Malcolm X

Ah yes with a small matter of Arsenal being 9 points behind who just had their 4th consecutive goalless draw. Yep they are a massive threat to us. Or do you have a mystery team that you will just plonk into 4th position?

I thought we were out of the title race last week judging by what was written on here. Why are those same people then so p*ssed that we lost today. It was a sh*t performance, but its not like we were in a title race.

Liverpool FC are top ranked club in Europe Feb 27 2009 by David Prentice, Liverpool Echo LIVERPOOL are officially the top ranked club in Europe. Wednesday night's famous victory in the Bernabeu has sent the Reds to the top of UEFA's ranking system for the first time since 1985. Based on performances in European competition over the past five years, the complicated system awards points for matches won and quality of opposition. The victory in the Bernabeu has seen the Reds overtake Chelsea at the top of the table, with Barcelona third and AC Milan fourth. Liverpool's five year record under Rafa Benitez – who arrived at the club in the summer of 2004 – has been phenomenal. In his five years the Spanish coach has won the Champions League, taken his team to another final, reached last season's semi-final and got to the last 16 in 2006. It's a record of unparalleled consistency in recent times. Even when the Reds won the Champions League in 2005, their ranking for the season put them second behind AC Milan, while their five year record left them in fifth behind Barcelona, AC Milan, Valencia and Real Madrid. This is the first time the Reds have topped the co-efficient rankings since 1985 when the European ban was imposed, effectively asking them to start their ranking points tally from scratch. Liverpool also have the highest ranking for this present season with (18.1775 points) closely followed by Bayern Munich, who handed out a 5-0 demolition at Sporting Lisbon on Wednesday night. l UEFA's latest rankings: 1 Liverpool FC (114.077), 2 Chelsea FC (110.077), 3 Barcelona (109.403), 4 AC Milan (109.306), 5 Arsenal (101.077), 6 Sevilla (100.403), 7 Man Utd (99.077), 8 Bayern Munich (93.664), 9 Lyon (90.576), 10 Inter Milan (87.306).

A quote from the Times: "Real were a shadow of the team that had won their past nine matches in La Liga, but that should not detract from a terrific performance from Liverpool, who added the Spanish champions to a long and distinguished list of European victims that includes Barcelona, Inter Milan and Chelsea. " At least someone acknowledges our achievements. Also a quality quote from Rafa: “We were just thinking about playing and scoring on the counter-attack,” Benítez said. “It is an important win but just one win. I will enjoy this a little bit and then work hard and progress. I’m not here to talk about Madrid. Tactically, I did my job.”

You can add David Hodgson to that list.

Cant believe f*cking Sky. We produce a top top performance away from home and all they can talk about is will Rafa quit/get sacked, should the board agree to Rafa's demands. F*cking eejits.

Rafa proves his class once again, despite the cr*p spouted in the media before the game. Not sure how many managers could have gone to the Bernabeau and come away with a 1-0 win.

Forget Real winning 9 on the trot. We have won 6 out of the last 7 knockout ties against Spanish opposition.

The thing is the first 15 minutes will be similar to the Barca match a few years back. I think if we weather that early storm we should be ok.

Werent you one of those who was saying that Babel, Kuyt and Yossi are simply not good enough. Yet you conveniently use them to back up your argument. You either have memory loss, or are thick as sh*t or taking the p*ss.

Are you conveniently forgetting the money spent by Ranieri and Maurinho that makes up the current Chelsea side. A numpty could manage this Chelsea side and get them to finish in the top 4 such is their strength in depth. Same can not be said about the current Liverpool squad which is further indication of the brilliant job Rafa has done to date.

Disagree with Berbatov, he's not missed many games. The games Ronaldo was out for, Utd were awful. He was injured at the start of the season but has played every premiership game since. We managed without Torres and won games without him which suggests that we are not as overly reliant on Torres as Utd are on Ronaldo. However, in response to the original question, yes we would most definitely be at least 5 points better off if Torres didnt suffer 3 hamstring injuries in the space of 2 months or so. Not only did it affect the games he did not play in, it also affected the games he played as he was not sharp as he would have been had he not got injured.

Ok, I apologise that was out of order but he is winding me up no end. Nothing personal.

Once again I ask the question, who the f*ck asked for your opinion, pr*ck.

Hear, hear. Anyone who defends Rafa's record, which speaks for itself, is seen as 'bordering on religious'. We are defending Rafa because he has done more right than wrong in the face of constant criticism from so called 'LFC supporters' and the media, lack of sufficient funds, backstabbing owners and an incompetent CEO. Not only that he did not even start on a level playing field. We were miles behind Utd, Chelsea and Arsenal both in terms of funds and on the footballing front. We are currently above both Chelsea and Arsenal. Yet that does not seem to be enough. A lesser man would have gone by now. But Rafa is made of stronger stuff.

Who the f*ck asked your opinion, d*ckhead.

David, you've pretty much had an agenda against Rafa for almost two seasons so on that front I am not surprised by the tone of your posts. Last season I was seeing exactly the same thing coming from you.

Spot on. I am so sick of the bile that is floating on this forum, I am thinking of leaving the forum for now as some comments on here make me sick. The level of criticism aimed at Rafa is wholly unacceptable. I know he has made mistakes but he is after all human. None of us here can say we havent made mistakes in our lifes or jobs. Would we feel happy if we got sacked for doing a very good job but simply not as good as the employee working for another company, even if our company was in a respectable position. No we wouldnt, which is why we need to cut Rafa some slack. He has done a fine job in my view. He does not deserve the sh*t that his thrown at him.

The same Phil Brown that got a point against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge, 3 points at the Emirates and narrowly lost at Old Trafford. Yes I agree, how can Rafa allow him to get a result at Anfield.

I thought we had already discussed the relative merits of Lucas and Guthrie some light years ago. I guess that hasnt got through to you.

Thats the best response you can come back with.

Well said my man. I have always respected your posts and that respect has just increased. I am confident Rafa will deliver. He has made mistakes but which manager hasnt. Rafa gets more right than wrong and he will continue to do what is right for the club.

. Well said my man. Utd almost drew yesterday because Ronaldo pulled a rabbit out of hat. Sadly we didnt have Alonso or Stevie G to do that for us today.

We were init until today's match. Thats closer than we have been at any time under Rafa's reign.

Yes and we start all over again for 5 years. Kindly f*ck off.