TheDonis

As a seasoned Rafa watcher, and fervent Rafa lover, you'll know tonight whether Rafa is hacked off about this. As he has showed everywhere he's been, if he's not happy and displeased with the backing from the boardroom, he'll come right out and say it. He did this all the time when Hicks and Gillette were running us (into the ground.) Was it against you he wore a tracksuit, for like the first time ever, after he'd been asking for some funds and Hicks emailed him to tell him to 'focus on coaching the team'? He spent an entire press conference saying nothing more than 'I am focusing on coaching my team' and then turned up to the match in a trackie. Point made - funds were coughed up - another chapter in the Rafa legend. Even now when I look back on the stubborn old fucker I can't help but smile. He ran rings around Hicks and Gillette. They were scared of the fans, who supported Rafa totally, and he harnessed that. I'm sure he'd do the same with Ashley though it's clear Ashley doesn't give a fuck about the fans, so he has less leverage. He engineered his sacking from Inter by calling out the owner for his lack of backing, knowing it was a situation where he couldn't win, so best to walk away or be walked away. If he senses he can't achieve what he wants to with you, expect him to do the same. A blast which means Ashley either sacks him or looks a tit. That said, I think he'll be philosophical. He knows how difficult it is to do business in January, and how easy it is to waste cash. You should have enough to be promoted. It just might be slightly more hard work in the end that it could or should be. If it means more money available in the summer he'll accept it. But if he thinks this is an auger of what the summer will bring, it could get tempestuous. So I'd be watching his body language and words tonight carefully. And if he turns up in a tracksuit, start drinking

Lucas Leiva

Put simply - there are games you might have won or got a point had Rafa played more openly or differently. But there also games you might have drawn or lost which you won if he had not. You are where you are, still in a very good position, and without Shelvey you are not as good. Other teams will have a sticky patch too, especially when they lose key players or tire as the season progresses. The championship is an insanely long season, games come thick and fast and what looks good/shit can look the exact opposite two weeks later. Remember: it's always a ride with Rafa. Don't expect it to go smoothly - expect drama, and expect good results and some great times.

Two things I'm interested in. What do you/he consider control? Ball control? If it's not leading to goal scoring opportunities are you really in control of the game? What does he do when the team is losing control? How does he react? What did he change in that Hull game? What did he change yesterday in the 10-15 mins before the goal when you could see us dropping a lot deeper than the first half (and giving them more control). Control of the ball and territory, which in his view leads to goal scoring opportunities. I searched for the game. It was actually 2-2. We went 2-0 down against the run of play and then pulled it back to 2-2 by half time. Rafa thought we were too open it was clear at half time told us to be more disciplined. We piled it on second half but couldn't get a winner. Get this - Rafa was criticised for not putting Robbie Keane on in the second half, instead choosing to put on Ryan Babel and Nabil El Zhar (El Zhar missed a sitter to win it). When he was asked why he didn't put Keane on he said, and i quote, 'Using more people in the box is not a guarantee.' I remember it well because it sparked a massive debate about whether Rafa should have just carried on going for it once we got back from 0-2 to 2-2 as we might have ripped them to shreds. As a coda, we finished second that season with a then PL record of 86 points, four behind Man U, which would have won the league in many season. Last quarter of the season we were unstoppable. But there are those who still think that natural caution of Rafa's cost us a couple too many draws early in the season and gave Man U the opening. I don't. He got that season spot on and we were damned unlucky not to win it.

The main thing you have to understand about Rafa, when it comes to tactics, subs, in-game changes, everything, is his need to 'control the game.' That is his be and end all. I remember when we drew with Hull at Anfield in a crazy game. It was 3-3 something and an absolute farce of mistakes, broken play, goals and chaos. Great to watch, though the result was shit for a home fan. Rafa was aghast. There was no control on the pitch. He hates that. So at 0-0 he will be happy if his team has control as more often than not that control will lead to a goal. Of course if it doesn't, and someone makes an error or there's a worldie out of nowhere, then you lose. But Rafa will take that because more often than not control leads to victories, and failing that a draw. He will also try and trust in his team to fight a way back from a deficit IF they have control. What he won't do - until it's late on and he's desperate - is bung strikers and unbalance the team and risk losing control, because he'll wonder how you can do that and score. So at 0-0 in your match he would have believed that control would lead to a goal and that control would lead to you holding on to that. BR scored so he changed it, but still seeking control. Liverpool fans constantly wanted his team to throw off the shackles during these kind of runs. But he will stick to his guns because he believes, with justification, that control leads to wins and as the team grows in confidence they start to crush teams and often win heavily. It's rarely exhilarating, but that requires an element of risk and risk of losing control, but is no less pleasing and effective. IF he has the right players for it i.e ones who don't keep fucking up and making the control came to naught.

I'm feeling somewhat malevolent after our draw at Sunderland, though that was as much to do with playing a two games less than 48 hours a fucking part, but if there's one thing I've noticed about you lot recently is your inability to come back from behind (Norwich being a dramatic exception, when i thought it might become the rule...). Honestly, under Rafa, we came from behind all the time. We always had that fight. If anything the problem was going ahead and then keeping a lead, not vice versa. Of course there's a difference in quality of players, but Rafa teams always show fight, and the apparent lack of it would concern me. Are you lacking players with the right mentality? Obviously Shelvey is a massive miss, and from what I've seen of you he's been instrumental, but you should have enough to beat the likes of Wednesday and Blackburn without him. It needs to be sorted because you'll never always score first. I've also seen some criticism of Rafa's subs. As I've said before, I've never seen a manager use subs as well and with as much impact as him, even when they're almost runic in their impenetrability. Maybe he's lost that mojo for a bit. That would concern me too, though Id be confident he'll sort it.

That was one of the few times I've watched you live this season. What an hilarious game. Though it might be take a day or two for you lot to see the funny side. The ref was utter bollocks. Rafa has a reputation as a lucky manager, and had it with us too, but it's balls of course. You were utterly snakebitten tonight. That ref shouldn't see a match beyond the conference. Tell you what I did see, which I recognised from Rafa's time with us- fight. We always fought, bar the last few months of that last strange season. I fully expected you to hold on and draw because of that. Shame you didn't. But if your players show that kind of resolution you'll piss that league. You'll need that fight for the next few games too with players out. speaking of which - Jonjo. Good player but fuck me, as long as he sells his team short like that he'll never fulfil his potential. Expect every Champo player to needle and wind him up when he's back. In April.

Assuming you're right in what you are saying, do you think he'd have done the same thing if we didn't have such a big cushion going into the game? Everything you've said there just makes me excited for Tuesday tbh. Probably not, but not with any great certainty. Rafa loves a cup and a big game. The ones in and around them less so. I remember losing at Boro before beating Real ****ing Madrid.

The only thing that can scupper your season - ending up in the play offs for example - is a deep cup run. Rafa will not be able to resist pitting his wits against Prem teams. By virtue of changing your team for one match with another in mind, you're diverting players from the immediate task ahead, even if you don't mean to. We saw it lots at Liverpool - poor, distracted matches before and after major cup games. Players not performing their best with one eye on conserving energy and staying fit for a 'bigger' game. In-form players who might nick you it in a tight one resting on the bench. Rafa likes to win cups and yes, he sometimes did. But his job here is to get you in the Premier league. Let's face it, it's very unlikely you'll win the league cup. Promotion is more important than reaching a semi final. If you get to a two-legged semi...hmmm. I genuinely thought he'd play his best side today and make a few changes on Tuesday. Surprised he didn't (but not surprised...) and I think he got it wrong.

Just to add re 'not pretty', you won't be surprised to learn that when you beat Barca 2-0 in the Nou Camp, the fact you won 'ugly' doesn't detract from the feeling

It's not right to say he lost the job at Napoli. Though his second season was not as as successful as his first, the job was still his to keep and it's likely he would have stayed had Real not come in for him, though there were rumours he was looking to come back to England too. But the the choice to leave was his, not the club's. As for how he might cope in the modern Prem, that's an entirely justifiable question. I'm biased as a Liverpool fan obv, but he'll find a way. You have to remember that when he was at Liverpool that no one was better at shutting down and beating teams with better players. The whole of the 2005 CL run was based on that (and much of the 2007 run to the final too, which we should have won)- tactically snuffing out the likes of Juve and Chelsea. Interestingly, in that season he deployed a 4-1-4-1 system many times. He does cut cloth according to means. He 'stumbled' across 4-2-3-1 when he finally had the players to make it work, namely when we signed Torres, and as a way to get Gerrard involved higher up the pitch and more centrally. He never trusted Stevie as a CM, with very good reason. In fact some LFC fans argue Gerrard's best season came in 2007 (2006 maybe- the mind plays tricks) when he played on the right of midfield, scored loads of goals and was instrumental. But of course Stevie hated it and needed to be pacified, so that's how 4-2-3-1 became his favoured system. With better players we beat better teams, beat them well too, hence the 4-0v Real in 2009 and the 4-1 stuffing of Man Utd at OT. Incidentally that last match was another classic example of Rafa's ability to develop tactically. He basically showed the blueprint of how to beat Fergie's Utd. Other teams copied what we did and for a few matches they wobbled. We should have won the league that year but fucking Macheda and Howard Webb gave them a couple of wins and they went and won every game (as did we) until the end of the season. Rafa will find a way, is what I'm saying. It might not be instantaneous, and it might always be pretty. But given time and resources, good results will come and it will end up being pretty enough.

Those saying 'right fit, right time' are exactly right. I'd argue Rafa has only had a similar confluence at Valencia, were he had gained enough experience to impose his methods, and a talented young squad eager to learn them, and Liverpool, where he found a club desperate to succeed, immediate respect, and a board willing to allow him to shape a team (initially at least - that would change). Then of course he ent to Inter at exactly the wrong time. Chelsea obviously (though he did a stunning job there, all considered). Napoli less so, but the club had done very well under Mazzarri, with a few players looking misty eyed over their shoulder at him, and Rafa sought to change the playing system to 4-2-3-1. This meant playing Hamsik out of his favoured position, which in turn caused a few issues as he was their main man. You sensed the players, or some of them, never fully bought into his methods. Then of course Real Madrid, where few of them did and the fans didn't want him. Now, he has a fan base who do want him, even if his methods occasionally baffle. Believe me, they always will. And it's fucking fantastic. It gives you so much to discuss. But he will always explain and give reasons for his decision, and you will always see they are sound and wise even if you might not agree. You know for a fact he has studied and thought about it harder than you and knows more about football than you ever will, and you'll love him for it. Though you'll wish every now and then he'd make life easier for him and everyone to tale the easy, popular/populist decision. But Rafa sticks to his principles and lives and dies by them. Another of the eight million reasons to love him. But more importantly, he has a group of players who believe in him, respect him and buy into his methods. That hasn't been the case since the first few years at LFC. In return, where once he was cold and aloof, perhaps overly so, he seems to have mellowed and accepted that you need to do the fatherly thing, and drop the odd carrot to make the stick have effect. Or maybe that's happened naturally. Whatever, it's vital though as it nearly every club he's run intro player intransigence and it's caused ructions. Here he has a chance to build something long lasting and substantial, so when the star players start to walk through the door, as they will if and when you are promoted, they will not be in any doubt about who's in charge. Much like a certain red-nosed Scottish manager who had a fondness for shitting on hard shoulders.

Rafa and Warnock have some history. Expect Warnock to chat even more shit than usual.

Rafa is all about balance and control. You'll lose count of the times you'll hear him say 'We controlled the game' or 'We lost control of the game'. He will make late substitutions with that in mind, even when you're chasing a game, and I can't think he'll ever start with two out and out strikers, though you might often finish with two on the pitch. As for balance, at LFC he used a saying about a 'short blanket'. Pull it too high and your feet get cold; have it too low and the head gets cold (it sounds better when he says it though ) but it sums up his approach. He will always make sure the defence is protected and he will always make sure there are goals in the team, but one won't outweigh the other. So today Yedlin gets a rest because having not started Atsu before he probably wanted a more solid right back than an attacking right back to stop the feet getting cold. Dummett is solid defensively (in principle) so there's scope to have a more attack-minded left mid and help warm the head etc. Last season when he Real got pumped by Barcelona at home, which basically sealed his fate, word is he listened to Perez and the players and played all the Galacticos. No real holding mid, attacking wing backs. I remember being amazed that Rafa allowed himself to play such a team. I don't think he'll be repeating it in a hurry.

Oh be prepared for more nights like this. Always a rollercoaster with fucking Rafa, man

That all makes perfect sense when you are playing against top teams in the CL, but do we really need to be cautious against struggling championship sides? Maybe not. But Rafa will always prepare with the opposition in mind. I do sense him mellowing and changing a bit. He seems a bit more of the patrician these days, rather than the aloof technocrat. Arms around players, pats and hugs and all that. Which he needed to do more given the namby pamby etc One last Rafa story before I go. For me it sums him up. I went to see us play West Ham. Shit ground and shit fans and I was sitting in the middle of them. We battered them but couldn't score. In injury time they broke away and Carra brought down their guy in the box with a ludicrous challenge. They scored the peno. It was a fuck of a nut punch and you could see the players deflate. But rather than sit on his bench spewing and wait for the whistle, which was coming as soon as we kicked off, Rafa walked out of the dug out and stood at the side of the pitch. It sounds like nothing but it showed me what balls he had - 40,000 blokes in leather jackets calling him a fat wanker. But more than that - how he wasn't going to hide. The message was - keep your chin up, we'll have these next time. And we almost certainly did.

I remember that Liverpool game Genuinely thought you'd stay up after seeing that. But to reset and have Rafa refresh and rejuvenate the whole club might be a blessing that has huge benefits for your future. I can't think of a better man or manager to entrust with rebuilding a club, and that includes its mindset as well as its staff.

Sometimes that means you picked the wrong starting 11. I'm sounding horribly negative about him and I don't mean to and I do think he'll get it right but he cost me £30 in bets and £270 in winnings today. Not really. Sometimes you miss chances, have some bad luck or the opposition play well. In which case you need to change it. Rafa does that well (though never before the 60th minute). I hope I haven't given a negative impression of him. He's a genius. A smashing bloke and a football man to his boots. I bloody love him. I wouldn't be posting her if I didn't.... He will need a leader or too on the pitch to make it really really work, but you have a fucking brilliant manager.

Bit surprised reading about today's match that you didn't respond after going behind. Rafa'a teams have always fought hard, and show genuine character when behind (one of the major contrasts between him and Houllier - we rarely came back under Houllier. We did it all the time under Rafa). He also has the knack of making substitutions that work. I would never say he's negative. He values balance. It's his mantra. When he gets it right you can piss all over teams and look the bollocks.

You didn't butt in and good input. At Liverpool I know he changed the team all the time, was he always changing the pattern aswell, even after good results ? Re rotation, there were two schools of thought on it among LFC fans. One, that it motivates players because they know they'll be involved. The other that it demotivates them because no matter how well they play they might end up bring rotated. For me, it worked. So often we finished the season so strong. But then you get the pang that there were a few too many missed opportunities earlier on. But then we might have won those games early season and run out of steam.... I do think his methods did sometimes jar with some 'superstar' footballers. But with a group of players hungry to achieve, like you should have, they should work a treat. No one should doubt him, given his experience. No one is going to turn around and say 'But Ancelloti said this' and 'Mourinho did this' as has been the case with him elsewhere. And, more importantly, he makes players better, which intelligent players will recognise. So many coaches make players worse or they don't improve. Not Rafa. Though he can be brutal as fuck when it comes to binning players off. As for the pattern, it stays the same. (but there is pattern within patterns. There's the famous story of when Ranieri took over at Valencia from him, and he told them to 'defend like Benitez told you.' One of the defenders said, 'But we had five different ways of defending.') But the 4-2-3-1 is sacrosanct (though he'll say with good reason, there are variations within that system). Frustrating as fuck for some who want two strikers up top, but it won't happen. There might be two strikers on the pitch but one will be wide. One wide man will be a quick attacking player, the other will be someone like Dirk Kuyt, out of position nominally, but works his nuts off for the team, tracks back, gets goals. There'll be an unflashy holding mid next to someone who can hit passes. People will clamour for a change sand say 'Put out our best team, forget about how our oppo play and smash them.' Rafa will not do that. He will stick to his system, press high up the pitch, control the game. He hates it when they lose control.

I'm sure you've probably had your fair share of LFC fans coming on here posting Rafa stuff, so apologies. I'm a huge fan of his (and have a familial connection with NUFC) so I was glad to see him wind up there. He will do really well for you. But after you spanked QPR the other night - for which, thanks, I live in West London surrounded by Rs fans - I *knew* you wouldn't get a result today. I don't what it is about Rafa, but his teams often follow a thrashing with a poor result. I sometimes wonder whether his need to play down a good result, and warn against complacency, can undo some of the momentum that comes from such a result, rather than allow the players to bask in it for a bit and ride a hot hand. His teams also have the habit of throwing in a real stinking performance when you least expect it, with no real explanation. I can remember us being beaten 2-0 by Boro four days after beating Real at the Bernabeu in 2009. It was Rafa in excelsis. A performance of the highest quality, a tactical masterclass, followed by a a rancid performance out of nowhere. Then we went on a massive run and nearly won the league, but that result was costly as hell in the final shake up. Similar things happened at Napoli too. Losing 3-0 to Atalanta after a seven or eight game unbeaten run that effectively ended. I remember his Chelsea smashing Villa 8-0 but then losing 1-0 at QPR, who were bottom. It was often a criticism levelled at him that his Liverpool and Napoli teams drew too many games, and there's something in that. But for me at LFC it was often the inexplicable losses that cost us, particularly in the middle of a run of otherwise good results. I have a theory or two as to why but it's always been a bit weird, as he gets so much else right. Is it even down to him, given all players have a tendency to be complacent after a series of good results or a thrashing? But there does seem to be a pattern. I still think you'll be fine as the wins will outweigh these types of losses and he'll be great in the bigger matches against rivals. Be worried v Burton at home though. I also think you'll murder Wolves in the cup on Tuesday. Smashing them a few days after losing them to would also be peak Rafa. Sorry for butting in.