Posted: Tue Sep 21, 2004 11:19 pmWe achieved fourth last season as much due to Newcastles falling down a hole at the end as much as down to our own strong finish. Come on lads we love the team but we're not daft, Rafa inherited a very ordinary team in need of major surgery. He even inherited a record signing striker on a big contract whom he had no say in the signing of. This will take some fixing. Previously we covered the cracks by playing an extremely defensive non-expansive style. We all knew that, none of us were fooled by the "we've had the most shots in the premiership" nonsense. Curiously, this meant that against the very best teams we had a modicum of success, sitting deep and narrow and hitting on the counter. It was against the poorer teams who didn't flood forward that we struggled.
Rafa comes in and wants to play football. He's gone out and bought footballers. Our style is different to last season in every way. Yes we've comprimised a little temporarily in doggedness and workrate, but it is a backward step worth taking to take ten forward in terms of quality.
Let me tell you lads, theres gonna be more performances like the first half last night. We will be inconsistent as all the new guys bed in and the old guys adjust to the new style. It will be exasperating, frustrating and annoying but we knew that. This fella knows his onions though. There is hope in my heart, thats for sure.
Rafa comes in and wants to play football. He's gone out and bought footballers. Our style is different to last season in every way. Yes we've comprimised a little temporarily in doggedness and workrate, but it is a backward step worth taking to take ten forward in terms of quality.
Let me tell you lads, theres gonna be more performances like the first half last night. We will be inconsistent as all the new guys bed in and the old guys adjust to the new style. It will be exasperating, frustrating and annoying but we knew that. This fella knows his onions though. There is hope in my heart, thats for sure.
