Agree with rest but disagree re: effect on players. Matt Ritchie said the greatest quality of Rafa is the fact he sees the bigger picture and comes in with the same attitude every week come win/loss/draw. I don't believe the players are taking these comments with bigger value than what they hear from Rafa every day, along with his consistent defence of players like Joselu, Perez, etc. in the face of criticism. I reckon he's trying to underdog us, reduce expectation and maybe, just maybe, get fatty to open that wallet.
I'll think he's just saying the truth ... we won't get anything more than 3 points in the next 7 games and other clubs ate starting to gel whereas we will either burn out from chasing the ball all season or we will sign a few players and if they don't hit the ground running we will still get relegated. I'm delighted he's saying it because in the past we've had to many gutless managers blowing smoke up Ashleys arse in order to keep their job. I'm also delighted he's giving the fans that are still deluded enough to expect a victory against any side we play a much needed educational.
I'm a straight down the middle sort of a guy. I like people that speak the truth. Rafa is being honest. We all know that what he says is right. It will be a ****in miracle if we stay up. We know it, he knows it and the players know it. We will keep fighting though! I love my football club, but hate my owner. Up the Mags!¡
Absolutely this. All this “have a go” bollocks. Have we not seen enough of Perez, Ritchie, Atsu etc to understand how profligate we are going forward?! If we “had a go” we’d be watching Cardiff v Man U every week. Our GD tells the story of how we will survive and how the likes of Hudds, Cardiff, Burnley, Brighton etc will struggle. Fulham may be bottom but they’re not ****e, we drew and but for better attackers (as usual) would probs have won.
We drew with a team who invested £100m during the summer. We have no right to be competing with teams who are prepared to invest in their squads. Why would Rafa lie about what he thinks? He's having to use players he considers second-rate, because that's all he can afford with the money Ashley allows him. If Ashley doesn't sell up in the next 2 weeks, Rafa is gone, we get relegated and we start begging Big Sam to get us out of the Championship. Again.
Is he stating the obvious, hardening the mindset of supporters, got his cap out for january or just ****ed off? £50 million in January isn't going to turn us into world beaters, us fans are so bipolar he has no chance of tempering expectations, and if he was ****ed off he could jump ship easily. I just think he's telling the truth, and I agree.
I'm wondering if Rafa's been a little misquoted about the line that stated that "even with investment, it'll be a miracle if we stay up". On north east news he said that it'll be a miracle if we finish outside the bottom side of the division. Lower half of the Premiership is where Rafa expects us to finish up. He did come over as a tired man though.
I suspect that Rafa has already had his January transfer budget confirmed by that weasel Penfold and that is a rinse and repeat of previous windows. Bargain basement shopping only. If we spend more than £5m this window I will be amazed.
Ashley is going to gamble with our PL status yet again. Is his tiny mind he will have a few reasons not to spend in January: 1. We are apparently on the verge of being sold. so he will not spend money that he could pocket himself. 2. Rafa will be leaving at the end of the season, so he will not give funds to a departing manager. 3. He does not give a flying **** about NUFC, the fans, the region ...................... in fact absolutely anything other than himself. 4. He knows that Rafa is an honourable man and that he will not walk out of the club and he will do all that he can to keep us up before he departs. The net result of all of the above is a limited transfer budget ...................... i reckon about £5m cash and any money generated from player sales, which actually makes no difference because all outgoing transfers are to be paid off at 50 quid a week, as requested by Ashley, whilst incoming transfers include player fee, wages, bus fares, all meals, etc, etc.
Cardiff - Man U is your comparison? Seriously? Like, you aren't even joking are you? Wow, I suppose we are the Cardiff and Fulham are the Man U in this situation? What? The? ****? Any other manager who didn't manage a shot on target vs the leakiest defence in the league would be slaughtered, yet because its Rafa its ok to sit in 5-4-1 at home knocking balls up to Rondon on his own with no support even though the players on the park would have naturally suited switching to 4-5-1/4-4-2? No problem sitting in, like we did early doors in the season, like we will tomorrow vs Liverpool, hoping and praying to only lose by a goal BUT vs Fulham (who have shipped an average of nearly 2.5 goals a game and hadn't kept a clean sheet all season) AT HOME, to not have a shot on target, not try SOMETHING, ANYTHING to get on the front foot and nick a goal - not this pansying around playing in the middle of the park with no penetration, no idea how to get the ball near enough to get a shot on target is ridiculous! Again going back to Rafa tells it as it is - he was surprised they played 5 at the back, we had obviously trained all week on how to get the ball forwards while playing vs 3 in the middle of the park but he did nothing to try and change the game play (well he did - in his infinite wisdom he asked Ki to go short and get the ball off the defenders) or tactics, just tried to stick with the plan even though it wasn't didn't work. As the saying goes, trying the same thing over and over again expecting different results is the definition of madness. I've given Rafa credit for keeping us tight vs the big boys throughout the year, I'm NOT one of the fans who jumps on the players backs when they've had a bad game (e.g. Perez, Diame, Lacselles etc). I have however butchered him constantly and consistently for his ability to affect a game during play. It's like he thinks he trains them all week and then when they step across the white line it's up to them and the players on the bench wouldn't know what to do if he bought them on so gives them 10-15 mins to have a sympathy run out.
