Is Rafa the right man for the job.

[Red Chilli]

tell you in a year

Good post kopdan.

THe thing is Rafa has proven he's a winner already. He hasn't,we're led to believe, been given the resources he feels he needs to complete the job and challenge for the title.
Once the takeover is complete, there should be adequate investment in the team. Rafa will be given the money he needs to challenge for the title. If he can't do it, then he may find himself under pressure.
For now, he's achieved more than he was expected to 3 years ago.

[Maestro]

Personally I think he is; but for those who don't, please suggest who you think would be right for the job.

I agree.
If you're going to pose a question like that, IMO, you have to come up with an alternative.
People forget also that recruiting a new manager usually leads to tremendous upheaval which usually sets the club back a year or more.

Remember that since the dawn of the Premiership in 1992, a total of FOUR managers have won it.

[Bob]

I agree.
If you're going to pose a question like that, IMO, you have to come up with an alternative.
People forget also that recruiting a new manager usually leads to tremendous upheaval which usually sets the club back a year or more.

Remember that since the dawn of the Premiership in 1992, a total of FOUR managers have won it.

He did suggest a Mourinho-type manager... who did win the league in his first season... albeit by being bank-rolled.

[Maestro]

He did suggest a Mourinho-type manager... who did win the league in his first season... albeit by being bank-rolled.

??
A Mourinho-type manager?
Er...what??

[Bob]

??
A Mourinho-type manager?
Er...what??

Sorry, a Mourinho scenario. He was asking people for who THEY thought could come in and improve the management like Maureen DID at Chelsea i.e. Win the PL at his first attempt.

[Fierce]

Alves, Villa, Aguero, Higuain, Walcott and Denilson is just a few examples of players that Rafa wanted but couldn't afford.

With the exception of Alves, did you make the rest up??

[Frank Leroux]

I agree.
If you're going to pose a question like that, IMO, you have to come up with an alternative.
People forget also that recruiting a new manager usually leads to tremendous upheaval which usually sets the club back a year or more.

Remember that since the dawn of the Premiership in 1992, a total of FOUR managers have won it.

Maestro (are you ViennaMaestro?) - I don't agree with the idea that because you suggest a problem you must also suggest a solution. I had never heard of Benitez before he got linked to us. Mourinho? Who (before Porto knocked Utd out)? I don't know who's out there.

I'm afraid that Benitez's style of play is too, eh, regimented (maybe) for the English league. He buys players - and sets teams up - to get a hold of a game by suffocation (like Houllier - but further up the pitch) before releasing the hounds to go win the game. I know nothing about the Spanish league but if the stereotype of the patient continental style holds true then it adds up in my mind.

So, as far as a possible replacement is concerned - IF it ever comes to that - it would have to be a Wenger/Ferguson-type who plays a higher tempo. Not Mourinho - he strangles.

I'm not sure but I can't see the Blackburn team who won the title being a specifcally 'possession'- based passing team. I don't think it's an accident that Dalglish, Ferguson and Wenger have managed PL winning sides.....

Frank.

[Bob]

Maestro (are you ViennaMaestro?) - I don't agree with the idea that because you suggest a problem you must also suggest a solution. I had never heard of Benitez before he got linked to us. Mourinho? Who (before Porto knocked Utd out)? I don't know who's out there.

I'm afraid that Benitez's style of play is too, eh, regimented (maybe) for the English league. He buys players - and sets teams up - to get a hold of a game by suffocation (like Houllier - but further up the pitch) before releasing the hounds to go win the game. I know nothing about the Spanish league but if the stereotype of the patient continental style holds true then it adds up in my mind.

So, as far as a possible replacement is concerned - IF it ever comes to that - it would have to be a Wenger/Ferguson-type who plays a higher tempo. Not Mourinho - he strangles.

I'm not sure but I can't see the Blackburn team who won the title being a specifcally 'possession'- based passing team. I don't think it's an accident that Dalglish, Ferguson and Wenger have managed PL winning sides.....

Frank.

Excellent post. Welcome.

[nbryan1764]

I cannot believe that some people are doubting or saying that the jury's out. In three years we have gone from also rans to challengers. We maybe too far away in the league today but in actual terms we are closer than we have been for a few years. Yes Rafa has had some tactical abhorations (particularly in his first season) and he has bought some players who haven't been a success...who hasn't done that? Overall though he has been a revelation. He has made our squad far better end of. Tactically he is sound but sometimes we have fallen short because we still lack some quality (and more to do with lack of resource I would say and not bad buying).

He is the best we have had since Paisley. He will be a legend for us and this time next year I hope we can revisit this thread and wonder what the **** we were doing even daring to question his ability when we are sat comfortably at the top looking down at all and sundry.

[Maestro]

Maestro (are you ViennaMaestro?) - I don't agree with the idea that because you suggest a problem you must also suggest a solution. I had never heard of Benitez before he got linked to us. Mourinho? Who (before Porto knocked Utd out)? I don't know who's out there.

I'm afraid that Benitez's style of play is too, eh, regimented (maybe) for the English league. He buys players - and sets teams up - to get a hold of a game by suffocation (like Houllier - but further up the pitch) before releasing the hounds to go win the game. I know nothing about the Spanish league but if the stereotype of the patient continental style holds true then it adds up in my mind.

So, as far as a possible replacement is concerned - IF it ever comes to that - it would have to be a Wenger/Ferguson-type who plays a higher tempo. Not Mourinho - he strangles.

I'm not sure but I can't see the Blackburn team who won the title being a specifcally 'possession'- based passing team. I don't think it's an accident that Dalglish, Ferguson and Wenger have managed PL winning sides.....

Frank.

Great Post mate.
Welcome
I am indeed The Artist Formerly Known As Viennamaestro.
Do I know you from KT?

[steveheighwayrobbery]

Why?Does Rafa have 100% backing off all `pool supporters.
Remember what happened to Ranieri(SP) when Roman took over Chelski.

yeh but he was ****

[Frank Leroux]

Great Post mate.
Welcome
I am indeed The Artist Formerly Known As Viennamaestro.
Do I know you from KT?

Yeh, formally ednamillion. I remember you as being the other one who rated Hleb whilst he was at Stuttgart.

Frank.

[spud_gun]

yeh but he was ****

He might have been **** but he bought the majority of their best players.

[Joe Le Toff]

Rafa's certainly the man for the job. If you think about how far away we were from winning the league in the last year with Houllier, it was frightening.



When I say that, I mean that it wasn't just a matter of points on the board. It was the football we were playing, it was the strength of the squad, and other sour aspects of that last 18 months. It was always going to take time and money to make up the gap and start taking that extra step towards winning the league.


Given infinite money and a squad that had already finished second the previous year, Mourinho found it was no problem to top the Premiership in his first year. To expect Rafa to zoom past Arsenal, the Scum, and the Chavs straight-away - or within 2 or 3 seasons - was just unrealistic.



Some people will say that we haven't seen enough progress to suggest that we can win the league under Rafa. I disagree. Considering the massive rebuilding work that was needed, I'd say we're getting there. The new spine of a team (Reina, Agger, Xabi, and Kuyt) to win the league is there. Whether other buys will stay the distance (Pennant, Bellamy, for example) is anybody's guess (I think those two have done ok, not brilliant, but not as terrible as the hysterics on here and elsewhere would have you believe).


A Rafa team plays as a gestalt, and if even one bit is off (if the left back isn't covering the ground he should, something like that for example), it affects the way the whole team functions. But when it goes right, it's devastating. It might not play non-stop buccaneering football the way Arsenal do, for example, but it'll wreck a team by other means. Someone on here described his Valencia team as a 'punishing machine'. That's what it felt like that fabled night when they beat us at Anfield. It wasn't just that they beat us. The depressing part was that there didn't seem to be anyway at all we could beat them. They scored, then a mixture of ball retention and super-organized defending murdered us.


That's a digression though. What I meant is that building a team that plays in this way takes time and equanimity. There will be trips and falls along the way, but I feel that even this season with its horrible start we've shown enough progress to suggest we're getting there. I'm sick of waiting, but it'll take a little more patience yet.

Very good post

[Frank Leroux]

He is the best we have had since Paisley. He will be a legend for us and this time next year I hope we can revisit this thread and wonder what the **** we were doing even daring to question his ability when we are sat comfortably at the top looking down at all and sundry.

nbryan1764,

I absolutely hope you are correct - and despite being a (not quite Olympic standard) lurker I will be one of the first to admit the error in my judgement.

I really like Benitez - a wonderful counterpoint to Mourinho. I am delighted he brought in number 5 and I'd love it to be he who brings in number 19.

...I'm just not putting the mortgage on it.

Frank.