by bigmick » Fri May 04, 2007 10:33 pm
There's been a bit of a debate raging on the "should they stay or go" thread about our league perfornances of late. Have we gone backwards, have we slipped further behind, are some of the players simply not up to it, is the manager messing around with the team too much etc etc etc. I was just wondering as there is plenty of "this summer is massively important as far as Rafa is concerned's" being bandied about, what would be acceptable in most peoples eyes IN THE PREMIERSHIP next season? Do we have to win the thing, or are we forever "two or three" players short of bringing it (the league title not the Premiership obviously) home?
Now few if any supporters would quibble about our performances in Europe, two from three Champions League Finals under Rafa is nothing short of a staggering achievement. Only one dodgy performance over two legs in three seasons (Benfica, (cheers Woof!) last term who we should definately have put out) indicate that when it comes to the finer points of tactical genius and chess board planning, we have the grand-master at the helm. What about the league though? Sorry but I couldn't start a thread like this without mentioning it, is a draw away to Sheffield Utd first game up acceptable or not? Here's my feelings:
I think last season we weren't actually good enough to get within nine points of the leaders. We kind of ran-on through beaten horses (sorry for the racing reference but it works here) in a sense that was perfectly summed up by Bad Bob in the aforementioned thread. Similarly, we aren't eighteen points worse than Man Utd this term. As they have gone head to head with Chelsea playing win at all costs football over the last couple of months, we've been poncing about with our minds elsewhere. My suspicion is that we finished five or six points closer than "fair value" last season, and we are five or six points further back than we should be this. This would mean that in contrast to what a couple of people are suggesting, I think we have marginally improved as a team and squad this season over last.
But is it a big enough improvement (if indeed there has been one, I know many will dispute my assertion) given the investment and our expectations? No it isn't is my opinion. In my opinion, we have shown on numerous occasions in head to head and knockout situations that we are capable of competing with the best teams on a level playing field. Therefore, and this is a simplistic way of looking at it I grant you, we should not be miles behind them in the league. Some would suggest the reason is simple, our players aren't good enough END OF!, but I don't accept that premise. Yes we haven't got a Christiano Ronaldo, or a Wayne Rooney, or a Didier Drogba, or a John Terry but we have got a Gerard, an Alonso, a Reina etc etc.
This is what it boils down to I guress really. I would accept that on a windy Tuesday night at Bolton, we have less players than the others in the top 4 who can turn a game on it's head with a goal from nothing or a flash of inspiration, but my feeling is that without the over-rotation at the start of the season we would be now competing for the Premeirship title. I think we gave away at least six or seven points in that period and we've never looked like pulling them back. Had we not cast away our chances so early in the piece, you would have seen an entirely different selection and ethos at the likes of Villa Park, Maine Road, Fratton Park etc etc. We failed there because it didn't really matter anymore. We need to play our strongest team until the league starts to pan out a bit (first ten games at least) and then rest players as the situation allows, and as they get tired (which I can't believe they are on the first game of the season).
Whoever Rafa signs, and I've got no problem with his performance overall in the transfer market, in my opinion if next season when there are four games to go it is not mathematically possible that we can win the league title, it will have been a failure of a season.
Last edited by
bigmick on Fri May 04, 2007 11:02 pm, edited 1 time in total.
"se e in una bottigla ed e bianco, e latte".