Bascombe hits the nail on the head

[carheex]

I've always thought that Bascombe was a knee-jerk cockhead of the highest order. Occasionally he gets things right but what is he banging on about highlighting some gulf between us and Arsenal (a genuine contender). Am I mistaken or did we finish higher than them last season? they just about scraped ahead of Spurs. And we finished 1 point behind Utd - 5 years behind indeed!!

I know it's a cliche but titles aren't won in November. All teams have ups and downs it just so happens that ours is happening right now. Arsenal don't have the quality in depth to sustain a challenge - for me, our squad is stronger than theirs and we'll probably finish above them. Let's not panic yet!!!!

[Morph]

I've always thought that Bascombe was a knee-jerk cockhead of the highest order. Occasionally he gets things right but what is he banging on about highlighting some gulf between us and Arsenal (a genuine contender). Am I mistaken or did we finish higher than them last season? they just about scraped ahead of Spurs. And we finished 1 point behind Utd - 5 years behind indeed!!

I know it's a cliche but titles aren't won in November. All teams have ups and downs it just so happens that ours is happening right now. Arsenal don't have the quality in depth to sustain a challenge - for me, our squad is stronger than theirs and we'll probably finish above them. Let's not panic yet!!!!

Bloody hell I agree with that, thats unusual

[carheex]

[Wilko7]

Read this this morning. Bascombe is an excellent journalist in my opinion. His tone in this report is ominously similar to the one used during the dark days of Houllier. I'm hoping that our key players hit form and the newcomers settle quickly and we're all laughing about this in a few months.

[rushscored4]

Read this this morning. Bascombe is an excellent journalist in my opinion. His tone in this report is ominously similar to the one used during the dark days of Houllier. I'm hoping that our key players hit form and the newcomers settle quickly and we're all laughing about this in a few months.

There's no doubting Rafa's pedigree and, as has already been said before in other threads, he has an uncanny knack of winning cup competitions. However, I have serious doubts that his negative tactics - which are possibly even more defensive than those that cost GH his job - could ever win the Premiership in England.

I know Valencia won La Liga twice under Benitez but let's not forget that they had a lot of outstanding players at the peak of their career. Unlike England, where Man Utd and Arsenal have strengthened well generally and Chelsea have unlimited buying power, when Rafa won La Liga it was against a Barcelona in decline and a Madrid amidst a power struggle and a "build from the front" Galactico policy. I'm not for one minute denegrating Benitez's achievements, and I'll always be grateful for being in Istanbul 18 months ago, but, like a lot of other fans, I'm seriously worried about whether he can ever win us the 'Holy Grail' of the Premiership.

Maybe Noel White was right after all...

[carheex]

There's no doubting Rafa's pedigree and, as has already been said before in other threads, he has an uncanny knack of winning cup competitions. However, I have serious doubts that his negative tactics - which are possibly even more defensive than those that cost GH his job - could ever win the Premiership in England.

I know Valencia won La Liga twice under Benitez but let's not forget that they had a lot of outstanding players at the peak of their career. Unlike England, where Man Utd and Arsenal have strengthened well generally and Chelsea have unlimited buying power, when Rafa won La Liga it was against a Barcelona in decline and a Madrid amidst a power struggle and a "build from the front" Galactico policy. I'm not for one minute denegrating Benitez's achievements, and I'll always be grateful for being in Istanbul 18 months ago, but like a lot of other fans I'm seriously worried about whether he can ever win us the 'Holy Grail' of the Premiership.

Maybe Noel White was right after all...

bugger - you edited it!! ;-)

[rushscored4]

bugger - you edited it!! ;-)

Had Madrid on the brain...

But do you agree with my sentiments?

[Morph]

Question - would Mourinho, Fergusson or Wenger be able to win the title with us, given all the variable stay the same?

[carheex]

Had Madrid on the brain...

But do you agree with my sentiments?

LOL.

I can see where you're coming from but I think everyone, yourself included, is panicking a bit too soon. Rafa has had 1 full season in charge. So far we finished 3rd (a point behind united and fifteen ahead of the arse), won the european cup and won the fa cup.
I think it's way too early to be saying that he doesn't have what it takes to deliver the premiership. His achievements last season were phenomenal considering the crap that he had to work with. He's only just got a squad together which he can call his own (and some of those are his second choices due to financial restraints), and people seem angry that he hasn't won us the premiership in November of his 2nd season!!
Let's all just be the patient, knowledgeable, dignified fans that we have always claimed to be....

[CharlieMansonsSquint]

Question - would Mourinho, Fergusson or Wenger be able to win the title with us, given all the variable stay the same?

We'd be more offensive with Wenger and Demento, and we would've probably scored from open play by now at least.

But that said when you've got the likes of Bellamy, Zenden, Gonzo and Pennant getting major minutes in any side, you are limited in what you can achieve over a 38 game league campaign.

We are in the same situation we were 2 years ago. Half the squad is complete deadwood. It's partly Rafa's fault, they are his players after all, but he's been hampered by not being able to get his first choice players by not having enough paper. Though I'll reiterate that he ****ed up big style in the summer just past, by being stubborn not paying a couple of extra million for Alves - his first choice - and instead signing 2 mediocres for what essentially would have gotten Alves. It was an avoidable setback.

[carheex]

One small flaw in your plan, charlie.......there's no guarantee that Alves would have been the answer either. For all we know, he could have proven to be a flop, albeit a flop that cost nearly twice as much as pennant!

[Tom]

That wasn't his choice.

[Morph]

Personally I don't think we'd be any better off under Mourinho or Fergusson, maybe Wenger but he'd have to be given time to do what he did at Arsenal, and there's no saying Rafa won't do that anyway.

As for deadweight lets see:

Zenden - Free
Aurelio - Free
Warnock - Academy
Gonzo? - 2 mil
Fowler? - Free

What does that tell you right there?

Bellamy and Pennant fair enough, but they may improve, and we all know Pennant wasn't his first choice anyway.

Oh and let's not forget all the **** we still have out on loan that we can't get rid of, who weren't Rafa buys.

[CharlieMansonsSquint]

That wasn't his choice.

What you saying mate.

That he couldn't sign Alves for some reason?

[Tom]

That he doesn't control the purse strings. There's a ceiling on what the board will pay. The manager has to work within that. This isn't guess-work by the way.