Post match - Marseille

[Kilteragh]

Oh, I didn't think it was the Hollywood actor.

It was the C&W singer GH IV

[fah-q]

[Red Chilli]

Rafa gave up the challenge for 4th in 2005 in favour of the Champions league.

I was spitting blood at the time, calling for his head etc, then my fickleness got the better of me in Istanbul.

He knows what he's doing

[Milan_Milan]

I don't think I'm insane at all.

I see him whipping off our two best players to concentrate on the Marseille game with 20 minutes of the match left.

And I wonder where the priority is.

Was 3 points against Reading not as important as the Marseille game?

I guess the honest answer is I don't know. We'll see come the end of the season whether Rafa made the right decision or not. Virtually everything he does is geared towards long-term success.

He did sacrifice the reading game to a certain extent (though the players he sent out should have been able to do the job). Who knows if it's going to pay off.

[AFII]

AF your like a broekn record with the ref thing. We should have bet reading iregardless. The same ref did not give carra a yellow card for the peno?

When a ref get THREE penalty decisions wrong and all of them going one way then it's very difficult not to blame the ref.

He should also have sent one Reading player off, he was the last man in our second penalty incident.

Carra should have got a yellow but I would rather have taken that instead of a pen.

[Rashid]

I am so ****ing happy tonight. 8 nil, 4 - 1 and 4 nil. How the **** did we not coast this group? Goes to show the importance of attacking **** teams.

We answered a lot of the forums questions tonight - Kewell is great unless he is injured, Torres is world class without question the most exciting signing we have made since John Barnes and Steven Gerrard can play CM without a doubt - he has been amazing.

It just goes to show that with a simplistic formation, with a remit to attack we can go anywhere (and Marseille is not an easy place to go) and get a result. With the same attitude we would have battered Reading last weekend.

I am well made up with how with how we are playing and the attitude of the players, Marseille needed a win tonight too so it wasn't as if the game was dead.

Special mention too for Mascherano- who was world class tonight.

[Kilteragh]

Ah yes. Yet another reminder of the disaster that was The Godfather III.

[Red Chilli]

I am so ****ing happy tonight. 8 nil, 4 - 1 and 4 nil. How the **** did we not coast this group? Goes to show the importance of attacking **** teams.

We answered a lot of the forums questions tonight - Kewell is great unless he is injured, Torres is world class without question the most exciting signing we have made since John Barnes and Steven Gerrard can play CM without a doubt - he has been amazing.

It just goes to show that with a simplistic formation, with a remit to attack we can go anywhere (and Marseille is not an easy place to go) and get a result. With the same attitude we would have battered Reading last weekend.

I am well made up with how with how we are playing and the attitude of the players, Marseille needed a win tonight too so it wasn't as if the game was dead.

Special mention too for Mascherano- who was world class tonight.

El Matageo has hacked into Rashid's username

[Kilteragh]

I am so ****ing happy tonight.

[AFII]

Rafa gave up the challenge for 4th in 2005 in favour of the Champions league.

I was spitting blood at the time, calling for his head etc, then my fickleness got the better of me in Istanbul.

He knows what he's doing

Some of our members in here thinks that they are a better manager than Rafa.

That's what I call laughable.

[AFII]

I am so ****ing happy tonight. 8 nil, 4 - 1 and 4 nil. How the **** did we not coast this group? Goes to show the importance of attacking **** teams.

We answered a lot of the forums questions tonight - Kewell is great unless he is injured, Torres is world class without question the most exciting signing we have made since John Barnes and Steven Gerrard can play CM without a doubt - he has been amazing.

It just goes to show that with a simplistic formation, with a remit to attack we can go anywhere (and Marseille is not an easy place to go) and get a result. With the same attitude we would have battered Reading last weekend.

I am well made up with how with how we are playing and the attitude of the players, Marseille needed a win tonight too so it wasn't as if the game was dead.

Special mention too for Mascherano- who was world class tonight.

Now I'm confused.

[Red Chilli]

Some of our members in here thinks that they are a better manager than Rafa.

That's what I call laughable.

Sure, but he's not infallible.

For example, he keeps playing 2 defensive midfielders for the odd game

[CharlieMansonsSquint]

be honest, the reading game was lost well before gerard and torres were taken off. any other players get taken off and replaced and we had still lost, nowt would have been said. the game plan we had against reading wasn't working so why not take off gerard and torres? wasn't as if the players coming on were ****. i would have done same thing and kept our best players from getting injured for big game tonight. well done rafa for having the bollocks to make another big decision!!!!

I can't ****in believe what I'm reading.

You think he made the right decision not to fight for vital league points.

Is that correct?

There was still 20 minutes of that game left, remember Istanbul? With the right mindset we could've turned that around, and gotten something from the game.

Would Wenger, Demento or the Chavs under Mourinho have quit on a game like that?

No they bloody wouldn't, and that's why they've won the league and we haven't.

[mick the click]

jamie and gerrard didnt exactly back the manager in there interviews!!

They didn't, but their body language was... uncomfortable...IMHO

They'd've been damned if they said anything but what they said - they did a good corporate number there...

I think the fact that we get ****ted by Reading (with a controversial lineup - and feck knows what goes on in training etc) and then come out and play like this (when everyone looks as if they know what they're doing) still doesn't sit right with me...I just can't work it out.

Regardless...ace result...now for Manure

(Rafa - please do not put Reina on the wing and Crouch in goal for this one...ta)

[AFII]

Sure, but he's not infallible.

For example, he keeps playing 2 defensive midfielders for the odd game