Tomo

Ranieri did well building a team but he had absolutely nothing to do with the success we had under Jose beyond that. The same way Jose had nothing to do with the double despite most of those players playing under him. You could say Ranieri nurtured Lamps and JT, well he did, he got them in the team but Jose took them up an extra level.

We can't judge him on this game surely? Every player (especially young one's) always have their fair share off stinkers. For a first season in England i think he has done remarkably well.

It's down to them aswell, i guess the loan is the sink or swim phase, Di Santo flopped on his loan and even when we sold him he took just under a year a score. Stoch i think the plan was to bring him back in the squad, he wanted a guarentee'd first team place so we sold him, Danny shined at Bolton and because of that was brought back into the squad the following season and played regularly. The same will probably happen with De Bruyne not only because of how well he is doing, but he can also play in the pivot, which is a problem position for us right now.

That's where utility players who are good but never going to be anything special like O Shea, Evans, Kalou, Geremi, Meireles, Cahill or passed their best but can still offer something players like Malouda, Essien, Ferrera, Scholes come in.. Those are the type of players you have to make your squad strong. Youngsters with potential should be out on loan until their ready.

We will sack him, appoint some one not as good after failing to get Mourinho or Pep. It's obvious already.

He is playing well right now but we still need a new forward or two in January. If he carries on like this then he will win us points against lesser sides, but the two times we needed him to step up under badly Rafa he has failed (against City then CWC final). Im happy he has started scoring and on good form right now but his form has a habit of changing like the wind, good enough for a rotation player but a number one forward at a club looking to win things?

It won't be long before we are back winning titles, with Hazard and Oscar we have too good and too young players not too. I remember back in 05/06 we were running away with titles and threatening to dominate, but i looked at Rooney and Ronaldo at United who were early 20's and improving and i knew with those two round it was only a matter of time before they were back up our asses's again, we have that now with Hazard and Oscar. City and especially United fans must be (long term) looking over their shoulders at us with the fact we have two unbelievable young talents.

They were called much worse, which is why i cringed with embarrisment at some of the stuff i read when RDM was sacked (mainly Roman out protesters) as it's only a matter of time before they backtrack and claim they never said it, like with Lamps and Didier.

Harry being a good man manager is a myth, if your one of his "boys" it's all well and good, but if you have no purpose he doesn't want to know. He shafted Tarabt at Spurs without a second's thought, now down at QPR he is one of "his boys" because he aint got anyone better. This is an example of his over rated man management.

All the defensive stats are in his favour (compared to what they are when he doesn't play). Being a little bit reckless on occasion's and being a full blown liability are two completely different things, Bramble, Ben Haim, they are liability's, Luiz is far from that.

After doing a bit of research and talking to a (very knowledgeable) Liverpool fan about the pro's and con's of Rafa i am actually starting to seriously think he could actually be the man we need for the next 2-4 years. The one plus point that was made about his time at Liverpool was the way he restructured the academy (which was ran to the ground by Houllier) the players Rodgers is promoting now were brought in by Rafa initially. What is a worry however is his shady man management, just after signing for us under Carlo Ancelotti, Yossi Benayoun claimed Benitez was treating him terribly saying stuff like "the fans want you to start this week Yossi, i don't know why", i don't know how well that will go down here if he did that to any of our lot. Back on the plus side we as much as any fans should know about how astute he is tactically on one off games and i watched back a couple of games of Rafa's Valencia side and they were truly formidable, if he gets us playing any where close to that i won't be complaining that is for sure.

Has anyone got highlights?

Mark Hughes had shit loads to spend yet couldn't get City in the top 6 before he was sacked. Money helps but it should never devalue what Jose did, other manager's have had that type of money and failed, Dalglish the latest of the long list of example's. At Porto he took over the team when they were 5th and in dissaray i think, recovered the season got them 3rd, the next two season's we know what happened. He also showed at Uniao de Leiria that he can do mid table miracle work if need be. Chelsea he took over in 2004, Arsenal just completed a season unbeaten and were threatening to dominate English football, no one gave Jose a chance of beating that great team but he done it with ease. He also gave us confidence and assurance we never had before, we went to Highbury in 2005 and thrashed Arsenal like never before, ground that was giving us nightmares for years. inter, rubbish in Europe for years Jose comes in and wins it within 2 all with a negative net spend, enough said. Real, he beats to the title the team widely regarded by many as one of the greatest teams off all time and beats them in their own ground to boot. Real don't get past R2 in the CL for nearly a decade until he came along. There is more to Mourinho than just money.

Whenever we play Villa at home we either come completely unstuck or absolutely smash them.

Hummels for £50m it is then

We won't play 1 up top for ever, if they both are on top of their game (if we get Falcao that is) then the manager will try and form a partnership out of them. Also Lukaku isn't Torres, he is prepared to do what it takes to earn the number 1 spot and if that means fighting Falcao then he will relish the challenge.

Your right he wasn't but to still even consider that was lunacy, if Mata decided to rebel a bit and Rafa decided to let him go and bring in Ronaldinho instead would that be the right decision? even if Juan was playing up a bit. You only need to look at Kenny Dalglish to see the pitfalls of giving a manager control over signing's.

Scolari wanted to get rid of Drogba and replace him with Adriano. Manager's should not get full control on transfer's as far as im concerned.

I prefer Big Sam, atleast we will get the double every season.

Then we would be cutting of our nose to spite face, if we can't get Pep or Jose who available is a possibly an upgrade to Rafa? Carlo will never return, Hiddink is calling it a day, there would be no one better available. I not a Rafa fan but what i do want is what is best for the club, which is why i didn't join the anti Rafa brigade in the first place.

If we cannot get Jose or Pep, then employing Rafa full time is the best option we have. There you go, ive said it.

Stick to Rafa, ill probably get pelters for this but he is the higest calibre manager available to us if those two say no. If he can get us playing like his Valencia side i won't be complaining.

How do we know Mourinho can't do long term? he hasn't had a chance to try it. The whole squad in his first two season with the exception of Makelele were under 30, if that isn't planning long term i don't know what is.

Atleast it will keep the academy fan boys happy for a while.

I can seriously see the City vs Reading match turning really nasty.