Where did it all go wrong Rafa?

[bazza76]

I have a gut feeling Rafa will not be here next season. If we are still 2 or 3 years away from the top, in his opinion, I think the lure of those b'stardas at Madrid may be too much this summer.

I will be devatstaed if he goes, absolutely devsasted.

I think he will be here,
I look at it like this, he WILL be backed and re-assured by our new owners.
He is painting a masterpiece, when he is assured that everything is in place for Rafa to build for the future he will finish his masterpiece.
Too much work is being done for Rafa to turn his back on what is going on IMO. How can he just walk away from a club that is giving him total control of all things football related on the pitch, youth set up etc to go to a club that is notoriously hard on managers. The door will always be open at Real, surely Rafa is aware of this.
Do you
Does anyone think Leonardo da Vinci could have just walked away from the Mona Lisa halfway through painting her smile?.
I dont, and I dont think Rafa will walk away from LFC either, not for a while yet anyway.

[Joe Le Toff]

If i was manager of a club in a foreign country, regardless of their size, and Liverpool approached me to return home and be their next manager, i would be off, masterpiece or no masterpiece.
Real are Rafa's club, and i suspect this may happen sooner rather than later, unless Rafa is playing games to secure more finance for players.

[Bob]

Its very dissapointing to be some 21 points adrift from the top again, with 8 games to go.

This progress we hear about is where exactly? People can say we're a better team now than we were 3 years ago, but at the end of the day progress is relative to the progress made by other teams and on that basis we haven't progressed at all.

In my opinion, as has been mentioned, Rafa has purchased too many workhorses and not enough class. Maybe this will now change in the summer.

Lets just hope that we can do it in the CL, I really do think we've got a great chance, just a pity little Luis won't be there.

It'll be thirty before the close.

[Bob]

If i was manager of a club in a foreign country, regardless of their size, and Liverpool approached me to return home and be their next manager, i would be off, masterpiece or no masterpiece.
Real are Rafa's club, and i suspect this may happen sooner rather than later, unless Rafa is playing games to secure more finance for players.

I agree.

[bazza76]

If i was manager of a club in a foreign country, regardless of their size, and Liverpool approached me to return home and be their next manager, i would be off, masterpiece or no masterpiece.
Real are Rafa's club, and i suspect this may happen sooner rather than later, unless Rafa is playing games to secure more finance for players.

Your forgetting something here.
The door will always be open at Real Madrid for Rafa, it will never be closed, even if he does go back, how long would his job be safe for?. Ok he doesnt win the CL or LA Liga for one season and he is off.
Rafa can stay at LFC, build a legacy here, really set himself in stone as a legendary manager here, building a great side with the freedom he wouldnt get at Real Madrid.
Yes, Madrid are his team, but they are not going anywhere, and in managerial terms, Rafa is still a young manager.

[Joe Le Toff]

Your forgetting something here.
The door will always be open at Real Madrid for Rafa, it will never be closed, even if he does go back, how long would his job be safe for?. Ok he doesnt win the CL or LA Liga for one season and he is off.
Rafa can stay at LFC, build a legacy here, really set himself in stone as a legendary manager here, building a great side with the freedom he wouldnt get at Real Madrid.
Yes, Madrid are his team, but they are not going anywhere, and in managerial terms, Rafa is still a young manager.

Im not forgetting it mate, and i take your points, but there must come a time when Rafa would think that Real arent going to constantly keep coming back to him.
If the next manager of Real starts winning trophies then it could be a good few years before theyre looking again, and i wonder whether Rafa will take that chance.

[bazza76]

Im not forgetting it mate, and i take your points, but there must come a time when Rafa would think that Real arent going to constantly keep coming back to him.
If the next manager of Real starts winning trophies then it could be a good few years before theyre looking again, and i wonder whether Rafa will take that chance.

personally, I would, i know its easy to say as i am a LFC fan.
But I honestly do think, Real being his team or not, he would be making a mistake going to Madrid at this present time, I also dont think he has anything to be worried about when it comes to the door at Madrid not being open, there are Presidential elections every year.
just my opinion

[willa1975]

The difference between the Mancs and us this year--two wingers and a striker. I don't think it's coincidence that our best run in the league this year came when Pennant had his best run of form and Bellamy was scoring.

Compare the overall quality and form this year of Ronaldo and Giggs to Pennant and Gonzalez--I don't think there is any real comparison. And, while Rooney and Saha haven't been overly prolific, I'd still bet on either of them over Kuyt/Crouch/Bellamy to convert a half-chance.

Unfortunately, a lot of it comes down to money. United have the funds to buy the quality players that they want, while we have, in the past couple of years, had to bargain-shop. Now, there's nothing wrong with picking up a class player like Agger for a modest transfer fee, but landing that quality of player for that kind of money is definitely the exception to the rule.

I'm sure we'd have quite a few more points this term if we had had the funds to sign Duff from Blackburn, Eto'o when Ged wanted him a couple of years ago, and Alves this past summer.

I'm optimistic about the next couple of seasons, though. We have a deep squad, and I really think we're at the point where two or three big signings could give us that extra bit of quality that makes the difference between the top sides who can play poorly but still snatch three points and our current level, where we have to play well to win and still often find that, in the end, the scoreboard does not reflect our dominance of the game. And, with Hicks and Gillett, we should have the funds to push through the sort of transfers that we've backed out on a few times too many over the past couple of years.