Jim D

We need Mascherano but as rightly pointed out, our fullbacks must be more positive, be able to commit themselves forward and overlap the winger at every opportunity. Having a player like Mascherano allows this but do we have the fullbacks that are comfortable going forward and can put in a decent cross?

There is a stat going around where last season Ferguson, Mourinho and Wenger rotated just as much as Rafa, so on average each manager was making roughly the same amount of changes every game. When Rafa went on that 11 game winning run he was rotating just as much as he is doing now. So obviously rotation isn't the problem, its too easy to blame rotation. Rotation argument only rears its ugly head when we aren't winning, the problem lies deeper than that but I'm not sure what it is.

Course it does Wenger and Ferguson rotate all the time, just we aren't consistent enough in getting results. A draw against anyone outside the top 4 is now two points dropped rather than a point gained if you want to challenge for the title.

GH accumulated 80 points, that year we finished 2nd. Rafa has accumulated 82 points, that year we finished 3rd, one point behind the Mancs in 2nd. So Rafa has equalled GH on best league performance. Question is can Rafa go that one step further where GH failed?

Exactly if you want some of the best players in the world you are going have to pay the transfer fee the selling club wants not what you think the player is worth. Alves is a typical example, we wouldn't budge from our valuation of the player but Sevilla wanted more than we were offering....so we end up buying Pennant, you get what you pay for. Carrick is not worth £17million but that is how much the Mancs were willing to pay to get him. Ferdinand as good as a defender he is, he is not worth £30million but again that is what you got to pay if you want top class talent.

A remarkable stat that really questions our title credentials. The Mancs already this season have gone 8 wins on the bounce. Our best run this season is only 3 wins.

Not going to happen, we are fighting for 3rd place, the Man City game was so typical as to why we will not win the league. Under Rafa we dominate and control the majority of games, very rarely conceding, but we lack that cutting edge up top that has seen us time and time again drop so many points. We have the squad but we lack belief as a team, only Gerrard has the drive and urgency to believe we can win a game when it is tight. Converting draws into unlikely wins is what Champions are made of, we don't have that yet.

Fancy that, a manager criticising his own fans.....when have we heard about this before? I suppose if the Manc fans put in as much energy singing about their own team rather than singing anti Scouse songs then the atmosphere at Old Trafford would improve. Why on Earth would you want to sing about Liverpool when you are playing Birmingham? Bizarre.

Which means he is yet to score a Premiership goal this season.

That is another thing the Mancs and Chelsea have over us. Their ability in tight games or games where they aren't playing well to nick a goal from a set piece. It does make you wonder whether we work on these in an attacking sense on the training ground. There was some bizarre statistic from two seasons ago where 40-50% of Chelsea's goals were scored from set plays.

Titus Bramble?

The Mancs are favourites for the title because they have been away to the top 8 already, so their run in for the second half of the season is going to be the easiest of the top 4. Its the Mancs title, can't see anyone else winning it not even Arsenal will run them close. 3rd is the best we can hope for this season I'm afraid, thinking we even have a chance of winning the title is totally unrealistic. There is too much to do, first we got to bridge the gap to the top and then we still have to make the trips to Old Trafford, Emirates and Stamford Bridge where we've only picked up zero points out of a possible 27 under Rafa's tenure. Our best chance of silverware this season is either the FA Cup or the Champions League.

The Wigan game should take on more priority than the FA Cup game against Luton. No doubt there will be people in the media accusing Rafa of disrespecting the FA Cup if he does play a "weakened" team against Luton. Play a similar team against Wigan and bring in players who are close to full fitness for the Cup game. (Alonso, Agger, Hobbs etc)

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The table shows after 19 games we've accumulated 37 points, at the same stage last season we had accumulated 34 points. So we've bettered our points tally on the first 19 games by only 3 points. Putting this into context, there has been minimal improvement from last season considering we already been to Stamford Bridge, Old Trafford, Goodison, Emirates and came away with zero points. Our away form has improved dramatically and been totally turned on its head but we've let ourselves down badly at home compared to our rivals. Points taken at home this season by the top 4: Arsenal = 28 points Mancs = 28 points Chelsea = 22 points Liverpool = 16 points There is a 12 point differential between ourselves and the League leaders and that ultimately explains the gap between ourselves and Arsenal right now in the table. The result today against City on its own is a point gained but in the context of the title race it is 2 points dropped because we are trying to make up for our poor home form. It seems under Rafa we are either good at home but poor away or good away but poor at home. I hate saying this but I personally feel we've left ourselves with too much to do, yes we can hope but I think we are out of the title race and the best we can achieve this season is another 3rd place finish.

What you mean it didn't work? Of course it worked, City didn't have a sniff and I don't remember Reina having to make a save. Arbeloa did extremely well considering it is not his natural position.

Right on cue, pathetic article, a story about nothing and where in Hicks' comments does he say a "jibe" about Scousers which is condescending towards us the fans?

Takes after Ronaldo; also noticed Lawrenson and co not once commented on the Mancs defending from set pieces or the fact Ferguson rotated his team for today's game which ultimately lead to defeat, not a word.

I'm just waiting for another article from Sunday's newspapers, one in which will try to destabilise the club before a big game. Have they come through yet?

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I'd be more worried about your inability to defend from set pieces, perhaps Fergie should try marking zonally or perhaps your manager should stop tinkering with the side......because that is what Rafa gets criticised for so why should Fergie be immune from it?

That is a joke of a decision, I don't buy that the linesman thinks it could have come off a defender because there was not one Newcastle defender anywhere near Pizarro. Easily 3-4 yards offside and that goes down as one of the worst decisions this season after the penalty they received at Anfield.

Can't believe it.....Fergie is actually giving West Ham credit and saying they fully deserved the three points. I thought he blame the ref, pitch, colour of the kit etc etc Gracious in defeat, what next, hell will freeze over?

That is the key, I will only start to believe when we start to take advantage of a situation when our rivals slip up, until then its off. The City game tomorrow is a must win to show our intent.

Don't forget they will say the Mancs rely too much on Tevez and Ronaldo since they have scored over half of the Mancs goals this season between them, then again possibly not.