Arazel

Home form: Blackburn - WIN Everton - WIN Bolton - WIN Spurs - WIN Reading - LOSS Wolves - WIN Wigan - WIN Arsenal - LOSE F: 13 A:5 And one of those matches was a cup match. Doesnt seem to be too much wrong with the home form. So perhaps instead of trying to manipulate the facts to suit your particular argument, you should consider posting all the relevant data.

Why would you play Johnson and Kelly and omit Kuyt? Thats baffling.

Well done Kev, I dont think we need the handicap of starting the game a man down.

Couldnt agree more with this. At the minute we are just below the top level clubs, have no money, and owners that noone seems to like. Why anyone would think a top manager would come to our club is beyond belief. We couldnt even afford the wages of say, Mourinho, for example. The place to be at the minute is indeed Spain, and more specifically Barcelona and Real Madrid. One club has endless backing from the government, the other has its best team in years. Barcelona has the money, they have the support, they have the squad, and they also have Messi. Not wanting to dabble too much in hyperbole, but if it was Barcelona or Liverpool, would you go to the broke club, or the rich club with the best player in the world? Pretty clear decision to me.

I posed the question of what exactly was wrong with his tactical nous and ideas. Can you please refrain from going off topic and answer my rather pertinent question. The difference between Rafa and the two you mentioned is that they would struggle to win much in the top leagues in the top countries. Rafa has done that in Spain, maintained a high level in England AND won the elite european trophy. The other two have not.

I think its lametable that individuals here would even contemplate rubbishing Rafas "ideas and tactics". Lets examine the facts to begin with: Years of Coaching experience for Rafa: 24 years Years of Coachin experience for the average forumite: 0 years Major Trophies won by Rafa: 5 Major Trophies won by the average forumite: 0 Next let us consider where we were when he joined, and where we are now. When GH was sacked, the premiership was in a very different shape to its present day edition. For a start Chelsea had just begun to spend their money and didnt understand how to make the most of it, and on top of this City didnt have the massive money pot they now do. Extra competition these days. In 5 years, with a limited budget for the majority of his employment thus far, he has reached two champions league final, winning one, as well as winning the FA Cup. Now, personally, to me that suggests a certain level of tactical competence. One certainly does not simply win the Champions League by being tactically inept. Cups aside, the squad has shown great improvement. The current squad is a lot stronger than that he inherited from Houllier, plus we also now possess one of the greatest strikers in europe. So, let me summarise in bullet form so its simple to understand, then ill pose a question. - Limited budget - won trophies -improved squad What exactly is wrong with his tactical nous or his ideas?

Seriously? You have to be trolling

I just checked for a third time and there was no mention of it. I must get onto Mr Bose and complain about editorial standards tbh.

David Moyes No, for a few reasons 1) He does well with no money, but I think thats his niche. Noone knows what would happen if he had more money. Not that he'd get more here I suppose 2) More importantly - lacks european experience. 3) Hes an Evertonian. No thanks. The only managers I would like are Hiddink or Mourinho.

Im not quite sure what the OP is trying to highlight? Is it that Rafa needs only win two more games to better Houllier??

It may be a laughable decision, but what else could he have done?

No, but ive read through the match report on BBC. Twice.

Can you back up this rather speculative supposition?

Perhaps I didnt word it correctly. What I meant was that Gerrard in the team at all is going to worry opposition players and managers, such is his ability.

Haha. The bold bit means I dont take any more of your posts that seriously. You seriously cannot sleight Gerrard, we'd be a dire team without him. His presence alone is good enough.

Bit of a rubbish scoreline. I didnt see the match, but I do think now that the Champions League for next season is out of the question. I'd even go as far as saying we're unlikely to make the Europa League. I dont really see that as a bad thing tbh. Its not going to remove any funds from the kitty, its just going to give the owners a valid excuse for not giving any, plus it'll let us concentrate on the league next season.

How does his travel history have any implications on the relevance of his opinions?

I for one am 100% sure that the billboard has GandH packing their bags. Or giggling quietly to themselves. Im not sure.

Probably to do with alleged tapping up and payout incidents. All alleged of course. Could be true, could not.

Fair enough, I dont tihnk there is much I can go against there.

I have two things Id like to raise. Firstly, and most importantly, his resignation was instigated wholly due to unprofessionalism and poor attitude. Its a totally different scenario and Id like to think that any powerful individual would succumb to a similar ending if they had such a poor attitude towards their own "customers". The fans did nothing bar get lucky. Secondly, I also believe this was a PR victory for the owners. They were able to sack a board member and use him as a scapegoat to get a lot of fans off their back for some time. I have no doubt that there will be some fans out there who see this sacking as some sort of tiny victory and have become, for a short at the most, appeased with the situation. The man was used as a scapegoat, and probably helped out the Yanks more so than the fans in PR terms. Lest we forget that said sacking meant nothing with regards to their ownership of the club.

Do most dutch teams not play 433, with a lone striker?

Kuyt was a revered goal scorer before he turned into a winger. I dont agree that he is simply a stop gap. Maybe the compromise from Rafa needs to be to move to 442 when Torres is out

Im open to suggestions as to who we can get who is at the same standard as Torres for penny chews.

We are a club with limited funds. This automatically rules out the possibility of having enough players to cover "poor form and suspensions". Thats what the backup player is for, and if a similar event happens to both at the same time them we are desperately unlucky. Such is the unlikelihood for two players being out at the same time for any reasonable length of time, I dont think it would be unwise to consider that a) Maxi can potentially cover the left too, and b) Gerrard can play pretty anywhere hes needed in case of emergency. Its baffling that you say we need another striker to play instead of Torres in that system, yet you fail miserably to notice the problems with this. I even highlghted them in my previous post but I shall do so again for the benefit of all: i) If we sign another striker, given that we have limited funds, who can we sign that will be of sufficient calibre but would still leave enough in the kitty to strengthen other places that need strengthened? ii) Why sign another striker when we'll have four acceptable players, three of whom wont get a look in as striker when Torres is fit?