Ok I'm disgusted with what happened today and I'm as puzzled as anyone about rafa's decisions.
But before we throw the first stone at rafa, ask yourself if he has been given a fair crack at competing with the scum, chavs and arse.
One of the posters said that after 5 years, our squad still looks pathetic. Does rafa have a choice? He needed to clear out the deadwood left over from Houllier's reign... but with the amount given every summer, it's impossible to assemble a squad like the chavs in such a short time.
Every summer, he's given a pathetic transfer kitty and most of the time, the only players he could afford are the 2nd rate ones not even considered by the other top teams.
You pay peanuts, you get monkeys.
In fact, I thought he has bought very well with shrewd buys in Pepe (8m), Agger (5m), skrtel (6m), masch (18m), xabi (10m), nando (20m), riera (7m), benny (5m), aurelio (free). Chavs would have paid double or triple of what it would have cost to assemble a squad like that.
He has taken us as far as he could with the limitations given and the joke that's going on behind the scenes. I honestly believe no other manager would have done what he has done in the past 5 years for us. In fact, we should be grateful we still have champions league this year. He's a great manager and he has taken us as far as he could. I don't blame him and I'll always have respect and time for him.
You want to blame... blame the yanks. The only summer we could have bought well and mount a realistic title challenge - they gave a transfer budget that needs to factor in contract extensions for current players. That's the biggest joke I've seen in years at a top club. If rafa could have his first choice players this summer, the balance would have been there in the squad to mount a proper challenge. When the transfer window closed with no proper acquisitions on 31st Aug 2 months ago, I knew that we could forget about no.19 this year. Everyone knew that. Why only blame rafa now?
Before you throw the first stone at rafa, ask yourself if you'd have done a better job than him with the yanks on the helm.