Rafa Watch

[Dhav]

He pissed off Alonso lets not forget, finances might have been awful but he wasnt forced to try and flog him to get Gareth ****ing Barry.

Yes, this I do agree with. I think that his courting of Barry and the way he treated Alonso may have been the signle greatest mistake during his tenure.

[kris90210]

He pissed off Alonso lets not forget, finances might have been awful but he wasnt forced to try and flog him to get Gareth ****ing Barry.

Definitely one of his biggest mistakes. Although to be fair, Alonso had been poor by his own incredibly high standards the previous season. This is also shown by the fact that Juventus opted to sign Poulson over him! Crazy *******s

The season after Rafa tried to sell him, he took his game to the next level. So who knows, maybe it was the kick up the arse he needed. Reading his interviews since, he's said he has no ill feelings towards Rafa but it was time to part ways. Gerrard has also said that Xabi had always said he wanted another chapter in his career after Liverpool, so he most likely would have left at some point. We made a **** load of money from his sale - just a shame we didn't invest it wisely enough - although I think Jovetic would have helped fill the gap. What a cunt Purslow is.

[Tee]

Yes, this I do agree with. I think that his courting of Barry and the way he treated Alonso may have been the signle greatest mistake during his tenure.

He is so stubborn and still does not admit it was a mistake though.

[Chris]

We still got an awesome innings out of him and it was Rafa who got him here but it was ****ing annoying really. Barry's a good player but I'll always love Xabi's fluffy hair.

[kris90210]

I reckon Xabi would make a great manager. Maybe he'd come back here in that capacity some day. Who knows.

Gerrard is obviously captain fantastic - he's an inspirational player. But as far as talking to the ref, dealing with players etc, I always thought Xabi seemed more like captain material. I remember him sorting out Carragher and Arbeloa when they almost came to blows.

Miss watching Alonso play for us - more than any other player probably. He was my favourite. Pure class.

[Craig_H]

I remember after Alonso went and we got Aquilani, the italian did an interview saying something like "dont expect another Alonso, i'm not like him" - he wasnt fecking joking, was he?

[Shaggy]

I reckon Xabi would make a great manager. Maybe he'd come back here in that capacity some day. Who knows.

Gerrard is obviously captain fantastic - he's an inspirational player. But as far as talking to the ref, dealing with players etc, I always thought Xabi seemed more like captain material. I remember him sorting out Carragher and Arbeloa when they almost came to blows.

Miss watching Alonso play for us - more than any other player probably. He was my favourite. Pure class.

Xabi strikes me as far, far better management material than Carragher. Obviously it's based on not very much other than a feeling...a hunch, but yeah I'd love to see Xabi as our manager one day.

[Craig_H]

Could easily see myself adopting any non-english club as my 'second team' if Xabi goes into management.

Come back Xabi

[Tee]

Yep, agreed about his Management potential. The guy just oozes class on and off teh pitch. Would be a perfect fit for us in the future, fingers crossed!

[Chrono]

That's not all there was too it. There were a lot of people who thought Rafa's time was probably up, despite the circumstances. An awful lot of people, including some posters on this site who now act like his sacking was the biggest traversty of all time. There was obviously a lot of backstage politicing etc involved too, but it was hardly something that came out of the blue.

I was (still am) one of these people although I haven't changed my mind. I felt that with the fighting and madness going on at the club we needed to wipe the slate. I felt for Rafa as it wasn't his fault he got caught up in everything but I felt that we really needed to just scrap everything that was and start again. Of course at the time I didn't believe that we would get the Hodge.

I'd take Rafa back now, no question but I still think he needed to go when he did.

[ronanm]

When one refers to the club under Rafa a few years ago when we were 'tearing Madrid a new asshole', there seems to be an inference that if we brought Rafa back now, it would be a case of 'hey presto' and we'd be tearing them a new one straight away again. Unfortunately, the reason we are not tearing anyone any kind of orifice these days is nothing to do with Rafa and the lack thereof and more to do with the consistent lack of investment and turmoil that the latter years of H & G brought.

It will take some time to recover from that.

The facts suggest that that Real Madrid team wasn't great as a collective in any case. I expected us to go through when the draw was announced. If you compare their results versus other years, 2008/2009 was a low point:

http://www.statto.com/football/teams/real-madrid/2008-2009/results

Not a bad result all the same..!

[dww]

Xabi strikes me as far, far better management material than Carragher. Obviously it's based on not very much other than a feeling...a hunch, but yeah I'd love to see Xabi as our manager one day.

My totally unscientific feeling is that best case scenario Carragher would manage like O'Neill and Xabi like Rafa.

[Shaggy]

My totally unscientific feeling is that best case scenario Carragher would manage like O'Neill and Xabi like Rafa.

[Buzzo]

Xabi strikes me as far, far better management material than Carragher. Obviously it's based on not very much other than a feeling...a hunch, but yeah I'd love to see Xabi as our manager one day.

Xabi seems quite a deep thinker - intelligent and urbane, and Carragher seems, well, none of these things. Carra would be Neil Warnock to Xabi's Pep Guardiola.

[CJ]

i have no idea whether either would make a good or a **** manager.

tbh not sure anyone else here can either