Rafa - is he any good? ;)

[Vermilion]

ffs, really confused me this, checked in on this thread, tried to get the gist of whether any news updates on Dic, by reading the posts, that did'nt help at all.

[Steve101]

The difference between when Wenger took over at Arsenal and when Rafa took over us is very big.

Wenger only really had Man U as the big threat and if they had a bad season then they could nick the title. We had a bad manager at that time and wasn't really a threat.

When Rafa took over he had Chelsea with their fantasy money, Man U with their big revenue stream and Arsenal with the squad Wenger had built up to compete with.

That makes a very big difference. If we would have a realistic chance to win the title then at least two of the other big clubs had to have a bad season.

agree with that AF, and i'd add that if i remember correctly he took over a solid team not in need of major overhaul, another big point.

[kemm1]

The difference between when Wenger took over at Arsenal and when Rafa took over us is very big.

Wenger only really had Man U as the big threat and if they had a bad season then they could nick the title. We had a bad manager at that time and wasn't really a threat.

When Rafa took over he had Chelsea with their fantasy money, Man U with their big revenue stream and Arsenal with the squad Wenger had built up to compete with.

That makes a very big difference. If we would have a realistic chance to win the title then at least two of the other big clubs had to have a bad season.

I agree with AFII

This pretty much summarizes my argument when comparing Rafa to Wenger, FergieScum and Maureen.

[BubbaZanetti]

[fah-q]

Who the **** is that?

[redstaralex]

been trying to find something about dic on here but it seems to be a Rafa thread, is there some code to find dic news?

[BubbaZanetti]

They are in fact...

[fah-q]

They were in Return of the Jedi?

[El Jefecito]

Yep, Man U have been able to buy 30 million pound players for a while now, chelsea have moneybags and even arsenal could take a 10 million pound punt on walcott. Its possible for us to spend big this summer but rafa will need to sell someone like alonso in addition to the carson and riise types.

Our Wingers:

1/ SpeedyG-3m
2/ Leto-2m
3/ Pennant-7m
5/ Yossi-6m

Those are guesses but that is only 18m. That's about the same as Nani!!!!! Of course we'll underperform when we have to settle for 2nd and 3rd best.

Chelsea spent big bucks on SWP and Robben. Arsenal spent big bucks on Reyes, Hleb and Rosciky. It has NOT been a level playing field.

If we'd got Alves, Simao and Aimar. Do you think we'd be playing better than today?

[Vermilion]

This is a red herring. They would not have guaranteed the loans for the initial purchase and working capital if they hadn't done a satisfactory due diligence.

Their sports teams may struggle, but these are real business men who've earnt billions and billions over their career.

Wow, What a horrible statement, "Their sports teams may struggle " & "who've earnt billions over Their career". A BLUNT reminder of what Liverpool Football Club & it's fan's have in store for the forseeable future. Oh my God. .......Over Dramatic ?

[rage]

I'll say one thing for Rafa though. If a player doesn't work out, he gets rid quite ruthlessly. If they don't prove themselves in a year, they're straight out the door.

i'll hold you to that regarding kuyt, voronin, leto and pennant who's already had a season too long.

some people think rafa hasn't had the money i think thats bull****. Let me present one simple example, babel, lucas and leto cost nearly 20 million. without passing judgment on either babel or lucas (leto is **** and will not make it!) that 20 million would have been better spent on a real left sided player. We didn't need another defensive midfielder (lucas is not skillful enough to be box to box, he hasn't got it in his locker to get past his man) nor did we really have the luxury of a striker/winger/front 3 in babel.

If there is a takeover rafa will/may be given a season. if we stay as we are under hicks i think he's off.

[rage]

Our Wingers:

1/ SpeedyG-3m
2/ Leto-2m
3/ Pennant-7m
5/ Yossi-6m

Those are guesses but that is only 18m. That's about the same as Nani!!!!! Of course we'll underperform when we have to settle for 2nd and 3rd best.

Chelsea spent big bucks on SWP and Robben. Arsenal spent big bucks on Reyes, Hleb and Rosciky. It has NOT been a level playing field.

If we'd got Alves, Simao and Aimar. Do you think we'd be playing better than today?

we spent 25 million on leto, yossi, babel and lucas combined. we could have bought any of them 3 with change to spare in the summer. rafa got his priorities wrong, it had nothing to do with how much money he had.

[El Jefecito]

i'll hold you to that regarding kuyt, voronin, leto and pennant who's already had a season too long.

some people think rafa hasn't had the money i think thats bull****. Let me present one simple example, babel, lucas and leto cost nearly 20 million. without passing judgment on either babel or lucas (leto is **** and will not make it!) that 20 million would have been better spent on a real left sided player. We didn't need another defensive midfielder (lucas is not skillful enough to be box to box, he hasn't got it in his locker to get past his man) nor did we really have the luxury of a striker/winger/front 3 in babel.

If there is a takeover rafa will/may be given a season. if we stay as we are under hicks i think he's off.

He can only get rid of those he can replace!

BTW Lucas is no defensive midfielder, but I'm sure you know that from watching him play for Brazil and Gremio. Who would you rather have Lucas + 2m or Momo?

Leto, if all you can afford is 2m for a LW then guess what, you're taking a chance. If we'd have had the money for Simao, ... We wouldn't have to be leaving positions unfilled in order to get quality players.

Hell for the last couple of years we only had 2 CHs in the team, then one more with Agger and until we got Skrtel we were screwed thats the problem with not filling out the squad properly.

[El Jefecito]

we spent 25 million on leto, yossi, babel and lucas combined. we could have bought any of them 3 with change to spare in the summer. rafa got his priorities wrong, it had nothing to do with how much money he had.

What good would the 2m spent on Leto do?

BTW Do you at least agree that our wingers quality is due to how little we have been able to spend on them vs. the top 3?

[rage]

What good would the 2m spent on Leto do?

BTW Do you at least agree that our wingers quality is due to how little we have been able to spend on them vs. the top 3?

no i think we haven't prioritised these positions. We didn't need to spend 2 million on leto and take a gamble in a priority position. I'd rather we put that 2 million to the 6 million for lucas, 6 or 7 for yossi and 11 million for babel and had 25 odd million for a quality winger.