I'm going to say it...

[Shaggy]

O'Neill or Hughes are twice the (domestic!!!) manager Rafa ever will be.


We will NOT finish in the top two with Rafael Benitez as manager ever, there's no doubt about that.

Well if you look at the fine details from last season, we were one point off finishing 2nd - something you are categorically dismissing as ever being possible - with Rio Ferdinand's last second winner against us being the difference.

[Red Chilli]

O'Neill or Hughes are twice the (domestic!!!) manager Rafa ever will be.


We will NOT finish in the top two with Rafael Benitez as manager ever, there's no doubt about that.

If i were him, i would go back to sunny spain where i am a proven manager and do the business back there again.

How many times has O'Neill finished in the top 5? NEVER!

[Slim]

O'Neill or Hughes are twice the (domestic!!!) manager Rafa ever will be.


We will NOT finish in the top two with Rafael Benitez as manager ever, there's no doubt about that.

If i were him, i would go back to sunny spain where i am a proven manager and do the business back there again.

Well we were only 1 point off 2nd last season and O'Neill and Hughes are unproven at big English clubs where expectations are higher.

Really this sort of stuff belongs on 606.

[rodo]

do you actaully think mourinho would do any better with the same budget as rafa has had to work with

[Bob]

We've just DRAWN at home, not lost, against a team who were 4th in the league going into the game. It's not THAT bad. Bloody hell.

You're tellin me Portsmouth shouldn't have been beaten tonight. Really?

Of course crys of 'Benitiz out' should remain where they belong - in the gutter (web or no web). Give him another season to turn this farce around. I'd also like to see him properly backed in the t/f market as well, though the board have hardly been shy.

Above all, i want signs of progress. That's all.

[Morph]

People seem to be overlooking the fact that we had 7 players out today. Okay we should have had enough on the pitch top beat them today, but if all players were fit - Sissoko, Alonso, Gonzalez/Kewell would all have been cast iron starters, thats practically a whole midfield, and Gerrard would have been on the right and would have done the job were Pennant couldn't.

And would have had a half decent bench to bring some players on to change the game, but we didn't have that and we ended up being a bit stuck.

[Bob]

do you actaully think mourinho would do any better with the same budget as rafa has had to work with

Benitez has been truly awful since the start of the summer. Don't cover me with that blanket. It won't wash.

[Speedy]

Well if you look at the fine details from last season, we were one point off finishing 2nd - something you are categorically dismissing as ever being possible - with Rio Ferdinand's last second winner against us being the difference.

We had an outstanding run at a nothing point of the season. If you think that one point covers it, you are off your rocker.


As for you Chilli, he's managed ****ing Leicester ****ing City only and did a ****ing good job with them, then took over (an admittedly poor) Scottish football.

[Shaggy]

You're tellin me Portsmouth shouldn't have been beaten tonight. Really?

Obviously not. That's why I said it's not "that" bad. It's bad, but not that ****ing bad. We haven't just seen a full strength side beaten at home by some ****. We've seen an injury ravaged side held by a decent-ish and well organised side.

Some realism, surely?

[Bob]

People seem to be overlooking the fact that we had 7 players out today. Okay we should have had enough on the pitch top beat them today, but if all players were fit - Sissoko, Alonso, Gonzalez/Kewell would all have been cast iron starters, thats practically a whole midfield, and Gerrard would have been on the right and would have done the job were Pennant couldn't.

And would have had a half decent bench to bring some players on to change the game, but we didn't have that and we ended up being a bit stuck.

Injuries. What with all these possibilities. Ask Harry Redknapp about injuries.

It's utterly shameful to use that excuse. And frankly that's what it is. An EXCUSE.

[Speedy]

People seem to be overlooking the fact that we had 7 players out today. Okay we should have had enough on the pitch top beat them today, but if all players were fit - Sissoko, Alonso, Gonzalez/Kewell would all have been cast iron starters, thats practically a whole midfield, and Gerrard would have been on the right and would have done the job were Pennant couldn't.

And would have had a half decent bench to bring some players on to change the game, but we didn't have that and we ended up being a bit stuck.

Newcastle beat a "dreadfull" Portsmouth at the weekend with 14 out and they are a shambles of a club. Let's cut the bollocks excuses fellas.

[Shaggy]

We had an outstanding run at a nothing point of the season. If you think that one point covers it, you are off your rocker.

There is no point of the season that can be described as "a nothing point of the season". Explain why it was "a nothing point of the season".

[Speedy]

Obviously not. That's why I said it's not "that" bad. It's bad, but not that ****ing bad. We haven't just seen a full strength side beaten at home by some ****. We've seen an injury ravaged side held by a decent-ish and well organised side.

Some realism, surely?

They've lost there last ****ing 5 away. They had a terrific start for the season (for them) and since then there form has been that of relegation fodder. Newcastle, FFS!

[Red Chilli]

We had an outstanding run at a nothing point of the season. If you think that one point covers it, you are off your rocker.


As for you Chilli, he's managed ****ing Leicester ****ing City only and did a ****ing good job with them, then took over (an admittedly poor) Scottish football.

Scottish football is as domestic as Spanish football so you can take that back.
There's a HUGE difference between managing a club which is happy just surviving in the premiership to managing a club which demands success and has the most successful history in England.
O'Neill is a risk, it may have succeeded it may have failed but I can't understand why people would rather have had O'Neill than Rafa.

[rodo]

Benitez has been truly awful since the start of the summer. Don't cover me with that blanket. It won't wash.

didnt say he hadn`t been awful.i have seen some ****e in my time and tonight was truly up there but we have to accept we are way behind the mancs and chelsea and in some cases arsenal and until things like finance and the new stadium are sorted then we are probably in for a few more nights like tonight