KevieG

countageous eh? your eh?

If I was in the clique it would be hilarious. I think some people are suffering from Rashid withdrawl symptoms. I've seen the signs

poor mans Finnan

mum? posh boy is it

Alonso or Molby? And I'm not talking about the skinny Molby that came out of the slammer. I think Molby would win it by a belly If its close I'll add a poll.

Antonio Valencia ticks all the boxes

excellent postage

Very harsh, considering they played us off the park and beating us by 2 or 3 wouldn't have flattered them

Plessis and Alonso should be the link men in the whole thing and both failed badly tonight as they are both are slow and cumbersome, Alonso's saving grace should be his passing but that seems to be shot as well, Liege played a typical premiership tempo and Xabi just doesn't like that. A bit ominous if you as me . Plessis reminds me a lot of Obi Mikel at Chelsea, a bits and pieces player, and doesn't look anything special. He's young and hopefully he'll blossom into something a bit more

We already have one of the two best wide players in the premiership in Steven Gerrard. Time to drop Kuyt from that position and stick some real quality on one of the wide positions, plus he'll work just as hard. Get Mascherano back in the middle to put a bit of drive in it and suddendly things will look a lot better. Xabi's performace tonight has been just the thing he's been delivering for the last 2 years, and his long passing was shocking, I can see why Rafa wants to get rid of him. The most disappointing thing for me is that we were passed off the park by an inferior team who are at exactly the same stage of the season as we are, you could probably forgive it if it was just blood and thunder for an hour from them, but they had more football than us all through. The amount of hoofing was pathetic. 4-2-3-1 with Gerrard on the right is the only way forward given the personel available. What price Spearing to make his breakthrough this year?

amen to that brother:thumbup:

sorry missed them, went back on silvestre. anyhow. point was, the base was pretty similar.

Last post from me on the issue of the base we both came from and remember i said similar. The other issue of money spent is not up for debate as its a no brainer and the issue of success isn't either as they have been more successful. Instead of cherry picking players to suit arguments here are the squads from 2003-2004. 1 Jurek Dudek, 22 Chris Kirkland, 29 Patrice Luzi Defenders Carl Medjani, 2 Stephane Henchoz, 36 Jon Otsemobor, 3 Steve Finnan, John Welsh, 21 Djimi Traore, 4 Sami Hyypia, 15 Salif Diao, 23 Jamie Carragher Midfielders 16 Dietmar Hamann, 18 John Arne Riise, 13 Danny Murphy, 28 Bruno Cheyrou, 17 Steven Gerrard, 25 Igor Biscan, 11 Vladimir Smicer Forwards 10 Michael Owen, 9 El Hadji Diouf, 20 Anthony Le Tallec, 5 Milan Baros, 24 Florent Sinama Pongolle, 7 Harry Kewell, 8 Emile Heskey, 26 Richie Partridge 17 Lopez Felipe Ricardo, 1 Fabien Barthez, 13 Roy Carroll, 14 Tim Howard Defenders 5 Rio Ferdinand, 3 Philip Neville, 22 John O'Shea, 27 Mikael Silvestre, 2 Gary Neville, 6 Wesley Brown Midfielders 25 Quinton Fortune, 8 Nicky Butt, 15 Jos Pereira Kleberson(from 08/12/2003), 24 Darren Fletcher, 28 Mark Lynch, 19 Eric Djemba-Djemba, 16 Roy Keane, 23 Kieran Richardson, 26 Danny Pugh, 18 Paul Scholes, 11 Ryan Giggs Forwards 7 Cristiano Ronaldo, 10 Ruud Van Nistelrooy, 21 Diego Forlan, 20 Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, 12 David Bellion In my opinion we are better defensively(by a street), better in central midfield by a good bit, a fair bit weaker out wide even though Ronaldo was nowhere near the player he has become, and both level up front. I think they were similar bases. Thats my only point on the matter.

fair enough. I'll withdraw from the line of fire. In fairness, Rafa started it this time

Could be wrong but didn't rooney sign the close season that Rafa joined? I'd say Rafa was here before Rooney was with them. Not being pedantic(or maybe I am :) ) but that makes 4 players. Thats a big rebuilding job in anyones language. I'm not even attacking Rafa here, United completely rebuilt their team in that time and with similar(note I'm not saying less even thought it could be) money.

----------------Reina Bob-------Agger-------Carra-----Dossenna ---------Mascherano---Alonso/Barry Gerrard-----------Keane-----------Babel ------------------Torres Gerrard on the right will transform us and hopefully Babels stamina and confidence will be better

Same time as Rafa. they have rebuilt. Of the team that started the champions league final for them, how many were there the day Rafa started? I would say probably 3.

I'd disagree but as I say its open to dispute.

Nail on the head.

The part I have a problem with is that United rebuilt their entire squad/first team in that time for a similar cost and from a similar base(open to dispute from some but i stand by that). Rafa to me seems to be trying to justify the revolving door of shite policy but thankfully he seems to also be saying that he's seen the error of his ways.

I would be nice if you could try and not get personal. I have a problem with Rafa when he starts this shit

Are we allowed to question Rafa in this thread? I'd like to know the groundrules

If, and its a big if, Rafa really did turn down about 16 million for Kuyt, he'd want to have his head examined. Would be interesting to see if this happened 4 weeks back as obviously time is running out for bringing in replacements. That kind of money would probably get you Silva as an option for either wing.

Thanks but I'll pass on that. I always loved the way Mourinho had Ginsoak in a vice-like psychological grip. His head to head with him is unreal

oh dear