AZ and Liverpool are out…

What is it with Inter. Player for player they’ve had the ability to match most teams in Europe for the past decade or more, yet they still fail Horribly in Europes top league. IEven the Serie A they’ve only gained dominance due to the Calciopoli scandal!

As for Liverpool I’m glad they’re out. Benitez finally got what he deserved. His transfer policy is flawed (70+ playerss in his 4+ year tenure and most of them have left within a season or two).

His treatment of creative players has been absmail. Babel is a classic case of a talented player who has been wasted at Liverpool. Look at Ven Perise and Ronaldo who joined Arsenal and Man U respectively. They have added so many more dimensions to their game, why because those clubs provide a “FOOTBALL EDUCATION”.

He’s more interested in players who track back rather then create, thank god van der vaart didn’t go their. Even Benayoun at times has been dropped to the bench after playing a good match previously.

He loves playing players out of position???????!!!!!!!!

How are vornonin and co. supposed to fill in for Torres etc if they’re aren’t given decent opportunites. If he doesn’t believe in them then it was his/clubs mistake to buy them. If he does belive they are capable then his man management skills need improving.

His reliance on Gerrard and Torres his finally caught him out.

He over complicates football with soooooooooooooo many tactics. He seems to want to have his tactical input stamped on every match as if to say I Rafa Benitez won this match not liverpool.

His youth team is useless.

And finally for somebody who employs so many tactics during a match Liverpool are pathetic at defending corners through the use of zonal marking (and to note a lack of players guarding the posts!).

I’m not a Liverpool fan but i’ve got to say if it weren’t for the champions league of 2005, he’d have been on his bike by now!

Posted from  United Kingdom

@Lucas: I’m a Liverpool fan and like most of us, we believe Rafa should not only be on his bike, he should be in the Tour De France a long time ago.

His random rotational system that nobody can understand doesn’t work. Gerrard and Torres still gets injured at some point every year. His substitutions are a complete mystery.

Time to send the Spanish waiter back home.

Lol (spanish waiter), finnister i meant no disrespect to you’re club, I should have pointed out you have great history with great players, my Rant was purely directed at Benitez’ management of Liverpool.

Posted from  United Kingdom

No worries Lucas. It was a good rant.

Oh really sorry for your loss Jan. My best wishes to you and your friend’s family.

Our midfield is OK with Bommel and Nigel although I feel the 4-2-3-1 is not the system for the us because the midfield is not linking well with the strikers and the creative players.

I’d also love to watch Sneijder and Vaart play together they have proved they can play together. Against Scotland 6-0 play-off they were great and also against Italy and Fance in last EC and with the help of Persie and Robben up front woooow it would be beautiful haha.

@Jan:

I´m sorry for the loss of your friend. Life is the most important thing that we have and football and other stuff come second. Because of the loss of that woman I will not post any comment about football in respect to her and I am sure she is in a better place right now.

A big hug for you from Mexico City.

Jan – My condolences also
I live in a part of the world where gambling is a complete obsession especially on football. I used to think that fixed games was so that teams could become champions, until I came to Asia where illegal betting was rampant and the figures was not 100s but millions. I was once asked if I could find a referee in Europe who could fix games for us and could become very rich. This was 20 years ago….so its been going on for quite a while. I truly believe Grobelaar was bought and he was even caught on TV accepting 40,000 pounds.
Does anyone remember the game when Grobelaar grabbed Macmanamen by the throat to show the whole world how angry he was ? When you see a keeper behave like that, we know over here that he’s been bought. Its the reverse psychology theory. I can tell you plenty about betting syndicates here and how they operate. I know they have been in Europe for more than 15 years now.

Posted from  Singapore

My condolences Jan, I’m sorry to hear about your friend.

my condolences Jan.

Posted from  Hungary

@Carlos: Still don’t know how Grobelaar stayed out of jail.

Condolences, Jan. Sports really is the toy department of life.

Posted from  United States

van der vaart is on for madrid

apparently he had an excellent volley

Seedorf 7 Linked the play well between midfield and attack and was the one Milan midfielder whose energy levels failed to sag. Full of craft but measured it out with a competitive spirit. (goal.com)

Posted from  Hungary

Could Seedorf be the Arnold Muhren of 1988? I expressed my doubts before on the blog but maybe we should reconsider.

Posted from  United States

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NyBLQIvVQWI

video of wesley sneijder start to the season(made by me)

its kinda funny/sad how half of us try to find away to fit vdv and sneijder in the same team(me) and the other try to find away to fit seedorg and sneijder in the same team.

Van Bommel: 8 – A candidate for man of the match. Although he is a generally defensive-minded midfielder, Van Bommel went forward and should have scored a goal. He’s used to having to pass out wide, but Haifa’s defence parted like the Red Sea, and he picked out Gomez to set up the winner.

Van der Vaart – 5.5: Could have scored at least twice. First saw a well struck volley saved but then ballooned a shot when he was clean through on goal.

Posted from  Hungary

Bommel also played well last week – anyone thinking he is slow would have been surprised how he flew past 3-4 players and set up the attack. He looks slow because he thinks ahead of where to go and makes time for himself. Only Beckenbauer and Koeman had that sort of “quick thinking – slow feet” appearance.

Posted from  Singapore

And Willem van Hanegem!!

Posted from  Australia

Vaart missed a veeery claer opportunity!!!.

Oh well,

It is past midnight here in New York which technically makes it Thanksgiving which is a bigger family holiday than Christmas here.

I have a turkey marinated and dry rubbed and ready to go in the oven in the morning.

So with that, just wanted to wish my Oranje blog family the happiest thanksgiving and although we may have some injury issues at the moment, I think there is a lot to be thankful for, and there certainly has been a lot worse Oranje sides than the current one.

Hup Hup from New Amsterdam!!

Finn – I find Turkey the most boring of meats ! Always preferred the stuffing more. Happy Thanks giving mate ! We have a Muslim Holiday here where they celebrate ( now all Christians will know the story) how Ibrahim who was told to sacrifice his son Isaak but was stopped by Allah and a lamb was found in the bushes. Tomorrow over a million sheep will be slaughtered to celebrate. Not a great day to be a Sheepish Turkey is it ? Islam is not the main religion here but we celebrate 2 main holidays.
Finn best drink with Turkey – Champagne !

Posted from  Singapore

Thanks Finn, happy thanksgiving to you buddy. And all the rest. Agree with Carlos. Prefer Lamb over Turkey anyday.

Why is Hunter not playing for Milan? I’ve seen them twice in the last couple of weeks (on TV) and they are not very good in the attacking third–seem to be having striker issues. They could do nothing against Marseille, partly because their midfield (Piro and somebody else) were bad. Their only good midfielder was Seerdorf, who was very active. He is older but he still moves well and is very strong on the ball. Why is vaart considered better for the dutch squad than seerdorf–I don’t get this. Vaart has never impressed me with Orange–just not physical. Happy thanksgiving, Holland fans!

Happy thanksgiving Finn and everyone, although you’ve got your dates wrong: Thanksgiving was last month!

@Caleb: You Canadians always have to do it your own way, don’t you?

I was under the impression that the tradiditional meal in Canada was moose, not turkey.