Rafa Watch

[Kenneth]

We can take Man U some an example.

If Fergie had fought to get rid of Glazers then they would probably been gone by now. They would have been forced to sell up because of the pressure from Fergie and the supporters but what would have happened to Fergie then?

Maybe or maybe not he would have been sacked. He isn't prepared to risk his job fighting to get rid of Glazers. He backs them in interview after interview.

Rafa wasn't prepared to do that. He was prepared to risk his job to get rid of G&H. He fought against them in interview after interview telling everyone how bad owners they are.

Fergie isn't more stupid than that he know that he is so big that if he started to fight the owners then the backing he would get would most probably mean the end of Glazers at United but he could be sacked doing it.

He isn't prepared to risk that. He is prepared to wait instead not risking his job.

They'll probably win the league again this year. If we were in that position then rafa and the fans would probably have been quite happy to keep their complaints to themselves far more. When they can't compete they can be considered to be in an analogous position.

[Kenneth]

Not a chance. They needed to get rid of him to be able to sell players. Rafa could have stopped that, he had the final say.

But he clearly couldn't stop it and we still got asset stripped.

[Arn]

Buthe couldn't stop it.

He could stop it after he signed his five year deal. After that he had the final say.

[Tee]

I hated watching us then, I really did. Yes, we looked good going forward at times but I found our defending an embarrassment. Even our attacking play was clueless, there was no pattern, it seemed random.

Yes it made for exciting games if you didn't care about the result (and maybe then I cared too much) but it was incredibly frustrating.

I agree with Buzzo. The best I've seen us play consistently since before Dalglish left was two years ago.

You are right about the frustrating/inconsistent side of it, but there were many equally (and I would actually argue more) frustrating displays under Rafa which cost us the title 2 years ago.

I think there is just a tad too much of a romantic notion surrounding the whole Rafa reign. Lets not forget these forums in his last season.

[saj]

You are right about the frustrating/inconsistent side of it, but there were many equally (and I would actually argue more) frustrating displays under Rafa which cost us the title 2 years ago.

I think there is just a tad too much of a romantic notion surrounding the whole Rafa reign. Lets not forget these forums in his last season.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm sure we challenged for the title more times under Evans than we did under Rafa or Houllier?

But the average points total to win the league was a lot lower in Evans era than Rafa's and also all the teams spent sisnsibly back then: no billionaire owners. So it probably was easier to challenge back then. If we'd had a better left sided player, we most certainly would have won the title back in Evans day. If you check the records, we weren't on paper that bad defensively. We mostly were in the top 3 of the best defensive records in the premiership under Evans. We just made mistakes in critical games (namely David James at Coventry and the FA Cup Final)

[Neil Young]

You are right about the frustrating/inconsistent side of it, but there were many equally (and I would actually argue more) frustrating displays under Rafa which cost us the title 2 years ago.

I think there is just a tad too much of a romantic notion surrounding the whole Rafa reign. Lets not forget these forums in his last season.

I haven't. I thought many people were too critical at the time.

Of course some may go further supporting Benitez than I would but what you call romanticism others might see as cool assessment.

Comparing the sides of Evans and Benitez, I found the former more frustrating, for reasons I've already said. Winning is everything and I never felt we would win anything big under Evans. I don't doubt his commitment to the club but I felt his approach was more suited to Spurs than to us. It simply wasn't clinical enough.

[Imy]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm sure we challenged for the title more times under Evans than we did under Rafa or Houllier?

But the average points total to win the league was a lot lower in Evans era than Rafa's and also all the teams spent sisnsibly back then: no billionaire owners. So it probably was easier to challenge back then. If we'd had a better left sided player, we most certainly would have won the title back in Evans day. If you check the records, we weren't on paper that bad defensively. We mostly were in the top 3 of the best defensive records in the premiership under Evans. We just made mistakes in critical games (namely David James at Coventry and the FA Cup Final)

James, Kwarme, Babb, Ruddock, bloody hell Roy

[danperkins]

maybe you could link some of rafa's leaks, such as the refinancing where the debt was shifted.

Rafa gets arsey when under pressure unfortunately. Last season, all the issues with the owners were out in the open. If rafa had kept his head down more he would still be here and we'd still have new owners IMO. Either way, no way was Rafa the main reason for the change of ownership.

[Roboklopp]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm sure we challenged for the title more times under Evans than we did under Rafa or Houllier?

But the average points total to win the league was a lot lower in Evans era than Rafa's and also all the teams spent sisnsibly back then: no billionaire owners. So it probably was easier to challenge back then. If we'd had a better left sided player, we most certainly would have won the title back in Evans day. If you check the records, we weren't on paper that bad defensively. We mostly were in the top 3 of the best defensive records in the premiership under Evans. We just made mistakes in critical games (namely David James at Coventry and the FA Cup Final)

I think you can see by the Prem teams' domination of the CL over Rafa's tenure that the quality was much higher.

[Shaggy]

bbcsport_simon Simon Austin

Corriere inter correspondent expects rafa sacking announcement 2row. Legal wrangle next?..Inter think weekend outburst could=contract breach

[Fredo]

How ironic would that be, especially that Moratti started it all by speaking to the press about his manager. Basically they'd insert a clause to gag him up.

[Tee]

In all fairness, no matter how much I like Rafa, I think Moratti is perfectly right to have expected Inter to be a lot closer to the top of the table at this stage of the season.

Yes, Inter have an ageing team but their squad is still capable of better IMO.

[saj]

In all fairness, no matter how much I like Rafa, I think Moratti is perfectly right to have expected Inter to be a lot closer to the top of the table at this stage of the season.

Yes, Inter have an ageing team but their squad is still capable of better IMO.

[Fredo]

Well, he's not done too badly if I look at it closely though.

European Super Cup winner. Tick
Qualification for the second round of the CL. Tick
World Club Cup Winner. Tick

Off the pace in the league but based on the above, he hardly merits to be sacked on poor results does he?

[dww]

In all fairness, no matter how much I like Rafa, I think Moratti is perfectly right to have expected Inter to be a lot closer to the top of the table at this stage of the season.

Yes, Inter have an ageing team but their squad is still capable of better IMO.

I think it was an odd one - they do have a squad but if you look back after extraordinary success most teams who keep being successful freshen up the squad a bit in order to keep them hungry. It always looked like something of a last hurrah for some of that squad last season.

I think Rafa would think he should be doing better but injuries have been a big issue. I've said before though that I wonder how much of that he brings on himself.