dl2009

He'd leave out Babel, N'gog & Glen Johnson. Y'know, just in case they try and f*** things up like their Dutch counterparts in Euro '96.

Guus Hiddink shot the Deputy. He narrowly missed Salif Diao.

So Hiddink was responsible for the slave trade? I'm unsure whether that counts as a success or a failure.

Agreed. On the left? Certainly.

He started last season in very poor form and only really turned it on from February onwards. This season, perhaps due to injury, he's been quite average (apart from a couple of notable outings). I'd rather Riera start ahead of him on the left as Albert makes our midfield more balanced and allows us to be a bit more expansive.

***Breaking news*** Hiddink offered Turkey job...

Either win 26 nil or get the team relegated.

Reina Kelly Kraken Agger Aurelio Gerrard Masch Riera Pacheco Kuyt Babel

SiGn RiJKaArD.

I don't feel the rest of your post describes my position in any way, so I won't reply to those points.

I see, so because I question your perspective, my position as a Liverpool fan is impeached? I did not deride you, I merely questioned why you felt the need to denigrate and misrepresent Hiddink's managerial record in an act of [seemingly] twisted defence of Rafa. Surely, Benitez's record is defence enough without resorting to bringing another manager's record into disrepute? The notion that Hiddink's club record is not 'particularly good' cannot be justified. Eight major titles at his clubs is an outstanding achievement, by anyone's standards. Indeed, Rafa had a lesser pedigree when he took over the reigns at Anfield. I for one did not and do not propose sacking Rafa. He should be given the courtesy to manage this club until the summer and beyond. However, supporting our current incumbent and taking umbrage over someone impugning another manager is not mutually exclusive. As for your last statement, it's not context, it's simply mudslinging in order to justify your untenable position.

I refuse to acknowledge Chelsea's victory. Despite your repost, the point stands that you're actively denigrating another manager's career record in order to, somewhat mystifyingly, defend Rafa Benitez. That's the way I read it, anyhow. My suspicions were confirmed by your immediate need to provide context to Rafa's record, but yet failed to do justice to Hiddink's.

By the way, my previous post was not to intended to besmirch Rafa's career, merely a demonstration of why context is important and that achievements shouldn't be dismissed out of hand.

To reject a successful international manager's achievements is folly. Especially if that manager also demonstrated that he won some of the biggest prizes in club football. You mention Scholari, but fail to mention that he won pretty much everything at Gremio and Palmeiras. Now I'm not saying that the Brazilian league is amongst the best on the world, but surely this fact calls into question your use of 'Big Phil' as an example of an international manager who cannot cope with a club team? As with most things, you should provide context, something that was lacking when you brought up Hiddink's managerial record and particularly his sacking at Madrid (you conveniently failed to mention the trophy he won with them). Here's a similarly skewed list: - This manager has been coaching for 24 years. - Won two reserves' reserve titles - Won two youth cup finals - Became manager of Real Valladolid for the 1995–96 season but was sacked after only two wins in 23 games with the club bottom of the league. - Took charge of a second division club and got sacked - Joined another second division club and got them promoted, only to see them relegated the following season. - Quit management for a year and took up commentating - Appointed manager of another second tier club and got the promoted - Was appointed as coach of a club that had made the CL Final two years in a row and won the title with them. They finished 18 points behind the winners in his second season, before winning another title and the UEFA Cup. - Joined the most successful club in English history and won a European Cup an FA Cup and a league cup but has won nothing since - Has no international experience - So in 24 years of coaching, he has won 1 European Cup, 1 UEFA Cup, two top flight league titles, 3 domestic cups and nothing more.

Why leave out his International record? I understand that you want to focus on his ability to manage a club, but to cite a 23 year managerial career and then leave out some of his most impressive achievements could be construed as disingenuous. Mentioning his sacking at Real Madrid may lend weight to those who believe that you're trying to denigrate Hiddink's record, for as you well know, being sacked at Madrid bears no relation to success of failure on the pitch. It does your argument (if indeed you have one) no good to tell half truths.

So apart from the occasions where Hiddink has been successful, he's not very successful.

Apart from his spell at Valencia and the things he's won with us, Rafa doesn't exactly have a sparkling club record...

It was indeed. The temperature seemed to drop by about 2 degrees at half time.

Agreed. Similarly, Insua's a bit of a liabilty against wingers with pace or good movement, so I'd play Aurelio. Reina Kelly Skrtel Agger Aurelio Gerrard Masch Babel/Maxi Aquilani Riera Kuyt * or Pacheco if Aquilani still has the s***s.

But what if we lose?

The Arsenal fans yesterday were slating the 'brainless', 'thick' and 'f*cking s***' Walcott and were slagging Wenger off for not signing the 'top class' Babel. One of the chants they had for Walcott was 'Run Theo, Run' a la Forrest Gump.

I thought Wenger sent out a defensive team yesterday, not in terms of personnel, but in terms of instruction. Also, after they scored, he took off their only recognised striker and settled for a 4-6-0 formation. Negative, dull and uninspired. It's just a shame the Rafa failed to let the boys off the leash until the last 10mins as Arsenal were there for the taking.

Well, there is that, yes. Regarding Maxi, he's clearly still getting used to the pace of the game, but I don't think playing him on the left is helping him settle. At his best, he's an excellent inside right, with great movement, incisive passing and a terrific shot. I think he needs time, but he also needs to be played in his favoured position.

No, we still played 4-2-3-1. He signalled to Maxi to come over to the right, he told Babel to go to the left and pointed to Kuyt to go forward. After 5 years, I think I'm pretty fluent at reading Rafa's sign language. In fact, we played much better attacking football when Rafa made that change. Despite Xabi's departure, the team is still geared towards having a deep lying playmaker and when Stevie dropped back and started pulling the strings, we looked a lot better and the players actually knew where they were supposed to run off the ball.

Aquilani's not in the squad. He's been taken ill.