All those who want Rafa sacked...

[Pacman]

He was playing well towards the end of last season, particularly in Europe, but it didn't seem to matter a **** when it came to Athens.

Rafa's failure to pick Crouch for that match was one of the worst decisions in his time at the club but it wasn't the first time he didn't go with a player in form and instead went with some misguided tactical approach. It happened earlier in the season in the league, cost us points and left us floundering in a race for 3rd.

I'm sorry mate but again I totally disagree.

[Guest]

shakes head in disbelief

Why, I can have an opinion right ? FFS !

[bigfooty]

There is no way of knowing.

Soon as I saw that team my heart sank. We'd played that formation twice earlier in the season, losing 2-0 away to Man Utd and then drawing 0-0 away to Man City in April. A Man City team that were so rank they didn't even score at home after New Year's Day.

Here's the team from the Man City game:
Reina, Finnan, Agger, Carra, Arbeloa, Pennant, Mascherano, Alonso, Gerrard, Riise and Kuyt.

Here's the team from Athens:
Reina, Finnan, Agger, Carra, Riise, Pennant, Mascherano, Alonso, Gerrard, Zenden and Kuyt.

Only one different player.

I remember that Man City game as I was doing updates on Koptalk and Riise (playing LM) was frequently the guy playing as the furthest forward in the box. Which says it all really. Quite why the Benitez brains trust though it would yield more goals against Milan than Man City I'm not sure.

Oh and one of the games that caused the most frustration this season? Blackburn away, where yet again we went with Kuyt up top on his own.

[Craig_H]

tbh its not just him im talking about,unfortunatily theres quite a few who are like that,all this RCDNW bollox and blindly supporting rafa is such a rediculous argument.

and its so obvious that their on a wind up because the smugness in their post when saying it very clear to see that its as i said,laughable.

Blindly supporting any manager is ridiculous, and i support the club, not Rafael Benitez FC.

But that's not to say i dont love him, because i do. I just dont consider him permanently safe in the job WHATEVER happens, as some seem to.

If we finished 5th and missed the CL, Rafa would be sacked and rightly so - we're MILES better than the 5th best side and the gulf in class should mean we dont come remotely close to missing out on a top four position. If we did, serious questions would HAVE to be asked.

So no, i dont blindly back him regardless of how we perform.

[Manofthebog]

This thread is getting daft here guys.

Anyone wanna see Reece's new gymnastics move?

[Pacman]

Soon as I saw that team my heart sank. We'd played that formation twice earlier in the season, losing 2-0 away to Man Utd and then drawing 0-0 away to Man City in April. A Man City team that were so rank they didn't even score at home after New Year's Day.

Here's the team from the Man City game:
Reina, Finnan, Agger, Carra, Arbeloa, Pennant, Mascherano, Alonso, Gerrard, Riise and Kuyt.

Here's the team from Athens:
Reina, Finnan, Agger, Carra, Riise, Pennant, Mascherano, Alonso, Gerrard, Zenden and Kuyt.

Only one different player.

I remember that Man City game as I was doing updates on Koptalk and Riise (playing LM) was frequently the guy playing as the furthest forward in the box. Which says it all really. Quite why the Benitez brains trust though it would yield more goals against Milan than Man City I'm not sure.

Oh and one of the games that caused the most frustration this season? Blackburn away, where yet again we went with Kuyt up top on his own.

So you would have played 4-4-2?

If so could the fact that the last time we played Milan and started with a 4-4-2 formation and got humped beyond belief have any possible bearing on Rafa's team selection?

[CharlieMansonsSquint]

Why, I can have an opinion right ? FFS !

Calm down dear, I was merely stating mine.

[Rafa Shankly]

Where did you see me arguing that he should be sacked?

All those who want Rafa sacked...
where in that title does the name DJS appear?

the thread is aimed at those who announced to us all that they thought it was time for rafa to be sacked.

my quote is aimed at those people.

[Craig_H]

Why, I can have an opinion right ? FFS !

Only if you dont think you're opinion is correct

[Guest]

Calm down dear, I was merely stating mine.

[Manofthebog]

Calm down dear, I was merely stating mine.

Can someone please remove Michael Winner from the building.

[Shaggy]

Soon as I saw that team my heart sank. We'd played that formation twice earlier in the season, losing 2-0 away to Man Utd and then drawing 0-0 away to Man City in April. A Man City team that were so rank they didn't even score at home after New Year's Day.

Here's the team from the Man City game:
Reina, Finnan, Agger, Carra, Arbeloa, Pennant, Mascherano, Alonso, Gerrard, Riise and Kuyt.

Here's the team from Athens:
Reina, Finnan, Agger, Carra, Riise, Pennant, Mascherano, Alonso, Gerrard, Zenden and Kuyt.

Only one different player.

I remember that Man City game as I was doing updates on Koptalk and Riise (playing LM) was frequently the guy playing as the furthest forward in the box. Which says it all really. Quite why the Benitez brains trust though it would yield more goals against Milan than Man City I'm not sure.

Oh and one of the games that caused the most frustration this season? Blackburn away, where yet again we went with Kuyt up top on his own.

I agree mate, totally.

I was at Man City last season and we were totally abysmal – against very poor opposition. I was also at Man United when Kuyt, bafflingly, was deployed as a (hopeless) lone frontman. Again, we were woeful, against albeit high class opposition.

My heart also sank when I saw the team-sheet for Athens.

[Skillz]

This thread is getting daft here guys.

Anyone wanna see Reece's new gymnastics move?

**** yeah

[bigfooty]

So you would have played 4-4-2?

Perhaps, but I also would have been fine with going 4-5-1 with Crouch as the lone striker because we'd done that before and it had actually worked. When I say "that formation" I'm generally referring to playing Kuyt as some lone wolf target man with Gerrard off him. Kuyt has now demonstrated he just cannot play that role effectively and, sadly for us, one of those games was against our oldest rivals and the other was one of the biggest games in our club's history.

[Pacman]

I agree mate, totally.

I was at Man City last season and we were totally abysmal – against very poor opposition. I was also at Man United when Kuyt, bafflingly, was deployed as a (hopeless) lone frontman. Again, we were woeful, against albeit high class opposition.

My heart also sank when I saw the team-sheet for Athens.

Remember Istanbul?

We started 4-4-2 and got humped.