Rafa Watch

[Tee]

What, no zonal marking ?

I actually liked our marking system.

[Alex]

In my mind Rafa's biggest weakness was his thinking that a Football Team was a machine, with parts that he can replace on a weekly basis. Does that make sense at all?

[Vermilion]

You know, he has more good points than bad ones, you'd think fans of the club he managed and loved/loves so much would spend more time talking about that, just a point.

[Fredo]

You know, he has more good points than bad ones, you'd think fans of the club he managed and loved/loves so much would spend more time talking about that, just a point.

[Shaggy]

2. Substitutions - always around the same time every game without fail.

The vast majority of managers do this. I've never understood why Rafa and only Rafa is singled out for criticism here. I think it's ludicrous.

[Tee]

Good points?

- Tactical genius

- Fantastic human qualities

- Great sense of style

- Signing some great players for us

- Ablility to do amazing work under the ownership of the 2 cunts

- Loyalty

- Zonal marking system

I am sure there are man many more....

[Neil Young]

Off the top of my head....

1. Man management. Absolutely awful probably most of the time.

2. Substitutions - always around the same time every game without fail.

3. Too much rotation.

4. Stubbornly persisted with some ****e signings.

1. is a guess - "probably" says it all.

2. is not actually a fault, it's just a statement of fact (assuming it's true of course). So what is the fault you're claiming this fact signifies?

3. is a claim that needs clarifying and explaining.

4. is crap.

[Chrono]

Well, answer the bit about Rafa then.

Ok, my list would be off the top of my head:

1) Managing the media. It might be amusing the way he played them and you could argue that it created an us vs them mentality but I think it also caused a lot of negativity aim at the manager, players and club

2) Rotation. Understand rotating based on fitness but it doesn't alllow for any stability if you use to excess.

3) Defensive play. I appreciate his amazing record but there were games where we were playing some **** at home and there were a good 7 defensive players in the starting lineup. It's my belief that had he taken a more attack approach to these games we would have potentially won 19.

I'm not getting in to this to slag the man off as I have huge respect for him but it just annoyed me no end at the time.

[Chrono]

You know, he has more good points than bad ones, you'd think fans of the club he managed and loved/loves so much would spend more time talking about that, just a point.

They very much do.

[Shaggy]

4. is crap.

Agree with that too - Rafa was notoriously ruthless in binning off **** signings - Gonzalez, Kromkamp, Josemi, Keane off the top of my head. In fact he was often criticised for ditching players too quickly

He can't win most of the time. But of course, we're all just completely blind and are totally incapable of recognising any faults

[Alex]

You know, he has more good points than bad ones, you'd think fans of the club he managed and loved/loves so much would spend more time talking about that, just a point.

I dont think I can tell many more people about how much I love Rafa. I still love defending his record. But discussions of where he fell short are good too. I dont want to be labled as someone who was blind to his problems.

[Chrono]

He can't win most of the time. But of course, we're all just completely blind and are totally incapable of recognising any faults

Is there any need to go on like that? I didn't realise we were picking sides.

[Shaggy]

Well I felt that remark was pretty condescending, there was no need for it in the first place.

[Tee]

Is there any need to go on like that? I didn't realise we were picking sides.

Seems you can only either love him or hate him.

[Shaggy]

Seems you can only either love him or hate him.

If you want to trace back the divisive stuff, you'll go back to Chrono's unnecessary remark.