The off pitch crap is basically being brushed under the carpet again though isn't it?
I mean, I agree with various people on various problems on the pitch, especially the need for our defence to be sorted, it's an area I've been pointing at for a while and I think Skrtel and Agger need to be tried sooner rather than later.
But for me a lot of the stuff on the pitch looks confidence related. For a lot of the first half, and 20 minutes of the second yesterday we battered Lyon, we really did. People are talking like this is the worst performance they've ever seen - I honestly don't know what match they were watching. It's also no coincidence that they came back into it with a bang once Kelly had gone off, who was a real outlet and threat on the right.
Bad confidence and you get bad luck - it's not an excuse but bloody hell it's a factor. Clear penalty denied against Spurs for a confidence boosting equaliser. Villa gain the lead with a goal deep into the 2nd minute of 1 minute's injury time. Skrtel denied a penalty that would have put us 1-0 against Chelsea. Sunderland score from a scandalous goal - as bad a refereeing decision as you will ever see in top flight football. Kuyt has a perfectly good goal disallowed against Lyon last night, and of course, going into a tough, tough series of games we lose our two best players to injury in meaningless games there was no reason for them to play in, Kuyt looks knackered - but then did play a friendly in fucking Australia on a dodgy ankle. The club won't stump up to fly mash/lucas back early (no WAY that was Rafa's decision), then Johnson gets injured, and his replacement comes in, plays a blinder, and gets injured round about the time Lyon magically start looking a lot better again - with Carra at least partly to blame for the deadly winning goal.
Oh, also, Benayoun had done very little for the last 15 minutes he was on - he looked as knackered as Ngog. The person who for me was really creating last night was Aurelio, and Kelly for that matter. Benayoun scored and was in and out of the rest of the game.
Anyway, onto the on pitch stuff. Look at Newcastle, look at Arsenal a couple of seasons ago where there was just a tiny bit of boardroom shenanigans. You can find hundreds and hundreds of examples of board room shite absolutely destroying clubs. Can anyone give me any convincing examples of managers who've managed to win despite boardroom shite - without getting more money than their rivals?
Right, one last issue that's been doing my HEAD in recently: Young Players.
What, we're bringing that one up again? We were never likely to see youth come through until this and last season, since Rafa started buying a few in his first but mainly 2nd and 3rd season - though of course with full control only given now.
So far this season we've had:
Insua become a first team regular, now having his first rough patch, which he'll be stronger for.
Ngog is developing well, looks a good 20 year old striker, and though his finishing (unusually, but all strikers have the odd off day in that respect) was poor yesterday the rest of his game is looking well ahead of what you'd expect from a lad his age. The far more hyped Welbeck looks far more anonymous in matches, for example. Indeed some of his hold up play yesterday is better than I've seen from 'Nando, and I still maintain is something he could improve, and would help us a lot if we did.
Spearing is also devloping well. Set back on his debut, not ideal to throw him in, but the alternatives were either Plessis or Aurelio. I see it as a show of faith in the lad, his next game will tell us a lot about him, and I hope he does well against Arsenal. I think his future is further forward though, debut or not, no tackles at all from a DM is worrying - but he's got talent and heart.
Ayala had a solid debut, at a very young age, and has looked impressive for the reserves since.
Kelly, well, Kelly just looks the part. If he doesn't make it to the top I'll be very surprised. Doesn't happen often, but he's one who, well, repeating myself here but he just seems to have 'it'. I'd love to see a Kelly/Agger pairing in the future - more skill there than a lot of teams have in their strikers.
So, how many young players does it take coming through for Rafa to be given a little credit here? 10? 20? Because 5 looking good, in or at the fringes, in the last two seasons seems pretty bloody good to me, plus Nemeth who is looking superb on loan and for the u20's, Pacheco who also looks the part, Palsson also, Gulasci likewise (Nemeth and Gulasci will likely be first team next season, and we'll see a little of Pacheco I should think) then a whole bunch of players like Amoo, Ecclestone, Weijl, Mavinga, Della Valle and loads more who all (to varying degrees) look capable of making the step up, or at least being sold for healthy money.
Sadly though, the owners are a cancer eating away at the solid foundations Rafa has built here and our total lack of net spend this summer must have dropped heads in the dressing room - how could it not? Not only are we struggling to invest, we can't just up players contracts to keep them happy either - and for all that people want to paint Alonso leaving as down to the Barry situation we actually have more evidence to suggest it was mainly money, after all he did mention it directly. Similar to Mash, money is an issue there - not the case with our rivals. City are paying obscene wages and if Utd/Chelsea players start playing silly buggers for even more obscene wages (and they have, and key players like Terry and Ferdinand) the club just throws money at them till they start badge kissing again.
Not only do we not have that investment, that luxury of paying players what they demand these days, we also have owners who actively fucking snipe at the manager like Gillette in his recent bullshit interview. Plus of course the media buzzing around like bluebottles on shit - revelling because they sniff a chance to realise their longstanding ambition of getting Rafa sacked.
We really do need to pull something out against the Mancs. Thank fuck that's our next game - it's the thing that's actually keeping me strangely optimistic despite everything. We desperately need an injection of confidence-smack, and the Mancs are our favourite dealer in that respect, plus they've been shit this season. If ever one game can turn around the whole atmosphere of a club then, without doubt, that is it, and I'm really looking forward to it.