Rafa Benitez tells Xabi Alonso: Step things up

[AFII]

I tell you what he can do about it....he can pick the RIGHT fecking players...you know, the ones who are actually better than the woeful bunch. And he can play them in their right positions. He can actually go out to WIN games and not adopt a cautious 'keep it tight and hopefully nick one when they are tired' approach And he can employ tactics which reflect the fact that we have a far better team than 15 of the 19 other PL clubs.

So you see, there are actually a few things he could do.

It's not rocket science either, loads of us have been banging on for MONTHS saying to drop kuyt and pick Crouch, because Crouch scores goals. How long has it taken Crouch to get a couple of starts?

Rafa's downfall (if that's what happens) is of his own making.

I'm not saying he can go on the pitch and win the games directly himself, but what he CAN do is select the right players, in the right positons and use the right tactics, in order to increase his chances of winning. His decision making at times, has virtually left us playing off a 'handicap' ffs.

Rafa couldn't more or less play Crouch more than he has done when you consider Crouch piss poor attitude in pre-season. Rafa can't play a player that don't care, can he? Kuyt showed that he care but he didn't deliver but at least he worked his socks off week in week out.

Lucas is probably our best left sided option when you consider the competition he has on that side so nothing wrong playing him there. Riise and Aurelio isn't exactly better options.

You know as well as me that the reason to why Rafa can't use an attacking tactic week in week out is because Hyypia is to slow and can't cope to play 100% week in week out so Rafa had to play a more defensive tactic after Agger got injured to save Hyypia from being totally burned out or injured. So there is a reason to his cautious tactic.

[desertscouser]

We simply can't match the big three so fourth is the best we can hope for, everything else is a bonus.

Nonsense. Pure nonsense.

Tell me AF, if right after our defeat in Athens someone told you Rafa would have 70 million + quid to spend on new players would you have said we couldn't match the 'big 3'? If you say yes you're either delusional or you're telling porkies.

And please do not go on about net spending. 70 million quid on new players. ie. bringing in real quality to bolster our first 11 is an absolute sh!t load of money and should've been enough for a title challenge. Painfully we seem to have gone backwards. And that's nowhere near good enough.

[desertscouser]

Rafa couldn't more or less play Crouch more than he has done when you consider Crouch piss poor attitude in pre-season. Rafa can't play a player that don't care, can he?

So you know for a fact Crouch had a piss poor attitude pre-season do you? Who told you? Rafa?

[AFII]

Nonsense. Pure nonsense.

Tell me AF, if right after our defeat in Athens someone told you Rafa would have 70 million + quid to spend on new players would you have said we couldn't match the 'big 3'? If you say yes you're either delusional or you're telling porkies.

And please do not go on about net spending. 70 million quid on new players. ie. bringing in real quality to bolster our first 11 is an absolute sh!t load of money and should've been enough for a title challenge. Painfully we seem to have gone backwards. And that's nowhere near good enough.

Yes, Rafa have spent around £70m and £70m wasn't enough when you consider the many wholes in the squad. It's a big difference between building a team capable of qualifying for the CL and being able to win the title.

Now he need to replace his £5m-£10m players with quality players and they cost a lot of money.

Now for £70m you will probably get one excellent striker, one excellent winger and one excellent fullback and a few youngsters. Nothing more than that. We would still be short of one excellent winger, one excellent striker, one excellent playmaker and one excellent fullback.

So, £70m wasn't enough to change good enough CL qualifying players to title winning players.

[AFII]

So you know for a fact Crouch had a piss poor attitude pre-season do you? Who told you? Rafa?

I looked at all our pre-season games. He WALKED around on the pitch.

[desertscouser]

Yes, Rafa have spent around £70m and £70m wasn't enough when you consider the many wholes in the squad. It's a big difference between building a team capable of qualifying for the CL and being able to win the title.

Now he need to replace his £5m-£10m players with quality players and they cost a lot of money.

Now for £70m you will probably get one excellent striker, one excellent winger and one excellent fullback and a few youngsters. Nothing more than that. We would still be short of one excellent winger, one excellent striker, one excellent playmaker and one excellent fullback.

So, £70m wasn't enough to change good enough CL qualifying players to title winning players.

Sorry AF but Rafa thought we'd challenge for the title, as did Stevie and Carra. Are you saying they were lying to us? You're just making excuses for Rafa and the players obvious shortcomings this season. 70 million quid should've been enough for a title challenge. This season thus far has been a huge failure.

let's agree to disagree on this one.

[desertscouser]

I looked at all our pre-season games. He WALKED around on the pitch.

As I suspected, your conclusion was based on pure speculation after watching a couple of pre-season games.

Crouch hasn't played much this season for on simple reason, Rafa prefers Kuyt up front.

[El Jefecito]

This season has just gone from great to disgraceful very quickly...

Our preseason looked good, the players brought in were decent and we were looking strong for a title challenge.

Then Pako left and team understandably started to struggle a little on the pitch.

Then came this HUGE, never ending debacle with Gillett, Hicks and Rafa. And now we also have this distraction of DIC hanging over our heads.

It has to take a toll and both the manager (looks to have aged 10 years this season) and the performances on the pitch.

I really think that once all this **** is out of the way, Rafa deserves one more season to show us what he's got. A season without distractions. A season concentrated purely on pitch performance. A preseason with his new coaching staff, owners that will not interfere and who will give their manager 100% support.

It's the least he deserves for what he has done here...

I think he'll need a couple of seasons. It's only this season that he has been able to get the match winning players that he has been looking for. I think that even Skrtel was a compromise as I think Garay was his first choice. Hopefully he can raise enough money to get decent wingers and an attacker that can ATTACK the numerous balls that our existing wingers are putting into the box. Crouch is way too static to make the most of the supply that he is getting from Pennant.

I think a Luca Toni type and a proper advanced playmaker (a la Digeo vs. Kuyt) are the missing pieces.

No?

[Dhav]

Crouch hasn't played much this season for on simple reason, Rafa prefers Kuyt up front.

And because when he did play, early season, he was piss poor.

[Craig_H]

Yes Syd, that's the black and white world of football management.

There are obviously other complications, but the table rarely lies at the latter stages of the season dhavlos...

[desertscouser]

And because when he did play, early season, he was piss poor.

Maybe so, but Kuyt was worse yet still played/plays. Baffling.

[Craig_H]

Rafa couldn't more or less play Crouch more than he has done when you consider Crouch piss poor attitude in pre-season. Rafa can't play a player that don't care, can he? Kuyt showed that he care but he didn't deliver but at least he worked his socks off week in week out.

Lucas is probably our best left sided option when you consider the competition he has on that side so nothing wrong playing him there. Riise and Aurelio isn't exactly better options.

You know as well as me that the reason to why Rafa can't use an attacking tactic week in week out is because Hyypia is to slow and can't cope to play 100% week in week out so Rafa had to play a more defensive tactic after Agger got injured to save Hyypia from being totally burned out or injured. So there is a reason to his cautious tactic.

Sorry mate, but this whole "Crouch's attitude" nonsense is just that, there were no signs of a bad attitude, he never whinged to the media, it was just an excuse rafa used and you're buying it....

*yawn*

Babel's our best option on the left and he never starts...

As for an attacking tactic every week - no, i never said that. But adapting our usual style for INFERIOR opponents is disgraceful.

[Dhav]

There are obviously other complications, but the table rarely lies at the latter stages of the season dhavlos...

Exactly Syd. Yes we have performed below our potential this season, but there are more factors at play here than what you suggest above. And I'd point out it's not the end of the season yet, we can still salvage something this season.

Maybe so, but Kuyt was worse yet still played/plays. Baffling.

Yes, I do agree with that, but at least early on in the season Kuyt seemed to be developing a burgeoning and promising partnership with Torres. Sadly even that has completely gone to pot lately

[Craig_H]

Exactly Syd. Yes we have performed below our potential this season, but there are more factors at play here than what you suggest above. And I'd point out it's not the end of the season yet, we can still salvage something this season.



Yes, I do agree with that, but at least early on in the season Kuyt seemed to be developing a burgeoning and promising partnership with Torres. Sadly even that has completely gone to pot lately

League-wise, what are we gonna salvage mate? The 4th spot, which should be ours with our eyes closed?

Or are we going to taste the glory of 'only' being 14 points off the league winners?

[Dhav]

Sorry mate, but this whole "Crouch's attitude" nonsense is just that, there were no signs of a bad attitude, he never whinged to the media, it was just an excuse rafa used and you're buying it....

*yawn*

Babel's our best option on the left and he never starts...

As for an attacking tactic every week - no, i never said that. But adapting our usual style for INFERIOR opponents is disgraceful.

In the same way that AFII may be wrong to take an assumption/rumour as gospel, I think you are wrong to dismiss it out of hand. AFII doesn't know for a fact that Crouch's attitude is poor. Likewise you don't know for a fact that his attitude has been spot on.

I think people have drawn their own conclusions about Crouch's attitude from what they've seen: Rafa criticising his attitude, his indifferent form, his workrate and effort which IMO does not match the levels of output of previous seasons; and from this people have the impression that his attitude is not right - not an unreasonable conclusion to arrive at IMO.