Something I've been meaning to get off my chest for some time, regarding Rafa.

[Durango]

I was out for a few drinks with Christian, of TLW fame, tonight and we were chatting about Rafa, his position and why it seemed under threat. After a few minutes, I just exploded into a ten minute impassioned rant about the whole lunacy of this situation.

 

I realised there was something I needed to get off my chest and I needed to do it right now.

 

Maybe I feel more comfortable saying this from a position of strength following the results we've had in the last two games, but there is no way, no way on this earth, that we should be thinking of replacing Rafa Benitez as manager of our Football Club. It is absolute, unadulterated lunacy. I'm sick of the unwarranted abuse he's taking and I'm sick of the shortsighted horseshit I'm hearing from the mouths of a lot of our own supporters that would make even our fiercest tabloid critics and TV pundits cringe.

 

I don't know what people expect from the man, but to be within four points of United at this stage of the season and to be the most feared team left in the European Cup hat is a scenario we'd have all take at the start of the season.

 

People talk about the dropped points, the mentality, the inability to kill teams off, but that can be put down to one thing and one thing alone. The absence for one third of this season of the Gerrard and Torres dynamic. With those two fully fit and raring to go all season we'd be clear at the top now, there is no doubt in my mind about that. Number nineteen would be beckoning as we speak. As it stands we're still in with a shot, but it's unlikely.

 

We're not lucky enough to be gifted with the resources that allow us to have 5+ £20m midfielders or three £30m strikers like Manchester United have. Or leaving the likes of Deco and Essien on the bench. Or Having the choice between Anelka and Drogba.

 

Granted, Rafa could have performed better in the transfer market this summer, but with our budget, absolutely everything is a gamble, everything is scrutinised to the nth degree, because for us to compete with United and Chelsea these signings just absolutely have to work out. Some have. Some haven't. The result is that we're almost there, but not quite. United can easily write of £36m with Hagreaves and Nani, can afford for Berbatov to have been no more of a success than Keane was at Liverpool. We can't.

 

Sure we can all point to faults this season. His shabby treatment of Alonso, maybe Keane also (although I couldn't give a monkeys about him), his negative 'don't lose' approach in games and team selections that have not paid off. I agree with most of these criticisms. Yes he's stubborn. Yes he frustrates us a lot of the time. I agree that with a little more of a positive attitude we'd have been better off in terms of points, but by the same token, how many points has he won us with team selections we've thought unorthodox? Newcastle away, anyone? He is not perfect by any means. He's not without fault, but he is unquestionably the best man for this job at this moment in time and he has my love and confidence when it comes to the crunch. The last two games are evidence of that.

 

Some people say "we're not moving forward, it's the same problems knocking us back, failing to win against the shit teams" (Someone I consider a very close friend of mine said that to me this weekend) But we have improved. Look at our record against the other three top sides this year. Unbeaten with 13 points from a possible 15. When was the last time we did that? So we HAVE improved and that's why we're closer to the top. I agree our problems have been against weaker opposition at home, but I put that down to the absence and lack of fitness of the best striker in the entire world and the lack of world class cover we're able to provide for him. People will say that if we'd been more positive etc... etc... and maybe they're right. But that's just not Rafa's way. While castigating him for that, people fail to compliment him for how organised we are, how well structured, how good we are at defending leads, how good we are at outsmarting the opposition, how good we are at grounding out results, coming back from behind (something else we've improved on immeasurably this year. Twice against United!), how good we are when we don't have the ball. How we do, in one way or another, "control the game" against everyone we play. He's not perfect. He has his faults, but he is by far the best man for this job.

 

People speak of Rafa's politicking, his use of the fans' affection, his manipulation of the media, but let us not forget that the man is swimming in an ocean of sharks here, taking a strain that no manager in our history (other than Kenny post-Hillsbrough) has ever had to deal with. If there's one man that should come out of this ridiculous mess with his position in tact it's Rafa Benitez. For him to even have us challenging with all that's gone on around him in the last two years is a miracle. The fact that we're still in the hunt for the title? Unbelievable. And who can blame him for trying to align himself one way or the other? People speak of him as a fraud or a liar. Please? There may be an element of self-preservation at the heart of his actions, but Rafa Benitez is a football man who cares more than anything else about winning games for Liverpool Football Club.

 

With regards to the Academy, it is a real shame that no young players are following Gerrard and Carragher into the first team. I think it's felt in Liverpool maybe more than anywhere, because of the immense local pride felt in the team, the "me and you vs the world" ethos that remains so prevalent. But at the end of the day. The plight of a local youngster or internal wranglings over who signed who means absolutely nothing to me if the first team are doing well, which in the main this season we have been (closer than we have been to the top in 7 or 8 years at this stage, flying in europe without our best player for most of the season ).

 

It took me moving away from Liverpool to realise this. To realise that I was too close to the situation and couldn't see the woods for the trees. When I was 19-20 and watching the Liverpool under-19s, I was writing articles campaigning for the likes of Mark Peers and Neil Prince to be given a shot in the first team. Players like Richie Partridge, John Welsh, David Raven, David Mannix, Darren Potter were being grossly mistreated according to me 5 years ago, but I was letting my heart rule my head far too much. Who even bothers to mention these lads now. I couldn't even tell you where most of them are playing. Despite my protestations, they just weren't good enough and the only one I stand by is Mellor. If it wasn't for his injuries he could have had 60. 70. 80 goals for us by now.

 

My point is, in this day and age, the first team is first, second, third and fourth. Look at United, Chelsea and Arsenal and how many top quality lads they've brought through their youth system since the turn of the century.

 

Castigating Rafa for this is to do the same to Ferguson and Wenger the two most successful managers in the modern era. Are they "Cunts" to their fans too for not giving local youngsters more of a chance? No.

 

But no, our fans, fans who have labeled him a genius at times, who savoured Istanbul as their most cherished memory, who have sung his name with all the gusto they could muster from their lungs are now turning their backs on him and slinging as much mud as they can possibly gather at this man. And for what? Because we've dropped points at home? Because we're not miles clear at the top of the league when up against two sides that vastly outrank us in terms of resources, as well as being without the best striker in the world for most of the season? Give me a fucking break. I'm ashamed of the treatment he gets and I'm sick to my back teeth of listening to it.

 

 

Anyway, this is the most I've written about football in a long, long time, but felt it needed to be said. I love Rafa and I do believe he can bring us the title one day, if it's just not to be this year. And I firmly believe that a sixth European Cup is on its way here come the end of May.

 

Viva Rafa.

Go and tell ATK that!

 

He wants Carra or wait for it....................drum roll, Paul Jewell to replace Rafa!!!

 

And i get called the silly Cunt on here!!!

[INTORRESTING]

I think the only way we can get past the park the bus teams is with more quality and players taking the game by the scruff of the neck.

 

As the lesser teams are so inconsistent Rafa cant always second guess them so sometimes our players who are like robots do not have an answer to a particular situation. Also there are some great players in the lesser sides who can have a fantastic day out of the blue.

 

Rafa's methods dont always cater for anomalies and therefore we need to play the lesser lights like we played madrid.

 

We can beat the best and i think it is much better to be in our situation then be a manager who can blitz the lesser lights but not perform tactically when it matters.

 

I think we can soon have the complete package and personally i cant wait.

[Major Tom]

Earth Control to Major Tom,

Your talking rubbish.

 

How can a 73 year record win at the Skip be the same as a draw at home to Stoke ? havent we drawn at home for 73 years ?

 

One swallow does not a summer make. When we win at OT and go on to win the league, that will be something special. But winning at OT and trailing them by 10 points at the end of the season will hurt.

 

Don't get me wrong, Saturday was a great result and one I am still basking in. But, as I said, it just made the fact we couldn't beat Stoke home or away all the more galling.

 

Just my opinion, boss. You may not agree, but it don't make it rubbish.

[INTORRESTING]

One swallow does not a summer make. When we win at OT and go on to win the league, that will be something special. But winning at OT and trailing them by 10 points at the end of the season will hurt.

 

Don't get me wrong, Saturday was a great result and one I am still basking in. But, as I said, it just made the fact we couldn't beat Stoke home or away all the more galling.

 

Just my opinion, boss. You may not agree, but it don't make it rubbish.

 

I agree it is fucking horrible especially after seeing all of those awful draws.

 

However we had plenty of chances and the players must look at themselves as we should have converted most of those draws.

 

Then again it is up to rafa who he puts on the pitch and although i think it shows we are close i can see why people blame rafa and think he has failed in some respects this season

[Glen C]

Yes rafa had made some stupid mistakes but we're definitely improving every season so far. Plus he has made us N0.1 in europe. Let's see how this season ends before people cast judgement. Some are bitching now and could look really stupid come the end of the season.

[Bogman]

Go and tell ATK that!

 

He wants Carra or wait for it....................drum roll, Paul Jewell to replace Rafa!!!

 

And i get called the silly Cunt on here!!!

 

Silly cunt.;)

[The 5th Benitel]

its the other way around mate, the odd draw at home, doesnt mask the huge strides were taking forward and the fact we are getting into a position to challenge.

 

Amazing how the same thing is viewed from polar opposites.

 

 

The odd draw would be right. However Stoke, Fulham, West Ham, Hull, City and the shite home performance against an Everton team crippled with injures isn't the odd draw.

 

Lets hope it does look like we've made huge strides forwards but if we finish 10-15 points of the top we're prety much in the same place we were aren't we?

 

Last week aside, have people been watching us this season thinking we're improved? Even when we were winning everyone agreed we were playing terribly.

 

I'm not trying to be negative but, like you say, one bad result in the league doesn't mean we're going backwards but one good result doesn't mean we're taking giant strides forwards. My problme with him has never been in the big games, it's agasint the weaker teams were the onus in on us to attack and that problem clearly hasn't gone away and he's had 5 years to solve it.

[RSM]

Quality post -

 

In the cold light of day when your emotions are not echoing around you just think what life was like before Rafa arrived - when your mind had given up on fighting with the 'big boys' for the trophies that really mattered and we were satisfied with winning the odd battle now and then. We had become just a big name with no substance with only memories of the past. Now think where we are now... that's why Rafa deserves our time and RESPECT.

 

Spot one. Is there any other reason why the likes of Mourinho and Fergie can't stand Rafa? They see him as a fucking massive threat to their dominance.

 

This is easily the strongest we've been since Daglish's reign ended. I really can't understand folk who can't see the progression. When rafa arrived it was "Champions League yer havin a laff" and now we're the most feared team in Europe.

 

The League positions are improving and of course it's more difficult when your competing against the 3 other strongest teams in Europe over the course of a 38 game season especially when all 3 of them had better starting positions than you and have access to more resources and/ or greater stabilty.

 

We're getting there and we're closing the gap, to start all over again would be absolute lunacy.

[Durango]

Silly cunt.;)

Hey!

 

Silly handsome Cunt

[RedinSweden]

Chris writing about football is a wonderful thing. I just don't get the same feeling when he writes about gadgets. The Mr T interview was immense however and Chris is now part of folklore in my family as "the man who met Mr T".

 

As many will already realise, I agree with everything Chris wrote but Chris puts it better than I ever could.

[kopitegaz]

Great post Chris. Really enjoyed reading that and agreed with virtually all of it. Very well thought out and put together.

[hamstrung]

To me it seems obvious that to Benitez freedom is not a tactic it is but a single dimension in an overall tactical plan. He also does not see it as a discrete thing, he sees it as a continuum, with freedom at one end and discipline at the other. He sees it as a zero sum game.

 

[andymc]

fantastic post, very well said. At times this season I have been dismayed by rafa, not just because of his team selections but because of us being in the paper every 5 fucking mins!!! However, you cannot argue with the fact that we are better off with him, the man got rid of parry ffs!! If that doesn't get him a stay of execution I don't know what does.

[SpeedyG]

 

I'd expect nothing else from you :smile:

[Whelan]

The odd draw would be right. However Stoke, Fulham, West Ham, Hull, City and the shite home performance against an Everton team crippled with injures isn't the odd draw.

 

Lets hope it does look like we've made huge strides forwards but if we finish 10-15 points of the top we're prety much in the same place we were aren't we?

 

Last week aside, have people been watching us this season thinking we're improved? Even when we were winning everyone agreed we were playing terribly.

 

I'm not trying to be negative but, like you say, one bad result in the league doesn't mean we're going backwards but one good result doesn't mean we're taking giant strides forwards. My problme with him has never been in the big games, it's agasint the weaker teams were the onus in on us to attack and that problem clearly hasn't gone away and he's had 5 years to solve it.

 

I would say shit happens! even if you take the draws against Stoke, Fulham, West Ham out of the equation, we were one up against Everton and Wigan (Which doesn't really fit into the argument about breaking teams down) and we 'bottled' it (IMO) there is four points there! City and Boro, I thought we were unlucky against City and Boro had everything to do with the players giving up, but there is five points.

 

It isn't one off results against Man U away, we have done the double over United and Chelsea, together with the distinct possibility that we can finish with plus 80 points, if you cannot see that as an improvement then nothing I can say will influence you.

 

Look at how Arsenal have struggled this year, and according to some on here before christmas they were the epitomy of attacking football, the style that we should aspire to, since they have struggled to breakdown teams themselves Arsenal's troubles have been conveniently ignored.

 

But I think they prove that there is no magic wand, we have to just try to get the little decisions right, the little changes to be more effective, be more ruthless and I think we can do it.

 

I think we can do it this year, mind you!!!

[hamstrung]

I'd expect nothing else from you :smile:

 

I do daft pictures, you do pretentious non sequiturs.

 

Its good to have a hobby.

[SpeedyG]

I do daft pictures, you do pretentious non sequiturs.

 

Its good to have a hobby.

 

Just written for a different audience!

[The 5th Benitel]

I would say shit happens! even if you take the draws against Stoke, Fulham, West Ham out of the equation, we were one up against Everton and Wigan (Which doesn't really fit into the argument about breaking teams down) and we 'bottled' it (IMO) there is four points there! City and Boro, I thought we were unlucky against City and Boro had everything to do with the players giving up, but there is five points.

 

It isn't one off results against Man U away, we have done the double over United and Chelsea, together with the distinct possibility that we can finish with plus 80 points, if you cannot see that as an improvement then nothing I can say will influence you.

 

Look at how Arsenal have struggled this year, and according to some on here before christmas they were the epitomy of attacking football, the style that we should aspire to, since they have struggled to breakdown teams themselves Arsenal's troubles have been conveniently ignored.

 

But I think they prove that there is no magic wand, we have to just try to get the little decisions right, the little changes to be more effective, be more ruthless and I think we can do it.

 

I think we can do it this year, mind you!!!

 

Anyone who saw Wigan at home would tell you it was completely changed by the sending off. We were looking at a draw at best before that. We were terrible for Boro at home as well. The fact that teams equalised agasint us shows how we struggle to not just break teams down but to finsh them off when we do.

 

To finsh with 80 points we'd have to win every game and i cant see that happening. We do well agasint good teams who will attack us but we'll see how we get on agasint the likes of Hull, Newcastle and Blackburn in the upcoming weeks. I suspect we're gonna drop a fair few points, especially when the Champions League comes around and the likes of N'gog get wheeled out again.

 

I dont think Arsenal are escaping critism. i think there are a few question marks over Wenger but he gets a bit more leighway cos he rebulit that club and brought them league titles, a eoro final and probably the best footballing team of the last 15-20 years.

 

I admire your optimism and i hope you're right, it'll just take more than a couple of brilliant performances to paper over all the problems and dire football i've seen this season.

[meijer 09]

Great post , dont agree with all of it but great passion. one thing i'd like to say to everyone who thinks we should fly out the blocks and steamroller teams at home is, how many teams have utd steamrollered this season? Not many. most of their wins have been 1-0 and could easily have been draws, this shows how much harder the league is this season and how much we've improved to be 4 points from top at this stage. The big difference between us utd and chelsea is the squad players. They have players on mega money who play 10 games a season and that is the sum of their ambition, we cant keep these players people like bellamy, crouch, riise, momo and keane people who do a job when the likes of torres and gerrard are out. I get pissed off with rafa just like anyone else but i dont think anyone else would get us closer to number 19 i really dont and i hope he signs a 5 year deal as soon as.

[Whelan]

Fair enough 5th, and some points I couldn't really dispute!

But disagree strongly regarding Arsenal, they have got away with it for the past couple of years, look at his criticism's this morning, his 'untouchables' comment, never mind Rafa's excuses that tit is far worse.

And that is my point about criticisms, Rafa is criticised for his lack of attacking options, yet in 12 years Wenger has not replaced Viera, not even come close, just a load of non entities, who are excused for their shortcomings because they are young! year after year the same excuses, yet he is hailed as a paragon of beautiful football that we should all aspire too!!

[stringvest]

We don't have them NOW. But the project is not complete.

 

 

 

To me it seems obvious that to Benitez freedom is not a tactic it is but a single dimension in an overall tactical plan. He also does not see it as a discrete thing, he sees it as a continuum, with freedom at one end and discipline at the other. He sees it as a zero sum game.

 

The goal then is to find the right balance between the two. I also don't think more freedom is automatically good nor more discipline necessarily bad. Take the example of Torres against Manure. He was successful in part due to the denial of freedom. Instead of being told to float freely to an extent his freedom was denied and he was told isolate regularly 1 on 1 with Vidic because there was a mismatch there. You see how in that case less freedom is better.

 

I'd also counter that there are examples where Benitez has embraced freedom to the extent of re-inventing his tactical plan to allow Gerrard as much freedom as possible.

 

Freedom is important, but it's more complicated than some would have you believe and IMO is not the panacea some seem to think it is. At the end of the day more freedom = less discipline. Dirk Kuyt afforded more freedom doesn't add anything. Now don't get me wrong I'm not saying there isn't a problem or that we're doing it the right way just that it's not as black and white as some would think. In a couple of more years Kuyt will rightfully become our Ji Sung Park and be rolled out for the right kind of games, he'll be replaced with someone that can beat a man, that can dribble, that can improvise and then you'll be right.

 

Just one more point about predictability because to me the secret of our success against manure was their very predictability. They are so predictable that Benitez was able to come up with a specific plan to use that predictability against them. For sure they have players that are much much better than some of ours and they can do some crazy stuff that ours can't but to me they are just as predictable as we were unpredictable against RM.

 

 

 

I think in that game he demonstrated that he has already learned how to win those kind of games and I don't think anyone can question his tactics against the big teams or in open games. His failing has consistently been against teams that park the bus and that game offered nothing in the way of solutions to that problem IMO.

 

 

 

I don't remember the 70's well enough to know whether the anti-football of 10 men behind the ball existed to the extent it does today, I rather doubt it myself.

 

My biggest gripe with Benitez is that he still hasn't solved the park the bus problem too a) I just don't think "freedom" is the entire solution and b) I think he can solve it without compromising discipline and if he does we'll be a better team for it and pretty much unbeatable.

 

As I alluded to at the beginning this is a project, the tactics are a work in process and the playing staff are a work in process and some of the decisions he makes are IMO with an eye to an end goal that we are not privvy to and so what might not make sense in the short-term may just be relevant in the long-term. For me he has earnt the benefit of the doubt.

 

The 'project' will never complete. It's an evolution within a constantly evolving context. Benitez's 'project' will be finished when he's gone, as was Houllier's, Souness's and Paisley's. You're implying that there's some sort of masterplan in place. I don't believe that that has been the case - there have been many false starts, for example the Gerrard / Torres partnership wasn't the first option Benitez tried out when they were both available, but I'm glad he found it. Benitez has changed his approach frequently, and some of the personnel he has bought and sold previously would not fit today's preferred model. I'm not having a pop, I'm glad he can conduct widespread changes if something doesn't work - just saying that it doesn't map well onto a 'masterplan'.

 

It's obvious to everyone, not just you, that freedom is one aspect of an overall tactical plan, and that balance is the key. Freedom only works if it is on a foundation of defensive solidity. Unfortunately, you can't get away with the sort of 'total football' that epitomised the Dutch in the 70's. Freedom isn't such a difficult concept to grasp, and it's complexities are not beyond the grasp of anyone on here. Rather, it's persistence with the likes of Kuyt in must-win games where there is no conceivable threat from the opposition left side and everything to be gained from playing a creative or pacy player instead that most people struggle to get their head around. I don't have to wait until I'm right about this, I'm right now, as I am with the rest of my post.

 

On predictability, you're right. (There, you are, sometimes). That was the secret of Utd's downfall. It is also the secret of our failure to beat mediocre opposition at home. They know how we will play, and they formulate a plan to deal with it. It's not difficult for them to do, because we don't make it difficult.

 

You may doubt it, but in fact, the 'anti-football' of 10 men behind the ball was more prevalent in the 70s than it is now - that's precisely why the rule to change the points for a win from 2 to 3 came in.

 

To summarise, I think it requires a stretch of the imagination and a suspension of disbelief to think that Rafa came in a with a defined 'project plan'. I think he has tried some stuff, it didn't work, so he's tried other stuff. Some is now working, some isn't. Let's hope he finds out how to make the rest of it work, for all our sakes.

[derykw]

For me it boils down to this: I fully blame Rafa for blowing the league title this season. It's 100% his fault that we arent top and flying now. He's the gaffer and the buck stops there. Period.

His bizarre subs, his cautious approach, his selection of woeful player picked not on form or merit but on god knows what. And on it goes. It's his fault and nobody elses.

However, I'm not so blind that I can't see that he's also the man that got us in to the position of a challenge in the first place.

 

Chris rightly says that we're reliant on Gerrard and Torres, and their absence of joint playing time has cost us, and I agree with that 100%. But that's a seriously bad thing indeed, and that's also Rafa's fault, 100%. At the end of the day he's very lucky to have inherited the world's best player in Gerrard, and what we're saying here is that he's only managed to sign one other player capable of dragging a team to a league title. That's surely just not good enough, is it?

 

So the question I have to ask myself is "can I forgive Rafa for throwing away a league title and giv him another chance?"

 

After the week we've just had, the kneejerk answer is a resounding YES! But then I think back to almost every other game this season, and the way in which he's behaved at times, and the answer is a resounding and resolute absolute fucking NO.

 

That sums us up under Rafa. My biggest concern is I've had the same feeling at the end of the last 2 seasons as well! When do you accept that it just isn't going to change? ]

If a high quality alternative was on the cards then I'd like to see them come in, but they have to have some serious credentials.

 

We'll see what happens at home against Aston Villa. I have a sinking feeling that I'll be dumped firmly back in the camp of not being able to forgive him after yet another dire home performance

 

Excellant post, sums up my feelings exactly. If he gets the kudos for beating Madrid and ManU he takes the blame for Stoke/Hull etc etc..

 

As an aside, this train of thought that certain fans are gutted about the last two results is fucking ridiculous and insulting in the extreme.

[Judge]

For me it boils down to this: I fully blame Rafa for blowing the league title this season. It's 100% his fault that we arent top and flying now. He's the gaffer and the buck stops there. Period.

His bizarre subs, his cautious approach, his selection of woeful player picked not on form or merit but on god knows what. And on it goes. It's his fault and nobody elses.

However, I'm not so blind that I can't see that he's also the man that got us in to the position of a challenge in the first place.

 

Chris rightly says that we're reliant on Gerrard and Torres, and their absence of joint playing time has cost us, and I agree with that 100%. But that's a seriously bad thing indeed, and that's also Rafa's fault, 100%. At the end of the day he's very lucky to have inherited the world's best player in Gerrard, and what we're saying here is that he's only managed to sign one other player capable of dragging a team to a league title. That's surely just not good enough, is it?

 

So the question I have to ask myself is "can I forgive Rafa for throwing away a league title and giv him another chance?"

 

After the week we've just had, the kneejerk answer is a resounding YES! But then I think back to almost every other game this season, and the way in which he's behaved at times, and the answer is a resounding and resolute absolute fucking NO.

 

That sums us up under Rafa. My biggest concern is I've had the same feeling at the end of the last 2 seasons as well! When do you accept that it just isn't going to change? ]

If a high quality alternative was on the cards then I'd like to see them come in, but they have to have some serious credentials.

 

We'll see what happens at home against Aston Villa. I have a sinking feeling that I'll be dumped firmly back in the camp of not being able to forgive him after yet another dire home performance

 

Totally agree. People forget very quickly. I have been walking around with a huge smile the last week, but when I am reminded of the long line of absolutely horrible performances in the league this season it is not as rosy anymore.

 

The most frustrating thing is that Rafa has the potential to make us play brilliant and effective football consistently both in Europe and in the league, but his regular irrational and crazy ideas make us fail again and again.

 

This is the man who in one moment attacks Fergie verbally and makes us all feel ready for a tough fight for the honours, and in the next moment he kills the fighting spirit totally by sending the players out in a 4-5-1 formation with Kuyt on top against Stoke and draw 0-0.

 

No one can match him in Europe, but I just can`t see him winning us the league title. If the CL is your priority you clearly have to back him, if the league is your priority I can not see how you can justify backing him.

 

And for the 100th time: Don`t give me the crap money argument. We have a core of players that half of the managers in this league would have managed to challenge for the title with. We had a great opportunity but gave it away, mainly because of Rafa.

 

Still: The performances against Real M. and United were so brilliant that no-one can deny that he is a great manager in many aspects. I have changed my mind several times about Rafa and I am going to wait until the summer to make the final judgement.

 

People are piss scared because they know what we have but don`t know what we will get. Well, that can swing both ways IMO. We can get a Klinsmann situation, but we can also end up with a manager in Hiddinks class. No matter what I don`t want another season like this, even with the last weeks results in mind.

[stringvest]

Just written for a different audience!

 

There you go again - implying some sort of intellectual superiority. You might want to pause and reflect what those people on the site who may share your vast intellectual capacity think of the tone of your posts. It's the source of much amusement for several such forumites. That's all I'm saying on the subject.

 

For now ;)

[SpeedyG]

There you go again - implying some sort of intellectual superiority. You might want to pause and reflect what those people on the site who may share your vast intellectual capacity think of the tone of your posts. It's the source of much amusement for several such forumites. That's all I'm saying on the subject.

 

For now ;)

 

You could take it that way. Or you could take it that the post was meant for people who would attempt to understand the perspective, rather than just take the piss.

 

Assumtions, eh!