaid prima donnas that are bleeding the club dry before we do a Leeds! We need someone that knows the English game if we are to win the Prem before ManU overtake our league champs record. Jose aint the answer, lets get Steve McClaren in while he is available.

I feel that the players are getting off lightly here with the Rafa bashing.
We alledgedly have a world class squad who simply are not performing on a regular basis. Forgetting yesterdays debacle, too many draws and missed chances are our downfall. A manager has the responsibility to get the best out of his squad, but we have an awful lot of expensive signings and overpaid prima donnas who go missing when as a side we least need it.
Reina,Finnan,Agger,Carra,Aurelio,Masch,
Gerrard,Babbel,Alonso,Torres plus a competant striker should be good enough to challenge for the title if we play a regular 11 and they all learn how to play alongside eachother.
Rafa has introduced so many positive things to our club over 4 years, lets not all forget where we were before he arrived.
Comments please

for how long shall we, die-hard liverpool supporters, going to suffer this continuous humiliation? people around the world will start to doubt. From the 70’s we have been impressed by the lFC team, we have seen TRUE legends, we have climbed the highest mountain when Dalglish won the double and have cried in 89′ last league match when we lost 2 nil to Arsenal. Now we are so used to defeat that we have become numbed over the defeats. I agree we are not managers of big football clubs, I also agree it is easy to blame the palyers, tactics or Rafa but my friends enough is enough we have at least to win against teams like Burnley or Barnsley- not disregarding their effort. LFC is not the legendary football club anymore. All around the world LFC is respected, but for how long? They used to bring smile and joy now it’s doubt, sadness, we are even afraid to play against non league sides. Whatever decisions that need to be taken for the good of LFC has to be taken NOW. By whom I don’t know. May be Rafa should leave or may be he should read our comments. My hope for this year is that we beat UTD at old trafford. Remember millions have watched the defeat against Barnsley…Millions.

All this venom directed At Kuyt and not Crouch. Crouch never scores and important goal or against decent opposition unless the game is already won. He has no football brain and is a useless header of a ball. RAFA bought him, why? None of the big clubs showed even the slightest interest in this lanky buffoon. Kuyt seems a better bet because he looks like he cares even if he out of sorts.

I agree with red dawn - and I cannot believe some of the comments here. Granted this season hasn’t gone as planned but it hasn’t been helped by off the field distractions.

Yesterday, were it not for an amazing keeper, we would have won easily and comprehensively. Credit to them, that is the beauty of the cup. We did not play badly.

As for the comments about rotation - I cannot believe that so many ‘fans’ do not see who is next in the fixture list. Would you rather he play Torres, Reina, Mascha and Gerrard - and win yesterday, but Torres get injured in the process? What is more important - progressing in the FA cup or the CL.

Do any of these ‘fans’ also know the work that is going on behind the scenes to develop the youth academy - under the directorship of Rafa?

Have we lost so many games this season that he deserves the sack? NO!

He needs time, he needs money to be able to compete with the top sides to change things overnight. The problem with everyone here is that Istanbul raised expectations -it hasn’t happened like that and people have become impatient, just like they were with Fergie in 1990 and fans got impatient with Wenger through the last two seasons. The board remained behind the manager…….. and the result…… progress!

What out, there are people from Hicks’ PR company posting on forums - so keep an eye out! (surely not everyone here?)

“Sack Rafa” you fcukin muppets !!!! Rafa was the one who smoked the yanks out !!! He has a plan and it was built on investment which has not materialised. Don’t get me started on £26M + £11M + £5M, we had plenty of players leave also. The money he spent was based on Champions League revenue and was no more than has previously been provided by Moores. We have 1 issue, get the yanks out then judge Rafa. The squad is worth double what it was when he took over and we still have not seen the best of our new boys. They will settle next season and you phone-in / forum so-called supporters will all disappear. I’ve got a season ticket and I know what goes on at Anfield, don’t try to represent me by saying “us LFC supporters”. In Rafa we trust………..YNWA

NEWSFLASH. A very astute, so called LFC fan has asked for Steve Mclaren to replace Rafa. I thought I was seeing things when I read it. With comments like these it makes you want to die. I am not going to bother with dismantling this ‘idea’. God help the rest of the LFC fans for having fans like this person amongst them.

The expression ‘fickle fans’ does not even begin to describe some of these so called LFC fans. It was only a couple of weeks ago that a poll showed that over 90% of fans were supportive of Rafa. In the space of 3 weeks he seems to have lost all his skills and now the ‘majority’ want him out. Imagine what would have happened if Man U fans got rid of Ferguson in his first 5 years when he won nothing as opposed to winning the Champions League and FA Cup like Benitez? By the way even if we swallowed our pride and let that Mourinho in, what is there to guarantee that he will stay for the long term?. He is an egomaniac and will leave for the next big challenge once the owners, whoever they maybe, don’t agree with him. Rafa can walk into any top club yet wants to make Liverpool his home. To all those calling for his head, just be careful with what you wish for because a certain bunch of fans from the North -East got their wish to rid their manager recently and are most likely wishing he was back. Give Rafa at least another season with hopefully DIC the owners and some real cash for players and then if he is still has not performed then even I will join you to ask for his resignation. Sack him now, during a time when the club is in turmoil and we could be regretting it for years.

there are so many idiots on this site commenting about liverpool its painful to read. The guy who wrote the article to begin with - “weakened side”, what?! ok the keeper ill give him that, but the defence was the same it has been more often than not for a while, alonso is a regular 1st team player, lucas, babel and benayoun has played often enough this season, and kuyt and crouch were our fit strikers as risking a not fully fit torres against barnsley would be crazy. all the other teams “rotate”. its just liverpool’s changes get noted more often than everyone else.

For a couple of seasons there was something for the press to pick up on, to begin with it was zonal marking, how often do we concede from corners now, not very often, yet we still get andy “bluesh*te” gray questioning that our opponents have a great chance of scoring every time they have a corner.

Crouch isnt good enough - everyone seems to say how good he is at holding the ball up etc, scores quite often, this is rubbish, he isnt good enough for us in my opinion. Id prefer it if we played a 4-3-3 mourinho chavski style with babel and kewell/kuyt/pennant out wide, although that sounds as if ive been playing football manager a little too often…