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Always liked Lucas and felt he was somewhat unfairly maligned from many corners. He's come a long way from the player who couldn't tackle and seemed to just drift through games when he first came in. Even when he stays in his shell, he is still a very wellrounded player who generally makes the right decisions. He's gotten a lot stronger on the ball, is very tactically sound and he is a reliable big game player. Most of my manc friends were very happy he didn't start when we played them and that says a lot, imo. Happy to see him putting in the kind of performance that has no question marks on it. I hope he comes out of his shell more and starts to really stamp his mark on games, particularly against weaker opposition. The ability is there for him to become a top player. That is what I find encouraging. If he keeps that up, there's no reason why he shouldn't be brutalising weaker midfields on a more regular basis.

Don't like him, don't want him, but he's done very well on the pitch of late. He may even have.... 'turned the corner'.

I'm as big a fan of Alonso as they come, but despite all the plaudits Xabi received in 08/09, Gerrard was still our best player that season. He gets taken way too granted by fans whenever he doesn't do his solo captain fantastic act.

clearly England has no need of tactics. Look at how this Italian fella messed it all up with his 'tactics', overcomplicated a simple game....

Both are players who struggle massively when the ball has to be carried upfield with limited support. In a game where they have options around them in the final third, they come to life. I'd have kuyt for his end product over maxi, but they are both limited players, albeit very good at what they do.

Bohinen just became my favourite Norwegian. Why does no one else in the media see what he and all the fans know?

This article has to be made up. How is net profit overspending?

Actually, imagining that he gets high before press conferences to hide his growing senility is an image that somehow takes the sting out of it. You left out this gem: "JamieCarragher was bombing forward like Carlos Alberta of old." I can only make sense of it by picturing him drunk and high when he says this.

I will give this man one thing - he never ceases to amaze me. I have actually started saving these in a file for posterity. It would be hilarious if it weren't so tragic.

this from the man who was confident he could take us back to the top four, that all we needed was a player or two to get us back on track when he joined the club. He's performing a sterling job of conning the gullibles into thinking we are a midtable side.

Meh. Riise, Aurelio, even Dossena, have all had stints on the left of midfield when it was needed. It was not ideal, but it got the job done without anyone find it it necessary to label Benitez' tactics regressive.

Not if the manager/head coach is hired on those premises and knows what he is working with from the outset. That's where it went wrong with Mourinho at Chelsea, they changed the rules on him after he had already held the reins fully. Him and Rafa both seem capable of working within these confines at Inter. Barca is another good case in point. Ever since Beguiristain took over in 03, there's been a very clear profile to the kind of players signed and the kind of football they play. Part of the reason Guardiola has been so successful is that his ideas for the team fits like a glove into what they were already doing. Some adjustments and finetuning made, no five-year plans needed. Other managers might have had very different ideas of what to do with that squad. The head coach would still be allowed to make his imprint of course. I am sure Mourinho, Guardiola et al have some input on transfers and certainly on how to play. But those are negotiable privileges within a longterm frame as dictated by the DoF (who in turn answers to the CEO in this regard), not absolute ones.

agreed. I want him out badly, but there's been little to criticise from him from the Napoli game onwards.

I've thought for a while a director of football is the most sensible model for longterm planning and development. It's more than just a glorified chief scout as a DoF will also be dictating the overall footballing philosophy of the club, establishing what kind of football is to be played and what players are needed to fit into that system. The head coach is identified on those terms and any variations on this, in terms of tactics and player purchases happens as a case of negotiation between the DoF and the head coach. It allows for a manager/head coach leaving without having to sacrifice the continuity of the philosophy and approach that guides the setup of the team. I think by now, football has become so demanding in terms of developing a team profile that the idea of a manager at the highest level is simply getting outdated. It doesn't work properly for longterm development and investment strategy without a genius manager at the helm like Ferguson, Mourinho or Wenger. Personally, I think Benitez and Houllier both took on rebuilding jobs that were greater than needed. When Houllier took over, it was clear some kind of clearout was necessary, but did it really need to be so extensive? At the time, it was agreed yes because the previous squad had been underachieving, but a lot of it comes to results justifying the means. It could have been done otherwise. The same with Benitez when he took over. How does it happen that Houllier spent five years trying to build a team good enough for squad rotation, Rafa comes in and the first thing he decides is that the squad as a whole needs to be overhauled? I propose that in either case, it had less to do with the actual quality of the squad and more to do with how the squad fit into the profile for what kind of team both managers wanted to build. Both had the funds available to put their money into the first 11 from day one, both decided to divest significant resources into buying squad players. Shared philosophy, yet both decided to do-over from scratch, essentially both were given 'five-year plans' to clean the slate and start over. Personally, and I felt so at the time with both managers, there ought to have been someone above him in the system to tell him 'no, we have a plan here with these players. We need to strengthen the team, not rebuild it.' And now we have a manager who doesn't believe football is a squad game and believes Koncheksy and Pulsen fit into the LFC profile. Unless we luck out with a truly gifted manager next time around, expect more five-year plans with too little to show for it.

'I believe, and I've got a track recordthat demonstrates it, that I can take the existing players, get much better performances out of them and buy constructively to build for abetter future. The number one priority is to try and help the team do a bit better than last year and get back into those Champions Leaguespots, where the club has always been and still wants to be." ---Hodgson at the start of theseason "Our goal at the start of theseason was to compete for a Champions League place, but perhaps that means you are automatically going to compete for the league because quite often the difference between first and fourth place isn't a vast number of points. If we are good enough to get into the top four, who knows, maybe we can get closer to the number one position."--- Roy after the loss at Old Trafford Changed his tune to suit the media apologetics, didn't he? F*ck off Roy, you con artist. Stop lying and deceiving us with your bullsh*t because you are failing miserably in a job that is too big for you.

I am of the 'he's gone, just move on' persuasion, but I will admit it hurts to see those two in the same picture. Such a huge contrast.

It's hilarious. He looks on the verge of tears at one point. WTF does he have to be so worked up about in this anyway.

are you saying he is a pair of 'safe hands' who could 'steady the ship?' Please, let's try and find someone with different criteria than these.

last night was the first passable performance from him in a while. Got a point away from home in Europe whilst fielding his second string. Managed to say the right things in the press conference without embarrassments. All well done. You earn an extra 3 days in the hot seat, Roy.

Pellegrini from what I can tell. I'll believe Pellegrini's agent above some journo tweet who claims he is in the middle east, when said agent has already said they are in talks with us. And now Rijkaard's agent is saying they are not in talks with us? It seems like a no-brainer at this stage. Or at least, it should be for the new executives.

I think a lot of it had to do with the fact that Van Gaal was the first to take advantage of the new rules with no limits on european players. Consequently, he brought in loads of dutch players (Hesp, Reiziger, Bogarde, De Boer, De Boer, Cocu, Zenden, Kluivert) and a host of foreign players to boot. Think it was all a bit too much too early on with the new rules.

This is an oddly truncated and wrong rendition of barca history. Moore succeeded Cruyff. Van Gaal succeeded him and won two titles on the trot before getting sacked after his third year. The next three years saw a succession of five unsuccesful appointments (including Van Gaal returning for a disastrous second run) until Rijkaard came in and turned things around. Seven years passed between Cruyff and Rijkaard and I don't think there was a single player left from that team by the time Rijkaard took over. Eto'o never played for Van Gaal. He was signed in Rijkaard's second season. I think Rijkaard deserves a lot of credit for what he did at Barca. It was a team in shambles when he took over that had been going nowhere for years. They had even flirted with defensive discipline under Rexach which didn't work either. He inspired Ronaldinho to become the best player in the world. He took Xavi, who was looking increasingly like a talent that was never going to make the most of his potential, pushed him higher up field and transformed him into one of the best midfielders in the world. When Deco was signed, he gave him more defensive responsibilities than he had been used to before and likewise turned him into one of the best midfielders in the world, Eto'o turned from impressive striker into one of the best in the world after he came to barca. And yeah, I dare say, he re-invented the free-flowing football that Cruyff had implented back in the 90s like no one else had done before that. That said, I'd still prefer Pellegrini.

it's funny sad cuz it's true.

By now I want to scream 'just shut up!' Stop humiliating the club, stop being such a f*cking joke. Every time he opens his mouth it gets worse. It getting too much.