by bigmick » Thu Mar 13, 2008 9:23 am
Well all personal insults aside just for a second, there are a couple of points which are probably worth a mention. Firstly, our performances in the League under Rafa over four years have been significantly less than impressive, this is even more so when compared to our success in Europe. Now I don't actually believe Rafa "doesn't care' about English football or the Premiership, but I do believe on occasions he over-prioritises the Champions league. That's not to say as some have suggested that we should "field a team of reserves in the Champions League", but it is to say that the unnecessary "resting" of players both before and after Champions League games significantly damages our ability to compete in the Premiership.
The example of Ferguson taking seven years to win the Premiership at Manchester United is one which gets trotted out from time to time and quite regularly whenever somebody voices a negative opinion about our manager. I suppose mit's fair enough, but equally Wenger at arsenal took only a season to win the double, and that stat is dismissed as readily as Mourinho "buying" the Premiership at Chelsea.
Talking of Chelsea, I pointed out on another thread that I had noticed after they overcame Derby that they had moved within five points of Arsenal with a game in hand. They still have to play the top two at Home, and a couple of wins would see them right in the mix with the distinct possibility they could yet be Champions. Their proximity to the top of the Premiership and the memory of how we totally outplayed them on both occasions we played them in the League makes me ever the more convinced that we had a real chance this season had we played it differently. This Arsenal team which wenger has rebuilt from top to bottom over the last four seasons is not a patch on the one which went unbeaten through an entire season before then (though they are a good team I must admit) while the better Man United teams of the late nineties and early 00's would have eaten this lot for breakfast. I can't help thinking that the team with the best goalkeeper, best midfield player and best striker really ought to be in there somewhere.
As for the personal insults, Peewee because of his reactionary views deserves some flak on occasions but on this occasion, this was all sparked by some fairly innocent remarks regarding Kuyt. I don't like witchunts, I was quick enough to tell Peewee exactly that when he got on the case of another poster, and it is no better when the collective ire is directed at him.
"se e in una bottigla ed e bianco, e latte".