2010/2011 Top European League Teams Round-up

Spain La Liga

Barcelona <4-3-3>

Valdes
Alves Puyol Pique Maxwell
Xavi Mascherano(Busquets) Iniesta
Messi Villa Pedro

Comment: Barc possess six of the Spain World Cup final starters and there is no question they remain the team to beat in Spain as well as in Champion League. Not only does the team has some of the most skillful players in the world, most of them have played together for both clubs and nations and developed great understanding. Ibrahimovic has been a mis-fit in the team and eventually was loaned to AC Milan. David Villa's arrival will bring the a top class goal scorer back to the team as Ibrahimovic has failed to fill the void left by Eto'o last season. As Henry has begun his new football adventure in America, Bojan may be given increase chance to kick-start his football career in back-up striker role. Mascherano arrived before the transfer deadline to fill the void left by YaYa Toure but could still face stiff competition from the continuous improving Busquets who had an impressive World Cup this summer.

Real Madrid <4-2-3-1>

Casillas
Ramos Caravalho Pepe Marcelo
Khedira Alonso
C.Ronaldo Ozil(KaKa) Di Maria
Higuain

Comment: Similar to his first year with Chelsea and Inter Milan, Mourinho made sure he has bought in quality players at several important positions: a reliable CB (Caravalho), an effective DMF (Khedira), a quality AMF (Ozil) and a skillful winger (Di Maria). This has always been Mourinho's winning formula. With these new additions, Real has a more balanced and deeper squad, with the likes of quality players Albiol, Diarra, Canales, Van Der Vaart, Benzema contributed from the bench. Kaka is nursing long-term injury that could keep him out for 3-4 months and young German sensational playmaker Ozil is ready to fill his place and it's hard to tell if Kaka can re-gain his starting spot upon his recovery. The one area Mourinho still wants to improve is the striker position. While Higuain has had great scoring record with the club and Benzema is aiming to have a revival 2nd season with the team, Mourinho has been targeting someone like Drogba to complete his potential title winning side.

Italy Serie A

Inter Milan <4-2-3-1>

Cesar
Maicon Lucio Samuel Zanetti
Motta (Stankovic) Cambiasso
Eto'o Sneijder Pandev
Milto

Comment: Benitez is in loss-loss situation. Last season, Mourinho has achieved the Treble for Inter Milan and it's simply impossible to reach new height, let alone matching similar level of achievement. Benitez now takes over a highly quality and efficient team developed by Mourinho with all the winning elements in every position in the team, the question is if the players may have lost their hunger for winning after last season ultimate success. Benitez did not make many changes other than selling the young Italian sensation FW Balotelli to Manchester City for crazy 30M! Inter does not have much weakness at the moment, but I have a feeling that Benitez may make some awkward and improper changes, just to show that he is superior to Mourinho. In the end, he may find not changing anything is better than inputting his silly idea. I never have trust in Benitez but Inter Milan is still too strong for not winning the Serie A.

AC Milan <4-2-3-1>

Abbiati

Bonera Nesta Silva Antonini

Pirlo Ambrosini

Pato Ronaldinho Robinho

Ibrahimovic

Comment: Two massive transfers before the trade deadline could make AC Milan become the most improving team this season. Ibrahimovic and Robinho may have failed to impress in Spain and England respectively, both could find new life in Italy Serie A, especially given Ibrahimovic's past successful experience in Serie A. These two skillful world-recognized stars could team-up with Ronaldinho and Pato to become one of the most fearful attcking combination throughout the Europe! The team still needs to get in more new-blood as they still contain too many ageing veterans such as Nesta, Pirlo, Gattuso, Seedorf, Inzaghi, Zambrotta, but with the exception of Nesta and Pirlo, they do not have to start every game like the past. Defense is still suspectful as Milan still could not afford injury to Nesta. The team is still lacking of strength in depth compared to Inter Milan but could finally fight with them all the way for Serie A title this season.

Juventus <4-4-2>

Buffon

Motta Bonucci Chiellini Grosso

Krasic Aquilani Melo Pepe

Amauri (Quagliarella) Del Piero

Comment: Juventus is going through a wholesale change as they attempt to rebuild their depleted team after failing to obtain a Champion League spot. Sampdoria manager Delneri arrive to replace Blanc while veteran CB Cannavaro, winger Camonersi and Brazilian playmaker Diego have all left. To rebuild their defense, Juventus acquire new Italian international RB Motta and CB Bonucci. To improve option up-front, Italian international FW Qualiarella was acquired from Napoli to give the ageing but always brilliant captain Del Piero a breather. Juventus will carry on their old-fashioned Italian tactics 4-4-2 with emphasis on attack through the wing with the arrival of rising Serbian winger Krasic and Italian international winger Pepe. Yet, the key of the team could be the performance of Brazilian international DMF Melo, who had a very disappointing debut season with Juventus last year, as well as Liverpool flop Italian playmaker Aqualiani. While there is no question regarding to their talent, they must turn around their horrible season last year to lead Old Lady for their determined revival. With so many new players coming in, it's natural for the team to take excessive time to gel together. While league title quest is too demanding for the team, a Champion League spot should be their aim.

AS Roma <4-4-2>:

Sergio

Cassetti Juan Mexes Riise

Menez Pizarro De Rossi Vucinic

Totti Borriello (Adriano)

Comment: Under manager Spalletti, Roma has been the closest challenger for Inter Milan during their Serie A domination period for the last few seasons. In reality, Roma never came close as they never have transfer budget to strengthen the squad. Roma has had a skillful and creative midfield with De Rossi,Pizarro,Taddei, but never have a decent striker to partner Totti up-front. After the failing experiement of playing veteran Toni as Totti's partner last season, Roma has signed veteran Brazilian forward Adriano and Milan Italian striker Borriello. Both are hopeful of providing some fire-power up-front but it's hard to see Adriano get back in top shape any time soon. The back-line is still seriously short in depth. Although a full-strength Roma can give Inter and AC a challenging game, the current Roma squad does not have the depth to fight for the league title.

10/11 LFC recap: Liverpool 1 : West Brom 0- An unsatisfactory victory.

What I like:

- Liverpool finally won their 1st league game. It's not a comfortable win as every fans expected , but LFC cannot afford to lose any point after only getting 1 point out of the first two challenging games.

- Torres continued to show improvement in his race for fitness and form. His goal is an encouraging sign and let's all hope Torres can stay injury-free this season and get back to his best gradually.

- Gerrard is playing as AMF behind Torres in this game and he has made some good passes despite failing to open his account in the scoring department in the league.

What I don't like:

- With Gerrard being pused up-front as AMF due to the suspension of Joe Cole and injury of N'Gog, Poulsen and Lucas are the starting pair in the CMF and their combination resembles the last season ineffective Mascherano + Lucas combo, which could never work as both are work-horse without creativity. New signing Merieles will soon play an important part as CMF/DMF in Xabi Alonso's role upon getting ready for action for the Reds. If Gerrard assigned as AMF in the future, Meriles will play as CMF to propvide much needed passing with either Poulsen or Lucas carrying on their work-horse DMF role.

- With Kuyt and Jovanovic not providing serious attacking threat in the wing position and natural CB Agger failing to provide any overlap run from the LB position, LFC has been relying too much on Glen Johnson to provide wing attack from the RB position. LFC may need a CF, but they sure need a natural winger when transfer window re-open in January.

Best moment:

During the 2nd half, GK Reina made a great long-throw to Kuyt who made 1-2 with Torres before making an accurate low cross to Torres to finish his sensation one-timer volley.

Worst moment:

There were certain periods of the game when West Brom looked like the more likley team to score the 1st goal of the game.

LFC Player of the game:

Despite far from fully fit, Torres proved to be the most dangerous attacking threat for LFC.

Starting Line-up: <4-2-3-1>

Reina
Johnson Carragher Skrtel Agger
Lucas Poulsen
Kuyt Gerrard Jovanovic
Torres

Goal: Torres (LFC)

10/11 LFC recap: Manchester City 3 : Liverpool 0- A failing experiment....

What I like:

- Nothing other than Hodgson's willingness to be more adventurous by playing 4-4-2 even in a very tough away game against Man. City. If he attempted 4-2-3-1 defense + counter, Liverpool could still have failed against a very strong Man. City side at home. At least, Hodgson is willing to introduce new idea to the team. Fans should give him time as it's clear the team is still in re-building stage.

What I don't like:

- Plenty.... With Mascherano refusing to play for the team and Poulsen still needs time to settle, Hodgson was forced to start poor Lucas in CMF. With Hodgson seemingly already given up on Aqualini as he was loaned to Juventus, Gerrard needs to drop back to CMF role. Without the suspensed Jole Cole and natural wingers, Torres and Ngog were not supplied with scoring chances.

- Agger struggled as LB and LFC really need to sign a LB quickly. As much as we need a quality forward to partner Torres, we need a natural winger badly. Now Mascherano must go, as he affected the lockroom spirit as well. We need to get $ from his trasnfer to get a CF,LB and WG.

Best moment:

None. Appreciate Hodgson's bravey in playing 2 up-front in away games. We need to play more attacking football in away games in the future. However, we need to get natural wingers and a good CF to partner Torres.

Worst moment:

Another Reina's mistake in the 2nd goal. Hope he will regain his form and confidence. Skrtel's penalty concede is silly!

LFC Player of the game:

Gerrard plays well and he was unlucky not to score as his shot hit the woodwork as LFC tried to come back from a 2 goal deficit.

Line-up: <4-4-2>

Reina

Johnson Carragher Skrtel Agger

Kuyt Lucas Gerrard Jovanovic

Ngog Torres

Goals: Tevez 2, Barry (all Man. City)

10/11 LFC Recap: Liverpool 1: Arsenal 1- Stunning red for Joe & Shocking blunder from Reina!

What I like:

- Liverpool has organized their defense very well under Hodgson. Carragher, Skrtel and Agger have shown they can be a reliable defensive trio as Arsenal failed to create many good chances despite winning the possession.

- N'Gog continues to improve as he scored a sensational goal after scoring three important goals in Europa League qualifier during last 2 weeks. He should now be top back-up for Torres ahead of Kuyt and Babel until we get a higher quality striker. N'Gog almost scored a header but was unlucky to be cleared off by Gunners' defender.

- Mascherano still plays hard and keeps great form even if he expressed his desire to leave England for Inter or Barcelona. Until LFC receive geniue offers from those big clubs, here's hoping Mash can keep fighting hard for the team.

- Gerrard may not play many supporting striker/attacking midfield role this season as Joe Cole will take the supporting role for Torres. Gerrard will play in deeper role in midfield as the midfield general, a role that Alonso used to serve two season ago. I like what I see so far.

What I don't like:

- Joe Cole should have got a yellow card as his tackle is not intention. Yet, it's an unnecessary silly tackle. Certainly, this is a debut game to forget for the sorry Joe Cole as he will now serve 3 game suspension beginning from next game vs Manchester City! In fact, Gerrard also made some stupid tackle and was lucky to escape a yellow card in the 1st half. Here is hoping both Gerrard and Cole avoid silly tackles in future games.

- LFC still doesn't have natural winger. Kuyt and Jovanovic have done well, but both are scoring midfield operating in the wing and neither is natural winger who can attack through the flank and use the width effectively. I would prefer to see Maxi start on right and only either Kuyt or Jovanovic start in games together.

- Torres is back but it may take considerable time for him to get back to his best form. LFC must sign a quality scorer to upgrade the fire-power up-front.

- LFC is extremely unlucky. When will "bad luck" disappear from our team? How can Joe Cole and Reina both been so unlucky in the game.

- Agger already hurt? I hope Mash is okay too. Where the hell is Aqualini?

Best moment:

N'Gog great goal in 2nd half to help 10-men Reds take the 1-0 lead.

Worst moment:

Joe Cole's red card or Reina's blunder... you take your pick.

Man of the Match:

Mascherano: if he will leave LFC soon, he is making sure he will leave on a high. Mascherano provided perfect display in defensive role in this game and even made an important assist for N'Gog goal.

Lineup: <4-4-1-1>

Reina

Johnson Carragher Skrtel Agger

Kuyt Mascherano Gerrard Jovanovic

J.Cole

N'Gog

Sub used: Torres, Lucas, Maxi

Goals: N'Gog 47', Reina own goal 90'

2010/2011 Premiership Countdown: Liverpool Part III

Positional Analysis:

Goalkeeper:

Reina is rated as the league top keeper. I am not sure if he is the league best as he is still too short for catching high crosses in English league, but he is certainly the quickest, most agile keeper as well as world's no.1 penalty stopper. Hodgson seems have no trust in back-up GK Cavalieri and thinks Hungry GK Gulcasi is too young. Middlesbrough Australian GK Brad Jones should soon join LFC as the no.1 back-up keeper.

Central back:

LFC has 4 key central back with different strength and weakness. Vice-captain Carragher has the experience and durability, but is getting slower every year and remains a liability in defending header. Slovakian CB Skrtel is quick and aggressive, but like Carragher, he needs a big presence to partner him for defending header. Danish CB Agger is versatile and possess good ball control with a powerful long-range shot, but is prone to injury and careless mistakes. Greek CB Kyroiakos is big and strong and is a ariel threat at both attacking and defending ends, but is slow on his turn and could face porblem against quick strikers. Therefore, it is crucial for playing the right combo against different teams. Against teams with small and quick strikers, Carragher and Skrtel is the preferred pair. Against teams with two tall and big central forwards, Agger and Kyroiakos can be an effective pair. However, most teams tend to possess a quick forward and a big striker, the most logical combo is either Carragher and Skrtel partner with Agger or Kyroiakos, depending on their forms. Young Scottish CB Danny Wilson and Spanish CB Ayala can also help out in CB when the team is in big injury crisis, but should be featured mostly in less important Cup games to earn experience.

Right back:

Glen Johnson is England no.1 RB due to his attacking ability, but he still has great room for improvment at defending. Although he is one of the top class attacking wing-backs in the league, he could face fierce competition from young local defender Martin Kelly. Kelly is a natural CB but can play as both RB and LB. He is big and strong at 6'3', atheletic and could trun out to be rising younster in the club.

Left back:

At the moment, LFC is still looking for a starting LB. For now, Brazilian Auerlio and Danish CB/LB Agger should compete for the starting LB spot, although Danny Wilson and Martin Kelly could also be in contension. Auerlio had a great 2008/2009 season, but never could stay injury-free throughout his LFC career. He is an intelligent player with good positional sense, passing skills and a better free-kick taker in the team despite his lack of presence and strength. left-footed CB Agger has been used as a LB near end of last season and has done an adequate defending job, especially improving the team ability in defending high crosses and headers.

Defensive midfield:

With Argentina captain DMF Mascherano soon joining either Inter Milan or Barcelona, Danish veteran DMF Poulsen, Hodgson's favorite, is signed as a direct replacement. Poulsen is slower and older, but he is taller than Mascherano and do have better passing abilirty than Mascherano. He is very familiar with Hodgson as he has played for him 10 years ago in Danish league as he started his football career. Brazilian DMF/CMF Lucas will be used as a reserve DMF/CMF this year instead of starting 90% of LFC game least season. Although Lucas is small as a DMF in English league and never earns his trust from majority of LFC's faithful, he has shown steady improvement. Although I believe LFC should try to sell him for transfer funds, but I won't be too unhappy if he stays as a substitute as he is a high energy and hard working player.

Central midfield:

With Joe Cole joining the team and given a more central role, captain Gerrard could drop back as a CMF in a deeper role similar to his early football career instead of playing as a AMF, a role he gets familiar for the past 2-3 seasons. Without Xabi Alonso, LFC needs a midfield general to connect the defense and attack. As a complete footballer, Gerrard has great ability in short pass, long pass, defending and shooting. Although playing a further deep role could reduce his scoring, this scraifice cold actually benefit the team as a whole. The Italian injury-prone CMF/AMF Aqualini had a disappointing debut season at LFC last year, but should play a key role this year. He is creative playmaker with great passing ability, but was wrongly used as Alonso's replacement in a deeper role by Benitez last season. Aqualini could still have trouble in the physical English league, but he should have a much improved 2nd season either as a back-up CMF for Gerrard or back-up AMF for Joe Cole. 18 year-old English CMF Shelvey is an all-around midfield who can play in both defensive and attacking role He has shown maturity beyond his age with good passing ability and he could turn out to be the surprising player of the year for LFC in his young debut season.

Right wing:

Kuyt has been transformed as a RMF under Benitez and now has been playing winger role for club and country. Kuyt is slow as a winger and doesn't have the dribbling ability, but he is one of the most durable and diligent players in the World. He rarely gets injury and tired and is an ultimate warrior and team player. Assigning him to play as 3rd star attacker to support Gerrard and Torres could be a tough task, but he now can play his part in the team with less creative and scoring pressure with Jole Cole and Jovanovic joining the team. Still, Kuyt should play more as a back-up forward or reserve-role to provide energy from the bench. Against most teams sitting deep in their own half, LFC should start Argentina veteran RW Maxi Rodriquez, as he is more of a natural winger. Maxi is not quick but he is very intelligent with great attacking movement. Maxi had a respectful debut season with LFC and should provide Torres more support as the right wing thanks to his understanding with Torres back in the days when they played in Madrid together.

Left wing:

Serbian LW Jovanovic has joined for free as a replacement for Riera. Jovanovic is not a natural winger but he has been a great scoring LMF with great ball control and scoring ability. Jovanovic has won several personal honor in Belgium league, but may take some time adapt to the fast-pace English game. LFC may still need a natural left-footed winger to support Jovanovic. Although Maxi, Kuyt, Babel, Joe Cole can all support LMF role, none are left-footed. Ryan Babel is used as a LW by Benitez, despite described himself as a nautral striker. It's hard to tell what role will Hodgson assign to the disappointing Babel yet. At the moment, the versatile Maxi should be Jovanovic's primary 1st choice back-up.

Supporting striker/Attacking midfield

Joe Cole was used as a winger in Chelsea and England team for majority of his career. However, in an interview with Joe Cole, he revealed that his preferred and natural role is central attacking role, a position he hasn't been playing much since his West Ham days. The key reason why Joe Cole has choosen LFC instead if Arsenal or Tottenham could be due to Hodgson's agreeemnt with him to provide him the freedom to play in the central attacking role. Joe Cole's performance and health will be the decisive factor for LFC's fate this year. Hodgson is a big fan of small creative supporting striker in support for a natural no.9 central forward. Although Jovanovic and the unselfish Kuyt can also play as a 2nd striker, Spanish young sensation ST Pacheco could be given fair amount of playing chance in this role. Pacheco is agile, skillful and talented. He has been the top scorer for Spanish under 19 team in under 19 European Championship this summer. Although many Spanish teams want to take him back home, Hodgson has given a no.12 shirt to Pacheco and it could mean a role promotion for the Spanish youngster. In away game, when LFC wants to play more defensively, either Gerrard or Aquilani could also play as a AMF/ST to support the lone striker.

Central striker:

Every LFC players, coaching staffs, fans is looking for a injury-free season for Torres. When in-from, there is no doubt tha Torres is the no.l striker in the league along with Chelsea's Drogba. Howevere, there has been heavy criticism in the team for relying too much from Torres. Whenever Torres out injury, LFC has lost countless due to lack of fire-power up-front as Keane and Crouch has both been wrongly sold by Benitez while Kuyt, Voronin, Babel and N'Gog have all failed to provide scoring quality for the team due to various reasons. One of the key objectives for Hodgson is to come up with a back-up plan in case of another Torres' injury disaster. With the team still has to wait for funds to get in a quality scoring back-up or scoring partner for Torres either from the sale of Masherano or the investment from new owners, French young CF N'Gog is now playing a key role as a temporary starter for Torres as Torres still needs time to get back to full-fitness or a key back-up scoring threat. While N'Gog still has to learn to hold up the ball and stay on-side, he has shown steady improvement in finishing chances as shown by his 3 goals scored in Europa League qualifier during the summer and his sensational goal vs Arsenal in the season opener.

Starting line-up:

<4-4-1-1>

Reina

Johnson Carragher Agger Aurelio

Kuyt Gerrard Poulsen Jovanovic

Cole

Torres

Other key back-up:

CB Skrtel, CB Kyrgiakos, CB/LB Wilson, CB Ayala

CMF/AMF Aqualini, DMF/CMF Lucas, CMF Shevely,CMF Spearing

WG/AMF Maxi

CF N'Gog, ST Pacheco, FW Babel

Prediction: Top 3!!!!!

2010/2011 Premiership Countdown - Liverpool Part II

New manager: Roy Hodgson favors 4-4-2 at home but still could play 4-2-3-1 in some away games. Under Benitez, Liverpool plays lone striker formation most of the time even against lower ranked teams in the league, leading to countless draw games due to over-conservative approach. Hodgson is a traditional English manager who understands that height and strength are important elements in players to succeed in English league. This explains why he'd rather got rid of some short South Americans from the team but prefer to acquirie Scandinavians, who can be effective in English games and can be bought at bargain prices. In replacing the soon-to-go Mascherano, he took little time to sign Dannish veteran DMF Poulsen and attempted to bring Finnish LFC legend Hyypia back to Anifield. Hodgson is a fan of 4-4-2, focusing on keeping the team shape and pass-and-move. He likes players helping each other in pairs: 2 central back, 2 central midfield, wing backs making overlap runs to help out wingers, a tall center forward partnering with a quick,little supporting striker. In the defense end, he emphasizes on hard work and man-making rather than zone-defense in defending set pieces. Unlike Benitez, Hodgson is a player-coach with focus on good relationship/communication with his squad and keeping a happy locker room with great spirit and haramony. He respects players and believes no one single player is bigger than the team. He is honest and dislikes to make excuses for mistakes. He doesn't believe big money can buy success. He can work with limited budget and still keep the team competitive. He may not have achieved big success in his management career so far, as most of his past teams are non-title contenders. This season, Liverpool actually has a competitive team with quite a few quality and experienced veterans in the team, as evidenced by having the most number of players playing in the World Cup among all English teams. If he can bring out the best from his players, get in a few useful squad players to improve the bench and keep his key players healthy with the help of the new sports science team, Liverpool should be able to challenge for top 4 with a serious Cup run.

2010/2011 Premiership Countdown - Liverpool Part I

Liverpool's reign under Rafa Benitez finally came to a close after suffering from an unforgiven 7th place finish last season. Comparing to the season before last season when Liverpool gained 2nd place in a tight title race with Manchester United, last season result is simply too hard to accept as the team also lost out the Champion League spot.

The following is the summary of major Rafa's weaknesses and failure as LFC manager.

1) The Loss of Xabi Alonso: Xabi Alonso is the chief midfield general in the heart of LFC's midfield. Rafa should be blamed for provoking Xabi 2 seasons ago when he tried to sell Alonso in that summer. After his best LFC season in 2008/2009, Alonso decided to leave the team and join Real Madrid. Rafa had spend 20M on Italian CMF Aquilani as replacement for Alonso, but the Italian is simply a different type of player and has also been sidelined for majority of season with long-term injury. Without Alonso, Rafa's favorite formation 4-2-3-1 can not function effectively. Yet, Benitez insisted on using 4-2-3-1 in almost every game. Eventually, Rafa started 2 DMF Mascherano and Lucas together but this arrangement quickly proved to be the major downfall of the team. Lucas and Mascherano are both hard-working players without good passing ability. Opponents can focus on trapping the ball from LFC's own half, as neither Lucas nor Masherano can distribute the ball to up-field to Gerrard and Torres to initial attack.

2) Forcing players to fit his system: 4-2-3-1 was adopted even without Alonso: In truth, Benitez should have switched the formation to 4-4-2 with either Mascherano or Lucas partner Gerrard in the CMF. However, Rafa refused to change and keep forcing players to play out of their natural positions. (e.g. Babel is a wing forward but was forced to play as a natural wing)

3) One dimensional approach: The tactics of Benitez is pushing his whole team to press all-over oppoents for the whole match. Once the team wins the ball, their priority is always to pass the ball quickly to Gerrard and Torres. There isn't any passing-movement and attacking tactics. Opponents can easily block the passing path to G8 &T9 and assign more players tightly mark them out of the game. The simple attacking tactics is too "one-dimensional" and relying too heavily on G8 and T9. No wonder whenever either or both injured, the team simply has no alternatives in attack. There is simply no Plan B in Benitez's mind! All he can do is blaming their injury and complained about no money given by owner to him to buy more stars. Why the hell do people called Rafa's as Tactical Master! It must be a joke!

4) Ignore the flair factor; too much emphasis on hard-work and efficiency: Rafa loves hard-workers even if playing too many of them at a time can reduce the skills-level, flair and creativity of the side. This is why Lucas, Mascherano and Kuyt are always his favorite. Yet, playing together too much also means less attacking flair. During his LFC career, Rafa never spend more than 8M on a natural winger; yet, he was willing to spend 16M on DMF Mascherano.

5) Rafa's tactics is too conservative: 4-2-3-1 is a good formation in Cup games or away games especially against quality opponents. However, at home, LFC should try to get more victories even if it means increasing the risk of goal concede. LFC has lost uncountable points only because Rafa refused to play more forwards to support Torres up-front at home. Too much pressure and responsbility has been assigned to Torres as he was always left alone in lone striker role in way too many games. It's not a surprise Torres has been suffering from horrible injury one after next way too often!

6) Rafa's football philosophy fits Spain/Italy & Cup Competitions, but not England & League Competitions: The clear evidence is he never understands why LFC always concede free-kicks, corners kicks and headers. It's all becuase of his insisting on Zone Defense. Zone Defense is an effective defensive tactics in European football, but never works well in England. Rafa's negative football "lone striker+defensive oriented+counter attack" are perfect for Cup competitions, but it will never work for league competitions. It's seems Rafa still could not understand! Rafa's direction in getting more South American players to compete in Englsih league is also wrong. Players like Mascherano,Lucas,Insua are simply too short for defending headers.

7) Buying too many average players: Although Rafa signed good players like Reina, Agger,Skrtel,Masherano,Kuyt,Torres, most of his signings have been over-priced failure. For so much $ he spend on the youth, there wasn't many obvious rising talents came through the ranks. Although he complained about owners not providing enough transfer funds, he has made too many mistakes in transfer. But he will never admit!

8) How can Rafa sell Crouch and Keane? Yet, Rafa still had Babel, Voronin and N'Gog last season. Torres simply had no help in forward position as Kuyt was gradually transformed as a WG and slowly losing his confidence in finishing.

9) Rafa seems to be a Perfectionist... he never praises his players... Nothing wrong about he demands so much from his player as a way to strive for improvement, but he is a hard person to get along... an opposite of "player's coach"....

10) Final but not least....Don't give full credit to Rafa for 2005 Champion League Victory....only Alonso and Luis Garcia out of the CL champion squad were bought by Rafa with the whole team bought in by Houllier.... yet, after the Champion League glory in 2005, Rafa quickly destruct majority of the team winning heros... In between the 2005 Champion League win up until last season, all Rafa achieved are a FA Cup, Champion League runners-up in 2007 and 2008/2009 Premier League runners-up... Rafa is a "Total" Failure!


Enough is enough... Kick the stubborn, disgusting Rafa out of here! Here comes new manager Roy Hodgson.....a true Players' coach... a new era for Liverpool... and possible new ownership this September... As a die-hard, life-long LFC fan.... there is finally brightness at the end of the tunnel !!!!!!!