Norwich v Everton

With Rafa, the Liverpool connection is an irrelevant side-story. If Klopp and Salah decided that they wanted to be at Goodison, we wouldn't say no, so dredging up Rafa's past is pretty juvenile imo. We seem to be on a downward trajectory at the moment, so the question has to simply be about whether Rafa is capable of turning the season around, not his past at Liverpool or any other club. I honestly don't know. It's easy to criticise him for playing 4 in midfield, but if he plays 5 and one up front, he's criticised for being too negative. (Obviously it would help if one of our two strikers wasn't Rondon.) At times over the past few months, we've played ok. The problem is it usually comes when we are a goal or two down, by which point it is often too late. I guess that is partially Rafa's fault, although there have been a lot of individual errors - which I assume Rafa isn't asking them to do. That said, how many goals do we need to concede from set pieces before someone gets a grip? Perhaps it just boils down to the mood in the dressing room; if the players aren't listening to Rafa, there is no salvaging the situation.

I don't envy the board. They've made some decisions over the last 5-10 years that (in hindsight) weren't the right ones, but still, they obviously want what's best for the club. Sack Rafa, and they will be criticised for constant chopping and changing (especially having just backed Rafa in the transfer market - so the next manager gets a load of players he doesn't want, which we've all rightly been very critical of), even if we do stay up. Keep him on and they'll be accused of inaction, and the already-toxic atmosphere at the club will get worse, especially if we go down (which I think we need to consider as a real possibility).

So yeah... dunno. Dunc for the rest of the season? At least we'd go down fighting. Or give Rafa another couple of games now he has a full strength team at his disposal? The problem is, we're in the middle of an 'easy' run of games; if we get to the end of that run without some points, we're properly in the shit. And it's nailed on that Villa will beat us (Gerrard hattrick).

Armchair wrote:With Rafa, the Liverpool connection is an irrelevant side-story. If Klopp and Salah decided that they wanted to be at Goodison, we wouldn't say no, so dredging up Rafa's past is pretty juvenile imo. We seem to be on a downward trajectory at the moment, so the question has to simply be about whether Rafa is capable of turning the season around, not his past at Liverpool or any other club. I honestly don't know. It's easy to criticise him for playing 4 in midfield, but if he plays 5 and one up front, he's criticised for being too negative. (Obviously it would help if one of our two strikers wasn't Rondon.) At times over the past few months, we've played ok. The problem is it usually comes when we are a goal or two down, by which point it is often too late. I guess that is partially Rafa's fault, although there have been a lot of individual errors - which I assume Rafa isn't asking them to do. That said, how many goals do we need to concede from set pieces before someone gets a grip? Perhaps it just boils down to the mood in the dressing room; if the players aren't listening to Rafa, there is no salvaging the situation.

I don't envy the board. They've made some decisions over the last 5-10 years that (in hindsight) weren't the right ones, but still, they obviously want what's best for the club. Sack Rafa, and they will be criticised for constant chopping and changing (especially having just backed Rafa in the transfer market - so the next manager gets a load of players he doesn't want, which we've all rightly been very critical of), even if we do stay up. Keep him on and they'll be accused of inaction, and the already-toxic atmosphere at the club will get worse, especially if we go down (which I think we need to consider as a real possibility).

So yeah... dunno. Dunc for the rest of the season? At least we'd go down fighting. Or give Rafa another couple of games now he has a full strength team at his disposal? The problem is, we're in the middle of an 'easy' run of games; if we get to the end of that run without some points, we're properly in the shit. And it's nailed on that Villa will beat us (Gerrard hattrick).

Yeah, good post, especially in relation to his Red past. When I think about this, I agree with much of what you say. But my gut feeling is that I cannot visualise him taking charge for another game.

We are trapped to an extent by the sheer number of horrible decisions taken by the board in recent years. Even in Rafa's brief spell, we've seen the DoF go, a further reorganisation of the Board as a result, and a falling out with one of our better players causing him to be sold.

We've talked about this, at length. This is what happens when the DoF concept isn't implemented properly and the keys are handed over to the manager, the most vulnerable employee of any club, for whom six weeks' worth of bad results could see him binned off himself. It's crazy.

But that's all structural stuff, it takes time to fix all that even if the will to fix it is there under this regime. What matters is now, and I have that sinking feeling, similar to 94, 98 and 2002. I think he's taking us down (appreciate that we didn't go down in any of those seasons but the sick feeling in my stomach is the same.) On the flip side I've seen many "legends" take over the club they love in a temporary capacity, get an immediate bounce thanks to their passion, effort, commitment etc, but then been found wanting when that initial wave of emotion-fuelled fight dies away and they have to come up with a plan B.

So there is risk in Dunc taking over for the rest of the season as well. At the moment I'm thinking it's the best of the two options because he'll get the crowd onside, and that could make a big difference. If we're going down, do it while collectively having a go rather than while being riven with division. The problem with that plan is that if Dunc loses at home to, say, Burnley, or gets twatted 6-0 by the Shite, we'll turn against him anyway.

So we're back to the days of the late 90's/early 00's. An absolute mess, getting by from season to season without any obvious sign that things are going to get better at any time soon. The root cause back then was a lack of finance; the cause now is directionless leadership. Depressing. I have my ideas on how the club should be structured for long-term benefit but I'll admit, I genuinely don't know what the short-term solution for this season is, because it isn't just a question of sacking Rafa, it's also what do we do then? Who do we replace him with?

I'm willing to take that risk though. There's a stench around the club at the moment that needs to be cleaned. And there are four really shit teams at the bottom of the table - the points we get from a Big Dunc bounce might be enough to keep our heads above water. For this season at least.