The only place to be

Where Oscar excelled for Brazil in the games I saw was basically running that central channel and moving the ball forward by bringing wider players into the game. You have to build the team around him (literally) for him to shine in my opinion. Mata is a great player, but I think Oscar has the potential to be a real worldie.

Same team that we had against Boro? Ake, Benayoun, Terry, Ferreira, Bertrand, Torres, maybe Marin? Need to save the strong team for the United game and I wouldn't even make some of the players (Mata, Luiz, Lamps) travel.

If we finish fourth, then we do have to qualify but that might not be the worst thing in the world. We're going to have a new coach and this means we have to start playing competitive games earlier than we otherwise would. Down the line that may have ramifications but the headstart in terms of fitness and building a team might be good for us. We still have Spurs at home as well which leaves overtaking them in our own hands to some extent. So, Spurs to win.

Do you blame the mailman when you get bad news in the post? How much of that is him and how much is Roman? Your main problem seems to be with him doing things too soon. We're a multi-million pound operation and you need to act quickly once the decision has been made. When should we have sacked Robbie? When the players started arriving for training? When the rest of the staff were around? Then people like you would have bemoaned him doing it in front of other people and embarrassing him. The fact that you can admit I am agree to say that he is good with the business side. suggests he's doing a good job and unless you can actually name someone better qualified to do this job then the endless bellyaching really is pointless.

I've thought for a while that we'd have to pick between Mata and Oscar for that number 10 spot, and Oscar is really staking a claim for it. I love Mata, but I've always felt that Oscar could become one of the best players in the world. If he can bring his Brazil form to this team when he plays in the centre then I think we should commit to him as our central playmaker behind a striker.

Whilst that's tempting, I'm not sure he would get a job elsewhere. He doesn't have the football career that Begeristain had, he wasn't part of this club before joining it and I doubt he'll have many offers if/when he leaves. But there are a few things regarding him that I find encouraging. Since he took over, I think our transfer record, our targets, the prices we've paid and even the wages paid (that we know of) have all been better than they were in the years preceding his appointment. Now how much of that was down to FFP, agents and our scouting network is up for debate but if he's going to get the blame for certain things, then he should get some of the credit. The loans we have in place have garnered a lot of attention, but I think you could look at almost all of them (particular the more talented players like the Belgians, Kalas etc.) and say they're all very worthwhile. With Eddie monitoring them I expect that to continue, but I think it's realistic to expect maybe 5 of them to join the first-team squad next year. Even Bamford at MK and Kane's sojourn to Blackburn seemed to have worked out relatively well. Then there's the Academy, which probably has many different people who can be attributed with it's success. Either way, as the bloke who oversees it he'll probably deserve some credit (although I can't stress enough how much other people deserve more) with the way it's going. It's fair to say it's one of the best in the world now and only on Wednesday we saw another graduate make his first-team debut. He's also taken some pretty unpopular stands on certain issues, in particular the Lampard contract issue (although how much of that is him and how much is Roman is unclear). It would be the easiest thing in the world to give him a contract, have his photo taken with him signing it and let the people kiss his feet for a few days. But Lamps clearly doesn't fit into our team as well as someone earning that wedge might be expected to. Whether you agree with this or not, it's obviously not an easy decision to make. Finally, we hear a lot about yes men and sycophants but here's a guy who has worked his way up through the club, kept his nose clean doing it and been one of the few areas of stability in the club. When you talk about the Fergusons and Wengers having this type of person above them, of course they wouldn't. THEY are the stabilising factor and that can be a good thing (Fergie) or it can be a destructive thing (Wenger - they simply can't sack him because he is so powerful and so entwined with the DNA of Cashburden). By the very nature of our club right now I think his role is a necessity. And I think he might work well with Jose because he has no aspirations to be manager (that we know of). It's very easy to say we should get Hiddink in to do that job but the moment things get sticky then you'll see stories about Guus being ready to step in, and why wouldn't he? He's a threat to any manager because he's so good at their job. He's the proverbial Sword of Damocles hanging over them, whereas Emenalo is somewhat impotent. So I get your point about him being over-promoted and under-qualified and I can see the merit in it. I just think that the results that fall under the remit of his job have actually been encouraging. The same goes for Gourlay. I've recently started thinking that Buck's job may well need reviewing because he's been here since Day One and overseen many of the bad decisions that have got us to this point in time. I admire the stance he took on JT's trial but you can't overlook what has gone on under his watch. Ultimately the buck does stop with Roman though. It's very hard to criticise a man who has given us so much, and nigh-on impossible to call for his head but he was the guy up there in Munich - the buck does stop with him and this club has suffered due to his pursuit of Pep. It's why we needed an interim coach, why we appointed Robbie as permanent manager, why we tried to cut costs this year and why we pursued the transfer policy we did. Hopefully the failure to get him will make Roman see things slightly differently going forward and appoint the guy we all want. FYI I don't think you sounded harsh at all. You put your point across well and we're all grown-ups here.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but few of those people had much experience in directorial roles before getting their current roles. Do status and experience mean someone is going to excel in a role higher up in a football club? Maradona is one of the greatest players of all time, but he's been a failure as a coach and I expect as a DoF. It's interesting you mention Begiristain at Man City - what about Begiristain at Barcelona? As far as I know, he was a decent international footballer who went from being in tv to being the DoF at Barcelona. Is that significantly more experience that Emenalo? In fact, isn't it significantly less? We've got a guy who was an international footballer (only for Nigeria I know), managed a girls' team, was a scout for us, then a coach and is now a Technical Director. ON the face of it he's worked his way up hasn't he? In what way is that inferior to Begiristain's qualifications when he got the Barca gig?

Oh well if Rafa did it.....

Why should they be 'shamed'? They may have perfectly valid reasons for their vote or questions about who exactly would replace Benitez. Or they may have voted some time ago and not got around to changing their vote (which is something I did).

That's the type of banner I can get behind. I might print up a T-Shirt for my mate which says 'I HAVE AGENDA IDENTITY ISSUES' or something equally excruciating. As for the board, I think this comes down to Roman and his desire to get Pep. Everything seemed geared towards next year and he got an almighty slap in the face when he turned him down. We can blame the 'yes men' but they're limited in what they can do simply because Roman is the man at the end of the day - things will be run as he wants them to be run and no-one will change that. That has it's upsides and it's downsides, but I'm of the mind that in the long-run it'll be for the good. But he messed up here. You're right in that they miscalculated Benitez's ability (although he's being asked to be a caretaker when he probably works best with more time and power to change things) and the fans' feelings towards him. It's very easy to overlook 6 months when you're planning long-term, but these last 100 days have dragged and it doesn't help that there's been a new story almost everyday. It's why I was probably more relieved on Wednesday than angry. He might've said disrespectful things but all I heard was 'I'M LEAVING IN MAY, I'M LEAVING IN MAY.....' and then I went and re-watched every touch Nathan Ake had of the ball.

What type of experience should he have to be in this role?

He's been getting more mentions, and looking at his track record I really don't know why. With Jose, my reservation was with his use of younger players but I actually went back and looked at his time here and he used far more young players than you'd expect given their lack of quality compared to right now. Then I look at how he's handled Varane and I think that he could use the academy pretty well. What he should have is more stability than any other manager, bar Pep.

I don't know. People say he's under-qualified or over-promoted by I'm not sure what standard they're holding him to.

I agree that he didn't approach it properly. This all came to a head when he should have addressed the issues honestly from day one. Too many times he simply gave soundbites and weaselled his way out of giving honest answers, and then explodes in a press conference. I still think he's been getting all the fans' frustrations for a multitude of problems, much like Emenalo, Gourlay and to a lesser extent Buck. The song (which is shit as I've said many times before, doesn't make sense and doesn't actually feel good to sing) crops up far more away from home than at home. Then there's the booing (before his first game it was moronic in my opinion) and some of the banners. People like to pretend they have an impact on the players when they chant and make these banners, otherwise why would they do it? To then deny any impact when it suits you is a little disingenuous isn't it? We hold the scousers to the same logic don't we? They praise the almighty power of the Kop when it suits them then blame the team, coach, board...anyone when things go wrong. I'd rather we didn't go down the same route.

Specifically?

What type of experience do you need?

It's a bigger shame that you continually criticise him without backing up your reasons for doing so. If you don't want him here, maybe come up with someone better.

What I took from his speech was that he was going. That's what I wanted to hear. He also said fans had an agenda and from what happened before his first game in charge, that seems to have some truth to it. If I'm being honest I think he's being scapegoated for a lot of fans frustrations at things happening at the club. I think some people in the ground are much more comfortable booing the guy in the dugout rather than criticising the guy in the box. Personally, the only way I see us coming out of this with any good is by supporting the 11 players on the pitch for the whole 90 minutes of every game we have left. I keep on coming back to attitude. You can't control everything that happens to you, but you can control how you respond to it. If people want to spend £60 to abuse a bloke who is on his way out of the door then they can, but it's going to create a toxic atmosphere for the players.

Judging by this image the atmosphere on Saturday is going to be as toxic as ever. Yay.

Fair enough. My great fear was that he'd remain on beyond the summer - that's been clarified now. We have important matches every week and I want us to win as many as possible. If the results are good, he stays and then goes in the summer. If the results are bad, he may well get sacked before. Part of me does wonder if people are booing because they want him gone, and the results don't matter to them. That seems very much like cutting off your nose to spite your face. Pretty much exactly how I feel.

:blue scalf:

How does being hostile to the coach (of the team) help us get three points on Saturday? I hope it isn't hostile. I hope it's supportive of the team. Does that make me a pussy?

This is a key match. I want us to win and I'll be investing all my energies in supporting the team. I'll be willing them on to maybe get that extra 1-2% from their performance which is sometimes the difference between winning and losing. I'll be singing the songs that have been sung for generations to remind them that they're part of something bigger. Abusing a man who is gone in a few months is the last thing on my mind going into the game. That's what I mean when I say it's about attitude.

Does the result matter? In fact does this 'toxic environment' help the team in what is a must-win game? We need to get behind the TEAM this weekend.

If Mikel had a game like that he would get praise. I'm sure some people will say he always has games like that, but Backstreet will probably tell you Torres meant to score with his back last night. Oscar had a great game, but the more I see him excel in the central role the more I think we're coming to a point where we'll have to choose between him and Mata. When he plays like this, everything goes through him. He works that central channel from the centre circle to the opposition's box and keeps everything ticking along.