What a season this has shaped into, even though I still have a smidgen of Oncy's 'Dumbledore's Army hope' left in me, I can't help (like everyone else) but feel bitterly disappointed with how the season has gone, the players and more importantly, Rafa.
People have fairly and unfairly attacked his transfer policy. I think he's signed some really good players, some injury prone ones that we never seem to get a consistent run of games from and then some dross. Players like Dossena, Gonzalez and Leto have led me to question whether he watches some of these lads. While the likes of Keane, Aquilani (harsh?), Babel and Johnson have begged questions in terms of position about whether or not Rafa really knew what he was getting into. He seems to have bought some players with clear talent but no real inkling of how to incorporate them into the team, or the Premiership, or both.
One real worry that's plagued Rafa's tenure, is the genuine concern that he really does have blind spots and serious bouts of naivety. For someone so tactically astute at times (he really is), how could you give Kaka the freedom of the pitch for 45 minutes? For someone so dead set on having the right mentality, and possessing the determination and hard work ethic to succeed. Why the fuck did he buy Babel?
Posters and other fans alike have likened this season to Houllier's final season. I don't really see it like that. I think Houllier's side was lacking in real quality and could barely string a pass together by that stage, I still think this side has alot of talent and the ability to succeed (with one or two additions), we've just had luck (injuries, beach balls, suspensions, Internationals) go against us. Though it's fair to say Rafa's transfer policy, now that money is thin on the ground, has come back to bite him on the arse. He's been wasteful, and the squad shows that now. We can call the owners for fucking us around, lay blame with the global recession, but this is the guy who maintained that money wasn't a real issue when he came here. That we would 'adapt' and have to be clever. Once a bit more money became available it seemed he didn't have the ability to still budget and be sensible within that.
I mentioned this a couple of months back. My lad still has a poster on his wall from the 2006/2007 season. I think only 6 of the players on that poster (of about 20) remain at the club, the rest have moved on, and two of them are Carra and Gerrard! I think the other four are Reina, Aurelio, Agger and Kuyt. A combined value of around £19m. When you consider how much we've spent during that time and how many other players have come and gone, that's a big turn around. It's hampered continuity and familiarity and it's left us with fuck all on the fringes.
That said.. I'm not really feeling the need to move on just yet. Maybe it's the uncertainty over ownership, finances, the stadium and everything else. On the flip side of that there's a community of sorts and solidarity within Anfield that seems to be holding it together and building for the future in the face of adversity. The appointment of Dalglish was a shrewd and important one. The dismissal of Parry and appointment of Purslow, the likes of Sammy Lee in the dugout and the slowly emerging youth players like Pacheco. In that sense it'd be foolish to throw all that away when our building work is at least starting to show some foundations.
Then there are the financial implications of breaking ties with Rafa. We'll have to pay up his contract, staff and maybe even players will leave with him, we'll have the mammoth task of attracting a top brass manager (who seem few and far between in availability) and have to lure them with financial uncertainty. Not to mention that this alone could throw the club into chaos in terms of (once again) building again and starting yet another new era of uncertainty and built on little more than hope.
I don't really feel the same sense of inevitability that I felt in the latter days of Houllier. Maybe it's just me. I just don't see us in that bad a state. I think we've had a bad season. I think Rafa is partly to blame, but last season was brilliant in terms of progress. So who are we to let our heads drop in the midst of a storm and show fear in the face of the dark?
Like I said, maybe I'm alone, but I've still got a tremendous amount of faith in the manager and I actually want him to succeed. I know he can be an idiot, I know he's made his fair share of rueful decisions on the pitch and in the transfer market. But he still has the ability to make me smile in a football sense, I know it's there with a couple of inspired decisions and that this season can be dragged from the doldrums yet.
It's only half time.
YNWA.
People have fairly and unfairly attacked his transfer policy. I think he's signed some really good players, some injury prone ones that we never seem to get a consistent run of games from and then some dross. Players like Dossena, Gonzalez and Leto have led me to question whether he watches some of these lads. While the likes of Keane, Aquilani (harsh?), Babel and Johnson have begged questions in terms of position about whether or not Rafa really knew what he was getting into. He seems to have bought some players with clear talent but no real inkling of how to incorporate them into the team, or the Premiership, or both.
One real worry that's plagued Rafa's tenure, is the genuine concern that he really does have blind spots and serious bouts of naivety. For someone so tactically astute at times (he really is), how could you give Kaka the freedom of the pitch for 45 minutes? For someone so dead set on having the right mentality, and possessing the determination and hard work ethic to succeed. Why the fuck did he buy Babel?
Posters and other fans alike have likened this season to Houllier's final season. I don't really see it like that. I think Houllier's side was lacking in real quality and could barely string a pass together by that stage, I still think this side has alot of talent and the ability to succeed (with one or two additions), we've just had luck (injuries, beach balls, suspensions, Internationals) go against us. Though it's fair to say Rafa's transfer policy, now that money is thin on the ground, has come back to bite him on the arse. He's been wasteful, and the squad shows that now. We can call the owners for fucking us around, lay blame with the global recession, but this is the guy who maintained that money wasn't a real issue when he came here. That we would 'adapt' and have to be clever. Once a bit more money became available it seemed he didn't have the ability to still budget and be sensible within that.
I mentioned this a couple of months back. My lad still has a poster on his wall from the 2006/2007 season. I think only 6 of the players on that poster (of about 20) remain at the club, the rest have moved on, and two of them are Carra and Gerrard! I think the other four are Reina, Aurelio, Agger and Kuyt. A combined value of around £19m. When you consider how much we've spent during that time and how many other players have come and gone, that's a big turn around. It's hampered continuity and familiarity and it's left us with fuck all on the fringes.
That said.. I'm not really feeling the need to move on just yet. Maybe it's the uncertainty over ownership, finances, the stadium and everything else. On the flip side of that there's a community of sorts and solidarity within Anfield that seems to be holding it together and building for the future in the face of adversity. The appointment of Dalglish was a shrewd and important one. The dismissal of Parry and appointment of Purslow, the likes of Sammy Lee in the dugout and the slowly emerging youth players like Pacheco. In that sense it'd be foolish to throw all that away when our building work is at least starting to show some foundations.
Then there are the financial implications of breaking ties with Rafa. We'll have to pay up his contract, staff and maybe even players will leave with him, we'll have the mammoth task of attracting a top brass manager (who seem few and far between in availability) and have to lure them with financial uncertainty. Not to mention that this alone could throw the club into chaos in terms of (once again) building again and starting yet another new era of uncertainty and built on little more than hope.
I don't really feel the same sense of inevitability that I felt in the latter days of Houllier. Maybe it's just me. I just don't see us in that bad a state. I think we've had a bad season. I think Rafa is partly to blame, but last season was brilliant in terms of progress. So who are we to let our heads drop in the midst of a storm and show fear in the face of the dark?
Like I said, maybe I'm alone, but I've still got a tremendous amount of faith in the manager and I actually want him to succeed. I know he can be an idiot, I know he's made his fair share of rueful decisions on the pitch and in the transfer market. But he still has the ability to make me smile in a football sense, I know it's there with a couple of inspired decisions and that this season can be dragged from the doldrums yet.
It's only half time.
YNWA.
