Rafa Watch

[Jas]

As much as I hate fake Ronnie and 1 or 2 other Madrid players I would love it if he is super successful. If he is it might even generate a bit of positive press in this country for Rafa but knowing our media they would still look for some sort of negative angle.

[Alex]

Confirmed as manager now. Going to be fascinating too see what he does with them. Not much scope to change things.

[Vermilion]

3 year deal for Rafa.

Presented to the fans on Wednesday.

[Kenneth]

You don't need to. We got in it spades.

[fidget]

Rafa has been as mediocre as Wenger in the league over the last ten years. Maybe a tad more mediocre. His stint at Napoli and where they finished this season is no one-off.

Its safe to say his 2 league wins at Valencia are as meaningless to the here and now as Wenger's Invincibles.

I'd kill for a bit of mediocre right now.

[BigChief]

Realistically the title, Will be dependant on El Classico as per this year.....If Real Madrid had drawn at Barca they would have won the title this year.

And we all know how tactically astute Rafa is, So bit hast to discount them next year.

Rafa has been as mediocre as Wenger in the league over the last ten years. Maybe a tad more mediocre. His stint at Napoli and where they finished this season is no one-off.

Its safe to say his 2 league wins at Valencia are as meaningless to the here and now as Wenger's Invincibles.

[red g]

Realistically the title, Will be dependant on El Classico as per this year.....If Real Madrid had drawn at Barca they would have won the title this year.

And we all know how tactically astute Rafa is, So bit hast to discount them next year.

[meffin]

No coach? Come on now. Real have an amazing array of talent too and an open chequebook.

Who could do it then? They have the first and arguably 2nd or 3rd best players in the world as 2 of their 3 strikers- and the 3rd aint half bad. They also have quality all over the pitch.

No amount of money spent in 1 transfer window can get a strikeforce anywhere near Barca's.

I honestly don't think there is a coach out there who could do it- its almost the equivalent to Bayern in Germany- nobody will beat them for the title for a while.

[danperkins]

Modric back will be huge for Madrid, they just need to sort out that defence... if Rafa is good at anything it's that.

[BobTheCharmer]

No coach in the world should be able to win the league with Real for the next few years, Barca's attack is just ridiculous and will win them the next few titles i think

No coach? Come on now. Real have an amazing array of talent too and an open chequebook.

[meffin]

No coach in the world should be able to win the league with Real for the next few years, Barca's attack is just ridiculous and will win them the next few titles i think

[RichC]

He'll finish 2nd maybe 3rd with Madrid imo which is not going to be good enough for them, he'll get the standard 2 seasons before they move onto the next coach.

Will take them far in Europe though as you'd expect from Rafa

[BigChief]

If Rafa is there for more than a season i'll be amazed given that it's Real Madrid and there history of sacking managers.

Not really talking about him being sacked, though that will come as part of failing. I'm talking about abject failure. Almost humiliation. And not because Rafa is not a decent manager because he is. But because he's just not anywhere near good enough for a team like Real.

And you can't use Ronaldo screwing up his chances of succeeding as an excuse. Every manager has had to handle primadonnas in the top two teams in Spain. Mourinho spectacularly failed at it but was not humiliated (on account of breaking Pep's league winning run).

Rafa on the other hand, doesn't bode well...

[kingfunk]

If Rafa is there for more than a season i'll be amazed given that it's Real Madrid and there history of sacking managers.

he will be gone next season summer.

[BobTheCharmer]

Bloody hell, people making an excuses for him already. He's going to a team that is the richest on the planet in a two team league. OK the other happens to be Barca, but come on if he's so good you would expect him to get more from the players right? They missed out by two points. You'd hope the very least he could do was give barca another close race this year and do well in Europe. He has all the tools you could want to work with.