Reina offDear god Ren, You are letting your prejudice get in the way of fact, most unlike you. Tackles of that sort which take man and ball 2 footed were outlawed way back and was only...
UpsettingI toyed with 'furious', 'shameful' and 'pussies', as the subject line for this, but then it struck me that it's not...
I have no doubt about Rafa's managerial abilities. His track record and the Istanbul match speak that much about him.
Rafa is clear about what he wants the team to do, it's really up to the team to adapt (e.g. zonal vs man-to-man). This season is still a building season, and as you have pointed out, already we have made progress. I don't question his ability to spot talents.. so far he's signed more useful players than useless junks. Good players are not exactly a dime a dozen. Given that we'd previously squandered a chunk of money on misfits and pretenders, money that could otherwise have been useful to buy the players we want, it's hardly surprising that we are finding life tough in the transfer market, Euro champions or not.
As for substitutions, yesterday was one of the rare occasions where his substitutions did not work for him. Can't decide whether it was due to the constraints of his game plans or whether his players did not understand what they were instructed to do. But compared with a certain French bloke with a penchant for dark corners with dodgy light at the end, I think we have taken leaps in the right direction. Would rather have a manager who walk the talk than one who turn the corners....
