rafafan

I think Rafa has said in many interviews he wanted to join a top club that can compete instantly at the highest level with resources, he wanted success now and not having to fight for it like he did at valencia and Liverpool, thats why he has taken his time to find the right club, not because he was not getting offers. The truth is, only chelsea, manchester utd, man city, barcelona, real madrid,bayern munich , juventus, are clubs in europe that can compete instantly and have funds at their disposal, and how many of those jobs have been available in the last 18 months apart from chelsea. It is also worth noting that clubs that are of good sizes like Atletico madrid, Valencia, he rejected, and also PSG anounced Benitez was there new manager through Al Jazeera, which rafa rejected at the time, they than appointed Ancelloti a week later. The only job he would have taken without significant major resources was the 1 at Liverpool after Dalglish but obviously our american owners were not prepared to get another fans favourite after Kenny as it would be difficult for them , only they know why. I believe rafa will prove his worth at Chelsea, and you can see for yourself why he is lauded by LFC and Valencia fans, its a shame for you guys that you out of the CL, otherwise you would have gone very, very , close to retaining it, , also watch out for his substitutions, he has a magic touch with them when he is on form, think about hazard at leeds, and piazon, ramires, oscar against villa, but more crucial ones when games are tight, plus he is the only coach in the world that I have seen can change formations 3-4 times per game or player positions to suit circumstances, you will start noticing them gradually once he is settled with the squad. Happy Xmas everyone.

Hello mate, you scored 2 Invanovich set piece goals at anfield to win the tie, but at the bridge I remember it was 4-4 with you guys 2-0 down at half time and we totally dominating. The game changed when Anelka crossed and Reina let the ball spill from his hands, for you to score the first . Hiddink is a great coach I am not denying that, but he has not achieved anything apart from chelsea anywhere else , ( psv not included) he did not do much at Valencia or real Madrid before, but yes he is a good coach,not sure whether he can outiwt some of the elite coaches of today on a long term project, but yes he is a great manager, so is capello, so is ancelloti, but I think he may struggle to bring success to a club which is not at the top of the pyramid e.g a valencia, or liverpool. He is a brilliant man manager for sure. Regarding benayoun, his best 18 months in football was under Benitez, he aint achieved nothing since he left, and rafa did make him the player he was during that period, otherwise why would Chelsea than Arsenal sign him, why not when he was at west Ham. The thing is mate footballers are fickle bunch, we hear mourinho is a players best friend, but how comes he has lost most of the dressing room at Madrid, what happened at Chelsea ? A coach has to caoch and manage the team and club in its interest not of some players.

Hello mate, Just want to point out that in 08/09 Toress played in 21 league games, and scored 17 goals, if he had palyed more than 21 games taht season we would have won the league hands down with 1 striker in him competing with Manchester Utd, who had Ronaldo, Tevez, Berbatov, Ronney, and oh Fcukin Macheda whose only contribution to FOOTBALL was a defected goal against sunderland ( that hit his ankle from scholes shot) and THAT goal against Villa in the last second, and those 2 moments won them the league.

Hello mate, the only way you can compare is to look at their resumes and clubs they been at and achieved what. , Ancelloti has 2 league titles and 2 European cups, but he had been at Milan for 9 seasons who were dominant and rich enough at the time, and including Chelsea, while Hiddink outside Holland has not achieved much , and International football is not the same as club football, but they are great managers and achieved things at Chelsea, but let Rafa prove that to you, he as good as them if not better, in my opinion he can do better, although his side is younger and new. Ancelotti is not a great tactician, if he was he still be here but he is a great man manger, I am sure you already know, he had a very powerful Chelsea team at its peak cycle and same with Hiddink, they all great coaches, the difference between the elite coaches very minimal, but interms of tactics I think Mourinho and Rafa are probably the best 2 in the world, these guys are made from the same cloth, they think football is a chess and obsessive about strategy, thats why games between those 2 are so tense and decide by mistakes. Hiddinks best foreign coaching stint was the 6 months at Chelsea with a brillaint Chelsea team.

How about Alonso, toress,mascherano,reina,agger,skrtel,leiva,johnson,suso,sterling,sisoko,crouch, Garcia, just to name few, they all have been bought and sold for very high prices to keep team competitive, also NGOG was bought for £1 million at 19 for the future not for the present, sold for over £5 million, is that something something really really bad, can a manger not have the odd bad signing for a million when you are operating at Primark and not selfridges. , look at malouda, bosingwa, thiago, kalou,, veron, just to name a few. He bought some great players in and also some bad signings, but they were free transfers, Aquilani was injured in rafa last season, and managers after him never played him and loaned him out afterwards , but when he did play he was quality. robbie keane was a good player at spurs so it was natural signing, but he became a trouble maker in the dressing room so got rid and recouped most of the money. Its a media myth regarding rafa, he has a higher success rate of signings then most media would like to give him credit for its all part of the Anti Rafa agenda, AVB gets similar treatment but Rafa has it all the time. He has an eye for good players, but let him prove that, so your in good hands, but I think piazon could save you some money !!

i am a fan of rafa like you are of Mourinho no difference.

Also chaps you guys talk about the "ghost goal in the first CL semi Final" but you never mention that if the goal was not given, then it would have been a penalty, peter cech sent off, and you would have played with 10 men, and the result would have been more likely 2-3 Nil rather than 1. You also mention penalties for the second Semi final , but you never mention the perfectly good goal from Kuyt in extra time that was wrongly chalked off for offside when he was clearly onside by 2 yards, it would not have gone to penalties at 2-0 !!! You also never mention the " ghost penalty" at anfield in the 07/08 campaign when malouda jumps onto finnan and fouls finnan but wins a penalty for you to draw the game 1-1.!!! how about the Volleyball handball from Tiago in the CL group game at the bridge, in which he fisted the ball off crouches head blatantly but Referee does not give a penalty ? the game ended 0-0 at the bridge. How about 07/08 CL semi (3rd one) extra time Hypia hacked down in the box, referee about to blow for penalty then does not give it with the game at 2-1 extra time under avram grant !!! Memories hey chaps !!! there is enough evidence in these incidents above to realise what a job he did at Liverpool, and what he can do at your club .

Hello everyone, Liverpool fan here following the career of a hero , been following this forum since rafa got the job. and had to register to make the following point regarding Benitez and Mourinho. Who is the first manager out of Benitez, Mourinho, Ferguson, Wenger, Mancini, to reach 2 Champions League finals ? answer ; Rafa (Guardiola started in 08/09 but he achieved 2 finals in 3 seasons with his Mega Team but your interim also did the same before without xavi, inietsa, messi, villa) Which Manager has the highest win ratio in the Champions League ? answer rafa If comparisons are to be made between Mourinho and rafa then look at there tenure in english football at the same time as each other, Mourinho 3 seasons and a half, 2 League titles, 2 League cups, 1 Fa Cup, 1 charity shield, spending Romans millions . Rafa in the same time as jose, 1 european Cup, 1 fa Cup, 1 uefa Super cup, 1 charity Shield, 1 Europen cup final runner up, 1 Worlc Club Cup Final Runner up, and 1 League Cup final Runner up, spending 70% less than mourinho, and inheriting, quality such as Djimi traore, Milan baros, Igor biscan, and not Drogba, Lampard, duff, robben , terry etc. Between 07/08-.08/09 , Liverpool lost only 6 Premier league Matches ( 3 in injury time.) out of 76 Premier league matches, which is comparable with Mourinho's first 2 seasons, the only difference being you had a quality squad, and we only had a quality first team, we had 1 striker in toress , otherwise we would have won the league, in those 2 seasons. (Ancelloti won the league with less points in 09/10 and more defeats) That was achieved under the ownership of Hicks and gillett, you know the guys who were bankrupting us, and not bankrolling like roman is, 2 different conditions of work for both managers. Inter Milan, 2 trophies were won, and he only took charge of 12 games in the league, with the first 8 games being unbeaten in the league and top of the table, and quicker qualification for CL second round then Jose achieved in his 2 seasons. but then injuries took their toll on an overaged and overused squad from Jose ( 15 players above 30.) and Rafa decided to take on morrati and sound him out over no investment into the team where previously Jose spent over 90 Million pounds. There are reasons as to why Inter was bad, but not as bad as the haters from Media will have you believing, Rafa wanted fresh legs, and his point has proven since since he left them, Jose has all the Medals, he goes to the richest and biggest clubs, name me a club that he has not gone to that is not the richest or powerful enough to not compete? e.g Valecia, Liverpool ... Also Jose has also been sacked from jobs, its not just rafa, Benfica, and Chelsea, and possibly Madrid maybe , Mutual consent is a sacking ??? They are 2 fantastic managers, but 1 is a builder of Teams (Jose) who only cares about today, and other who builds clubs ( rafa) who cares about tommorow, ask Liverpool fans about the academy. ( Jose makes decisions with head, Rafa with the Heart, truth be told he should have left Liverpool after Hicks and Gillett entered but he fell in love with the club and sacrificed his career to make us League champions, and he almost did on peanut budget. Another comparison to make between both managers will be transfer records and signings, name me a single player signed by mourinho at Chelsea, inter Milan, and at real Madrid , that will leave for more money than originally bought, and also a single youth player that he has developed ? Rafa wins this hands down no contest. The media love mourinho, and hate Rafa, thats why opinions of football fans are indiferent towards him because we are influenced by newspaers, talk shit sport and sky sports, the love rafa bashing. I understand yours because of the comments, but he is one of the worlds elite coaches, and in the top 5 of coaches. some1 posted earlier saying he is not world class, well mate thats just bullshit, apart from mourinho no other coach chelsea has had is better than Rafa including ancelloti and Hiddink. ( Hiddink has 1 fa cup win outside holland in 35 years of management.) You will begin to see why Liiverpool fans think he is special, he has resources now, and can buy anybody he wants, at liverpool, we could have had alves, villa, simoa, hazard, jovetic, vidic,evra before they were stars, but from david moores to hicks and gillett we was skint ( imagine Chelsea before Roman.), He needed to buy, to develop the player and sell for more money to get an upgrade, but at Chelsea its different now, and he will deliver the trophies and the football that Chelsea want, the seasons is going to be interesting.