Chewie

Ironic YNWA...get a grip...you telling me that Rafa will keep all these players just because we never walk alone.... last week Rafa admitted to being raging at our players for their performance against Chelsea and that some of them were playing for their futures...given that he took Bellamy off early I figure he was a prime candidate for Rafa's fury... I didn't notice the closing down alluded to by another poster which was a more helpful reply (to which I responded by admitting I hadn't seen that but I was just so angry watching Kuyt put in the sort of shift I thought Bellamy was brought on to do...) maybe this is a pointless thread and maybe Bellamy had a thankless task...I can accept that, but over the two games he did nothing for me and I think that Rafa will offload him in the summer...he bought two strikers last summer and I reckon he has spotted the difference YNWA (never with irony) Chewie

aye....but neither are great oil paintings are they....

doesn't say that it has crashed and surely to goodness if anything had of happened family members would have reported people missing...let's hope nothing bad has happened...to report a crash is speculative and not helpful at the moment....

when Bellamy came on last night I thought - great, now that they're tired he can just run and run at them, closing the defenders down and giving us an outlet up front...I used to think the same way about Ciise.... but about 5 mins after he came on I realised I hadn't even noticed him...then a move broke in the middle of their half and he looked wistfully at the sky and smacked his hands in frustration as he watched Chelsea come out with the ball...Kuyt on the other hand ran like a demon to try and close them down (this was in the 2nd period of extra time!!!) now Kuyt has limitations (big ones) and I deffo think that Rafa will be strengthening here...but that show from Bellamy means he's out - in the two biggest matches of our season he looked disinterested - can't carry a moody little sod like that... YNWA Chewie

aye - and three out of four have real class to back it up...I expect Rafa to address that though...onwards and upwards from here C'mon the mighty reds YNWA Chewie!!!

yeah - true, thankfully here's to Stevie and the squad rafa is building...no mockers intended but we are 4 games away from stevie lifting the European Cup for the second time...in 10 years time when the offal run the 100 players that shook the Kop again..he'll be number one... and hopefully we'll be sitting back and ethusing over the world class defenders - the Agger / Carra partnership - Stevie / Alonso Mascherano / Momo being the best quintet of midfielders in the world,,, and then the rest that Rafa will add... Chewie

Fair enough then - that's that sorted just bugs me that we as 'fans' get sucked into this...it was the same with Mikey. Fair enough, he loved playing for England - why wouldn't he...but I always think he never quite got the adulation that others did because he became England's 'property' at a really young age...whereas say Robbie didn't and so was 'one of ours' in a way that Mikey supposedly wasn't.... try being in that lad's position aged 18 and ask if you would have handled it any better... the same with Stevie - the minute he gets any focus for anything other than Liverpool and we start to get sucked into playing his role down for Liverpool...it's just daft... anyway - glad it doesn't bother him, I just hate the stupidity sometimes of our own short-sightedness when we feel the need to knock someone off a pedestal that is not of their own making... Chewie

nothing scandalous but having just flicked onto news now all the main papers are running with some sort of headline about gerrard and how he destroyed PSV... it's totally out of the lad's control but it seems that after he was the only english player to emerge with much credit after the recent internationals he is now the darling of the press...cue more attention...cue endless debate about centre-mid -v- right hand side...cue gerrard getting more exposure than other world class team-mates....then cue the backlash, not least on the forums... from a team's perspective it means Rafa can get on with building things quietly and so add young quality players like Agger and Mascherano to the set-up without either barely getting noticed...but it does focus a lot of the attention on Stevie and unfortunately for him it is that very same attention that causes even his own fans to get fed up with him... the guy cannot win... he was active but hardly the sole match winner tonight and yet he gets lauded by the press out of all proportion, leading to the pendulum swinging the other way with people minimizing his role and impact... I'm just glad he's ours and hopeful that the pedestal he is being placed on in the absence of Beckham and without any seeming great young hope on the horizon isn't one that we get sucked into - either to put him on it or to knock him off it... YNWA Chewie

hey - we're not looking far enough into this.... what we need is a European Super league - closed of course, perhaps with two conferences, each with a number of divisions to reflect geogrpahical and local rivalry... then the domestic competition can take on a feeder role, with the European teams having 'daughter' teams in domestic competitions.... to ensure competition in the Euro Super league these domestic clubs would allow their players to be drafted to the Super league...the team finishing last in the Super league having first pick and so on.... think it all sounds a little crazy....think again...we now have the ownership structures familiar with this sort of set-up, the media moguls in charge of clubs and G14 etc...the transport and 'Euro' psyche to accomodate it.... right or wrong...this is only the preliminary question to a much bigger answer.... Chewie

I can't believe they get paid to do that....its a cruel world Chewie!!!

Think our problems sometimes comes down to a real lack of pace and the ability of any one player on our team to beat a man. When you have both it stretches teams. Once a player has beat his marker it creates options as all of a sudden we're in behind the defensive lines and we now have a free player... I reckon we look far too pedestrian at times...apparently Gonzalez was going to add pace but we've seen little of it, Pennant looks very tidy but does not seem to inject a lot or pace and power into our attack, Kuyt and Crouch are both pitifully short of a yard up front. Out of our midfield only Gerrard adds anything going forward. Finnan is a gem of a right back but does not add width down the right. Riise blows very hot and cold in terms of adding anything in terms of pace or guile in taking on his marker. Even wee luis who has all the trickery in the world lacks pace... this is where I see the likes of Alves coming in the summer...remember some poster commenting on how displeased Rafa was with our attacking options from full back at last years cup final...think he will really go for this area over the summer. Can see one of Crouch and Kuyt making a departure and reckon it'll be big Pete...he isn't gonna spend big on Kuyt to let him go and Kuyt can play elsewhere for the team. Quality full backs, a very creative attacking midfielder / creative forward, quality wide player on either left or right (would concentrate on left myself given the options with Gerrard / Alves (please) / Pennant on right) and pace up front.... At most we can get 78 points - we should be aiming for 74 and obviously putting on the big push for the champs league. Given that we are doing this without either the pace or creative guile of other teams I reckon we're looking good for some big spending come the summer!!! Chewie

hhhmmmmmmmm why the angry face...seems the guy is genuinely sorry about the mistake he made. Should he be hung drawn and quartered instead? Chewie

agreed - think the difference between us and the Chavs when the Roman came along was that they went out and bought an entire squad of players and they needed to...with us we are at the stage, due to the building work that Rafa has been doing, where we are now in the position of cherry picking and adding 3-4 real quality additions to the squad and with Hicks and Gillett we now have the resources to compete for these players... that means we can legitimately go for Alves, Eto/Villa/Torres/Henry (one of these) Simao (if we think he remains the left sided player we need) Baines or Bale (that kid from Southapmton - I get them mixed up) we need to start thinking now that the targets we missed out on due to lack of funds (Simao, Alves) or due to being muscled out (Wright-Phillips) are a thing of the past....Rafa will set his goals and be told - go get em and now he will have licence to do so! It's not that money is unlimited, its that it is no longer limiting, YNWA Chewie

well lets consider that we have actually spent quite a bit since rafa got here and now for the first time ever we have the spening power to compete...so that means the £10million + we were going to spend on Simao but didn't is now going to be paid, al la Alves with the £12 million we were not willing to pay, then there's the money we didn't spend on Owen,... now throw into the mix that say we go after this kid from Southampton at 8-10 million in the overinflated local market, plus the likes of Alves and you see how easy it is to spend £20 mil on two full backs, then say that for once Rafa is able to compete for Villa or for Eto and you see that we have to spend 25Mil + to get these sort of players, and then realise that these are the sort of players that we think would add to rather than deplete from a side that may not be 'that far off' but which in fact is 19 points off!!! then set aside the championship manager approach which basically names a world 11, go through our team position by position and ask yourself how much it would cost to get us where we need to be, then take away how much we would get from players we no longer feel are needed - come on here anytime we win or lose and you'll get plenty of evidence of players we supposedly do not want...filter through the usual rubbish to rationally admit that players like Riise and Zenden and Fowler can be got shot of... do all that and reply sensibly to the post and I think you'll see how much we need to spend to better our full backs, improve on our midefield creativity and add goals to this team... there...nothing a little thought wouldn't help with! YNWA Chewie

there's obviously grave disappointment at today's result despite the fact that we battered em...lots of chat about how we need a predator or a quality wide man etc, but please....without this thread turning into a championship manager freakshow...who does Rafa build his team around with the money he will be given in the summer.... Here's who I reckon he's definitely keeping... Reina, ___________ Defence: Definite Keeps:Finnan, Agger, Carra, Back-up keeps:(Hyppia as interim back up, also he's likely to keep Arbeola and Insua with only Arbeola likely to be a first teamer) Players Dispensable: Riise (sorry Jon) and Aurelio Players Needed: Quality needed on both full back flanks: Midfield: Definites: Gerrard, Alonso, Sissoko, Mascherano - definite keeps but all narrow Back up Keeps: Pennant, Garcia, one of Kewell / Gonzalez Players Dispensable: Zenden, one of Kewell / Gonzalez Players Needed: Quality left sided player Attack: Definites: Bellamy, Kuyt Players Dispensable: Crouch, Fowler Players Needed: World Class goalscorer, world class link player so I reckon we need: Two quality full backs - £20m, One quality left sided midfielder - £15 m Two complimentary strikers (one natural creator, one goalscorer) - £40m (this is where Voronin is a surpise - where does he fit?) £70 - £80m to complete the jigsaw? We have the money now don't we (especially if we offload a few players for a total of about £10-£15 million). If dudek goes then we'll have to bring Carson back or get another keeper - whatever happened to that Italian lad we were looking at? Anyway - please, no championship manager stuff but in terms of players we must keep and players we can afford to lose what do people reckon? YNWA Chewie

you just know its going to happen.... YNWA Chewie

what a performance in the second half from the lads... well done rafa for getting it totally spot on at half time! get in....is number 6 on its way.... Chewie

not wishing to be cynical or anything but given that Kewell is on pretty big wages and that some form of insurance is covering some or all of his costs while out on sick then perhaps we have simply decided to take whatever time is necessary to get him back to health...better to take longer to get the whole problem sorted while perhaps someone else is covering the tab than having him fall injured every few weeks....could just be a good long term plan on behalf of Harry and the club... would love to see a fit Harry Kewell in our team - even when he wasn't flying past defenders his touch and distribution meant that we rarely lost the ball after Harry had it. He provided a sense of balance, control and intelligence to our overall pattern of play....I always think that it is strange that people would be prepared to sell that which is difficult to buy (cue jokes about how easy it is to buy a crock etc...) but if this time out means that Harry is fit and well for next season then it would be ironic to try and replace him when there ain't an abundance of better quality left sided players... anyway, hope Harry gets better soon and taking time on this one will work out for everyone in the end... Chewie

last week after the protest at the arsenal game a guy phoned radio five live and Alan Green basically gave him a platform of airtime to make a speech about the protest, McKenzie working for the BBC and the lies printed in the S*n. Not once did Green interupt nor did he question any of what was said. He simply thanked the guy for calling and stated at the end that he wholeheartedly endorsed everything that was said...it was clear that Greeny knew exactly what was coming and wanted everything to be said rather than turning it into a debate or cutting the whole thing short... well done Alan Green - especially given that the guy was also having a go at the BBC YNWA Chewie

what do you think he's really trying to say though.... Chewie

I may be wrong but Utd have to play us, Chelsea, a*** and City away from home in the second half of the season...we have the reverse in that all those teams (swap bluescum for City) have to come to us.... ????? anyway - even if Utd drop all those points I don't see both Chelsea and Scum dropping enough to drag anyone else into the race - nor do I see anyone going on a run of winning every game between now and the end of the season to even think about coming close... If i was in Utd's shoes at the mo I'ld be well happy but nervous... Fergie keeps saying that Chelsea have never been in this situation before (chasing) but then neither have most of his current United team (leading). Neville, Giggs, Scholes and Fergie will be key as to how Roaldo, Rooney, Saha, Ferdinand et al handle the pressure - they've never been here before

been thinking about this for a couple of months now as to why they have seemingly struggled and long ago came up with the conclusion that it is largely not their fault.... they walked into a team struggling with the following all way short of their form: Carra, Gerrard, Alonso, Reina, with many of the rest looking pedestrian Gonzalez and Pennant are young and in the latter's case he came here with a lot to prove as this is realistically his last big chance...Bellamy is a bit older but the last position you want to be in in a team that is struggling is as the new striker expected to score..he also had a rep hanging over his head that hopefully has been put to bed.... anyway, all were new and finding their feet in a team that couldn't find theirs...hopefully now that the team has settled down a bit and are getting some results they will find the confidence and self-belief to take into the big games in the future.... incidentally - all of the above proves what a great buy Kuyt has been but I would say that he is the exception rather than the rule and we have definetly bought a good 'un (though his next big test will be how he does against the big teams when we are playing well) anyway....here's hoping that all of the above find their undoubted form YNWA Chewie

bottom line is that no-one will ever have the spending power Chelsea has because theirs is not based on any sort of economic financial basis...some lad last week posted the players that Chelsea have sold - all for less than they have been bought for...no-one's quite sure about the legitimacy of all the money used to buy these players but its good old bona fide £££ now...buy high and sell for less...you decide what financial imperative is driving that operation.... Randy Lerner, Mr Glazer, the Dubai crowd - all mean that we will be financially very strong with a long term strategy for on and off field success because that's what guarantees financial rewards...the only possible alternative is asset stripping and seeing exactly what can be sold to line your pockets...whilst this may well happen at some stage in football (and UTD fans are rightly wary of this ) the sheer political and reputational fall-out would be catastrophic.... so no-one will compete with what is essentially a very expensive plaything that serves the purpose of legitimating both reputation and finances, but we should hopefully be better off... YNWA Chewie

this is pure speculation of course in that as yet we don't know if we are gonna be a big player financially as a result of any takeover and we don't know how Rafa is when it comes to buying or managing the top names in football...but that last point is the point of this post! We actually don't know if Rafa can do either - buy or manage - the so-called major players as he's never been in a position to do this! I'm not saying he can't do this or that he won't be able to, its just that when he arrived he did so on the basis of what he could do with an unfancied side - which he vindicated in his first year (moment to reflect on the glory of Istanbul...) - but we have nothing to base him on in terms of buying and managing players in the upper echelons of the transfer market....(mind you this last point is skewed by the fact that whether or not a player is supposedly in this class is more dependant on the purchasing club's willingness and ability to pay rather than the player's actual worth - see Chelski) anyway - it's a matter for debate, that's all.... YNWA Chewie

that list will only get longer and was obvious from the outset that this would be the case...number one rule in the financial world - always watch out for someone willing to buy high and sell for a loss - it's all good clean money (well it is now...) Chewie