Re: Festive Football Chat : Wed Dec 16, 2009 10:50 am  

Wire_85 wrote:

Rumour is AA on the bench..442 tonight..Johnson out..

Aye seen it,

Pepe - Carra, Skittles, Agger, Insua - Benayoun, Mascherano, Gerrard, Aurelio - Kuyt, Torres. Lets just hope Dirk doesn't get in the effin way!

Re: Festive Football Chat : Wed Dec 16, 2009 10:57 am  

Rafa should unleash Pacheco

Re: Festive Football Chat : Wed Dec 16, 2009 11:00 am  

How good is Roger Johnson of Birmingham! He should be in the England squad on this sort of form.

Re: Festive Football Chat : Wed Dec 16, 2009 11:39 am  

Ajw71 wrote:

How good is Roger Johnson of Birmingham! He should be in the England squad on this sort of form.

It helps when Birmingham's midfielders and forwards sit on top of the defence for the vast majority of the game. I actually think Dann is better.

Re: Festive Football Chat : Wed Dec 16, 2009 12:25 pm  

To Rob, Luke and St Helens RLFC.

What do you think about Rafa's guarantee of a top 4 finish? Full credit to you all for continuing to post in what has been a bad season so far. Some lesser fans wouldnt bother unless they were winning.

Re: Festive Football Chat : Wed Dec 16, 2009 12:40 pm  

Mark wrote:

To Rob, Luke and St Helens RLFC.

What do you think about Rafa's guarantee of a top 4 finish? Full credit to you all for continuing to post in what has been a bad season so far. Some lesser fans wouldnt bother unless they were winning.

A bit mixed. In times like this, you want to see your manager confident and not being negative, but there's then the possibility it could back fire as confidence is so low, adding more pressure could just make things worse.

Still, I'd rather the talking was done on the pitch instead of off it. We've been saying too much to the press and not following up our words, every week it's "we must show character" and "our season starts here" . Yet the results and performances aren't improving.

Re: Festive Football Chat : Wed Dec 16, 2009 12:42 pm  

Robbie Rotten wrote:

A bit mixed. In times like this, you want to see your manager confident and not being negative, but there's then the possibility it could back fire as confidence is so low, adding more pressure could just make things worse.

Still, I'd rather the talking was done on the pitch instead of off it. We've been saying too much to the press and not following up our words, every week it's "we must show character" and "our season starts here" . Yet the results and performances aren't improving.

I think Parker would be a great addition if true, it would be a great bit f business shoudl you get a sizeable amount for Mascherano and wouldnt lose that much playing wise.

Re: Festive Football Chat : Wed Dec 16, 2009 12:56 pm  

Mark wrote:

I think Parker would be a great addition if true, it would be a great bit f business shoudl you get a sizeable amount for Mascherano and wouldnt lose that much playing wise.

I wouldn't like him. Never really liked Parker, he can be good on his day but he's nowhere near as effective as Masch, for me. I wish we'd have made a move for Cattermole in the summer when he was available, he's pretty decent, English and has age on his side. I'm not sure if Mascherano will leave yet, there's been a lot of speculation but if he rejects the contract offer and talks stop, then I think he'll leave. One or two rumours Yaya Toure would be included in any deal, but I find that highly unlikely.

Re: Festive Football Chat : Wed Dec 16, 2009 1:33 pm  

Mark wrote:

To Rob, Luke and St Helens RLFC.

What do you think about Rafa's guarantee of a top 4 finish? Full credit to you all for continuing to post in what has been a bad season so far. Some lesser fans wouldnt bother unless they were winning.

Set himself up for a huge fall if he doesn't take us there. I can honestly see him going if we don't do it. However, I maintain that things should look alot better by the turn of the year. Wigan H, Portsmouth A, Wolves H will hopefully garner 9/9 points and then it's on to Villa away on the 28 Dec. If we can go into the New Year with maximum points we should be fine....on reading what I've just read, I sound like Benitez don't I?

I'm strangely looking forward to tonight. I'd expect something special to mark Shankly night....let's hope it's on the field.

Re: Festive Football Chat : Wed Dec 16, 2009 1:42 pm  

The crazy thing is that you've been awful and still within touching distance of the top 4. If you look at the teams in and around that area I can only see Liverpool who are capable of going on a 10-11 unbeaten run. Look at last year when you had to win those remaining games, they were going out and wiping teams out in the first 30 minutes.