Question for those who dont want rafa gone...

[1 True Red]

Sentimentaly i dont want Rafa gone, But a line has to be drawn somewhere with regards to his strange and often negative tactics. Bizarre lineups, And strange substitutions.

If he was to cut all these out then i would be willing to give him more time, But he wont.

Again i agree 100%

[Robster007]

You (and many others on here) assume that anyone who supports Rafa and wants him to stay agrees with everything he does, and feels he never makes a mistake or gets anything wrong. It's quite frankly patronising and boring.

[Dhav]

I think from a psychological angle the loss of Pako and the decision to not replace him with another assistant has been massive. With all the off field bull**** I think that Rafa's cold approach to player relations needed to be counter balanced by someone who dealt with the players on a more personable level.

I also think that Rafa needs someone to work ideas off whether he thinks that or not. I think rotating players who are not brimming with confidence may be part of the problem. I don't intrinsically think rotation is a problem but if you want to change systems then players need to have real belief.

I would still like to give Rafa another year but only if he accepts the need to make changes and the one I would demand is that he has a proper assistant with the qualities outlined to some extent above.

I agree with this. The loss of Pako has proven to be massive, and why Rafa hasn't actively sought to replace him is beyond me - I think it points to Rafa's stubborness again. Like you say Dave, Rafa needs to accept that certain methods of his need to be refined somewhat.

Can I just ask though what DJS was trying to achieve with this thread? Because the original post is worded in such a patronising "I told you so" tone, and does the usual DJS thing of pigeon-holing posters that I really wonder. No disrespect to you DJS but that's how it comes across.

[Nic83]

"You (and many others on here) assume that anyone who supports Rafa and wants him to stay agrees with everything he does, and feels he never makes a mistake or gets anything wrong. It's quite frankly patronising and boring."

We don't assume. These big Rafa fans on here that you're talking about actually come on here and tell us that he never does anything wrong and that it's all down to the players or Gillette and Hicks, and that's what drives us mad.

[Red_hot]

"You (and many others on here) assume that anyone who supports Rafa and wants him to stay agrees with everything he does, and feels he never makes a mistake or gets anything wrong. It's quite frankly patronising and boring."

We don't assume. These big Rafa fans on here that you're talking about actually come on here and tell us that he never does anything wrong and that it's all down to the players or Gillette and Hicks, and that's what drives us mad.

No we don't. I've never seen any post from anyone saying Rafa does no wrong! That's something invented by the likes of you and DJS.

[Nic83]

Maybe I should have said that they don't acknowledge the fact that these players they're on about under performing, are Rafa's signings/selections and they don't realise that if you persist with ****e, you get ****e!

IE: We've been struggling to score more than 1 goal at home lately. People blame Kuyt for this. This is wrong as Kuyt can only do what he can do (which is **** all) but it's reallydown to Rafa to realise this and get rid. You can't blame an elephant for being an elephant. Or you can't blame a *****r for being a *****r but you can choose to stay away.

they may not actually say it, but their posts imply it.

[Roboklopp]

I think from a psychological angle the loss of Pako and the decision to not replace him with another assistant has been massive. With all the off field bull**** I think that Rafa's cold approach to player relations needed to be counter balanced by someone who dealt with the players on a more personable level.

I also think that Rafa needs someone to work ideas off whether he thinks that or not. I think rotating players who are not brimming with confidence may be part of the problem. I don't intrinsically think rotation is a problem but if you want to change systems then players need to have real belief.

I would still like to give Rafa another year but only if he accepts the need to make changes and the one I would demand is that he has a proper assistant with the qualities outlined to some extent above.

Aye.

Who would you like to see as #2 then?

[Dhav]

No we don't. I've never seen any post from anyone saying Rafa does no wrong! That's something invented by the likes of you and DJS.

Posts like Nic's above and DJS's opening post in this thread is exactly what is going wrong with this place at the moment IMO. Far too many people criticising the posters rather than the opinions. Pidgeon-holing posters as RCDNW and so on and talking a patronising view of them :whatever:

[dww]

The only person obviously available and who has at least some of the required qualities is Sammy Lee. However I don't how a/ the players get on with him or b/ how strong he is with his own ideas. I thought the style he tried to add to Bolton was good although his judgment of players seemed less so - we could benefit from the person coming in having a more attacking mentality than Rafa. However whether Sammy has the motivational skills would be open to question.

The only other person who I can think of in the English game would be Gary Johnson. He has over the years shown himself a good motivator and a flexible tactician. Not sure if he would give up a managerial position though.

I think Gary Mac who will no doubt be mentioned by others has the experience needed. I'd like him to gain it though and possibly come in to our setup in the future.

[Roboklopp]

Aye, Gary Mac is always a good shout.

What about Thommo or even KK (if, by some miracle, he could be talked into it)?

TBH, cannot see the latter not clashing with Rafa, but just throwing the suggestion into the ring.

[Nic83]

Posts like Nic's above and DJS's opening post in this thread is exactly what is going wrong with this place at the moment IMO. Far too many people criticising the posters rather than the opinions. Pidgeon-holing posters as RCDNW and so on and talking a patronising view of them :whatever:

*yawn* and some would see posts like yours having a go at us for OUR opinions as "what's going wrong with this place at the moment"

what should "this place be like" then king dhavlos? Everyone behind rafa and everythings rosie with LFC struggling for mid table?

ZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

[dww]

Aye, Gary Mac is always a good shout.

What about Thommo or even KK (if, by some miracle, he could be talked into it)?

TBH, cannot see the latter not clashing with Rafa, but just throwing the suggestion into the ring.

I love Thommo but I think his style while more go forward contains too much long ball. We need someone who counter acts the bad tendencies of our current team (i.e. now when we need a different option we hoof to Crouch where we used to bring on the guile of Garcia and I want to go back). He was also by repute a disciplinarian which is not what I feel needs to be added to the team.

I think KK would want too much control and has been out of front line coaching for too long for me. If we ever need a director of football he would be first on my list though.

I would imagine the most likely place for someone to come from would be Spain and I have no idea of the coaches there. On a really off beam suggestion I think Vialli would be great but seems to like being retired too much. Another fantasy option would be Coppel.

I really do struggle to think. The thing is many of the best people are so low profile such as Boro Primorac at Arsenal. I know nothing about him but he has been the main hands on coach at Arsenal for years so he clearly knows his stuff.

[Craig_H]

When some of our players arnt playing to the best of their abilities then they we are below fourth spot.

We should be playing better football than we are, and we are possibly unerachieving at the momment, but Rafa has overacheived with this team for a long time.

I have only seen players coming in this year that i know could win the league or challenge thats it this year.

Then he needs to get the best out of them or stop picking them doesnt he?? Why do people ignore the fact that it's HIS job to get the best out of the players???

How has he overachieved with this team? The CL win? Porto also won it, it can happen. He's never challenged for the title, not once. Enough's enough.

[Craig_H]

I would still like to give Rafa another year but only if he accepts the need to make changes and the one I would demand is that he has a proper assistant with the qualities outlined to some extent above.

He'll never change his methods though. Consequently, he'll never win the PL.

[Craig_H]

How would anyone feel about Harry Redknapp? He's a top manager and seems to create good attacking football and given the chance i belive he would do well.

He'd be a risk and he's dodgy as feck. Not sure if i'd want us to be the big club who took the gamble on him...but one thing's certain, he extracts the best possible performances from his players, which rafa doesnt.