Rafa: Torres injuries cause of title tilt wilt

[pondus]

Even harder when you sell one without replacing him.

That's true, but financially it made sense, doubt we would get half that amount in the summer. Could well be good business in the long term, but we probably don't know enough about our finances at the moment to fully understand this one.

[BFG]

would piss you off this ****e talk, shouldnt have sold Keane then, Keane might not have been the best but would have been a far better option than Kuty, Ngog or Babel up front

Maybe but he certainly wasn't the player 90% of us thought we'd signed and we had the chance to get rid at very little cost.

I'm sure if money was as plentiful to us as it is to Utd and Chelsea we could have hung onto him and sold him for £7mil when we'd got someone better. Sadly we don't have that luxury so it was the best thing for the club.

[Craig_H]

I agree about the value of Keane, it was always dropping.

We needed to get someone in though, even just on loan. In truth, we should've sold keane sooner, we left ourselves with no time to get a replacement.

[BFG]

I agree about the value of Keane, it was always dropping.

We needed to get someone in though, even just on loan. In truth, we should've sold keane sooner, we left ourselves with no time to get a replacement.

True but without being privvy to the details of when the offers came in, how long it took to negotiate etc then it's impossible to assign blame. If he only got the offer a day or two before February it would have been difficult to get anyone in and we simply couldn't afford the £10 - £15mil that hanging onto him would have cost us and by all accounts Keane wanted to leave.

Rafa said a few days before Keane left that he expected him to stay and I think he was telling the truth. If Spurs hadn't come along with the offer they did he'd still be here. In the end it was in the best long term interests of the football club.

[Chris]

I think he prob needs a break, the summer will do him good imo, he hasnt had much of a break since the euros.

Theres that ****ty crap cup in the summer, hopefully Spain take a reserve squad but I doubt it.

[Chris]

And Man Utd have been without Ronaldo and Rooney for long parts of the season as well. No excuse IMO.

Ronaldo has played 23 of 26 league games, that dont sound like missing a long part to me! But yeah everyone has injuries and you have to deal with it, which Rafa did actually say but the article conveniently left that bit out.

[MrMichael]

I agree about the value of Keane, it was always dropping.

We needed to get someone in though, even just on loan. In truth, we should've sold keane sooner, we left ourselves with no time to get a replacement.

True. Not that Keane leaving again was such a bad deal in isolation, but we lert ourselves very short. Obviously so to anyone and everyone.

Rafa is right about one thing. If we'd had the Torres of last year fit and banging them in against the dross in the league, to combine with our massively improved results against the top teams, we would have had a real shout. Unfortunately, we only have two players in our team genuinely capable of just beating most sides on the basis of their performance alone, and with the possibility of injuries always being there, that's just not enough to realistically put up a proper challenge, as has been proven now.

Not only do we need more genuine striking options, we also need more players in attacking midfield areas with a spark of genuine creative quality. Our midfield is simply not enough of a goal threat - teams have won titles without a 30 goal a season striker, but to do so you need 4 or 5 players all to score double figures in that case. Whatever Alonso and Mascher's other qualities, they're never capable of doing that, and that makes us very one dimensional when the players around them aren't all good enough....

[-V-]

End of the day, its Rafa's fault that we don't have enough goal scorers in the squad and he keeps playing Kuyt up top on his own when he isn't a lone striker let alone a striker

[Craig_H]

True but without being privvy to the details of when the offers came in, how long it took to negotiate etc then it's impossible to assign blame. If he only got the offer a day or two before February it would have been difficult to get anyone in and we simply couldn't afford the £10 - £15mil that hanging onto him would have cost us and by all accounts Keane wanted to leave.

Rafa said a few days before Keane left that he expected him to stay and I think he was telling the truth. If Spurs hadn't come along with the offer they did he'd still be here. In the end it was in the best long term interests of the football club.

Harry Redknapp was banging on about wanting Keane well before the end of the window. They were always gonna be in for him, we should've sped it up.

[pondus]

Harry Redknapp was banging on about wanting Keane well before the end of the window. They were always gonna be in for him, we should've sped it up.

Do you mean LFC should've sped it up by saying we wanted rid? That would've lowered the prize I think, wouldn't it? And unsettled the player even more if the transfer hadn't gone through I would guess..

[BG1973]

I agree about the value of Keane, it was always dropping.

We needed to get someone in though, even just on loan. In truth, we should've sold keane sooner, we left ourselves with no time to get a replacement.

agreed, should have been sold sooner.

All this crap about keane should not have gone. it appears to have pushed Parry out and long term that was more important to benitez and could be longterm beneficial to the club.

[Craig_H]

Do you mean LFC should've sped it up by saying we wanted rid? That would've lowered the prize I think, wouldn't it? And unsettled the player even more if the transfer hadn't gone through I would guess..

No, you just contact clubs and see if there's an interest. Happens all the time.

[pondus]

No, you just contact clubs and see if there's an interest. Happens all the time.

Ok, just thought it was usual to inform the player when you did, so that he didn't find out from other sources

[Craig_H]

Ok, just thought it was usual to inform the player when you did, so that he didn't find out from other sources

Players get offered around all the time, without being informed.

Same as players being tapped up, happens probably every day.

[pondus]

Players get offered around all the time, without being informed.

Same as players being tapped up, happens probably every day.

You're in the business?