It's easy for Rafa to say the team will get stronger as the season goes on, new players come to grips with the Premiership, and the team begin to gel. The problem with Rafa's philosipy is tht we were so far behind the leaders at Christmas , that it doesnt matter , had Benitez played his best side and not rotated like a madman we wold be right bang in the middle of a Premiership dogfight, not a fight for Forth spot.

I agree that if Rafa had played his best team all season in the league, then 4 draws at least would have been wins, and we would be 8 points better off (and right in the title race). However, I think Rafa's record against the rest of the top four, with his best team out, shows where we would then lose it anyway.

The problem is that Rafa often (not so much against United) gets it right against the big teams, but we never score because we don't have enough attacking class and finishing ability. After Torres, no-one can take the one crucial chance that wins the big games. Look at how many point blank headers Crouch has missed against Chelski and United in the past. We are too far off the benchmark (Man U) in terms of quality players though...after Gerrard, FT and Babel we are struggling. United have Rooney, Ronaldo, Tevez, Nani, Giigs, Scholes, Anderson, Saha....

Rafa's problem is that he plays against a team like Derby at home with the same attitude as if it was Chelsea away. Watch the videos, over-analyse the opposition, then change the team and tactics to fit a game plan. This is completely unnecessary against the bottom 15 teams with the quality we have...just play 4-4-2 with a settled team and tell them to attack...and 3 points will follow!