Crouch wanted guaranteed first team football and Rafa could not assure him of that. I think If Crouch would have been happy to be rotated and played 60-70% of games, Rafa would have kept him. It was Crouch's choice to leave. Also, we are not rich, in fact we are skint, Elzahr and Ngog are cheap squad players. We can't compete with United for example spending in the transfer window 18M on players no one heard of. Babel, was good last year, showed alot of promise and this summer he will probably be shipped. But don't crictice Rafa, just rewind your memory to few days ago and the amazing win at the Bernabue. Rafa is doing an amazing job with the resources. But like Brian Little said (which was the only thing that make sense in 94 minutes of commentary), "if you lose as a manager, you lose every argument after the game".