should he stay or should he go?

[HughieG]

He got one player to play the system you talk about. Kenedy.
The keeper is fine but he's last line of defence, not an offensive change up.

The system was there all the time to change but Rafa chose not to do it and play backward football.
If people think playing Joselu for extended periods of time and messing about with the team in head scratching ways was a master class then what can I say?

By all means believe Rafa had it all under control. I believe he was a whisker away from losing it due to stubborn arrogance by not setting us up to have a go for 90 minutes plus in a balanced way.

So now that Rafa's proven you wrong, you're still thinking about the chance that Rafa could've done it wrong. Wonder if you did that with your loverboy Pardew?

Could we somehow just get you to admit that not only is Rafa doing a stellar job, his style is also as good as can be at the moment? Love to hear it.

[toptoon]

you show your total lack of football knowledge in a tactical sense here.

a good commanding goalkeeper is paramount to team shape and balance, through confidence, direction and an all round presence.


Dubravka has made an enormous difference, because our other 2 are just not premier league quality.

This is exactly right and I think that Dubravka has been our most important signing, even above Kennedy. Rafa has been after a keeper for ages, while many of us were scratching our heads thinking that there were other areas in the team that needed strengthening as a higher priority.

He went for Sels but he didn´t work out (personally I think his head was wrong from the start) and Rafa kept looking for an experienced keeper, clearly knowing that this was a major area needing improvement. No matter what happens from here on, he was right.

I haven´t seen any numbers but my impression is (as Pat said) that Dubravka has made no more spectacular saves than Darlow or Elliott but, what he clearly does, is command the area better and comes for and collects many more high balls. It´s hard to see but I imagine he´s verbally organising the defence much better than those two did too. This gives confidence and organisatrion to the defence as the keeper has the best view of anyone when the opposition attack is forming.

Ghost has clearly stated (on many occasions) that he won´t change his mind - fair enough but it´s plainly obvious to me why we are playing better football now.

[ghostrider]

So now that Rafa's proven you wrong, you're still thinking about the chance that Rafa could've done it wrong. Wonder if you did that with your loverboy Pardew?

Could we somehow just get you to admit that not only is Rafa doing a stellar job, his style is also as good as can be at the moment? Love to hear it.

Rafa hasn't proven me wrong on anything.
Rafa messed up and then started to put it right. It's as basic and as a simple as that where I'm concerned.
As for Pardew, he's in the past and I stand by what I said about Pardew who is certainly not my loverboy but feel free to think on those lines with absolutely anything you want to if it gives you some kind of tingle.