Bakes

Exactly. I can't believe some of the wibble I'm reading on here this evening. At the start of the season most fans wanted to be in contention come the turn of the year and that's exactly where we are. Can people not see the progress that's been made in the last few seasons? I must surely be missing something, as I can't for the life of me understand why there's such negativity towards an individual that has slowly and methodically overhauled what was a very average squad. I'm gonna break off there as even contemplating sacking Rafa is frankly ridiculous..

Nick, I thought you were supposed to understand Rafa's ideology more than anybody else. I have to seriously doubt that after reading your post above. For all that we've seen of Rafa's dealings and transfer targets to date, he pretty much never goes for so-called 'World Class' players, with perhaps the exception of Alonso. Zenden, Crouch, Sissoko and Stelios are all examples of this. I read a quote from Rafa the other day which said that he always prefers players who are capable of 7's and 8's out of 10 rather than 'World-Class' players who are able to achieve the occasional 9 or 10. Who defines 'World Class' anyway? The London based Press? Wright-Phillips was supposedly world-class when he signed for Chelsea and he's not exactly set the world alight to date...

Add to that our supposed near total reliance on Gerrard and how his absence would almost certainly cost us the result we needed over in Turin. Funny how this wasn't mentioned in any piece I read after the game. One man team - total rubbish. Does anybody else think this is because it's suits the 'Gerrard to Chelsea' agenda? Bakes

Why does this guy consistently write off our chances? http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/europe/4444367.stm I know this isn't too bad an article and it's probably nowhere near his worst this season but it justs frustrates the hell out of me that he feels the need to say these things.. total sell-out IMO Bakes