Villa (a) Post Match Thread

[Fierce]

All of the questions being asked of Rafa after the villa game etc, a bland post about how we haven't lost and are qualifying for the CL more than under Houllier adds little.

Neither does constant unwarranted flaming of players or managers, suppose thats the nature of an internet forum

What it does add, however 'little', is a sense of perspective

[El Jefecito]

Neither does constant unwarranted flaming of players or managers, suppose thats the nature of an internet forum

What it does add, however 'little', is a sense of perspective

Wanna RCDNW membership mate? They're on special, buy 1 get 1 free?

[Woobus]

Wasnt the best of matches and we havent really played well all season. With Gerrard being injured from the start of the season, new signings bedding in and losing 3 players to the olympics I think its to early to tell how we will go this season.
Cant understand why people are going on about Babel not playing up front, in the games I have seen him up there for us he hasnt really shone and didnt look fully fit during mid week. I didnt see any problems bringing N'Gog on who had some good games up front in pre season.
Its not like the other top 3 are playing out of their skins with United looking toothless without Ronaldo, Chelsea only really playing well in the first match against a terrible Portsmouth and Arsenal showing how they can be great one week and woeful the week after.

[Tee]

Yes, United look toothless without Ronaldo, Chelsea not as good as against Portsmouth and Arsenal have come good since Fulham.

My main issue is that even when they struggle, those teams still play proper football - therein lies our problem IMO -we have forgotten how to play proper football, the way every Liverpool side should, the way Shankly and Paisley, followed by Fagan and Dalglish, imprinted on the very soul of this club. We are so far away from pass and move football right now, and that is what I want us to return to asap.

[rage]

And isn't that typical of your mindset. I provided a rational exposition of Xabi's performance and then you take a dig and retort with 'the love child of kuyt and lucas'. I mean that is just pathetic, are you even capable of anything other than knee-jerk, irrational over emotive ramblings?

i didn't see a rational exposition of lucas did you?

[red g]

also Agger wasnt playing so take out the spine of Gerrard, torres and Agger and would love to see how others cope with that.

We got a point away from home at our toghest rivals, yes i think the game was there to win......but if we came out more attacking we may have been exposed and lose the game.

[Fierce]

Wanna RCDNW membership mate? They're on special, buy 1 get 1 free?

Haha! No i'm good cheers. For the record, I'm also losing patience in Rafa. I'm certainly nowhere near thinking he needs replacing, nor will I offer the same scathing criticism of Rage or Sarb etc, but I find myself with raised eyebrows at Rafa's decisions more and more these days

That said, as internet warriors, despite how learned we may or may not all be regards football matters, we dont know what goes on behind the scenes; we dont know how fit players may be, we dont know what gameplan Rafa might set out with and whether the players stuck to this gameplan or not

[El Jefecito]

i didn't see a rational exposition of lucas did you?

No, but to be fair I've not seen much rational from you, so I wasn't suprised that the love child was your offering.

[El Jefecito]

Haha! No i'm good cheers. For the record, I'm also losing patience in Rafa. I'm certainly nowhere near thinking he needs replacing, nor will I offer the same scathing criticism of Rage or Sarb etc, but I find myself with raised eyebrows at Rafa's decisions more and more these days
That said, as internet warriors, despite how learned we may or may not all be regards football matters, we dont know what goes on behind the scenes; we dont know how fit players may be, we dont know what gameplan Rafa might set out with and whether the players stuck to this gameplan or not

[FatTony]

also Agger wasnt playing so take out the spine of Gerrard, torres and Agger and would love to see how others cope with that.

We got a point away from home at our toghest rivals, yes i think the game was there to win......but if we came out more attacking we may have been exposed and lose the game.

we had skyrtel and carra in the middle so not playing Agger was not a big deal. Was Agger even injured though, or just not picked?

The second point is what I think Rafa is doing wrong. Its too defensive, considering we were playing the same side that conceded several goals to newly promoted Stoke just last week. How was that midfield going to do anything remotely creative? 3 defensive central midfielders and a paceless striker played out of position. You had more natural width and genuine pace sat on the bench. Rafa was intent on feeding Keane and Torres scraps to work with, just as long as we made it difficult for Villa to score. Nullify the opposition and hope Torres has a moment of magic or that we get something from a dead ball. There's nothing intelligent about this approach. In Houlliers final year I'd come to the conclusion that its easy to make a team defend, but much harder to show them how to attack effectively. To attack effectively, you need to allow players to express themselves and encourage creativity, but this is not in Rafa's nature.

Its all well and good basing your football philosophy on AC Milan and a league where you could win by drawing many games, but in the Premiership you need to win more and draw less to have half a chance. Rafa's selection for me is my main concern, I fear that he's really not adapting his outlook to the english league.


Edit: A little worried that this all sounds like we expect to go to Villa Park and have a stroll about and win 5-0. Thats not the case, but we should expect to go there and play to win which we didn't.

[Rashid]

Have I been proved right lads?

[Elvoz]

Have I been proved right lads?

your right that often pal
on which occasion this time

[rage]

No, but to be fair I've not seen much rational from you, so I wasn't suprised that the love child was your offering.

alright my take. lucas is ****e he has done nothing to warrant a place in our reserves never mind our first team.

the substitutions were STUPID. Rafa could not explain these to anybody and noone not even Fredo could justify them.

rafa is a bafoon if he thinks that we will stand for the type of football he's been serving us lately. and a complete moron ( and yes i am calling rafa a moron!!) IF he continues to play Robbie Keane in positions other than as a striker.

the tide is changing as Rafa stalwarts such as yourself begin to question our manager. i'm of the school of thought that we should get rid. i've been around long enough to be able to tell - rafa win us the title whatever

[Kenneth]

Can we bring DJS back?

[Johnny]

The lunatics have taken over the asylum.I honestly can`t believe that this many whingers exist on a football forum.
Unless we play Brazilian type football every game all hell breaks loose on here.It`s sad really.