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MrBlueBurns

Listed below are comments made by MrBlueBurns between Friday, 13th November 2009 and Thursday, 26th November 2009 (10 Hours Ago) .

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Are Hull finally on the up again? 5:13pm on 26 Nov 2009 Steve, I really don't understand the media sometimes. They seem to love to act like they know more about the game than the people that are still involved in the game. (And I don't consider the media to be involve in the game, more, feeding off of the game.) They love taking quotes and situations out of context to create a story. And then they seem to act a bit shirty when what they want to happen doesn't come to fruition.

A previous poster is right. Hull stayed up because the league table said so. Newcastle's problems are there own.

Ever since Brown decided to be unusual and keep the players on the pitch at half time, the media have wanted to use it as a stick to beat him with because too many ex-pro's decided that that wasn't the way things should be done. Well, if they want to do things differently, get off the comfy sofa and put your neck on the line in the hot seat. (Enough cliches?)

Personally, I don't care much for Phil Brown and I think that Hull are a poor team but why must we keep hearing that Brown trying something different is some sort of watershed or defining moment?

If the players act professionally (what is all this 'losing the dressing room business' that people spout?) then the clubs status in the premiership will be down to whether they are good enough or not, and not as a result of whether Brown tried something different on Boxing Day 2008!
Benitez under spotlight after Champions League exit 1:43pm on 25 Nov 2009 #123 SportsSportsSportsBS

I don't mention Chelsea because I am a Chelsea fan, I mention them because they would seem to be the benchmark this season. Therefore, seeing how far Liverpool are away from the benchmark and how that has come to be is surely pertinent?

Also, we can look back to last season, but, we are already a third of the way through this season and so this is the playing field on which we can judge.

(By the way, Drogba was injured earlier last season but his attititude was very questionable.)
Benitez under spotlight after Champions League exit 12:09pm on 25 Nov 2009 #77 SportsSportsSportsBS

It's something of a moot point anyway. Also, you are stretching the use of the word 'arguably'.

Fact is that what happened last season is long gone. Maybe last season's success was a blip in them being that good rather than this season being a blip in them being so bad.

Chelsea didn't have Drogba for the first three European matches. Arguably we were then using a less strong 11. Result? Three wins out of three.

As others have pointed out, Chelsea have been without certain players at certain times. Result? Top of the league THIRTEEN points ahead of Liverpool.

You can tweak around the edges but Liverpool's team and squad have been assembled by Benitez and it seems that they are not good enough.
Benitez under spotlight after Champions League exit 11:39am on 25 Nov 2009 #66 why-o-why

I guess Aquilani was one that he bought that didn't have an MOT then.
Benitez under spotlight after Champions League exit 11:20am on 25 Nov 2009 #50

Apologies for a couple of dumb typo's.

£6m per season was what I meant in terms of the difference in net spend. D'oh!
Benitez under spotlight after Champions League exit 11:13am on 25 Nov 2009 #44 Y2J

Oh dear, someone get out of the wrong side of the best today? :-)

Seriously though, can I ask you to consider these three points and then me know your thoughts please.

1) The reason I mention Chelsea is because the poster said of Liverpool 'their best 11 is arguably the best in the league'. It is my opinion (and a happy coincidence that I am a fan of them) that Chelsea are the best in the league. Not necessarily far and away the best in the scheme of things, but quite superior to Chelsea at the moment. Therefore, I have used them as a benchmark. That's reasonable isn't it?

2) In terms of Benitez's spending, please refer to this link. It is well known and largely accepted on here. www.transferleague.co.uk You will see towards the bottom of that webpage that Liverpool have spent around £6m less than Chelsea in the period 2004-2009. Put this in the context of the total spend and I think the amounts are fairly comparable (particularly if you factor in the owners folly of Sheva, without which the figures would be largely identical).

3) When you say that Chelsea already had an established squad, what you need to bear in mind is that most of Chelsea's squad have been acquired in the period in question. Longer term players are Lampard, Terry, J Cole and Cech. Surely these compare to the likes of Gerrard and Carragher who themselves were already at Liverpool when Benitez arrived. (Note: J Cole and Cech only cost around £15m in total - again not much in the scheme of things.)

Is that ok?
Benitez under spotlight after Champions League exit 10:43am on 25 Nov 2009 #34 SportsSportsSportsBS

Re The Chelsea 'goal', what Jose Mourinho chose to ignore, was that the decision to give the goal hugely benefitted Chelsea, giving the goal was a cop-out by the referee - because if he didn't give the goal he would have had to give Liverpool a penalty and send off Cech for his challenge on Baros.
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I shouldn't really bite on this but, we will never know what the referee might have done because he awarded a goal when the ball didn't cross the line.

What the referee said after the match is not that relevant because he is hardly likely to say something that makes his earlier decision look wrong.

However, Chelsea had most of the 90 minutes to equalise and they didn't. That is the fact.

http://www.lfc-endofseasonparty.com/
Benitez under spotlight after Champions League exit 10:19am on 25 Nov 2009 #11 SportsSportsSportsBS

This is indeed Liverpool's problem, their best 11 is arguably the best in the league, their second 11 is one of the worst - Lucas, Kyriagos, Voronin, N'Gog, Babel, Insua, Dossena, these players are just not even close to being good enough.
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Even that's not really true.

Their best wasn't good enough last year and if you think their best 11 is as good as Cech, A Cole, Terry, Carvalho, Bosingwa, Essien, Malouda, J Cole, Lampard, Anelka and Drogba then you are way off the mark and don't appreciate just how average much of Liverpool's squad is.

And remember, Benitez has spent a very similar amount of money to Chelsea since he's been there.
Benitez under spotlight after Champions League exit 09:59am on 25 Nov 2009 Bad luck with injuries? How many 'first teamers' did Chelsea have missing on Saturday when they took Wolves to the cleaners?

Honestly, the tone on tv last night was as if somebody had died. That is ridiculous unless you beleive you are starting to see a more long term decline in Liverpool.

Benitez has had money and he has had time. Perhaps if he had spent more time devoted to the football side of the club rather than what's going on in the boardroom then he might have done better.

We may well see many excuses and much nostalgia today but the fact is Liverpool just aren't playing well and have ended up with what they deserve.
England understudies can shine in Qatar 12:30pm on 13 Nov 2009 55 captainlazytim

Cheers BlueBee

Still think it is silly, and the first team shouldn't have to travel there. Should be a law about internaltional games being played on the same continent, at least.
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If you did do that though, you would never get to see certain teams in the flesh unless a country hosted a tournament.

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