Rafa Watch

[Craig_H]

What do you mean by 'they only had Milito, Pandev and Eto'o' ?

They have the bulk of a treble-winning squad, FFS sake.

You'll literally scrape the bottom of any barrel, to avoid placing wrong-doing or fault with Rafa.

[Arn]

What do you mean by 'they only had Milito, Pandev and Eto'o' ?

They have the bulk of a treble-winning squad, FFS sake.

You'll literally scrape the bottom of any barrel, to avoid placing wrong-doing or fault with Rafa.

Mourinho got the very best out of the squad and he knew what he was doing when he left them.

Now let us have a look at their squad.

One great keeper, Cesar.

Defenders:

Cordoba, over the hill. Need to replace him.
Zanetti, on the way down but still good enough. Need to replace him very soon.
Lucio. A very good defender but on the way down.
Maicon. Excellent.
Materazzi. A joke of a defender now. Need to replace him.
Samuel. Very good defender but on the way down. Need to replace him.
Chivu. Good but not top class. On the way down. Need to replace him.
Santon Excellent prospect.

Midfield:

Stankovic. On the way down. Need to replace him.
Motta, squad player and isn't really good enough.
Sneijder. Top class.
Muntari. Not good enough. Need to replace him.
Mariga. Average. Need to replace him.
Cambiasso. Top class.
Coutinho. Excellent prospect.

Strikers:

Biabiany. Promising prospect.
Eto'o. Top class.
Milito. Top class.
Pandev. Good but not good enough. Need to replace him.


Not that great squad and they need to replace at least eight players in a year or two.

The squad isn't that great. Mourinho did an excellent job.

I would say that Milan, Juventus and Napoli have better squads.

[Arn]

They are as I said in the same situation as Milan was in 2007 after they won the CL.

Old squad and need to replace many players on the way down. Not even Ancelotti succeeded to turn around Milan without big money backing.

Juventus probably are in the best situation of the top clubs. Not that old squad and can just continue to build without the need to replace that many players.

[Leyton388]

The writing is on the wall. I think he will be gone after the CL game.

[Craig_H]

So those same players were great when Mourinho was there, but in the space of a year, they've ALL become useless?

Or maybe Mourinho just gets better out of players than Rafa tends to?

[Arn]

So those same players were great when Mourinho was there, but in the space of a year, they've ALL become useless?

Or maybe Mourinho just gets better out of players than Rafa tends to?

Rafa is a better squad builder than Mourinho.

No one can even compare with Mourinho when it comes down to get the best out of players. He is on a different planet than everyone else.

If you look at the squad then many of them are over 30 and played a long time in the world cup. Add the long previous season. How tired do you think the 30+ players was before the season had even started?

You can then add that Rafa demands very much from his team with the high pressing tactic and all that. Every player must work extremely hard.

How tired do you think the 30+ players are after a couple of months? They are not used working extremely hard all over the pitch.

No wonder that they get a lot of injuries.

Rafa wasn't the right choice for Inter if you look at the age of the squad and how tough the previous season was. He had been the right choice if the squad had been a lot younger filled with players that could cope with his high pressing tactic.

Moratti made the wrong choice. Rafa made the wrong choice when he moved to them. I had expected that he would have looked at the squad and see that they don't fit his tactics. See that it was the wrong time to move to Inter.

[Craig_H]

That is fair enough, i can agree with much of that.

I was previously thinking that you werent going to accept that Mourinho's better at ANYTHING than Rafa. But you werent.

[Arn]

That is fair enough, i can agree with much of that.

I was previously thinking that you werent going to accept that Mourinho's better at ANYTHING than Rafa. But you werent.

Moratti has a big job on his hands. He need to replace Rafa and spend a lot of money.

I really can't understand why almost everyone say that Inter is the favourites to win the league. I myself said that around a month or so ago but then I actually looked at the age of the squad. It really is shocking.

Massive rebuilding work, massive.

[Harv]

You're bat **** crazy Arn

[Finnish_Red]

Doesn't matter who your manager is when you are without Julio Cesar, Philippe Coutinho, Cristian Chivu, Diego Milito, Joel Chukwuma Obi, Walter Samuel, Maicon, Sulley Muntari, Thiago Motta, David Suazo, McDonald Mariga your team is going to struggle. Add to that if E'too gets a ban for his stupid stunt Inter is done.

[Craig_H]

Doesn't matter who your manager is when you are without Julio Cesar, Philippe Coutinho, Cristian Chivu, Diego Milito, Joel Chukwuma Obi, Walter Samuel, Maicon, Sulley Muntari, Thiago Motta, David Suazo, McDonald Mariga your team is going to struggle. Add to that if E'too gets a ban for his stupid stunt Inter is done.

Not regular starters.

[Red_Polo]

In fairness he's named 11 ****ing players there, it'd be remarkably unlucky if they were all regular starters! If anything, the fact you've picked out less than half the list has probably emphasised the Finnish_Red's point.

[Rich]

Not regular starters.

Coutinho has been...

[Tee]

Rafa was always on a hiding to nothing at Inter. Win and it was down to Mourinho, lose and it was Rafa's fault.

Having won the CL I am very surprised Moratti did not spend big on at least 1 or 2 signings in the Summer.

All said and done Rafa should probably have done a bit better than he has tbf with the squad he inherited, but then how long would this ageing team have performed at a high level anyway?

A great man but I think when the dust settles on Rafa's career he may just fall a tad short of being a truly great Manager.

[Craig_H]

Coutinho has been...

He's a kid who's just breaking through to the team.