A good starting point to assess our team compared to the league leaders

[madaboutlfc]

Reina v VDS - Reina everytime

Neville/Brown/Rafael- Arbeloa/Degen/Darby--We are aweful in that area and missed Arbeloa badly when he was out

 

Ferdinand/Vidic/Brown/Evans v Carra/Sami/Agger/Skrtel- We are well stocked in this area but Man Uniteds first choice is way better than ours and as good as Carra is he is not a Ferdinand when it comes to playing the ball. Our best ball playing CB is on the bench

 

Evra/Oshea/Fabio vs Aurelio/Insua/Dossena - Evra is miles better than anyone we have at LB and we are worse of than the mancs in this area in terms of depth.

 

Ronaldo/Park/Nani/Giggs vs Kuyt/Riera/Yossi/Babel - We are aweful and even someone like Nani who is on Utds bench would be our first choice such is patheticness we possess

 

Scholes/Carrick/Fletcher/Hargreaves/Anderson vs Gerrard/Alonso/Mascherano/Lucas - Our first choice is awesome and better than Mancs but is last choice better than the mancs the answer is no.

 

Rooney/Tevez/Berbatov/wellbeck vs Torres/Ngog - we are really really short in this area..

 

In conclusion it is no wonder we struggle when we have unavailable players.. Looking at our squads mancs have 10 players who cost 15m plus whilst we only have 2(assuming they sign Tevez having already paid 10m in loan fees)

 

They also have 4 30m plus players in the squad whereas we have no one..

 

The massive gap in spending is blatantly obvious.. if money was no object I think we would witness wholesale changes but unfortunately we are stuck with the yanks forever..

 

The future is bleak and just imagine god forbid Rafa goes and is replaced by a muppet.. We would not be a CL side.. If anything Rafa has established us as one where we have played every season the CL..

[Bo Benn]

They also have 4 30m plus players in the squad whereas we have no one..

 

They have 4 30m players because they pay over the odds.

Torres is better than every one of those players and we got him for ~25m.

 

No doubt though that we are lacking in many of the wide positions, as we have been under both Rafa and Ged.

[madaboutlfc]

They have 4 30m players because they pay over the odds.

Torres is better than every one of those players and we got him for ~25m.

 

No doubt though that we are lacking in many of the wide positions, as we have been under both Rafa and Ged.

well lets say they overpaid by 10m each on them its still 3 20m plus players more than us..

[Bo Benn]

No doubt. We need a couple of player say in the 18m+ category. I we spend 50m on two wingers and a striker this summer I'll be well satisfied. Our fullbacks may not be the very greatest, but I'd stick with what we've got for now.

[madaboutlfc]

No doubt. We need a couple of player say in the 18m+ category. I we spend 50m on two wingers and a striker this summer I'll be well satisfied. Our fullbacks may not be the very greatest, but I'd stick with what we've got for now.

the thing is everytime we get out of the title race and talk about next summer it feels like that prisoner on life term who is supposed to get freed on good behaviour but it never seems to come.. im f***ing sick of next summer.. i just wish it was this summer.. I wouldnt want to wish tragedy on anyone but a minor mishap which could make it this summer would be awesome..

[Bo Benn]

But lot of this season has showed we are much better than ever before during the last 6 or 7 years. We have a great central spine in our team and a few youngster that for now are good backups. Don't want any more squad fillers, but rather have Rafa aiming for just a very few players of great quality. Skill being the quality I most want in the team, a John Barnes of '88 on each side of the midfield surrounding Torres and Gerrard would do or in a more traditional 442 including a worthy partner for Fernando.

[Jim D]

No doubt. We need a couple of player say in the 18m+ category. I we spend 50m on two wingers and a striker this summer I'll be well satisfied. Our fullbacks may not be the very greatest, but I'd stick with what we've got for now.

 

Our full backs are competent, they get their job done effectively, concede very little, Arbeloa has made right back his own and Aurelio if he stays fit can cement Left Back. Insua has come on leaps and bounds and is sufficient cover.

 

Two wingers and a striker is much needed.

[Romario]

well lets say they overpaid by 10m each on them its still 3 20m plus players more than us..

But we spend that 20-30 million on the likes of Bellamy, Pennant, Lucas, Benni, Dossena, Babel, Riera etc.

[Romario]

Our full backs are competent, they get their job done effectively, concede very little, Arbeloa has made right back his own and Aurelio if he stays fit can cement Left Back. Insua has come on leaps and bounds and is sufficient cover.

 

Two wingers and a striker is much needed.

We've needed that for ages. We say it every year.

[Jim D]

We've needed that for ages. We say it every year.

 

So why can't some of the best managers in the game see that? Or is it, they do but as a club we aren't willing to go and spend £20million+ on a winger?

[Rimbeux]

So why can't some of the best managers in the game see that? Or is it, they do but as a club we aren't willing to go and spend £20million+ on a winger?

 

 

It's down to him, or more realistically his scouts to find the appropriate players, and that is where we are falling down, not funding per se

[Jim D]

It's down to him, or more realistically his scouts to find the appropriate players, and that is where we are falling down, not funding per se

 

You sure? Simao? Alves? Ronaldo? Barry? Vidic? We as a club wouldn't meet their valuation, so the Mancs just come over the top of us and snatch them away. We move too slow as a football club when it comes to transfers, Rafa told us that two seasons ago and we did it again last summer. Funding is the main issue, Rafa had to go and spend most of his budget on players that were second choice in his eyes.

Edited February 22, 2009 by Jim D

[Earl Hafler]

It's down to him, or more realistically his scouts to find the appropriate players, and that is where we are falling down, not funding per se

 

We could have signed Ashley Young.

 

Although he'd have probably been Kuyt's back-up.

[Rimbeux]

You sure? Simao? Alves? Ronaldo? Barry? Vidic? We as a club wouldn't meet their valuation, so the Mancs just come over the top of us and snatch them away. We move too slow as a football club when it comes to transfers, Rafa told us that two seasons ago and we did it again last summer. Funding is the main issue, so Rafa had to go and make do with the second choice players.

 

Yep I'm sure. I dont doubt we have not been stellar in all aspects of transfers, from scouting through to negotiation and sales on the way out. Funding is not a real issue, we have made enough money available to be at least where we currently sit and probably should have been in this kind of position two seasons ago. It's f***ing ridiculous crying about lack of £20m+ footballers when we can c**k up just as easy as succeed there and have done just that. The four best players on the planet imo didn't cost their current clubs much more than that £20m combined.

 

Our transfer strategy isn't really in evidence, it may well be a result of the dysfunctional running of the club, but there is no way every player who comes through the revolving door has been put up to any real exacting standards in terms of physicality and skill set to cut it and make a difference to us in this league. If not, why are we so slow around the park particularly out wide, why have we gone through so many solutions to the same old problems window after window.

 

We have been less than ok in the market where if we were and are not going to be able to spend Chelsea 04 money, we have a need to make every cent count. Complaining about not having the same level of f***-off green as Chelsea 04 isn't going to produce the difference all of a sudden, but it absolutely had and has to inform the strategy of player recruitment. However what I see is a see what sticks approach with a number of bodies coming and going each season.

[CaptainXabi]

Yep I'm sure. I dont doubt we have not been stellar in all aspects of transfers, from scouting through to negotiation and sales on the way out. Funding is not a real issue, we have made enough money available to be at least where we currently sit and probably should have been in this kind of position two seasons ago. It's f***ing ridiculous crying about lack of £20m+ footballers when we can c**k up just as easy as succeed there and have done just that. The four best players on the planet imo didn't cost their current clubs much more than that £20m combined.

 

Our transfer strategy isn't really in evidence, it may well be a result of the dysfunctional running of the club, but there is no way every player who comes through the revolving door has been put up to any real exacting standards in terms of physicality and skill set to cut it and make a difference to us in this league. If not, why are we so slow around the park particularly out wide, why have we gone through so many solutions to the same old problems window after window.

 

We have been less than ok in the market where if we were and are not going to be able to spend Chelsea 04 money, we have a need to make every cent count. Complaining about not having the same level of f***-off green as Chelsea 04 isn't going to produce the difference all of a sudden, but it absolutely had and has to inform the strategy of player recruitment. However what I see is a see what sticks approach with a number of bodies coming and going each season.

Great post. I don't know why it's so hard for some to get it, but thanks for posting it.

[MFletcher]

We could have signed Ashley Young.

 

Although he'd have probably been Kuyt's back-up.

 

There would have been bemusement/outrage if we'd spent £10M on a winger with only six months worth of Premier League experience at the age of 21.

[Barnesy_10]

There would have been bemusement/outrage if we'd spent £10M on a winger with only six months worth of Premier League experience at the age of 21.

Don't think so, at least he had experience, was English (obviously affects price) and was a position we were so desperate to fill we would welcome anyone new with open arms. We paid a s*** load for Babel with no PL experience and how much did Gonzalez cost us?

Edited February 23, 2009 by Barnesy_10

[MFletcher]

Don't think so, at least he had experience, was English (obviously affects price) and was a position we were so desperate to fill we would welcome anyone new with open arms. We paid a s*** load for Babel with no PL experience and how much did Gonzalez cost us?

 

I suspect the general argument would have been 'he's already 21 and if he's going to be good enough for us then he should be taking the piss at Championship level - he didn't - what's he going to do for us exactly?' etc. etc.

 

Hindsight is a quite wonderful thing, but I don't recall anyone beating the Ashley Young drum with any enthusiasm whatsoever, especially when the media at the time generally considered his fee to be hugely inflated.

[CaptainXabi]

I suspect the general argument would have been 'he's already 21 and if he's going to be good enough for us then he should be taking the piss at Championship level - he didn't - what's he going to do for us exactly?' etc. etc.

 

Hindsight is a quite wonderful thing, but I don't recall anyone beating the Ashley Young drum with any enthusiasm whatsoever, especially when the media at the time generally considered his fee to be hugely inflated.

First of all, I agree that hindsight is a wonderful thing. But if Rafa should only be held to the standards of people on a forum or in the media, then we are in big trouble. The fact is 4 years ago we needed two wingers. Today, we need two wingers. The problem should have been solved by now.

[MFletcher]

Did we not have Kewell four years ago? This was before we all realised he was going to be permanently injured of course.

[CaptainXabi]

Did we not have Kewell four years ago? This was before we all realised he was going to be permanently injured of course.

Fine. We needed one winger four years ago and now we need two. Does that make you feel better?

Edited February 23, 2009 by CaptainXabi

[Barnesy_10]

How was the Walcott situation dealt with on here? We all knew he was a Liverpool fan, and that Rafa wanted him, but Wenger got him. I seem to remember alot of fans wanted him. More recently Aaron Ramsey where we wanted him but were mere bystanders whilst the Mancs and a*** fought it out.

Young, Walcott and Ramsey are a rare breed of young prospects that teams do have to take a gamble on.

[MFletcher]

Gambles like Lucas and Babel?

 

The difference is when the gamble, which is what it is, doesn't pay off, the manager is slaughtered for wasting money on them. Then when a gamble does pay off for another club, it's 'we should have signed him' as though the player was destined to become a success and it was simply a case of signing him and waiting for him to mature.

 

It's double standards, and it's wrong.

[surfaris]

& we kick out keane . wasting millions with no any direct replacement in just 6 month before the show is off.

WHAT a feckin mess f*** off power struggle up yer asses.. get the feck off from our club.

new owner.

new CEO

new manager.

 

early this years looks very promosing, then all our men up there f***ed up big time. c***

[Flight]

I agree with a lot of things in the original post. Our squad is nowhere near as good as the Mancs.

 

Rafa continues to have our team punch above its weight. We are being outspent by teams like Spurs and Sunderland. Our fans expect us to be winning everything because of our past. Geds reign nearly consigned us forever to being a mid table team and we could easily go back to that if we lost Rafa.

 

I'm not blind to our managers shortcomings, but we all need to appreciate how far he has brought us and how far there is to go.