Rafa Exclusive in The Times

[goatboy59]

Are you as innumerate as you want to make out on this thread?

 

If so, i seriously hope you get a friend or loved one to deal with that complex investment world out there.

 

If not, then why pretend to be to criticise our manager?

 

Rafa has got a better average League record than he should have for the money the club has spent.

 

That means he cannot be worse than his peers in the transfer market.

Have you seen how United got to be so good in the first place? Clocked how many players were bargains or shrewd deals? As the success grew the stadium grew and the profits grew, so the transfers grew and the wages grew?

 

Since Abramovich and our own link with Dubai lots of Reds have talked about fuck all else but how we get our hands on huge non-returnable slushfunds in order to compete.

 

Except they only seem to do that when the team, and thus the manager, are struggling. When we get points and play well, we're great and our manager's a genius. When we stink it's the yanks and Parry's fault, and where's the money you bastards!

 

7m for Dossena suddenly equals "pay peanuts, get monkeys", not that it was a spectacular failure of judgment.

 

Of the post takeover purchases I'd say half have worked, a quarter are not working and a quarter were complete failures. That wouldn't be good enough at a so-called super rich club, never mind here.

[Randy Marsh]

Signing Aquilani for £17 million from Roma to replace Xabi Alonso was great business, he insisted. "We can only buy one or two big, £20 million players a year," Benítez said. "If we want to have money available, then we have to sell some players. We have to sell expensive and buy as cheaply as possible.

 

"Aquilani fit would be £20-30 million. We checked with doctors and they said he would be out one, maybe two months. We have lost some time, but I signed the player for five years, not five weeks. We needed to take the risk."[/quoteIT]

 

Since no one actually have picked up on this absoloute complete bollocks I will.

 

So doctors told you he would be out only one, maybe two months, shame you did not call me then as I could have told you with damn good accuracy that he would be ready to play in late October at best, but most likely not before November, thats how long it takes to heal from such an injury, it always has been and it probably always will be.

 

I pray to God these doctors are not on our wage bill but with the other crap we have "had" to sign according to Rafa they probably are, our injury record and players almost without exception always beeing rushed back from injuries meaning they will be out for a few more weeks also is a good indication of this.

 

Was his name Steve McNally?

 

I also love how we needed to take the risk.

 

No we really did not, I can probably list 100 CM`s that would have had a more positive influence on our season than what Aquilani will have, all cheaper as well.

 

I can also list a lot of CM`s that we could have brought in instead at a much cheaper price, with just as much potential, a better injury record, more experience in the game etc.

 

So we did not really need to take the risk did we?

 

But you did and our season is now all but over because of it, I call oit lack of judgement, just like its a lack of judgement to believe a combination of Mascheano and Lucas in CM will bring you anything but sleepless nights and sorrow.

 

You should apply for his job mate, you make it sound so easy.

[Owen]

Hehe, Code has definitely now surpassed Rebel's high watermark on the fruitloopometer.

[llego]

CHANGE THE FUCKING RECORD.

 

Whats your deal, he's trying to give you actual arguments to work with and youre being petulant.

[Tom R]

7m for Dossena suddenly equals "pay peanuts, get monkeys", not that it was a spectacular failure of judgment..

 

 

To add further insult to injury, was he not the most expensive defender in the club's history?

Let me say that again - Andrea Dossena was the MOST EXPENSIVE DEFENDER IN THE CLUB'S HISTORY!

 

Fuck me, that hurts my brain to even think about it.

[Catch22]

Have you seen how United got to be so good in the first place? Clocked how many players were bargains or shrewd deals? As the success grew the stadium grew and the profits grew, so the transfers grew and the wages grew?

 

Since Abramovich and our own link with Dubai lots of Reds have talked about fuck all else but how we get our hands on huge non-returnable slushfunds in order to compete.

 

Except they only seem to do that when the team, and thus the manager, are struggling. When we get points and play well, we're great and our manager's a genius. When we stink it's the yanks and Parry's fault, and where's the money you bastards!

 

7m for Dossena suddenly equals "pay peanuts, get monkeys", not that it was a spectacular failure of judgment.

 

Of the post takeover purchases I'd say half have worked, a quarter are not working and a quarter were complete failures. That wouldn't be good enough at a so-called super rich club, never mind here.

 

 

Dossena was a clear error.

 

The transfer market is about specualtion which won't be right 100% of the time.

 

Every single manager makes mistakes.

 

It is ludicrous to harp on about 1 & ignore the overall record.

 

Yet when that overall record is considered, the anti-Rafa crowd start jumping up & down & shouting about it, because it doesn't fit their pre-conceived ideas.

 

Not every trade that Warren Buffet has ever made is a good one but i bet most of us wish he had been investing our money over the years!

[Guest PurpleNose]

"Are you seious?"

 

Yes.

 

You get average players for £6m-£8m. Average players like you've listed - Bale, Warnock, Corluka and Hutton. Or even Heitinga.

 

You want players like Alves, Maicon, Lahm, Rafinha etc They will cost a lot of money.

 

We needed an attacking fullback on the right. Especially because Kuyt plays as the wide right. Another option would have been to buy a cheaper, solid right back, and then bought a right winger. I would have preferred this option, but Rafa refuses to drop Kuyt.

 

I think you expect too much from players in the £6m-£8m bracket. They simply aren't good enough to win the Premier League or La Liga.

[Tom R]

Whats your deal, he's trying to give you actual arguments to work with and youre being petulant.

 

No I'm not, I'm just sick of every single fucking post going on about pissing wage bill and over performing.

We get it. CHANGE THE FUCKING RECORD.

[goatboy59]

Mmmmmmmmmmm, buffet......

[Tom R]

"Are you seious?"

 

Yes.

 

You get average players for £6m-£8m. Average players like you've listed - Bale, Warnock, Corluka and Hutton. Or even Heitinga.

 

You want players like Alves, Maicon, Lahm, Rafinha etc They will cost a lot of money.

 

We needed an attacking fullback on the right. Especially because Kuyt plays as the wide right. Another option would have been to buy a cheaper, solid right back, and then bought a right winger. I would have preferred this option, but Rafa refuses to drop Kuyt.

I think you expect too much from players in the £6m-£8m bracket. They simply aren't good enough to win the Premier League or La Liga.

 

Erm, so we're in ful agreement then?...

[piscinin]

He won't be the last, all the 'name' writers are going to take a crack at this.

 

One of the world's biggest managers has said he'd walk if his best player was sold behind his back, do you honestly think this is going to be filed under 'Liverpool writer tries and gets bit of feelgood factor going' and then forgotten?

 

So what was the use of the original piece if it merely provides more ammunition for the know-nowts?

 

But the know-nowts are going to do what their editors tell them anyway and if this ammunition wasn't to hand they'd just resort to innuendo (senior players) or outright misrepresentation (skipped his father's funeral vs. couldn't get there in time). Those people don't matter they've laid down their markers; the only thing that will change that tide is a series of results that make it even more obvious that they are just peddling furore and hyperbole for the sake of sales. So the article clearly wasn't aimed at them.

 

Who do you think the audience was? It seems pretty obvious to me.

[zigackly]

Code is not only better than football managers, he's better than doctors too. Is there nothing this man couldn't do, if he'd only been in the right place at the right time?

[goatboy59]

But the know-nowts are going to do what their editors tell them anyway and if this ammunition wasn't to hand they'd just resort to innuendo (senior players) or outright misrepresentation (skipped his father's funeral vs. couldn't get there in time). Those people don't matter they've laid down their markers; the only thing that will change that tide is a series of results that make it even more obvious that they are just peddling furore and hyperbole for the sake of sales. So the article clearly wasn't aimed at them.

 

Who do you think the audience was? It seems pretty obvious to me.

The people who already think he's doing a grand job?

 

Speaking as a doubting Thomas, I thought that article was a crock. It's going to be a lone voice buried under an avalanche of "cracking up again" crap.

 

Fandabidozy.

[Guest PurpleNose]

"Erm, so we're in ful agreement then?..."

 

Not full agreement.

 

We needed some more creativity on the right flank. Rafa possibly saw buying an attacking fullback as a marginally cheaper option. Less of a risk.

 

If he'd signed a very average right back, and a winger there is no guarantee we'd be any better. If we'd signed a rightback for £6m-£8m that would have left about £9m for the winger. Thats half a Nani.

 

You say we needed a striker, which I agree with. Presumably you also thought we'd need a right winger as Kuyt + £6m-£8m fullback would have had all the flair of a potato.

 

How would you have spent £17m on solving the right side and striker problem?

[piscinin]

The people who already think he's doing a grand job?

 

Speaking as a doubting Thomas, I thought that article was a crock. It's going to be a lone voice buried under an avalanche of "cracking up again" crap.

 

Fandabidozy.

 

Add "but are wavering".

 

It is a crock but to be honest I don't see much else in the british press. I'm sitting here six years after he joined and not one journalist has asked "How does Zonal marking work?", "Why do you make subs on 65 minutes?". That's the very essence of crockness.

 

Bad Results = Rafa cracking up

Good results = Torres and Gerrard are gods.

 

You make it sound like there's more to the british press than that. Where is this hidden depth?

[PaulMcC]

I thought they were good articles.

[goatboy59]

This is his first exclusive isn't it? 4 hours with Tomkins, a few hours with another Liverpool fanatic. When is he going to put himself in the firing line and get to answer the questions you want answering?

 

My bet is that he won't. Easy rides all round, or dumb outsiders taking easy potshots.

 

I'm sure there are some journalists who aren't interested in another blood sacrifice and want answers.

 

The waverers may get a few days' thrill from it, but then there's always the match to wipe it away!

[Guest Ulysses Everett McGill]

The people who already think he's doing a grand job?

 

Speaking as a doubting Thomas, I thought that article was a crock. It's going to be a lone voice buried under an avalanche of "cracking up again" crap.

 

Fandabidozy.

 

I wouldn't be quite so sure

[goatboy59]

What, you mean Lipton's last line (aha, there may be more to this than meets the eye) will be the angle?

[Ponz]

Like i said earlier, £17m full backs are luxury players, and when we have holes in our squad like we do, spending that kind of cash on one is just fucking criminal.

 

I'm not sure how Johnson fits the definition of a "luxury" player. He's not some Berbatov-type who produces the odd moment of brilliance while drifting out of games for long periods. He offers a more potent attacking threat than 70-80% of the supposed "right wingers" in the Premier League. And as the United game showed, he's also comfortable converting to a more disciplined defensive role. I would classify him as a utility player rather than a pure defensive fullback or gung-ho wingback. With a squad as thin ours, that's exactly the sort of option we need.

[Antynwa]

This is his first exclusive isn't it? 4 hours with Tomkins, a few hours with another Liverpool fanatic. When is he going to put himself in the firing line and get to answer the questions you want answering?

 

My bet is that he won't. Easy rides all round, or dumb outsiders taking easy potshots.

 

I'm sure there are some journalists who aren't interested in another blood sacrifice and want answers.

 

The waverers may get a few days' thrill from it, but then there's always the match to wipe it away!

 

'Rafa why did you sign Keane?'

 

'It was Rick Parry'

 

'What about Dossena'?

 

It was Rick Parry

 

'What abou...

 

Parry

 

'FFS Rafa let me finish!'

 

'What about Degan...'

 

'That is simple no? It was the owners

[Tom R]

"Erm, so we're in ful agreement then?..."

 

Not full agreement.

 

We needed some more creativity on the right flank. Rafa possibly saw buying an attacking fullback as a marginally cheaper option. Less of a risk.

 

If he'd signed a very average right back, and a winger there is no guarantee we'd be any better. If we'd signed a rightback for £6m-£8m that would have left about £9m for the winger. Thats half a Nani.

 

You say we needed a striker, which I agree with. Presumably you also thought we'd need a right winger as Kuyt + £6m-£8m fullback would have had all the flair of a potato.

 

How would you have spent £17m on solving the right side and striker problem?

 

The last point is the question for me I guess.

If we'd have signed a £10m plus striker and a decent enough RB, then I'm assuming we've already spunked £20m on Aquilani as well?

 

If that's the case then we play Gerrard back in the middle until he's fit, or if Dirk isn't performing, play him out on the right.

[Code]

Code is not only better than football managers, he's better than doctors too. Is there nothing this man couldn't do, if he'd only been in the right place at the right time?

 

Well going by the fairy tale he was told by these "doctors" maybe he used this guy as his consultant, or maybe its just another excuse.

 

 

[Tom R]

Andrea Dossena was the MOST EXPENSIVE DEFENDER IN THE CLUB'S HISTORY!

 

As much as this hurts, I just had to re-read this to make sure I wasn't having a really bad nightmare.

[Carra_is_legend]

As much as this hurts, I just had to re-read this to make sure I wasn't having a really bad nightmare.

 

If it makes you any better Tom, he was only the most expensive defender until we bought Johnson.