and where do i come across as patronising?
no matter how good you are, there is always room for improvement and hopefully rafa will sign more torres, reina than pennant, bellamy etc..
I'm not trying to be insulting, but that comment really strikes me as ignorant.
When Rafa arrived, apart from Gerrard and Sami/Carra, who was any good? Almost the whole team needed replacing, and on a budget of approx £10m per year. Rafa had a strategy of buying players who wouldn't win the premiership but would do a job and he could make a profit on, which is why I grouped Bellamy, Crouch and Pennant together.
We paid over the odds on Pennant, Rafa admitted it at the time, but we needed a right winger and not many were available. The only 'fault', if you can call it that, that Rafa made is thinking Pennant would agree to be sold rather than sit on the bench and wind his contract down.
It really is gauling that people don't appreciate how shrewd Rafa has been to get us where we are. Do you really think he'd rather buy Pennant than better wingers if he had the money?