just back from the match - Brum (H)

[Gunga Din]

you know who i think is our biggest threat in winning the league this season? its not Man Utd, its not Chelsea. its not even Arsenal.

 

its Rafa.

 

over complicating things with the team, they are playing like a bunch of strangers, no co ordination, no movement. i have no problem with drawing with s*** teams at home, if we play them off the park and are just downright unlucky. but that wasnt the case. the last 3 game we have played we have been abysmal. Rafa vneeds to stop f***ing around, select his best 11, and stick with it. Torres on the bench for any game he is fit is criminal. its as bad as leaving a fit Gerrard on the bench. taking off a winger, putting a striker on in his place, then moving a striker out on the wing to replace a winger he has taken off? what the hell is that about. sort it f***ing out Rafa. i'm f***ing livid.

[floyd the barber]

spot on....couldnt agree anymore with what you`ve just said...

 

although let me just add that pennant and babel are just not cutting it for me, we need far better options on the wings.

 

if we gonna have a serious chance..................pennant has had plenty of chances and babel is of course going to takea bit of time, but even at this early stage............he looks completely out his depth and nervous in the same way gonzalez and even smicer were before.

 

We havent had a decent winger since mcmanaman

Edited September 22, 2007 by Lets get Masched

[Guz]

Would love to see Gerrard moved back out to the right when Xabi is back, maybe even earlier. Let Babel, Pennant, Benayoun and maybe Kewell fight it out for one winger spot. I'm not saying they're the only bad performances in the last 3 games but I dont think we're good enough as a unit yet to have both of our wingers as potential "passengers".

 

Going through a little rough patch at the moment but it could've been worse I guess.

[Spike]

you know who i think is our biggest threat in winning the league this season? its not Man Utd, its not Chelsea. its not even Arsenal.

 

its Rafa.

 

over complicating things with the team, they are playing like a bunch of strangers, no co ordination, no movement. i have no problem with drawing with s*** teams at home, if we play them off the park and are just downright unlucky. but that wasnt the case. the last 3 game we have played we have been abysmal. Rafa vneeds to stop f***ing around, select his best 11, and stick with it. Torres on the bench for any game he is fit is criminal. its as bad as leaving a fit Gerrard on the bench. taking off a winger, putting a striker on in his place, then moving a striker out on the wing to replace a winger he has taken off? what the hell is that about. sort it f***ing out Rafa. i'm f***ing livid.

 

Agree. Take key players off when they've done the job, game won, and they deserve a rest. Bring on the lads that'll stop any comeback from the oppo cos they're fresh and will work their knackers off thru sheer hunger

[Bootle Buck]

Rafa needs to pick a starting XI and stick with it for at least 5 games. Quite frankly the likes of Pennant, Babel, Voronin, Benayoun and Crouch are squad players at the moment and need to be used as just that. maybe they will actually play their @rses off when given a chance and justify a place. At the moment it doesn't matter how you play as you will always get a chance every other game.

 

I often wonder if Rafa doesn't penalize players for playing two games during the International break for the countries.

Edited September 22, 2007 by Bootle Buck

[Coyler]

I often wonder if Rafa doesn't penalize players for playing two games during the International break for the countries.

Go to bed.

[sutty]

Rafa needs to pick a starting XI and stick with it for at least 5 games. Quite frankly the likes of Pennant, Babel, Voronin, Benayoun and Crouch are squad players at the moment and need to be used as just that. maybe they will actually play their @rses off when given a chance and justify a place. At the moment it doesn't matter how you play as you will always get a chance every other game.

 

I often wonder if Rafa doesn't penalize players for playing two games during the International break for the countries.

 

Jesus wept

[hideNseek]

I often wonder if Rafa doesn't penalize players for playing two games during the International break for the countries.

 

He might rest them if he thinks their drained but why would he penalise them for playing for their countries?

[sutty]

I often wonder if Rafa doesn't penalize players for playing two games during the International break for the countries.

 

He might rest them if he thinks their drained but why would he penalise them for playing for their countries?

 

I think the key words are buck's frequent wonderings.

 

Popssibly point to a mental illness.

[Nebraska Red]

he's been over here way too long.

[Bootle Buck]

I often wonder if Rafa doesn't penalize players for playing two games during the International break for the countries.

 

He might rest them if he thinks their drained but why would he penalise them for playing for their countries?

 

He rarely plays our players in two straight games because he likes to rest them. Therefore, just maybe the thought of his best players playing twice in 3 days (including when injured) in many cases in games against lesser opposition, pisses him off.

Edited September 23, 2007 by Bootle Buck

[Mullah_Owen]

Guys lets all just take a breather... breath.....breath.....breath.

 

Good now lets break down the last 3 games:

 

Portsmouth away:

 

Played after internationals, Rafa has two days to prepare his squad. He has absolutely no choice but to use all his players. The team he put out was as strong a team as he could put and should have won the match. His international players were knackered and therefore he had no time to prepare these players for the game. Besides which top four team has won at Portsmouth this season?

 

Porto away - the toughest game in the CL. These guys are top of the Portuguese league but that doesnt matter because we have a god given right to win every game apparently.

 

Birmingham - our only bogey team in the premiership. No matter when we play these guys we alway come unstuck. That is just the way it is. No matter who Rafa played yesterday we would have struggled to break these guys down. There are certain teams you struggle against. This is one of those teams. Get over it an move on. We will back to winning ways soon.

[Guest Snorky]

Absolutely awful. Cannot find words to support Rafa over yesterday, cannot find words to support the players, cannot find words to support Block1892 (great atmosphere lads....................not). Cannot find words to support anything from yesterday and cannot remember how the f*** I got home or where from.

[Gray - YPC]

Absolutely awful. Cannot find words to support Rafa over yesterday, cannot find words to support the players, cannot find words to support Block1892 (great atmosphere lads....................not). Cannot find words to support anything from yesterday and cannot remember how the f*** I got home or where from.

I thought it was decent up there at the start, but then after being asked to sit down (and after the shenanigans of the Derby game) and it was when everyone was sat down it went to s***. In the second half it got going again, but the same thing... having to sit down ruined it.

 

And as for the announcements every 5 minutes... the fella on the speaker must just love the sound of his own voice!!

[Guest Snorky]

I thought it was decent up there at the start, but then after being asked to sit down (and after the shenanigans of the Derby game) and it was when everyone was sat down it went to s***. In the second half it got going again, but the same thing... having to sit down ruined it.

 

And as for the announcements every 5 minutes... the fella on the speaker must just love the sound of his own voice!!

 

 

Pain in the a*** innit.

 

There is a simple answer to this problem, just sit down when you are not singing or there is nothing going on. The problem is that some fans think they can stand for 90 minutes - you can't. All the club want is that you don't stand for 90 minutes.

[Gray - YPC]

Pain in the a*** innit.

 

There is a simple answer to this problem, just sit down when you are not singing or there is nothing going on. The problem is that some fans think they can stand for 90 minutes - you can't. All the club want is that you don't stand for 90 minutes.

I know. And the stewards were a lot more reasonable (and sensible) than against Derby,

 

It's going to take a fair few games to get the balance right.

[Guest Snorky]

It's going to take a fair few games to get the balance right.

 

It's also going to take a lot of give and take.

[jon_hall]

Just for info Kev, you left Dr Duncans in a taxi before 10pm as i left not long after for a pint in The Lion on the way home and got there at 10.05 ish.

[Guest Snorky]

Just for info Kev, you left Dr Duncans in a taxi before 10pm as i left not long after for a pint in The Lion on the way home and got there at 10.05 ish.

 

cheers

[johngibo YPC]

Own up lads, who was smoking in the toilets????

[Gunga Din]

Own up lads, who was smoking in the toilets????

David Moores

[Rory Fitzgerald]

I think the Feyenoord game in pre-season gave Rafa a very good insight into the Kuyt-Vornonin partnership - it was poor.

 

Personally I feel the strikers fall into 2 categories;

a) Kuyt and Vornonin are players that operate deep and are work horses. They get involved but they never break their ankle to get into the box.

 

b) Torres and Crouch are players that will play on defenders shoulders a bit more. Torres is very direct and has the pace to trouble defenders whilst Crouch will make himself available for lay-offs around the box but immediately makes a dart for the penalty spot to get into a goalscoring position.

 

Not going into it too deeply, I thought we would generally use 1 striker from a) and 1 from b) and maybe Crouch and Torres in odd games. I am personally against Kuyt and Voronin together.

 

In saying that, knowing Rafa's rotation policy, I am on the record for saying that if we are to rest Torres then it has to be at home against the likes of Birmingham when we should have too much about us to beat them off the park with a big f%$k!ng stick with s"!t on the end of it !!

 

I think, apart from the striking option, the rest of the team was very strong and I was very surprised at the way we played I can accept a 0-0 draw at home if their keeper plays like superman but we were not even close to scoring

Edited September 23, 2007 by Rory Fitzgerald

[Gunga Din]

Absolutely awful. Cannot find words to support Rafa over yesterday, cannot find words to support the players, cannot find words to support Block1892 (great atmosphere lads....................not). Cannot find words to support anything from yesterday and cannot remember how the f*** I got home or where from.

 

you clown, how was the head this morning?

[Logic]

One thing that has irritated me for a while now is that it seems like we always take off our wingers before putting Crouch on. That leads to two things:

 

1. No width with the only "opening" a long hoof up front to Crouch which 70-80% leads to absolutely nothing.

2. Even when we are able to play the ball around we don't have anyone on the wings to whip in crosses for Crouch to deal with. Yeah, I know. Crouch is one of the worst headers in the game but at least that would be a sign to the other team that we can penetrate their defence. Making them a bit more shaky.

 

Birmingham got stronger and stronger yesterday because they saw that their tactics were working. They even started putting a few more men into attack during the end.

 

This needs to get fixed soon. But then... Maybe this is our start of the season like the last two only this time we are only 4 points off the pace. Maybe we'll go on one of our runs come the end of October.

 

But I doubt it. Seems to me we'll get more of the same (only with better players).

 

Pisses me off.

[Earl Hafler]

spot on....couldnt agree anymore with what you`ve just said...

 

although let me just add that pennant and babel are just not cutting it for me, we need far better options on the wings.

 

if we gonna have a serious chance..................pennant has had plenty of chances and babel is of course going to takea bit of time, but even at this early stage............he looks completely out his depth and nervous in the same way gonzalez and even smicer were before.

 

We havent had a decent winger since mcmanaman

 

 

I know Pennant has more to prove than Babel but Pennant has been one of our better players this season. Both the signings of Ronaldo and Henry were questioned in the first weeks of their careers in Enlgand and Babel is already ' not cutting it ' and needs replaced ?

 

I think Pennant was treated poorly at times last season - in one game and out the next, expected to tear defences apart as if there was a switch on Rafa's desk. It's also happened to Crouch. Score a goal, benched. This season it's happened with most of the forwards. I don't think it's the way to win the league. I think Rafa tinkers with the forwards too much. Look at the matches we've played this season and notice the parternships. It's like he's playing ' rock, paper, scissors' .

 

At the start of a season players are looking to impress, new signings are trying to stake a claim for a first team spot. The first few games i think you can get away with a little rotation. But if these players continue to play well but are still rotated i'd expect some frustration to set in.

Gerrard hasn't played well since the injury and the Internationals and if it had been up to me he wouldn't have travelled to Porto as i think he could do with a rest

 

We were playing good football until Pako left and we had the International break. Rafa needs to prove how good a league manager he is by stoping this decline before we get into October as we could find ourselves several points behind Arsenal and the Mancs, despite the latters poor start to the season.

 

Those hurling abuse and demanding Rafa's resignation are off their rocker, but then so was Galileo for saying the earth was round. I don't think there's cause for panic but i do think there's cause for concern.

 

Dropping forwards when they're scoring goals is a major no-no. Fergie, Wenger and Mourinho stick with their forwards and where Fergie and Mourinho have rotated most in recent seasons has been in defence and the odd midfield position, unless they've had injuries upfront. We haven't conceded a goal in open play yet this season but in the last 3 matches we've scored one goal

 

Pick Torres and another forward and stick with it. The other three forwards would all play a similar game alongside him. For me it would be Kuyt but i can see why others say Voronin, especially as he's scored a few goals.

Edited September 23, 2007 by Big Stuff