Damian_de

f*** me, RH with an absolutely legendary level of insult to "his own" there. What an utter utter c***.

In his 4231 Rafa's 3 were pretty interchangeable though. It's not the same as right mid in a 442.

Not exactly filled the hole vacated by Oezil...

Is that Rocky Baptiste one for real? He doesn't even look half bothered and nor do his team mates.

Plus the fact that football is such a dynamic game that the stats of each player need to be related to the rest of the side and other factors, so that you basically need computers to churn the numbers

Well, he was on the up at the time...

I heard the same. Ultimately the Diouf summer looks a bit like Rafa with Keane and Aquilani. The reasons might are different, but in both cases the team looked like it just needed an extra 5% to take it to the top, and in neither case it arrived.

Except maybe they did, a teensy bit. He said he'd spent most of his recovery in France watching the french league on TV, and that's when he picked them out...

This bit in particular, and the concept in general sounds like it owes a nod towards Lobanovskyi an his team at Kiev.

Exactly. Man's a f***ing fraud if he thinks that's forgiveable. c***. We're 5-4-5 WDL, all hail the saviour.

3-0 didn't flatter, but West Ham were so incredibly appalling we didn't need to be any kind of good to score them. I agree with Wayne, they didn't even try, shocking and more shocking. We were making all kinds of individual and tactical errors, they just weren't interested in punishing us.

1) west ham are relegated - they are shockingly bad 2) kuyt and johnson work well as an attacking unit 3) we're 3-0 ahead, but I don't think we're playing that well (well enough, given the oppo, naturally) When we scored the 3rd and Hodgson jumped up and punched the air I couldn't help it but think "f*** off roy, that's my team that just scored, not yours". I'm buzzing we're gonna win, but gutted that he should get any credit, the s***house.

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I think the idea of fans thinking they can influence the clubs' decisions is worrying. That's on the one hand. On the other, if we're serious about fan representation at board level then there should be a channel for fans to have their input. The whole facebook/twitter warrior thing is a bit pathetic IMO, but with a proper process rather than just posting b******s on his Mrs' twitter page I'm definitely for it. Hopefully this RH thing will be the last example of fan pressure through the current channels.

He's not started so well here (makes a change)

Deschamps actually does have some achievements worth mentioning and probably will be a candidate. Personally not seen much of his sides bar the CL monaco one.

He might be. He's obviously got something going for him - a lot of players at Bolton are playing the best football of their careers under him, and Elmander is looking a proper player. He seems to be one of those charismatic managers, rather than a tactical wizard or deep thinker. I'm not sure we can ever really get more than a superficial picture from our vantage point, but the club could... and should. With Kenny the only candidates you can say for sure 'Get It'. Would need serious backing from the senior management though - who knows whether they'd offer it?

There aren't any really obvious rising star candidates, though, not like there were when Rafa and Mourinho moved to England on the back of domestic and European success. Exciting young, progressive managers for certain - Boas, Coyle, Klopp, Quique Florez, Tuchel, etc - but no one with a really attention grabbing achievement among them. However, neither Rijkaard nor Pellegrini seem more attractive, IMO. Rijkaard's record has some serious question marks, I think. Very good at Barca, but little else of outstanding note. Pellegrini is clearly a very good manager with a penchant for attacking football, however, I have some reservations about whether tactically he has the game for the set of players at his disposal as of now. Either would be a really risky appointment, I think, but it goes to show that there doesn't not seem to be a stand out choice. Further investigation of Coyle, Klopp or Boas for me, with a dose of Kenny if necessary. I don't really see Kenny being the long term solution, however, and asking him to fill a gap seems insulting to the man, even if he'd do it.

He was good with Agger once Hyypia dropped out of the first team, and a lot of his fullback appearances were on merit too, but I agree that he is worryingly past his best and looks like a liability a lot of the time now.

Did well when his boss was watching

Go check that. Their record against top sides at home is not that good. We've had multiple shockers already this year, and it's only just November...

only mention on the page so far? surely one of the all time disappointments given the expectation, hassle and cost.

Excellent result. Poor manager by our standards.

If he goes and wins the league in Italy it might be just what he needs to restore some credibility with any members of the squad who have doubts - although a step too far to expect him to get any credibility with the majority of the British press, of course. I had thought it could be for the best in the longer run if Rafa went away and came back on a high following more success elsewhere. The way things are going so far with NESV though - director of football, etc - then I wonder really whether Rafa will appear on their radar for the primarily coaching role, and whether of not he'd be 100% happy even if offered, given his oft stated happiness with the greater responsibility given to managers in the UK. There seems to be a great shortage of managers that fit the profile we were looking for in 2004 and would be well advised to look at again, I think - young, hungry managers with proven record of success with less resources than their competitors. In 2004 there was Rafa and Mourinho that fit the picture, now there are some promising younger managers - Owen Coyle, Jurgen Klopp, Laudrup, etc... - but really only Quique Sánchez Flores who has achieved any success, and that 'only' the UEFA, and even that with probably the best squad in the competition.

Jurgen Klopp at Dortmund and MAYBE Thomas Tuchel at Mainz. Klopp's Dortmund look the real deal this season, and he started the Mainz ball rolling too... Both fit the role 'head coach' well as opposed to manager. Tuchel speaks good English, Klopp I'm not sure about. Laudrup's teams play lovely football. Some concern that he hasn't been able to stick it out anywhere yet, really.