Did you nail it to your thigh? Did it double up as a hangover cure?
Dear Rafa fans
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Did you nail it to your thigh? Did it double up as a hangover cure?
I'm not a troll.
I believe you're all fucking clueless and keep trying to show you the light. Like in this thread. The game is all about having the right players at the right time. Not some over inflated ego with a chalkboard.
If it was all about the chalkboard and 'the system' you'd see teams dramatically change performance with simply a change of manager - which hasn't happened with us, Swansea, Sunderland, Chelsea, or any other team you can name
Yes everyone else is clueless Ross and you're the only person who's ever right. Well done you.
"Fog Over The Channel - Continent Isolated".
The Suarez should be sold post was very enlightening.
I don't think anyone's really saying that. The performance to come back was exceptional, but it was also something that was ingrained in us, remember the treble under Houllier, each cup win was fortuitous in some way, we fought tooth & nail to get something our performances wasn't allowing us to do, that was a mentality that was established over years and it continued with Benitez. He did make mistakes though and as Foxy said, he was his own worst enemy, he cost us in the second final and some of his decisions in the historic win were baffling, we rode our luck and did a backs against the walls job in the end that no one else was capable of. The whole campaign was excellent though and some of the performances, like Juve, were brilliant and shouldn't underestimated.
I just don't buy this bollocks about him being a tactical genius, because some of his decisions were idiotic and he never once bought quality out wide that was the missing part of our sides. Not being able to see the wood for the trees due to being clouded by his own stubborn nature has forever been his shortcoming and what stops him being labelled a 'great' manager. Moments of brilliance forever slamming against the brick wall that was Rafa's ego.
Well, Benitez is the obvious example. A team that hadn't done anything in Europe in 5 years, won the Champions League the year he came in.
But yeah, it's not just a manager that makes a team great, it involves the right players and structures, timing as well as the manager. You miss out on one of them are you are unlikely to win anything.
Yup, players like Biscan, Traore and Diao. How lucky Rafa was to stumble on this star studded squad of balon d'or winners.
Come on man, you are trolling. You know it, we know it... it's a pointless charade. I keep saying in some of these threads that you make a lot of valid points (this isn't actually one of them though) but they tend to be obscured by the amount of crap that surround them.
Come back from the dark side Ross, come back.
Quite. The manager alone will never be enough. Neither will everything else being in place if the manager's a dud.
I don't think anyone can question Rafa's achievement in his first season. That for me was one of the great managerial performances - not so much the final but the entire run in that competition. What happened after that is up for debate one way or another but I agree that there's no need to be obsessive one way or another about him.
But what about Gudjohnsen's miss in the semi?
I think we got lucky in the final. Chelsea got lucky in pretty much every game including the final *and* they had a better team than we did.
There is some difference.
If Di Matteo had stayed on, and went on to get to another final within two years, then yes, I would say he's good. Especially considering it's something Chelsea have failed to do despite throwing all the money they can at it.
Nobody is saying Rafa was perfect, but to say the fact that he got us to be the best, or at least one of the very top teams in Europe for a few years was a fluke, is just crap. And it makes anything else you say a little hard to swallow.
The Modo effect.
Nobody is saying Rafa was perfect, but to say the fact that he got us to be the best, or at least one of the very top teams in Europe for a few years was a fluke, is just crap. And it makes anything else you say a little hard to swallow.
The Modo effect.
Our improvement was down to doubling the wage bill and big transfer spending. At a time when not many other European clubs could match us.
That's only half right.
When we won it 2005 and got to the final a couple of years later that was simply not true.
United won it in 1999 and never got beyond the quarters for the next 6 or 7 years. Arsenal had a very good team too in that same period and didn't do much until a final place in 2006 (?)
The Premier League's dominance of Europe (in terms of semi final places at least) did coincide with the extra TV money but we were doing well in the CL before that.
EVERY club increased the wage bill - our transfer spending was similar to Houliers - you really are owned in this thread Ross
Good point
'Dead or alive, you're cumming with me'
If he's so good why didnt he get us there five times?
We outspent about all but five clubs in Europe during his reign.
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