Rafa - I'm here to stay

[Craig_H]

Yes, the point being made though was that they struggled despite having a superior squad and have now progressed. If we got 4th despite a struggle this would be a reasonable analogy.

Why should taking the pessimistic hypothetical option rather than the optimistic one be seen as somehow the intellectually superior position?

Does people believing that there are positive signs necessarily mean that people divorce team performance from management ability or are you being needlessly provocative?

No no, you misunderstand.

I'm just saying, whatever the criticism is, there's a reason why it's not rafa's fault, or why rafa wasnt actually wrong. So it paints the picture that rafa isnt actually the person whose responsibility it is to make the team successful in the Premier League. Which baffles me immensely.

[Nic83]

I'm a legend

[Hot Carl]

There's several youngsters, who either get overlooked or loaned out.

£25m buys you one world class player, to add to a squad already good enough to finish 4th.

One season's squad that finished 4th doth not another 4th placed team make.

Other teams improve. you cannot stand still. you are living in some sort of football manager 2008 dream world where you buy a megastar in summer, another one in january, another one the summer after etc. it simply doesn't work like that. you have the footballing nous of a ten year old.

rafa did exactly the right thing - the only route possible. you have to build a team and a squad. your own squad. not "the old manager's squad plus ONE WORLD CLASS PLAYER thrown in".

he is getting there, slowly but surely.

[barnes10]

You mention about Kuyt and Voronin not delivering. Does no blame fall on the manager for signing them and/or attaching a level of dependency on them TO deliver?

in hindsight sure he got that wrong. would probably say so himself. however, kuyt got more chances per game than anyone so its only rational to think that the bloke is on the verge of putting one in. what manager can predict his striker will fluff the many chances he gets that kuyt did? fergie stuck by the likes of rooney, saha, rvn during lean spells.

[AFII]

There's several youngsters, who either get overlooked or loaned out.

£25m buys you one world class player, to add to a squad already good enough to finish 4th.

The problem is that Rafa only had £16m net so he would have to sell three or four from that squad that finished fourth to be able to sign that £25m player.

At the same time our Academy was **** so he couldn't promote any players from that.

That would have left us with a very thin squad.

[Craig_H]

in hindsight sure he got that wrong. would probably say so himself. however, kuyt got more chances per game than anyone so its only rational to think that the bloke is on the verge of putting one in. what manager can predict his striker will fluff the many chances he gets that kuyt did? fergie stuck by the likes of rooney, saha, rvn during lean spells.

Rooney and RvN have considerably more class than Kuyt.

But yeah, anyone can make mistakes...problem is, he keeps fecking picking him. So when i say he doesnt learn from his mistakes often enough, this is an example of why i say that.

[barnes10]

No no, you misunderstand.

I'm just saying, whatever the criticism is, there's a reason why it's not rafa's fault, or why rafa wasnt actually wrong. So it paints the picture that rafa isnt actually the person whose responsibility it is to make the team successful in the Premier League. Which baffles me immensely.

tell me who is rafa competing against and tell me they don't have more: funds, stability, history in their jobs and better squads since 2004.

no-one is saying that rafa's perfect or not responsible, what we're saying is that he has a nigh on impossible job without massive financial backing. and you refuse to remove the blinkers on and contrinuously come out with the nonsense you do.

[dww]

The thing is though that in the last few games he has done well and the team has won. In which case picking Kuyt doesn't seem such an unfathomable decision.

[Craig_H]

The problem is that Rafa only had £16m net so he would have to sell three or four from that squad that finished fourth to be able to sign that £25m player.

At the same time our Academy was **** so he couldn't promote any players from that.

That would have left us with a very thin squad.

4 years ago, £16m would've probably got a world class player, but that's splitting hairs i guess. You're a good man AFII, disagreement after disagreement and you never get abusive. Highly admirable.

[barnes10]

Rooney and RvN have considerably more class than Kuyt.

But yeah, anyone can make mistakes...problem is, he keeps fecking picking him. So when i say he doesnt learn from his mistakes often enough, this is an example of why i say that.

he sticks by him because he offers a lot to the team whilst getting the chances. the only reason i can think of. crouch changes the way we play for the worse and is only effective against the weak teams.

[Craig_H]

The thing is though that in the last few games he has done well and the team has won. In which case picking Kuyt doesn't seem such an unfathomable decision.

He's done pretty well (i still think that's also partly because his standard is now seen as so low, than an average-decent game for him is painted in gold, but that's another story) recently and i dont deny that. That's not to say an alternative wouldnt have done better though.

[Nic83]

The thing is though that in the last few games he has done well and the team has won. In which case picking Kuyt doesn't seem such an unfathomable decision.

Picking kuyt is always a bad decision

[Craig_H]

he sticks by him because he offers a lot to the team whilst getting the chances. the only reason i can think of. crouch changes the way we play for the worse and is only effective against the weak teams.

Crouch is a consistent goal threat while Kuyt isnt - that, for me, is the key issue with a striker - you have to feel he'll get you a goal and i rarely get that feeling from Kuyt i'm afriad.

[Reece]

Crouch is a consistent goal threat while Kuyt isnt - that, for me, is the key issue with a striker - you have to feel he'll get you a goal and i rarely get that feeling from Kuyt i'm afriad.

Crouch would not work in the system that we have played the last few games.

[Craig_H]

Crouch would not work in the system that we have played the last few games.

I dont disagree. I wouldnt play that system though. The reason we are is partly to accommodate Mascherano and Gerrard together in the centre without leaving Masher to do all the donkey work and partly because Rafa simply refuses to play Crouch & Kuyt is close to ineffective as a striker.

In those circumstances, 4-2-3-1 is the only way forward and fair play to rafa for getting it working so well.