On Friday Rafa declared war on the mancs, but instead of leading his troops over the top of the trenches at the Britannia Stadium, he went and hid in a fucking bunker. After that rallying cry we needed to go there with all guns blazing, come away with a convincing win and say to the mancs and Chelsea “right, let’s see what you can do now”. Instead we just gave validity to Ferguson’s claims that we will bottle it, with a dreadful performance and painfully negative approach.

I didn’t like the team selection, even though I completely expected it. It may have worked against Newcastle, but as I wrote at the time a big reason for that was because Newcastle were so, so bad and so easy to play against. I don’t like taking any credit away from us, but it was obvious to even the most one eyed, biased supporter that as well as we played that day, Newcastle made things incredibly easy for us.

The Geordies left gaps everywhere and they didn’t bother trying to tackle us. The end result was that Gerrard, Benayoun and Kuyt had a field day. Stoke plugged all of those gaps, they got stuck in and didn’t give us any time on the ball. The end result was the same as it always is when that happens in games where we have Kuyt up front on his own. I don’t care what anyone says, for me that formation and tactics is too defensive and is only acceptable when we are playing a top side. Yet we seem to be seeing it all the time lately. That’s fine to start with, but if it isn’t working then for fucks sake don’t persist with it, try something different.

I’m really fucking pissed off that Rafa followed up all his bravado on Friday with such negative tactics and substitutions. The system wasn’t working, we needed more people in forward positions but every change he made was like for like. Robbie Keane should go in today and ask for a transfer, as he’s wasting his time here and it really doesn’t matter what he does, his face doesn’t fit and it’s clear the manager just doesn’t believe in him or want him here.

Everybody could see it wasn’t working against Stoke, yet still we persisted with 4-2-3-1 (which was actually more like 4-5-1 in truth) and Stoke couldn’t have been any more comfortable. Rafa always says ‘if you aren’t playing well and can’t win, it’s important not to lose’. That does my head in to be honest. If you aren’t playing well, then make some fucking changes to the system and try to correct it, don’t just say ‘ah well, we’re not playing well so let’s not change anything and hopefully we won’t lose, and who knows, maybe we’ll get lucky and nick something’.

This safety first, cautious approach could cost us our best chance at the title in years, and what scares me more than anything is that if we don’t do it this year then we can forget about it for a long time. This year is a strange one, as both the mancs and Chelsea have been dropping points they wouldn’t normally drop. That has opened the door for us, but we are in danger of throwing it away because we’re not being positive enough. The fear of losing outweighs the desire to win in my opinion.

Next year the mancs and Chelsea won’t be so charitable, and who knows, maybe Arsenal will get their act together and teams like Villa, Spurs and City will be stronger too. Given our ownership issues who can say with any certainty that we will be stronger next season? If we don’t win it this year, I worry that we won’t get a chance again for a long time.

We paid Stoke far too much respect. I know it’s not the easiest place to go, but even so we have to show more ambition than that, especially after the manager’s bullishness the day before. If you’re going to take on Alex Ferguson one day, then it’s a bit embarrassing being outwitted by Tony Pulis the day after.

I just had a look at what I wrote in the preview piece ahead of this game, and this paragraph stood out for me: “What Rafa did today has really drawn the battle lines. It’s fair to say I’ve had some issues with Rafa this season, but fuck all that. I stand by any criticisms I have made, but it doesn’t matter from this point in. We’ve got a league title to fight for, and what Rafa did today was a masterstroke in so many ways, not least because it has rallied the troops and the fans will really be behind him and the team now.”

I realize the irony that I am now back to moaning about him, but I can’t help it. Rafa did rally the troops and everyone was well up for this game. But then he just took the wind out of our sails with the negativity he showed at Stoke. He makes it really hard to get behind him sometimes, and it’s so unnecessary. I don’t want to be moaning and criticizing, and I was really buzzing before this game and was trying to think positively. But then the game starts, the buzz goes and the positivity is just washed away by a flood of depression as we settle for a point against a side in the bottom three and who had lost three games on the bounce. I feel like screaming, because we are better than this. Rafa showed a lot of balls by taking on Ferguson, but where were those balls when we needed to win this game? Maybe they’d retreated back up into his stomach due to the freezing cold conditions in the Potteries.

If Rafa had a bit more ambition and attacking intent to his approach then I honestly think we’d be at least ten points clear right now. He’s not going to change though, is he? This is what he is, for better or worse. He’s cautious and pragmatic, and he’s not going to suddenly let the players off the leash, and start throwing the kitchen sink at shit teams and blow them away and romp away to the title.

I just hope at the end of the season we don’t regret not going for it against Stoke, or playing one up front at home to Hull and leaving Keane on the bench etc

The players have to look at themselves a little too however. They were poor against Stoke, but I’ve got to be honest, in my view a big reason for that was the tactical straightjacket they had placed on them. Gerrard was as poor as he’s been for a long time, yet he still hit the woodwork twice and was our biggest danger. Why was he so below par though? Compare this display with the one he produced at St James’ Park. Why were they so different? Because Stoke did their homework and made sure they filled the space he likes to play in, and they got tight to him when he had the ball.

He wasn’t impacting the game anywhere near enough, and most people I’ve spoken to felt he should have been dropped back into midfield in a 442. Especially as the two who were playing in midfield were contributing very little. Lucas is the obvious and easy target, but it’s unfair to single him out as although he wasn’t good, he was better than Mascherano. Not for the first time this season either.

Lucas was brilliant at St James’ Park, and I was happy to be able to praise him for it. I did say though that he often looks good when he has time and space, but let’s see how he does when teams get tight and don’t let him play. That’s what Stoke did, and Lucas found it difficult. His annoying tendency to commit needless fouls came to the fore once again and almost cost us when Whelan curled a free-kick just wide in the second half. He wasn’t as bad as Mascherano though.

I don’t know what’s going on with the Chief, but he’s not been himself for most of the season. Maybe it’s the Olympics? When Alonso is next to him his below par form can be masked due to the influence Alonso has on the game, but take Xabi out and Mascherano has been exposed a little this season. There’s just not much creativity in a midfield duo of Lucas and Mascherano. That’s fine away at Arsenal or Chelsea (or Newcastle!), but against an organized, packed defence then the lack of creativity becomes a problem. Do we really need two sitting midfielders against Stoke?

The widemen struggled too, especially Benayoun who was dreadful. And then we have Kuyt. I like Dirk, it’s impossible not to, but he seems to be fireproof and is selected regardless of form, and is never subbed no matter how badly he plays. I read a comment on the forum from someone who said that Rafa’s continuing persistence with Kuyt is making him start to dislike the Dutchman, and that isn’t fair as it isn’t Dirk’s fault. I agree with that, although I’m not at the point where I’m disliking Dirk, I just get depressed when I see his name on the teamsheet as a lone striker, and then I’ll get frustrated with his performance.

It isn’t his fault though, he can only try his best, which he always does. But if his best isn’t good enough then something needs to be done, but it never is. If we go into the derby next week with Dirk up front on his own, I don’t think I’ll be able to take it.

It’s not all doom and gloom, as the result at Old Trafford today might mean that the two points we dropped aren’t as vital as they seem at the moment (I’m writing this a few hours before that game kicks off). We’d all have been delighted to have been in this position at this stage of the season when things got under way in August, but having got into this position it would be unforgivable if we didn’t make the most of it due to being too scared to go for the win against sides who we clearly need to be beating.

A manc win today would be seriously bad news for us, as it would mean that we could find ourselves knocked off the top spot by the time we play our next game. A Chelsea win could have the same effect of course, but it wouldn’t be as demoralizing as seeing Ferguson overtaking us. The press would have a fucking field day with that, and so would the United manager.

Rafa’s comments had no impact on how the team performed at Stoke, but if you’re going to talk the talk you have to walk the walk, and Benitez failed to do that at Stoke. We have to hope for a favourable result at Old Trafford today, and then get back to winning ways in the derby next week.

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