19 Feb 2022 14:12:32
Richarlison basically confirming Rafa had agendas from day one. James came back to the club and worked very hard in training, to get fit and to make an impression. Really dedicated.

Benitez then randomly said "I can't count on you anymore"

So we lost James because Rafa valued his own agenda over the good of the club.

Thanks mate. Lost our 2 best players because of a man child.

1.) 19 Feb 2022
19 Feb 2022 15:59:42
Yea richarlison also mentioned losing Bernard who he said was an important player to us. On the upside, James and Bernard was 350k a week for us which you could argue is relatively significant when you are in an extremely dire ffp situation.

2.) 19 Feb 2022
19 Feb 2022 19:03:27
But not if you get relegated and lose millions.

3.) 19 Feb 2022
19 Feb 2022 23:03:24
C’mon lads, Bernard wasn’t pulling up trees. Richy might have liked Carlo, but who doesn’t? Click bait.

4.) 19 Feb 2022
19 Feb 2022 23:31:51
Bernard and James where the best thing we had since arteta, and worst thing we done was lose them for nothing, 350 k PW, so be it, atleast we wld still be in the top flight.

5.) 20 Feb 2022
20 Feb 2022 01:08:16
Bernard wasn't good enough for the prem.

6.) 20 Feb 2022
20 Feb 2022 07:16:21
The club had to streamline the wages, both James and Bernard were on silly amounts for the amount of games they participated in. It was the right move by the club as we needed to save some cash. Bernard one of the two best players at the club? Bit of a stretch that mate. I liked him as a player but he was too light weight for the prem and didn't exactly weigh in with tons of goals and assists did he? Take Rafa out of the equation for a moment, it was still the right decision on both counts.

7.) 20 Feb 2022
20 Feb 2022 07:27:00
Having James was like owning a race car that always ended up at the garage. No point having him if he wasn’t able to play half the time.

Our issue has been an inability to strengthen areas we need strengthening. We keep buying wingers when defence has been an issue for 2 seasons - mainly CB and RB.

I have no issue with James going or with Digne if they weren’t showing it in the pitch. As for Bernard, he never set the world on fire. He was a European football squad player but we never managed a run in Europe.

I doubt Rafa was out to destroy us. He played antiquated tactics and his ego got the better of him. He also had a load of injuries to deal with.

Let’s turn our attention to the current team and Lampard’s task of saving us from the drop. No point wasting any more energy on Rafa. We can avoid relegation - it’s in our hands. Get behind the team and get some points off City next up.

8.) 20 Feb 2022
20 Feb 2022 09:10:51
Spot on there Bluepotato. We got rid of two highest earners and replaced them for buttons - and we're on track to score at least as many goals as last season even though centre forward been injured all season. The issue is we can't defend and make huge number of individual errors.
The way I see it, now that Rafa is gone they can't blame him and have to accept the playing squad isn't up to scratch - so in order to still hound Rafa need to move onto his transfer business.
As I've said before, we got 19 pts from 19 games with Rafa - if we match that we'll stay up. We've now got the centre forward fit and have signed two new midfielders so if Rafa was so bad we should now absolutely cruise to safety, surely?

9.) 20 Feb 2022
20 Feb 2022 09:13:28
One last thing on this. when it comes to losing them for nothing, I don't think we were knocking back offers for them. Look where they are both playing football now and ask yourself why? Why did nobody in the top 10 (or 20!) leagues in the world show any interest in them, even for free?

10.) 20 Feb 2022
20 Feb 2022 23:12:51
Rafa should be consigned to the history books now, people should just let it go, TD. I would have agreed with the OP if it was Digne being mentioned but not those two.