This season and the apparent lack of funds for Rafa

[Shanklyanfield]

Everyone goes on about the fact that Rafa hasn't been given the money to improve the squad.

 

Last season we finished 4 points behind united and 3 points ahead of chelsea!!

 

We sold Alonso and Arbeloa, Hyppia went on a free and rafa replaced them with a £17M Right back - Johnson, a £20M injured midfielder - Aqualani and £1.5M on the Greek.

 

United sold arguably the best player in the world, if not the best he is certainly in the top 3 - Ronaldo for £80M and bought a winger for a couple of million who nobody had ever heard of and has hardly played - Obertan, Valencia from for £17M and signed Owen on a free who has hardly played.

 

Chelsea only bought a left-back for £18M Zhirkov and that's it.

 

So the squads haven't changed that much since last season - if anything uniteds team is weaker than last season - yet they finished 22 points above us and challenging right until the last day of the season. So what has happened from last season? at the end of the day the buck stops with the manager and we should have at least been as good as united this year consider ronaldo left. Do people honestly believe if we had sold Torres we would have done as well as united after they lost Ronaldo?

 

Our away form is - P19 - W5 - D6 - L8 - F18 - A20 - GD-2 all because when we play away from home Rafa put's the team out not to loose instead of going out to win.

 

I'll probably get shot down but for me it's now time for Rafa to go. Thanks for the champo's league, the FA Cup, the champo's league final and finishing 2nd last year but bye-bye!

Edited May 9, 2010 by Shanklyanfield

[Bailo]

You're like a breath of fresh air. Thanks!

[Sion]

  On 09/05/2010 at 17:22, Shanklyanfield said:

Everyone goes on about the fact that Rafa hasn't been given the money to improve the squad.

 

Last season we finished 4 points behind united and 3 points ahead of chelsea!!

 

We sold Alons and Arbeloa, Hyppia went on a free and rafa replaced them with a £17M Right back - Johnson, a £20M injured midfielder - Aqualani and £1.5M on the Greek.

 

United sold arguably the best player in the world, if not the best he is certainly in the top 3 - Ronaldo for £80M and bought a winger for a couple of million who nobody had ever heard of and has hardly played - Obertan, Valencia from for £17M and signed Owen on a free who has hardly played.

 

Chelsea only bought a left-back for £18M Zhirkov and that's it.

 

So the squads haven't changed that much since last season - if anything uniteds team is weaker than last season - yet they finished 22 points above us and challenging right until the last day of the season. So what has happened from last season? at the end of the day the buck stops with the manager and we should have at least been as good as united this year consider ronaldo left.

 

Our away form is - P19 - W5 - D6 - L8 - F18 - A20 - GD-2 all because when we play away from home Rafa put's the team out not to loose instead of going out to win.

 

I'll probably get shot down but for me it's now time for Rafa to go. Thanks for the champo's league, the FA Cup, the champo's league final and finishing 2nd last year but bye-bye!

You sound like you belong on sunday supplement.

Firstly we didn't have money to improve the squad did we. We just replaced those who we had to sell with worse players.

Secondly it makes me laugh that finishing 2nd last season is being used as a stick to beat Rafa with. We clearly over-achieved.

That being said still think we should have finished 4th

[Benzo-13]

Wow. When did this happen??

[meepins]

This really puts a new perspective on things. Great post.

[redjersey]

  On 09/05/2010 at 17:22, Shanklyanfield said:

Everyone goes on about the fact that Rafa hasn't been given the money to improve the squad.

 

Last season we finished 4 points behind united and 3 points ahead of chelsea!!

 

We sold Alonso and Arbeloa, Hyppia went on a free and rafa replaced them with a £17M Right back - Johnson, a £20M injured midfielder - Aqualani and £1.5M on the Greek.

 

United sold arguably the best player in the world, if not the best he is certainly in the top 3 - Ronaldo for £80M and bought a winger for a couple of million who nobody had ever heard of and has hardly played - Obertan, Valencia from for £17M and signed Owen on a free who has hardly played.

 

Chelsea only bought a left-back for £18M Zhirkov and that's it.

 

So the squads haven't changed that much since last season - if anything uniteds team is weaker than last season - yet they finished 22 points above us and challenging right until the last day of the season. So what has happened from last season? at the end of the day the buck stops with the manager and we should have at least been as good as united this year consider ronaldo left. Do people honestly believe if we had sold Torres we would have done as well as united after they lost Ronaldo?

 

Our away form is - P19 - W5 - D6 - L8 - F18 - A20 - GD-2 all because when we play away from home Rafa put's the team out not to loose instead of going out to win.

 

I'll probably get shot down but for me it's now time for Rafa to go. Thanks for the champo's league, the FA Cup, the champo's league final and finishing 2nd last year but bye-bye!

Thanks for starting a new thread on this. Marvellous!

[Red Kent]

  On 09/05/2010 at 17:25, Sion said:

You sound like you belong on sunday supplement.

Firstly we didn't have money to improve the squad did we. We just replaced those who we had to sell with worse players.

Secondly it makes me laugh that finishing 2nd last season is being used as a stick to beat Rafa with. We clearly over-achieved.

That being said still think we should have finished 4th

 

How can you be so disrespectful to the manager by saying that, that's like saying we only won the cups under Rafa on pens.....................

[Cam]

Gillette and Hicks have been brilliant for the club. There's no real financial danger - and if there is it's all Rafa's fault for over-spending on dud players. G&H are not only likeable businessmen they are excessively handsome people who, quite frankly, ought to be sainted. They really don't deserve the stick they get. It's all Rafa's fault. Also, when I was 4 (1975) my cat, Tigger, ran away. From Rafa. Who is a ****. A bigger **** than John Terry. The massive ****. All hail Mr George Gillette and Mr Tom Hicks. I chuffing love them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'm only trying to make Pipnasty's head explode.

[Hassony]

I have changed my mind now, Rafa out, MON in

[pipnasty]

I need to go away and have a serious think about things.

 

  On 09/05/2010 at 17:27, Kev said:

How can you be so disrespectful to the manager by saying that

 

 

i would probably say that 'we' generally includes the manager too.

[Zoob]

I'm glad that the purchase and sale of players for Chelsea, United and Liverpool only started last summer, and what happened in the years before that are not relevant. Crazy that Chelsea only bought one 20 million pound player last summer when they pretty much had no good players in their team.

[pipnasty]

  On 09/05/2010 at 17:31, Zoob said:

I'm glad that the purchase and sale of players for Chelsea, United and Liverpool only started last summer, and what happened in the years before that are not relevant. Crazy that Chelsea only bought one 20 million pound player last summer when they pretty much had no good players in their team.

 

Everybody knows that each season exists in its very own vacuum.

[Sion]

  On 09/05/2010 at 17:27, Kev said:

How can you be so disrespectful to the manager by saying that, that's like saying we only won the cups under Rafa on pens.....................

 

I have no idea what you've just said there.

 

We clearly over-achieved. The squad we had wasn't a consistent 86 point squad.

We had a pretty good first team, but got lucky that Alonso and Gerrard were boss and fit for most of the season.

As proven this season

[Shanklyanfield]

  On 09/05/2010 at 17:25, Sion said:

You sound like you belong on sunday supplement.

Firstly we didn't have money to improve the squad did we. We just replaced those who we had to sell with worse players.

Secondly it makes me laugh that finishing 2nd last season is being used as a stick to beat Rafa with. We clearly over-achieved.

That being said still think we should have finished 4th

 

We did only replace the players we sold - if we replaced them with worse players then that is down to the Manager - we spent as much on Aqua and Johnson as we got for Alonso and Arbeloa. I hate going back to it but united's net spend was -£60M after selling one of the best players in the world but they where still challenging and won a cup (even if it is a mikey mouse cup).

 

Arsenal finished 12 points above us this season after finishing 14 points behind us last season and they've only really signed a centre-half after selling one of their best strikers and defenders - so theoretically Arsenal's squad has been weakened as well.

 

Why was it over-achieving last season when we finished 2nd? because we've been so rubbish this year? We didn't over-achieve last year we finished where we deserved to finish. This year, the same applies - we've finished in 7th the place we deserve to finish.

 

  On 09/05/2010 at 17:31, Zoob said:

I'm glad that the purchase and sale of players for Chelsea, United and Liverpool only started last summer, and what happened in the years before that are not relevant. Crazy that Chelsea only bought one 20 million pound player last summer when they pretty much had no good players in their team.

 

Yes I agree they've spent alot more than us in previous season but we finished above chelsea last season and only 4 points behind united last season. My point is that this whole thing about Rafa having no money to spend in the summer, when you compare it to the teams around us last season they haven't exactly spent a load of money either have they?

[Zoob]

  On 09/05/2010 at 17:37, Shanklyanfield said:

We did only replace the players we sold - if we replaced them with worse players then that is down to the Manager - we spent as much on Aqua and Johnson as we got for Alonso and Arbeloa. I hate going back to it but united's net spend was -£60M after selling one of the best players in the world but they where still challenging and won a cup (even if it is a mikey mouse cup).

 

Arsenal finished 12 points above us this season after finishing 14 points behind us last season and they've only really signed a centre-half after selling one of their best strikers and defenders - so theoretically Arsenal's squad has been weakened as well.

 

Why was it over-achieving last season when we finished 2nd? because we've been so rubbish this year? We didn't over-achieve last year we finished where we deserved to finish. This year, the same applies - we've finished in 7th the place we deserve to finish.

 

 

 

 

Yes I agree they've spent alot more than us in previous season but we finished above chelsea last season and only 4 points behind united last season. My point is that this whole thing about Rafa having no money to spend in the summer, when you compare it to the teams around us last season they haven't exactly spent a load of money either have they?

 

 

Look at the difference in the values of our squads. Look at the players we have had on the bench in Europe this year compared to Chelsea and United. Last season we coped better with injuries, and Alonso had the season of his life. This season we've not coped well with injuries, and too many of our players have under-performed. And yes, clearly we did over-achieve last season. 2nd is an over-achievement. 7th is an under-achievement. Given the differences in money spent over the years, it's pretty amazing that we were challenging for the league last year. But similarly, given the money we've spent, it's a disgrace that we're finishing 7th.

[Damian_de]

Whichever way you look at it, the buck stops with the manager. £17M is insane money on a fullback, considering that that position doesn't matter, and is in defence... but oh yes, I forgot, Rafa only defends away, that's why he spends stupid money on defenders. If he'd waited he could have signed him for free, because Pompey are broke as the losers running the club have overspent. Then there's Aqualarny, who cost £20M when Alonso only cost £12M, so he's £8M better for a start, which is more than half better again, but he never plays because Rafa doesn't like the way he defends. He shoulf of kept Sami and Crouch, because the replacements are worse. And he should of bought another striker to play with Torres in a 442, or when Torres was injured. Why didn't we sign Villa when he was available?

 

You can only say it's the manager, can't you? I hope he gets aids on his cancer because he's taking us backwards, and until Rafa goes, we'll never finish where we deserve (which is always first, bacasue Shanks said so).

[ChrisC]

  On 09/05/2010 at 17:45, Damian_de said:

Whichever way you look at it, the buck stops with the manager. £17M is insane money on a fullback, considering that that position doesn't matter, and is in defence... but oh yes, I forgot, Rafa only defends away, that's why he spends stupid money on defenders. If he'd waited he could have signed him for free, because Pompey are broke as the losers running the club have overspent. Then there's Aqualarny, who cost £20M when Alonso only cost £12M, so he's £8M better for a start, which is more than half better again, but he never plays because Rafa doesn't like the way he defends. He shoulf of kept Sami and Crouch, because the replacements are worse. And he should of bought another striker to play with Torres in a 442, or when Torres was injured. Why didn't we sign Villa when he was available?

 

You can only say it's the manager, can't you? I hope he gets aids on his cancer because he's taking us backwards, and until Rafa goes, we'll never finish where we deserve (which is always first, bacasue Shanks said so).

 

You clearly know f*** all about football and seem to be a w***** to boot. Go spout your b******s somewhere else.

[redjersey]

  On 09/05/2010 at 17:47, RedDownUnder said:

You clearly know f*** all about football and seem to be a w***** to boot. Go spout your b******s somewhere else.

The battery on your irony detector needs recharging.

[Benzo-13]

  On 09/05/2010 at 17:45, Damian_de said:

Whichever way you look at it, the buck stops with the manager. £17M is insane money on a fullback, considering that that position doesn't matter, and is in defence... but oh yes, I forgot, Rafa only defends away, that's why he spends stupid money on defenders. If he'd waited he could have signed him for free, because Pompey are broke as the losers running the club have overspent. Then there's Aqualarny, who cost £20M when Alonso only cost £12M, so he's £8M better for a start, which is more than half better again, but he never plays because Rafa doesn't like the way he defends. He shoulf of kept Sami and Crouch, because the replacements are worse. And he should of bought another striker to play with Torres in a 442, or when Torres was injured. Why didn't we sign Villa when he was available?

 

You can only say it's the manager, can't you? I hope he gets aids on his cancer because he's taking us backwards, and until Rafa goes, we'll never finish where we deserve (which is always first, bacasue Shanks said so).

Should've put the wink in lad.

[Stevie H]

  On 09/05/2010 at 17:22, Shanklyanfield said:

Everyone goes on about the fact that Rafa hasn't been given the money to improve the squad.

 

Last season we finished 4 points behind united and 3 points ahead of chelsea!!

 

We sold Alonso and Arbeloa, Hyppia went on a free and rafa replaced them with a £17M Right back - Johnson, a £20M injured midfielder - Aqualani and £1.5M on the Greek.

 

United sold arguably the best player in the world, if not the best he is certainly in the top 3 - Ronaldo for £80M and bought a winger for a couple of million who nobody had ever heard of and has hardly played - Obertan, Valencia from for £17M and signed Owen on a free who has hardly played.

 

Chelsea only bought a left-back for £18M Zhirkov and that's it.

 

So the squads haven't changed that much since last season - if anything uniteds team is weaker than last season - yet they finished 22 points above us and challenging right until the last day of the season. So what has happened from last season? at the end of the day the buck stops with the manager and we should have at least been as good as united this year consider ronaldo left. Do people honestly believe if we had sold Torres we would have done as well as united after they lost Ronaldo?

 

Our away form is - P19 - W5 - D6 - L8 - F18 - A20 - GD-2 all because when we play away from home Rafa put's the team out not to loose instead of going out to win.

 

I'll probably get shot down but for me it's now time for Rafa to go. Thanks for the champo's league, the FA Cup, the champo's league final and finishing 2nd last year but bye-bye!

 

go and read.

[pipnasty]

  On 09/05/2010 at 17:55, Stevie H said:

go and read.

 

The original post is why the same point about the ownership needs to be made over and over again. You get other posters saying 'everybody knows that the problems off the field are a major obstacle but everybody knows this' and then you get a post like this one where somebody wastes 500 words or so and doesn't even remotely mention anything off the field and you realise that there is still so much work to be done. As you have hinted at, the original poster probably thinks that Moores is still in charge.

[Stevie H]

  On 09/05/2010 at 18:07, Pipnasty said:

The original post is why the same point about the ownership needs to be made over and over again. You get other posters saying 'everybody knows that the problems off the field are a major obstacle but everybody knows this' and then you get a post like this one where somebody wastes 500 words or so and doesn't even remotely mention anything off the field and you realise that there is still so much work to be done. As you have hinted at, the original poster probably thinks that Moores is still in charge.

well like i said to jarg armani earlier, you are clearly a rafapologist. how dare you look at the bigger picture from your armchair? get babel up front and we'll be sound.

[pipnasty]

  On 09/05/2010 at 18:10, Stevie H said:

well like i said to jarg armani earlier, you are clearly a rafapologist. how dare you look at the bigger picture from your armchair? get babel up front and we'll be sound.

 

 

Team Rafapologist (Me, Cocknose, Slapnuts, Scally the Wag)

 

Wanna join?

[Stevie H]

  On 09/05/2010 at 18:11, Pipnasty said:

Team Rafapologist (Me, Cocknose, Slapnuts, Scally the Wag)

 

Wanna join?

captain the appallingly-insulted-mfletcher this season. i might not agree with the lad entirely but the stuff that he's had thrown at him this season when he's pretty much been proven right has been a new low in abuse terms for this forum. ant bullying notwithstanding.

[The Invisible Man]

  On 09/05/2010 at 18:07, Pipnasty said:

The original post is why the same point about the ownership needs to be made over and over again. You get other posters saying 'everybody knows that the problems off the field are a major obstacle but everybody knows this' and then you get a post like this one where somebody wastes 500 words or so and doesn't even remotely mention anything off the field and you realise that there is still so much work to be done. As you have hinted at, the original poster probably thinks that Moores is still in charge.

 

Say whast you want about the owners but Rafa deserves to be criticised. He has made several bad signings two years ago in Riera, Dossena and Keane and made a mistake with the Aquiani transfer this summer. Yes he could have been backed more but that's £50 million he spent badly. He could have been backed more but he has made mistakes with the money he's had and he has to take responsibility for that.

Moreover the squad we have now is far too good to be 7th. Look what Rafa did with that squad in 2005, he got the best out of players like Traore, Nunez, Le Tallec, Pongolle, Mellor, Smicer, Biscan, Josemi.

That team has nowhere near the quality of this season's, that's why I think Rafa should be held just as accountable as the owners for this season.