EDUARDO MACIA: "It's all about the right mentality"

[RSM]

It's a myth that Rafa hasn't been able to sign big money forwards.

 

Every summer he's chosen to spend the money on 5-6-7 players a la Pennant, Yossi, Garcia etc. in the £4-6m bracket because he's felt we've needed a bigger squad. So he's really just been replacing his own mistakes a lot of the time. Instead of getting the Torres (or whichever name from your above list) right away.

 

But he has had to re-build the entire squad in his time here and that includes removing a lot attacking players from the book that were distinct failures and in turn losing a lot of money - thus not being able to buy top class.

 

Our budget has restricted us and in that time I haven't seen any other team buy real top class for anything below 15-20m. Berbatov is the only player that could come into that category and we were in for in January 2004 and had a deal agreed.

[DT]

Oh wow, a "dt is fucking thick" tag.

 

How clever when you're unable to provide a decent argument.

[Kevin D]

He was never world class for the reasons I mentioned, he could never fit into a team structure. The whole team had to be set up to accommodate him. He had world class talent but he was not a world class player.

 

Are you familar with Zidane and Henry because thats applicable to both of them in my opinion.

 

Somebody said mentality cannot be coached and I disagree with that. Anyone who's watched the tranformation of J.Cole under Mourinho will know that. Anyone who watched J.Barnes will also know that because when he arrived I can assure you he was a compleltly different player. In fact I bet two/three years ago everyone would have claimed that Ronaldo lacks mentality

 

This debate was going well I thought. However like most threads , agendas and personal dislike of people is stopping anything being discussed. The abuse is starting to cloud anything being discussed on this forum and its tedious as fuck. The personal assault a few posts up is shocking and adds nothing to the thread.

 

Seriously , whats the fucking point?

[RSM]

Are you familar with Zidane and Henry because thats applicable to both of them in my opinion.

 

Somebody said mentality cannot be coached and I disagree with that. Anyone who's watched the tranformation of J.Cole under Mourinho will know that. Anyone who watched J.Barnes will also know that because when he arrived I can assure you he was a compleltly different player. In fact I bet two/three years ago everyone would have claimed that Ronaldo lacks mentality

 

This debate was going well I thought. However like most threads , agendas and personal dislike of people is stopping anything being discussed. The abuse is starting to cloud anything being discussed on this forum and its tedious as fuck. The personal assault a few posts up is shocking and adds nothing to the thread.

 

Seriously , whats the fucking point?

 

 

I'm suprised that you've mentioned Zidane and Henry as players without the right mentality. They are the kind of players that come into work everyday to improve and be the best - they challenge themsleves in every sense of the word.

 

Joe Cole has improved (but he's nowhere near as good as some people make out). Someone of his technical abilty should be able to dominate entire games on a consistent basis - he never has. I also feel his new found work ethic came as a result of being at Chelsea, where you could be replaced at the drop of a hat by another £30m player waiting in the wings if you didn't do what the manager said.

[Code]

Our "big" money attacking signings have been a success apart from Morientes.

 

Who are these guys?

 

Our only successful attacking signing under Rafa is Torres.

[StevieH]

Who are these guys?

 

Our only successful attacking signing under Rafa is Torres.

 

 

Crouch proved to be a good acquisition while he was here too.

[hamstrung]

I think Rash has a point regarding Benitez being too cautious at times. It’s one of the reasons we’re so tough to play in Europe as one of our strengths under Benitez is our organisation as a team. In the Premiership though I think this approach has cost us points in the past. Last season we only lost four games, which sounds great but we finished eleven points behind the leaders. This just highlights that despite being tough to beat and organized, we got too many draws which probably cost us more than anything last season.

 

I don't think that was as a result of caution.

 

On the majority of occasions we battered these teams but couldn't score, and let in silly goals. Keane is being bought to try remedy that.

 

I don't think its because we settled for 1 goal.

 

Crouch proved to be a good acquisition while he was here too.

 

Garcia did OK too. We wouldn't have won in '05 without him.

 

You're talking to someone who doesn't rate Macherano and thinks Voronin is the bees knees (Code72) though so I wouldn't get your hopes up for a reasoned response.

[Guest LFD]

I don't think that was as a result of caution.

 

On the majority of occasions we battered these teams but couldn't score, and let in silly goals. Keane is being bought to try remedy that.

 

I don't think its because we settled for 1 goal.

 

At times we couldn't break down stubborn defenses, despite dominiating possession. Such as Man City away and Man U at home.

 

Other times defensive mistakes cost us three points - Wigan at home for example.

 

But the odd game we didn't look like we wanted to win until the last 20 minutes when we really upped the urgency and tempo. I think we need to go out with more intent next season.

[StevieH]

At times we couldn't break down stubborn defenses, despite dominiating possession. Such as Man City away and Man U at home.

 

Other times defensive mistakes cost us three points - Wigan at home for example.

 

But the odd game we didn't look like we wanted to win until the last 20 minutes when we really upped the urgency and tempo. I think we need to go out with more intent next season.

 

Mainly away from home.

[Code]

Crouch proved to be a good acquisition while he was here too.

 

Crouch was here 3 seasons and not once did he hit 10 goals in the league, thats not good enough for a front striker, if he was such a great signing then why is he now sold and why did his playing time get reduced by 1/3 for each season?

[StevieH]

Crouch was here 3 seasons and not once did he hit 10 goals in the league, thats not good enough for a front striker, if he was such a great signing then why is he now sold and why did his playing time get reduced by 1/3 for each season?

 

 

I think it was the right time to get rid of Crouch and I think we got very good money for a player who didn't play much last season & only had 12 months on his contract. However, on the whole I would say he was a success in his time here.

[RSM]

Who are these guys?

 

Our only successful attacking signing under Rafa is Torres.

 

Dirk Kuyt - 9m

Crouch - 7m

[RSM]

Crouch was here 3 seasons and not once did he hit 10 goals in the league, thats not good enough for a front striker, if he was such a great signing then why is he now sold and why did his playing time get reduced by 1/3 for each season?

 

Our squad improved - ultimatley we signed Torres and that meant he wanted to leave.

 

Sold for a profit which would have been larger if he wasn't into the last year of his contract.

[Code]

Dirk Kuyt - 9m

Crouch - 7m

 

In my opinion both are average at best.

 

League stats:

Kuyt- 66 matches - 15 goals.

Crouch - 85 matches - 20(22) goals.

 

These numbers will never win you the league either.

[RSM]

In my opinion both are average at best.

 

League stats:

Kuyt- 66 matches - 15 goals.

Crouch - 85 matches - 20(22) goals.

 

These numbers will never win you the league either.

 

Except that in 2006 we got our highest points total for god knows how long and a total that would have won us 16 of 18 league titles and all with Crouch leading the attack.

[Code]

Our squad improved - ultimatley we signed Torres and that meant he wanted to leave.

 

Sold for a profit which would have been larger if he wasn't into the last year of his contract.

 

Have our attacking force improved though?

 

Take Torres out of it and I would claim its got worse by the year.

 

Why not sign good players in the first place, why waste three years on Crouch, why waste two years on Pennant, why waste a year with Bellamy, Gonzales, Nunez, etc..

 

Almost every attacking player Rafa has signed has been a failure, now some people laud a defensive striker as a success because he works hard for the team, its pretty amusing. :thumbsup:

[Code]

Except that in 2006 we got our highest points total for god knows how long and a total that would have won us 16 of 18 league titles and all with Crouch leading the attack.

 

Excuse me, but what does this actually mean? :ermm:

[Redexile]

Crouch was here 3 seasons and not once did he hit 10 goals in the league, thats not good enough for a front striker, if he was such a great signing then why is he now sold and why did his playing time get reduced by 1/3 for each season?

 

He was sold because he did not want to sign an extension to his contract and stay with us because it would mean more time on the bench due to the style we would play with Torres up front. Thus he was sold before he could walk away.

[Code]

He was sold because he did not want to sign an extension to his contract and stay with us because it would mean more time on the bench due to the style we would play with Torres up front. Thus he was sold before he could walk away.

 

He was sold because he was not good enough, if he was good enough he would have played more.

[RSM]

Have our attacking force improved though?

 

Take Torres out of it and I would claim its got worse by the year.

 

Why not sign good players in the first place, why waste three years on Crouch, why waste two years on Pennant, why waste a year with Bellamy, Gonzales, Nunez, etc..

 

Almost every attacking player Rafa has signed has been a failure, now some people laud a defensive striker as a success because he works hard for the team, its pretty amusing. :thumbsup:

 

Because that was our available budget at the time.

 

Rebuilding an entire squad in 4 years with an average net budget of 20m means that al areas of the team can't be adressed in one go. Now that Rafa has sorted most of the team, we will only need one or two signings a season going forward - where we can spunk our entire budget on top money players.

[RSM]

Excuse me, but what does this actually mean? :ermm:

 

It means that our points total in 2006 - was higher or equal to the 16 seasons where we were crowned champions out our 18 league titles.:thumbsup:

 

But hey, you'll never challenge for league with players like Crouch leading the attack.O_o

[Cardie]

When is code72 going to tag Rashid back in?

[Rashid]

Dirk Kuyt - 9m

Crouch - 7m

 

Resounding success? Kuyt and Crouch? Are you on drugs?

 

The outstanding attacking signing has been Torres and we didn't need Macia to show him to us, there were people on this very forum wanting him before Rafa even came here.

 

Rafa isn't very good at signing good attacking players, and if he is, he isn't that good at making them look top class.

[wiiksie]

When is code72 going to tag Rashid back in?

"Player 2 has entered the game"

[StevieH]

Rashid, when building a team or a squad you tend to start at the back and move forward from there. Last summer we signed Torres and Babel, and if we can add Keane this summer then I would suggest that Rafa has signed 3 very good attacking players. Pacheco looks a very good prospect and hopefully N'Gog will do well too.