All those who want Rafa sacked...

[Pacman]

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.

Do you not think Rafa might have been worried that if we went 4-4-2 we may well have been 3-0 down at half time like we were in Istanbul?

[Shaggy]

Remember Istanbul?

We started 4-4-2 and got humped.

I’m not talking about 4-4-2 mate. I would’ve been perfectly happy with Crouch at the spearhead of a 4-5-1. That actually worked last season whereas playing Kuyt up front on his own in a 4-5-1 is tantamount to playing 4-6-0.

And I said exactly as much in the build-up to the Athens final.

[Shaggy]

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.

Oh ...you said almost exactly the same thing.

[Skillz]

If you were the owner and spent £50M in the summer to buy players who your manager wanted to improve the squad, and make a proper challenge to win the league and yet you still finish 3rd like the previous season, What would you do?

If I was the owner, I'd really hesitate to sack him and ask my board to take a decision.
I was the manager, I would give my resignation.

The simplest way I could put this is to say if I spent 50mill pounds in the summer I would of done so having a plan. Not a knee jerk 12month plan, but a big **** off long term one.

[Rafa Shankly]

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.

but who blindly supports him?

we all support the club,and we all have a rant in frustration after a bad game but at the same time the majority of us realize that a mans job can not be decided on the basis of a few games.

we also realize that were probably not going to get a better manager than rafa if we do sack him.

[CharlieMansonsSquint]

Can someone please remove Michael Winner from the building.

turns gun on self

[Pacman]

I’m not talking about 4-4-2 mate. I would’ve been perfectly happy with Crouch at the spearhead of a 4-5-1. That actually worked last season whereas playing Kuyt up front on his own in a 4-5-1 is tantamount to playing 4-6-0.

And I said exactly as much in the build-up to the Athens final.

But that's because you don't rate Kuyt.

Personally with the exception of Zenden I would have gone with that team and tbh if Gerrard had been a bit more composed we could of easily have won the game.

[Manofthebog]

but who blindly supports him?

we all support the club,and we all have a rant in frustration after a bad game but at the same time the majority of us realize that a mans job can not be decided on the basis of a few games.

we also realize that were probably not going to get a better manager than rafa if we do sack him.

[Pacman]

but who blindly supports him?

we all support the club,and we all have a rant in frustration after a bad game but at the same time the majority of us realize that a mans job can not be decided on the basis of a few games.

we also realize that were probably not going to get a better manager than rafa if we do sack him.

[bigfooty]

Do you not think Rafa might have been worried that if we went 4-4-2 we may well have been 3-0 down at half time like we were in Istanbul?

First of all I think we were generally a better team than in Istanbul, as you would expect considering the money we had spent since then, maybe even outspending Milan. Agger might have dealt better with counter-attacks than Sami, for example. Also I think most of us accept that not starting Didi in that game was a key factor in going 3-0 down.

[Pacman]

First of all I think we were generally a better team than in Istanbul, as you would expect considering the money we had spent since then, maybe even outspending Milan. Agger might have dealt better with counter-attacks than Sami, for example. Also I think most of us accept that not starting Didi in that game was a key factor in going 3-0 down.

But that's my point.

We needed 2 holding midfielders hence Alonso and Mascher playing and Gerrard playing behind Kuyt.

[tomasjj]

First of all I think we were generally a better team than in Istanbul, as you would expect considering the money we had spent since then, maybe even outspending Milan. Agger might have dealt better with counter-attacks than Sami, for example. Also I think most of us accept that not starting Didi in that game was a key factor in going 3-0 down.

Ok. But how did we play against AC Milan in Athens?
Did we deserve something?

Did Rafa get it completely wrong?

I honestly thought we did quite well. Remember the occasion is huge and we are up against one of the best teams in the world.
We were again, to be honest, punching a bit above our weight even if we hate to admit it. (IMO much down to Rafa being a tactical genious in Europe.)
I see us as a Quarter to Semi-final CL team based on todays squad.

[bigfooty]

But that's my point.

We needed 2 holding midfielders hence Alonso and Mascher playing and Gerrard playing behind Crouch.

[Le Chacal]

Only one was needed. Mascherano behind Gerrard was enough.
Rafa lost us that final, playing Kuyt alone up front and then taking Mascher off.

[Pacman]

In your opinion others would of picked kuyt (me)