There is a lot of media bias against Rafa at present. Probably more now than there ever has been. And yet we sit close to the summit of the league, after having been top for a fair while. I think it would be fair to say that it's not only the media that are on Rafa's back now, but a sizeable portion of the fans also. Not only on websites such as this, but radio phone ins etc too.
I have a sneaky suspicion that this negativity will start to fade and a more realistic analysis of just where Rafa has taken us will start to prevail. I don't think any of us really quite expected us to be sat at the top of the Prem quite so soon and for quite so long. The victories over both Manu and Chelsea helped add to the hysteria. All of a sudden we were going to go from top four regulars to title winners. On the radio every week I would listen to fans calling in and shouting that we were going to win the league this year.
It all seems to stem from the great start we had and the poor start Manu and Chelsea (compared to previous years) had had. Rewind to the end of last season and tell me if you you honestly thought this was going to be our year. That we had a very real chance of winning the league and that we would have been top at the end of 2008. I expected a title challenge in a year or two, but not such lofty heights so soon.
I think if we rewind to last season and told ourselves that we would be this close to Manu with plenty of games to go, most of us would have been ecstatic. But perpsective and perception change once you have been at the top for a little while and you start to let yourself believe that it may actually just happen this year.
We have been knocked off our perch this season and have been in second place for a little while now, and I think folks will hopefully start to see things more realistically now, once the disappointment has worn off.
Take into account all the political goings on in the background that Rafa and the squad have had to deal with, as well as the little issue of our captain and his court case. The board room problems and the whole Keane affair were massive distractions and probably haven't been given the gravitas they should have had when debating whether Rafa is doing a good job or not. It's bound to have taken it's toll.
We are still very much in with a shout of the title. Chelsea and the Arse have fallen by the way side. If we beat Manu at their ground we will be right up there fighting for the league.
If Rafa hadn't have taken us to the top of the league so soon and for so long, we would have more than likely been perfectly happy with out lot. It would probably have kept the media off our backs to some degree, as it would appear now that Rafa has been made out to be a failure now that he has lost the top spot in the Prem. Was it really fair to have expected that of him in the first place? I'd say not. And that Rafa is, to some degree, a victim of his own success.
I have a sneaky suspicion that this negativity will start to fade and a more realistic analysis of just where Rafa has taken us will start to prevail. I don't think any of us really quite expected us to be sat at the top of the Prem quite so soon and for quite so long. The victories over both Manu and Chelsea helped add to the hysteria. All of a sudden we were going to go from top four regulars to title winners. On the radio every week I would listen to fans calling in and shouting that we were going to win the league this year.
It all seems to stem from the great start we had and the poor start Manu and Chelsea (compared to previous years) had had. Rewind to the end of last season and tell me if you you honestly thought this was going to be our year. That we had a very real chance of winning the league and that we would have been top at the end of 2008. I expected a title challenge in a year or two, but not such lofty heights so soon.
I think if we rewind to last season and told ourselves that we would be this close to Manu with plenty of games to go, most of us would have been ecstatic. But perpsective and perception change once you have been at the top for a little while and you start to let yourself believe that it may actually just happen this year.
We have been knocked off our perch this season and have been in second place for a little while now, and I think folks will hopefully start to see things more realistically now, once the disappointment has worn off.
Take into account all the political goings on in the background that Rafa and the squad have had to deal with, as well as the little issue of our captain and his court case. The board room problems and the whole Keane affair were massive distractions and probably haven't been given the gravitas they should have had when debating whether Rafa is doing a good job or not. It's bound to have taken it's toll.
We are still very much in with a shout of the title. Chelsea and the Arse have fallen by the way side. If we beat Manu at their ground we will be right up there fighting for the league.
If Rafa hadn't have taken us to the top of the league so soon and for so long, we would have more than likely been perfectly happy with out lot. It would probably have kept the media off our backs to some degree, as it would appear now that Rafa has been made out to be a failure now that he has lost the top spot in the Prem. Was it really fair to have expected that of him in the first place? I'd say not. And that Rafa is, to some degree, a victim of his own success.
Rafa will prove the doubters wrong.
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