I think it's time for Rafa to step down .. here are my reasons:
1. I believe he's taken us as far as he can. We've never been that exceptional domestically with him, with the exception of last season and in particular the last 15 or so games. We've never looked remotely close to winning the league due to constant inconsistency, so what's to say in the near future we'll be any closer than we've been in the last 5 years? If we get taken over? Investment? Who knows, those things may not even materialise, so what does he change from here to make it work?
2. Our style of play. IMHO, it's pretty awful and has been under his entire reign. Once again, with the exception of the end of last season, our style of play is bland and extremely boring. I don't enjoy watching us play, no guile, no creativity, no movement, just pretty dire football in general. And please, I hope no-one comes in with stats about chances created, goals scored etc because I do follow this club and realise all that, but I feel you're kidding yourselves if you think we play decent football. I guess I was spoilt growing up in the John Barnes, Beardsley era, but I really dislike our style of play. Too mechanical, too organised, no freedom, too tactical. It's been like that since day 1 with Rafa, and 5 years on we're still playing the same.
3. His stubborness. Every manager is stubborn as someone on here stated to me before, I agree, but Rafa is over the top IMO. Its as if he will deliberatley go against whatever anyone else thinks to prove his point. Do I think the media cause no end of trouble in this regard? Yep, of course they do, but he doesn't help himself either.
4. His man-management. His skill to me lies in the tactical area, I don't think he is a good man manager. People may point to Torres, Reina and maybe a few others but there's plenty of cases where his poor man-management is evident. Take Robbie Keane as an example, a good player treated like an absolute clown by Rafa. Why? He 'may' not have been the person he wanted. But he plays for Liverpool, a seasonsoned professional, good attitude so treat the man with some dignity atleast and not humiliate him. Flip the coin, and take the Peter Crouch situation for example. Crouch was a laughing stock, people questioned why we bought him, was he good enough for LFC etc, so what did Rafa do? He played him in EVERY game. Why? Because Rafa wanted to prove a point, and prove that Crouch could be an excellent player. But Keane? Rafa wanted to prove another point to the owners, so he destroyed his career. Crouch didn't score for 15 games I think, something like that, Keane was average at best I agree, but was never given the same chance. I look at the players that have left the club under him, and they all tell a similar story of his strange, stand-offish ways and his complete disregard for them. Look at the successful managers who have won the league here, have you ever seen an ex-player openly critisize them when they have left? Alex Ferguson? Wenger? Mourhino? You may find an odd player, but with Rafa, there are plenty of examples. Do I honestly feel a Mr Alex Ferguson, or Wenger, or Mourhino would get more out of our top players at the moment? Yes I do, 100%. The time for tactics is slowly getting thrown out the window and some passion and belief really needs to come to the forefront, I don't think he can do this.
5. His want of control. This was a big issue towards the end of last season. I want, I want, I want. Everything has changed from a background staffing perspective, the entire team were sacked I believe. Hard-working people, some born and bred in Liverpool, those that had more passion for this club than their replacements, but just thrown away like it didn't matter. So where has it got us? Nowhere it seems at the moment, absolutley nowhere. I have read on the official LFC site plenty of times about new coaches or a new member of Rafa's team being interviewed or welcomed to the club. That's great, but do you think these positions just become available? Someone has to lose out, and that's life I guess, but from a footballing perspective, it doesn't seem to have proved to fruitful. I keep reading on this site, it's not the "Liverpool Way", at what level is that applicable then? Only at management level? It's fine to sack and get rid of people who we don't really know about? I guess that is the 'Liverpool Way' is it? Let's be fair from all perspectives and EVERYONE associated with our club.
I could post more but I have to leave work soon. Feel free to let me know your thoughts, cheers.