*Official Football Thread*

tmfkamr-gummidge Wrote:Gradually assembling a squad capable of challenging the financial powerhouses on a lower budget is what Rafa does. He did an exceptional job of that with Valencia and they've never been quite the same since he left. Every time I would read a letter to Sky Sports text or a forum post calling for his head this past couple of years I would pray for the board to take notice and get rid. He's not spectacularly belligerent like Fergie, charismatic like Mourinho was for Chelsea or a man to inspire the very best from limited talent like Wenger. He just gets on with his job quietly (as much as a manager can be quiet in the Premier League, with a mike shoved under their nose every ten minutes) and over time assembles a team that is very hard to beat.

I agree, he is a very shrewd manager, but sometimes I must admit I get a bit miffed about his tactics at times, there are some games that are there for the win but he will instead remain defensive and conservative in his actions.

The latest being the draw with Hull when he brought on Lucas instead of Robbie Keane, when that happened I said, Man U would never do that, they would look for the jugular and try to get three points.

As much as I like and respect Rafa there are at times when I'm left wondering what exactly he is thinking, I'd love to see him be a little more adventurous and really go for it in games, because those draws which most people expect that should be wins most often then not come back to haunt you when its all said and done.

Even United have a tendency towards conservatism late on in games that we aren't losing. There's a lot of talk about about the so called "big four" being a long way ahead of the rest of the pack, but with the lack of a Derby County or Mick McCarthy era Sunderland the Premiership contains not one single side incapable of exploding into life and scoring a goal from nothing. Sides have been winning the league with much higher numbers of games lost and drawn since the Gooners went through that season unbeaten in the league. It's not pretty and the purist in everyone cries out for slick football and clinically despatching any side who might be considered lesser than our own, but the reality of football in the post Abramovich era is that not losing is a surer route to success than trying to play teams off the park. Just look at how many titles Arsenal have won since Mourinho took over at Chelsea.

I love to see attractive, high tempo football but even Man Utd have sacrificed flair for pragmatism. Without Vidic, Evra, Carrick and the surprise addition of consistency to Ferdinand's game, United would have won nothing in these past few years. The flair of players like Ronaldo, Rooney, Tevez and now Berbatov is useless without those other players and it's the defensive and ball retaining qualities of players like Carrick, Scholes these days, Anderson, Giggs of late, Fletcher, Park and Hargreaves when he's fit that dominates our play nowadays, rather than the attacking flair that was so prevalent in our game throughout the nineties.

"Slow and steady wins the race" and this season it's paying off for Liverpool, just like it did for Chelsea for a couple of years. Don't forget, when Liverpool were dominating English and European football, the style of football they played wasn't exactly scintillating, that's why so many neutrals would cheer for Ipswich, Forest or even occassionally Man Utd when they sobered up and sauntered towards the top now and again.

If Liverpool keep up there guard it could just be there year to the win the title, only time will tell.

I hear the new trend for 2009 is not to get your name on the back of the Liverpool shirt but to have ABH on the back lol

Newcastle here

O.k., I'll bite. What's ABH?

Hang on it's reference to the Gerard assault charge isn't it? It's been a long night you know.

BelfastBadBoy Wrote:I hear the new trend for 2009 is not to get your name on the back of the Liverpool shirt but to have ABH on the back lol

Newcastle here

Fights happen everywhere, I personally see nothing wrong with Gerrard going on a night out and getting involved in a brawl, don't tell me you've never been involved in one, and since we don't know the details I'm not going to say he shouldn't have done that, for all we know he could have been the one first attacked and if he wasn't, who cares, at least the guy involved can tell his Gran kids he once got into a fight with Stevie G, but he's probs looking for some compensation, look out for his story in the paper in the coming days, which will probably see him making more money then he ever could in five years work.

Everywhere indeed. In Newcastle a few years back some bloke nutted me because he spilt beer on my shirt. It was my beer as well.

My team is Wycombe.

Just checked the league two table, you must be enjoying your season so far!