Both Birmingham goals also came from our inability to win the second ball from headers.

Rafa talks about the second ball a lot – so it’s obviously something he’s aware of. Why is it such a problem this season? Height can’t have everything to do with it; Duff is hardly a giant nor the Birmingham players in the box for the first goal.

Lets assume we beat Birmingham and Chelsea/Man.U. tie this weekend. That leaves us 7 behind Chelsea, 5 behind Man.U, and 4 behind Arsenal if they win. Arsenal with a game in-hand. Then we have 11 days off to regroup and get healthy. Maybe this International break for once will be a good thing.

Our first game back is Man. City on the 21st. ( My apologize for reciting the fixture list) The thing about Man. City is arguably they have had the easiest schedule of the top 7 this year. Only playing 3 from the top 10 in the table so far. We have played 6.

Assume, some luck here would help, that most guys are back and healthy again. And finally lets make one last assumption, that we beat Debrecen on the 24th. and Lyon get at least a point from Fiorentina. Then the match on Dec. 9th becomes historical in proportion and things dont seem nearly that bad.

If Dec. 9th still has us in with a chance and we stay in contact with the legue leaders this article, as good as it is will be forgotten….in a good way Paul.

Every team will struggle at some point this year, lets just hope our patch is coming to an end. If it is, things will seem a world apart from today in one months time.

Heads Held High Guys!!!!!

Isn’t it worth remembering that United finished bottom of their CL group in 05-06? Arsenal missed out several times in their first few years too and then went on to the UEFA Cup Final in 1999-2000 I believe. As ever, far too much hype about “disaster” if we don’t qualify. In some recent years half of the Rafa beaters have been carping on about ‘not wanting the CL’ anyway, but wanting the title; I doubt if they will recall that just now though.

As far as the press and media are concerned, they are mostly twats – we know that, but the only way of getting them off our back long-term is by winning matches – starting Monday. Then there will be nothing for them to feed on.

One question, Paul… I know you wrote that Benitez was very calm, very ‘equanimous’ when you met him, but did you get a sense that he was disappointed or even angry about the lack of support in terms of transfers this summer?

Cheers

Anyway he told me one day how Souness used to humiliate players. He said he was an absolute b*stard. He told me how he rounded up the reserves when he first arrived then called Jan Molby over and said to them ‘whatever you do don’t ever end up in the shape he is in. He’s a disgrace to football’. He then signed Neil Ruddock not long after.

I was gobsmacked and felt really sorry for big Jan. Ok he was often over weight but he was an excellent footballer. Says a lot about Souness’ man management skills.

I actually like Souness as a pundit (part sentimentality) but on Sky a few weeks ago when he openly criticised Rafa and his transfer policy he went down in my estimations. Mainly because the majority of the players he brought in were not good enough to wear the shirt.

Top piece, my real concern is that the people on this forum are fast becoming a minority and the gaps getting bigger. I love this club but if the unthinkable happens and Rafa gets the sack I can’t help thinking I’ll be really bitter for a long time

Though things aren’t great at the moment we still have a chance to make a strong showing in the Premier League. If we add Thursday night fixtures into the mix then it’s a whole different story.

If we stay in the CL – great, if we totally drop out from Europe it’s sad, but no huge loss. We can at least focus more on the league and the FA Cup.

Am I the only one who wonders what it is about these ex-players that makes them such poor pundits? Am I the only one who asks “Did this guy ever actually play the game”? Most of these pundits were good to excellent players in their day, but their punditry is woeful. These guys actually get paid for this?
Commentary; I was watching a Liverpool FA cup DVD with my son a couple of weekends ago & I couldn’t believe the difference in the commentary from todays drivel. Back in the 80’s a commentator would do just that; commentate. He wouldn’t offer opinion or question a managers spending on the basis of one missed chance. Nowadays, if a player takes a long range shot that goes wide it’s “ambitious”. If the same player then scores an outrageous long range goal it’s “well we know he’s capable of that”.

I for one have begun to watch the footie with the sound turned off. I miss the crowd noises etc. but I don’t miss the soundtrack provided by Stantler & Waldorf.

YNWA.