Rafa has bought a lot of players

[Gunga Din]

Reina, Agger, Torres and Alonso aside, most of what he has bought has just not worked.

 

Lucas and Babel will hopefully make the grade, but aside from the 4 above, and we are 3 and a half seasons into his reign, most of the rest of the players who have come in are either s**** or already gone

 

and when you consider Agger is a long term replacement to the excellent Hyypia, we really arent that much better, if at all, then we were when he took over.

 

Reina is clearly the best keeper we have had in a while, but where else is there improvement.

 

Is Torres better than a fully fit and firing Michael Owen?

 

Alonso more influential in the middle than Didi?

 

we have replaced average players with average players for the most part.

 

out went Baros Cisse and Heskey, in have come Voronin, Crouch and Kuyt, and thats before the names of Morientes and Bellamy are thrown in.

 

we have bought Sissoko it seems as a direct replacement for Diao, someone who we can all agree didnt really need replacing, but when you look at the team, its no better than Houlliers, and i'd go as far as saying its playing worse football.

 

3 and a half years later and we have still only seen 5 or 6 of Rafas signings making any sort of positive impact and improving the team. our league form for 80% of Rafas time in charge has been inconsistant at best, woeful at worst.

 

we have now become a team geared up to playing in Europe, we seem to be so poorly prepared for league matches at times and a serious lack of pace and lack of ability to pass the ball when teams are pressing us, as happens all too often in the league, is scary.

 

i'm really concerned in the direction the team is going in the league, i'm really concerned that we'll finishout side the top 4 this season, something that could become a very realy possability, particularly if we go on a run in Europe again.

[Swipe]

Torres is better than Owen, IMO.

 

He may not score as many as him, but he's a far more talented player.

 

But I do agree that it's really worrying that we still look so far off challenging for that f***ing title.

 

Every season is the same. We always are forced into a reality check at this time of year.

 

And totally agree that our lack of pace and passing ability across the team as a whole is shocking.

Edited December 19, 2007 by Swipe

[Guest RedLegend]

Can't disagree with much of that.

[Guest GrandpaSimpson]

Thats about the size of it.

[MFletcher]

b******s.

 

Rafa has had to completely rebuild a squad whilst remaining competitive. That means he has to sign some "good" players and then over the next couple of years he can replace them with "excellent" players.

[alias75]

Arbeloa will be a top signing considering how much we paid for him, have no worries about him.

 

I agree though the time to rebuild the squad is over, Rafa's done enough of that, we need to be adding 1 or 2 Torres level signings to the first team from now on, otherwise we wont close the gap. Its all very well having quality options when players are injured or being rested but to beat the top teams you need world class players and we dont have enough of them especially going forward.

 

Still think Rafa gets much more right than wrong in the transfer market, most of his mistakes arent here anymore and i have no doubt the right players will be sold ASAP and not stick around on huge contracts as happened under GH. the players we do sell we'll probably make a profit on too.

[Swipe]

  MFletcher said:

b******s.

 

Rafa has had to completely rebuild a squad whilst remaining competitive. That means he has to sign some "good" players and then over the next couple of years he can replace them with "excellent" players.

 

He ain't gonna get that long, mate.

 

It's not like he took over a mid-table squad either.

[Romario]

Fecksakes one week Rafa took over a sunday league team and won us the Champs league and the following week he's spent 100's of millions and we still have a pub team. Which is it?

[DonRafa]

This place is just sh!te when we lose. Crap threads, left, right and centre.

 

I'm off, my blood pressure just carn't take it

[Guest GrandpaSimpson]

Think Rafa has made a bit of a mess of the rebuilding to be honest. I just dont see enough quality in it, not to compete at the very top anyway.

[smicer07]

I agree- sack Rafa. Get Houllier back in.

[Cam]

I'd add Garcia to the list of successes.

 

However, Rafa's also bought some contenders for a "worst ever Red XI side". His purchases are hit & miss - most managers are. Even the seemingly untouchable Wenger. But if G&H are holding back funds 'cos they're unsure of Rafa's buying record... I can understand why.

[Swipe]

I love Rafa, but it's beyond frustrating that we're still not moving up to "the next level".

[Guest GrandpaSimpson]

  smicer07 said:

I agree- sack Rafa. Get Houllier back in.

 

 

Thanks for that f***ing input. Where has anyone said bring back Houllier. f***ing hell.

[Earl Hafler]

What worries me is the football we play. Hardly any consistancy and too often we don't seem able to string more than three or four passes together.

 

I don't see Rafa looking for a settled system in attack. He just seems to vary it from game to game.

[Gunga Din]

  MFletcher said:

b******s.

 

Rafa has had to completely rebuild a squad whilst remaining competitive. That means he has to sign some "good" players and then over the next couple of years he can replace them with "excellent" players.

 

 

well he hasnt rebuilt it then has he

 

Finnan, Carra, Hyypia, Riise, kewell and Gerrrad are all first team regulars when fit. they were here when he came. he has so far replaced Didi with Alonso, Dudek with Reina and Owen with Torres. hardly a complete refit.

[smicer07]

  GrandpaSimpson said:

Thanks for that f***ing input. Where has anyone said bring back Houllier. f***ing hell.

 

I'm taking the piss, thicko.

[alias75]

  Romario said:

Fecksakes one week Rafa took over a sunday league team and won us the Champs league and the following week he's spent 100's of millions and we still have a pub team. Which is it?

 

I think most people will agree the overall quality of the squad has improved when Riise or Sissoko are the worst players in a squad of almost 30 players you have a strong squad, that was the first job he had to do especially since he likes to use lots of players its vital he has 2 for each position he can trust.

 

But i do think its clear while th squad is stronger the first team isnt good enough to beat teams like Ud or Arsenal regularly, for that you need to spend 20 million plus on players with the quality of Torres. Hopefully stage 1 is complete and now we can concentrate most of the money on 1 or 2 top quality players.

 

We should be producing 1 or 2 players for the first team squad every season from the reserves and youth teams so Rafa doesnt have to spend 4 million here and there on fringe players.

Edited December 19, 2007 by alias75

[crisps]

I think we have a very good squad, we just need to get rid of 4 s**** players (pennant,crouch,voronin,sissoko and maybe kuyt) and replace them with 3 exceptionally good attacking ones. backup centrehalf who can play LB would be nice but defence has been the least of our problems for the last 5 or so years.

 

However signing world class players doesn't always work but we needto be aiming at 3 this summer

Edited December 19, 2007 by crisps

[alias75]

  big wayne said:

well he hasnt rebuilt it then has he

 

Finnan, Carra, Hyypia, Riise, kewell and Gerrrad are all first team regulars when fit. they were here when he came. he has so far replaced Didi with Alonso, Dudek with Reina and Owen with Torres. hardly a complete refit.

 

Hyppia isnt a regular anymore (if Aggers fit) and Riise has featured less and less when both Finnan and Arbeloa are fit.

[Gunga Din]

  Cam said:

I'd add Garcia to the list of successes.

 

However, Rafa's also bought some contenders for a "worst ever Red XI side". His purchases are hit & miss - most managers are. Even the seemingly untouchable Wenger. But if G&H are holding back funds 'cos they're unsure of Rafa's buying record... I can understand why.

 

 

Garcia is no longer here, and i'd class Garcia as Rafa on the pitch. Brilliant in big European games and often the difference between winning and not, but generally rubbish far too often in league games

[psl]

  crisps said:

I think we have a very good squad, we just need to get rid of 5 s**** players and replace them with 3 exceptionally good attacking ones.

 

Oh well as long as that's all we have to do.

[Guest GrandpaSimpson]

  smicer07 said:

I'm taking the piss, thicko.

 

 

You obviously said it taking the piss, but you said it sarcastically - as if everyone here was making out that Rafa should be sacked and Houllier should be brought back.

[Gomez]

  big wayne said:

Is Torres better than a fully fit and firing Michael Owen?

 

One of the dumbest things I have read on here for a while.

 

Clearly Torres is, you only need to use your eyes to see that. Owen hasn't been the same player for 4 years now, and secondly, even if he wasn't, a fully fit Michael Owen is not an option, may as well compare him to a younger Kenny for all the practical use it is.

[Guest Snorky]

Cant find much to argue about in that Wayne, however a lot of Rafa's signings have been temporary ones (ie ones to do a job - Josemi - Kromkamp - Nunez immediately spring to mind). Gonzalez was a disappointment, and to a certain extent Morientes. But Nando was suited to the slower game in Europe and he's proved that with Valencia since he returned to Spain.

 

Also, I believe that Rafa has a ruthless streak with players, if they don't do it then they are off loaded quick sharp, and not played regardless as with Houllier.

 

For every great signing, there has been about 3-4 turkeys.

 

The only thing is though Rafa has brought in some really promising kids for the academy and the reserves that will hopefully prove his eye for talent right.