Rafa
This is a man who knows what he is doing... look beyond what your natural eyes can see. So many have said he has lost the plot, he doesn't know what to do in the EPL, he only knows how to manage a team in Europe etc etc...
But take a break and start looking around the entirety of the picture in LFC.
This is a man who knows he cannot compete against the likes of Chelski who has the deepest pockets on the planet. This is a man who knows he can't compete against Scum and Arse as his players are not up to a level in which they can compete. So he goes and start changing systems (not tactical systems on the pitch by the way).
He has changed our scouting system. When was the last you ever heard before Rafa appeared that we were actually interested in players in South America? Young players from South America, with bags of potential? I am not talking about Ronaldinho and those high profile players..... but youths that are unheard of. He has revamped our entire scouting system to counteract the areas which we can do little about against Chelski (money), Scum and Arse (current quality of players).
He has revamed our style of play. This is a man who knows that the way forward was to change our defensive style into zonal defence. How we moaned and groaned at the results in the 1st half of the season. How we prayed that he would revert back to man-to-man marking during set pieces. I know this... cos' I am one of the guilty ones. But lo and behold, when our defenders finally understood (after a long time) this way of defending, they clicked and we shut out the millionaires of Chelsea who were running away with the EPL, the champions of Italy (who boasts of the likes of Buffon, Thuram, Nedved etc) and the mighty Milan who boast of attacking greats like Shevchenko and Kaka and defensive solidarity of the likes of Maldini and Nesta.
This is a man who plans so meticulously that he even dared to play Kewell in the CL Finals (don't start thinking it was the wrong move but see why he did it).... to stifle the runs of Cafu. Even after Kewell came off, he played Smicer (another player we all groaned when we saw him coming on) to continue keeping Cafu in defence so we won't get torn apart at the wings on the left. He sees things that we cannot see at first... but if you think carefully, this is not a man who lost his mind, but have thought through all things pretty much.
Yes, maybe he underestimated Kaka and Milan as a whole... but in all honesty, Gerrard and Alonso (who most of us think is the best central midfield pairing ever in years to come) played really poorly in the 1st half... but yet Rafa is able to see what was happening and bring on Hamann. Hamann ain't exactly a attacking substitution (we cheered when we saw Hamann so why do we moan when we see Traore coming on for a really poor Warnock) but Rafa was able to change the status quo on the pitch. And all these plus playing Gerrard as a right back etc cemented that 5th Cup in our trophy cabinet, something the Scum, Bitters and even Chelsea can even dream of.
Crouch
Crouch hasn't scored yet for LFC. I, for one, never thought he was bought to score goals as an outright goalscorer. Some feel that he is a provider, but I don't really feel that same way too. I feel that Crouch was bought with the long-term purpose of changing the style of play that we have right now.
We saw what he did with Valencia. He transformed a team of underachievers into a team with very little flaws. And this is precisely what he aims to do with us. Our passing has become more fluid (although there are some guilty parties who loses the ball with alarming regularity). We are no longer hoofing the ball that much but still old habits die hard. We defend more compactly now.
So I see Crouch as just one of many missing pieces in his BIG masterplan to revamp everything that we are used to. Hopefully, he would start proving us wrong personally and start putting away a few.
Transfers
A lot has gone on about the ones who got away... Simao, Kuyt, Milito.... and even Owen. A lot believe that since Rafa has spent 40-45m on players, we should have more to show for it.
Firstly, Rafa probably had closer to about 15-20m to spend... his subsequent selling of players got him to about 40-45m. So that would be about 15-20m for TWO seasons..... we can't even buy SWP for that. He is not interested in stop gap measures. That's why I believe he went for Crouch, who ain't Batistuta in his hey days. Plus, transfers are like gambles...
Some pays rightaway (Alonso), some only pays sometime later (hopefully most of our buys and to a certain extent Smicer, to me it was quite worth the wait for him to come good to score in the CL Finals), some you wished you never got into (Diao and friends)
No manager ever gets their buys correct...
Slur Alex has his fair share of Verons and Forlans... both came with great reputations but struggled big time in the EPL. But now both reclaiming their previous reputations with their current clubs. He also had buys which came good straightaway like Heinze and Rooney (who may be discounted cos' he already plays in the EPL).
But before anyone starts on how we should buy local and domestic... there is also a staggering number of home-bred players who leaves a lot to be desired. Beattie is a world beater at the Bitters. Dyer, who came with such hugh promise is still trying to repair his what's left of his reputation... among many others.
Wenger bought the diving twat that is Jeffers for 10m. Even Diouf was more useful than him. Even the likes of Gilberto hasn't completely convinced me yet, and he is probably one of those who will end up well in the long run.
Moaninho has Tiago for 10m and sold him for between 6-7m. Not that it would hurt the deep pockets of Chelski. Dogbath is only starting to look like a 24m striker.... only starting too, I am not convinced as yet.
Once again, we aren't Chelski so we don't have the luxury of buying half the planet for trial and error. We just have to buy and honestly hope for the best. The likes of Kuyt and Simao, if they come, would come with great expectations but they are still as likely to succeed (or fail) as the next foreign or domestic signing. Even buying Owen back (which I happen to be dead against) would not guarantee he would score bags of goals for us.
Let's hope that our players would prove us all wrong and start beginning to look like what Rafa knew they could become.
Conclusion
All in all, it takes TIME for Rafa to implement these changes.... a lot of us are impatient.... especially when we saw Scum pick up nearly every piece of silverware in the 90s. We desperately want to get back to where we belong... right at the top. But this takes time. We have a manager who knows what he wants, who knows what he is doing, and has the guts to implement those changes.
So give Rafa time and the players time. They would start to finally get the picture of what Rafa really had in mind. It's going to take time, mind you. I am patient enough (I hope) to see the golden sky at the end of the storm. We have been putting up with poor mediocre performances for so long already (from Souness' reign), with the odd high spot here and there, so what's another few months or even seasons.... to finally see a new era of Red domination.