wacko

Zonal blocking FTW.

What can you do when the divvies will type their passwords into anything and run anything you send them? A place I work at phished their own employees to raise infosec awareness, offering free iPads to beta testers or some such. Even after the huge announcement that it had all been a trick, people still kept calling the helpdesk to ask when the site would be back up so they could sign up for an iPad…

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LFC under Rafa was the only time I didn't shit myself when they had the ball near our goal. I was always sure we'd clear it. (After Traore had left, natch.)

He used to have a 3-5-2 just for you guys. I don't think he ever started that formation against anyone else. But he liked to line up that way against NUFC. Fucking worked, as well http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-mXpAOr7mJH8/UF2Lii7UA3I/AAAAAAAADGw/ZzQTg3KjKdc/s1600/rafa-benitez-magic.gif

Aye. That's 'cos Gerrard refused to use his head till his legs started giving out. Gerrard was the only player Rafa accommodated, tbh. His best season was out on the wing, imo (what a fucking season he had!) but Stevie G wanted to play central mid, so Stevie G got central mid. I don't think Rafa would be that tolerant of a lesser player. Gerrard was irreplaceable at Liverpool.

Certainly, that's precisely the reason Bellamy gave for leaving LFC. Rafa keeps the team on very tight reins unless they're down with only a few minutes to go. Gotta keep that shape.

Sadness is the last emotion that comes to mind when I think about how things have unraveled for Mourinho over the past twelve months. It's down to the detestable air of squalid smugness that he carried around him during his years at the top: may it be the constant unseemly baiting of decent men such as Ranieri, Wenger, Vilanova & Rafa; the sordid hounding of referees; the shithouse bus-parking tactics across the years; taking cheap shots at Unicef or the NHS to deflect attention from his own inadequacies; the tiresome establishment conspiracy claims; or the abominable treatment of Eva Carneiro last year. I for one am utterly satisfied that the chickens have come home to roost. Long may this spiral into the abyss continue. The odious cretin.

Klopp's sides are cracking to watch, but porous at the back compared to Rafa's. Rafa is a better bet for European competition, but I think Klopp will do better in the EPL.

Depends who you sign next summer, but I really don't see why not. Who in the PL has a better manager, like?

2006, tbh. But purely because it was on my doorstep. That was amazing.

Largely a myth perpetrated by the press during his time at LFC. Over a season, he doesn't rotate any more than many other managers.

Owner's a billionaire oligarch, like. Probably some wheeze to get out of paying their debts. AFAIK, they still owe a few million for the construction of their stadium. Last I heard, every time they arrived in the EU, bailiffs confiscated all the stuff belonging to the club including the kits

Best thing about having Rafa in charge was that I never thought the opposition were going to score. I was always confident our defence would handle it. That's not a feeling I'd ever known before, or since.

I honestly worry a bit about Rafa in the Championship. Top-shelf Euro competition was always a relative doddle for him compared to classic British fuck-tactics-be-faster-and-stronger sides. At LFC he struggled (relatively speaking) with sides like Stoke at the same time as handing out unprecedented humiliation to the likes of Real Madrid. Very odd.

Yeah, it is serious. Like I said, I can't really relate to relegation. And I'm biased as fuck when it comes to Rafa, the greatest manager I've ever known. Nobody would have given a fuck about going down if we knew Rafa was staying. Some were actively wanting it before he came in anyway. I find that heartening. Of course, you can all fuck off and die in 2017-18 when you're getting in the way of our Euro qualification. And you can shove all the cups you're going to win right up your arse, too.

Rafa represents a future, random english t*** represents the same s*** every year till the end of time. There's a reason i'm looking more forward to this season than any other for a very, very long time. That's pretty much how I see things, but I have no idea how bad the whole relegation shite is. Especially with Sunderland's contribution.

Yeah, it is serious. Like I said, I can't really relate to relegation. And I'm biased as fuck when it comes to Rafa, the greatest manager I've ever known.

Out of interest, how do you feel about relegation and a single season in the Championship with Rafa as manager versus staying up but with some random comedy English manager?

Think I'll just quietly leave the thread

Oh, absolutely. The lads that settled here, and there are a lot, speak the language and that. Just they're not the ones hitting the bars in town on Friday nights. And when they do, the same rule applies. If you speak German, you're not one of "them". Handy shibboleth.

Isn't anyone with a conviction for football-related shenanigans banned from leaving the country during internationals anyway?

That won't make any difference. If they let England "fans" go to the tournament, there'll be trouble. IIRC, in 2006 they had shared public viewing for all games except the England ones. When they England fans were in town, they gave them their own area away from everyone else.

I was working at Siemens Power Generation near here when the apprentices from the Newcastle works were over. First night, a Monday, the Geordie lads just fuck off somewhere. Nobody knows where. The police bring them back about 2 or 3 in the morning absolutely mortal. Half the Germans were like, "I thought it was just a stereotype…". Everyone else is, "Nope. This is just what they do. We let the police know they're in town, so they know where to bring them when they inevitably cross paths." But everyone wanted to know how the fuck English people can go out in just a T-shirt in the middle of January. They're convinced it's physiologically impossible