Benitez has lost the players

[Kenneth]

Ignoring the winner's mentality drivel, what sort of calibre of players (CM and striker) is he going to get for the price of Aquilani?

I think most managers could find a rightback, a CM and a striker for best part of 37 million quid. Ending up with a novice 1.5 million pound striker and a CM who hardly plays is surely a failure in anyone's book.

[Armchairkopite]

Why is it drivel? Do you think telling yourself that we 'will' drop points is a winning mentality?

As for players - i think City paid something like a third of the price for Adam Johnson, that we did for Aquilani - so he could've brought quality, pace and threat from a wide position, freeing up Babel or Kuyt to be an out and out striker.

Ho is saying 'we could possibly afford to drop points' a winning mentality ?

[wiw]

Why is it drivel? Do you think telling yourself that we 'will' drop points is a winning mentality?

As for players - i think City paid something like a third of the price for Adam Johnson, that we did for Aquilani - so he could've brought quality, pace and threat from a wide position, freeing up Babel or Kuyt to be an out and out striker.

I really can't be arsed to get into it

Ok, good for them, say we signed him then, which top class centre midfieldier are we signing with the remainder of the cash then?

[Craig_H]

Ho is saying 'we could possibly afford to drop points' a winning mentality ?

I thought you'd done with me tonight?

As i said before, there's a difference in saying something 'could possibly' happen and saying 'we know' something will happen.

Your outlook was 'we know' we will drop at least 2 points - which basically says, it's definitely gonna happen, so there's no point trying to win all 6, as we know we cant.

[Craig_H]

I really can't be arsed to get into it

Ok, good for them, say we signed him then, which top class centre midfieldier are we signing with the remainder of the cash then?

A CM wasnt as big a priority as a striker though - we had SG to play alongside Mascherano and Lucas waiting in the wings too.

[murder_inc]

Why is it drivel? Do you think telling yourself that we 'will' drop points is a winning mentality?

As for players - i think City paid something like a third of the price for Adam Johnson, that we did for Aquilani - so he could've brought quality, pace and threat from a wide position, freeing up Babel or Kuyt to be an out and out striker.

[CJ]

craig can you give it a rest. or start a craig thread then i wont have to read the same thing from you again and again on lots of different threads.


just to let you know i didnt spot you going on in the general election thread did you miss it somehow?

i hear the recession is rafas fault.

[cadmium]

craig can you give it a rest. or start a craig thread then i wont have to read the same thing from you again and again on lots of different threads.


just to let you know i didnt spot you going on in the general election thread did you miss it somehow?

i hear the recession is rafas fault.

[Lecter]

I think most managers could find a rightback, a CM and a striker for best part of 37 million quid. Ending up with a novice 1.5 million pound striker and a CM who hardly plays is surely a failure in anyone's book.

Bit of a simplistic idea

Johnson's £17 million valuation included £9 million owed to us from Portsmouth for Crouch. IF we hadnt bought Johnson we wouldnt have seen any of that £9 million back.

So I'd argue in real terms of budget (hard cash spent) Johnson probably only cost £8 million

Aquilani's fee is also dependant on appearances and ultimately success we have on the pitch.

I think the initial downpayment for Aquilani is something like £5 million with only a small proportion of the remaining fee in guaranteed installments something like £1-2 million per annum with a maximum upto £20 million depending on appearances etc.....

[Lecter]

craig can you give it a rest. or start a craig thread then i wont have to read the same thing from you again and again on lots of different threads.


just to let you know i didnt spot you going on in the general election thread did you miss it somehow?

i hear the recession is rafas fault.

Brown and Darling have blamed everyone else so they might as well try and blame Rafa for it

[CJ]

well it is a world wide thing. if we hadnt been exposed to everything that casued it we would have either paid more tax or not seen improvements in schools or hospitals.

i am assuming the same porportion of money would be wasted obviously. we raked in the tax from the city and let them do what they wanted. if we hadnt tax income would have been less.

probably a bit too simplistic but sort of right.

[billy_mac]

Back on subject. Yes, the dressing room was lost months ago. Players confidence has been eroded by constant nit picking and strange selections and tactics by the boss. No praise given, only mistakes highlighted. Never mind a football team, apply that to any business and see how employees perform. Only Rafa getting off his high horse and going to talk to his troops will get the dressing room turned back. This aloof master tactician stuff hasn't worked for him in England.

[RedReet]

There seems to be a pattern here. The dressing room seems fine during and after home games, yet after away games Rafa always seems to lose these pesky players. Hmmmmm?

Does he make them sing on the bus, or does he make them pair up and hold hands so no one gets lost? Maybe he’s some sort of practical joker who keeps them up all night with his horseplay and mischievous pranks.

There must be a reason it only happens with the away fixtures, I just can't think what?

[CJ]

i do wish that rafa was a bit more arm on the shoulder from time to time.

i think it would make him a more complete manager.

though saying that he wasnt bad with mascer when he wanted to sign him and a few of the players really respect him. the only ones who it appears that dont are those not playing regularly and maybe gerrard.

but am still pro rafa lol

[Rich]

Bit of a simplistic idea

Johnson's £17 million valuation included £9 million owed to us from Portsmouth for Crouch. IF we hadnt bought Johnson we wouldnt have seen any of that £9 million back.

So I'd argue in real terms of budget (hard cash spent) Johnson probably only cost £8 million

Aquilani's fee is also dependant on appearances and ultimately success we have on the pitch.

I think the initial downpayment for Aquilani is something like £5 million with only a small proportion of the remaining fee in guaranteed installments something like £1-2 million per annum with a maximum upto £20 million depending on appearances etc.....

I must have posted the Aquilani fee structure a thousand times - we're committed to paying Roma the FULL €20m fee, broken down over (I think) a 3 year period, with the fee rising above €20m should the club hit certain targets. LFC signed the contract, we have to pay it in FULL. Only way would be to renegotiate with the selling club.

As for Johnson, those numbers don't really stack up either. Why would we not have got the "£9m" owed from the Crouch deal? Didn't the premier league withhold TV money from the club and actually use that to pay off transfer debts? We'd have seen most, if not all, of that money, so we didn't buy Johnson for £8m. We paid £17m. Otherwise we sold Crouch for £2m... which we didn't.