When you say "we weren't good enough over 38 games" you are using weasel words - we had demonstrably the best attack and the 8th best defence - like i said we didn't lose the title because we weren't "attacking enough"......
No I was going by the league table. Your failure to respond to my suggestions why we didn't win the league is, I deem acceptance of the reality that it wasn't from results rival clubs got during the season.
If you had any clue about how to actually win a league you would find countless examples of league champions with Rafa's strategy of being canny, ruthless and hard to beat.
With Brendan in charge, we were ruthless and hard to beat with 15 wins and 18 results from the second round of games. And that was despite having defenders that couldn't defend properly.
And, as usual, you gleefully point out Rafa did not do here.
I take no glee from it whatsoever. I wanted him to win it, like I wanted every other Liverpool coach to. The fact he couldn't do it in 6 attempts and 230-odd games in charge is not my fault, it does however sadden me.
He DID win La Liga, twice, beating Barca and Real and completing a domestic / UEFA cup double - a phenomenal achievement; he has more than proven he knows how to "crack the egg" yet for some bizarre reason you discount it.
All admirable, but completely irrelevant to the job asked of him here, which was take a top 4 club to the league championship. His job at Napoli is to take a top 3 club to the league championship. Finishing 20 points behind is not remotely good enough.
We came close in 2009 but fell short mainly because injury kept Stevie and Torres from playing many games together.
He failed because he had us drawing games at home to the likes of Hull, Stoke, Everton, and West Ham, which ultimately destroyed the title bid.
He has had to completely rebuild and reshape the team in Napoli in his first season and has done a good job winning silverware and coming 3rd. You probably need reminding where we were at the end of Brendan's first season in charge.
Napoli were a good side when he arrived there, with European Cup football to offer him. In the league, he has taken them no further forward than when he arrived.
At the start of this season, we were staring into the abyss. But in one year, we've made 5 years of progress, with no transfer budget to speak of. He has to find some way of bridging a 20-point gap. With squad reinforcements, we only have to bridge 2.
It was interesting to observe your silence when Rafa came in halfway through Chelsea's season with the most hostile crowd in world football and finished 3rd with a Europa Cup. Your big hero, Mourinho, spent "a wad of cash" parked the bus, won nothing in Europe and failed to progress in the league from Rafa's performance. No retraction of your views though
As someone who loves checking post histories, you'll know from mine that I was far from silent while Chelsea had him turning a title challenge into a distant third spot, and winning one trophy from 6 available.
Mourinho is not a big hero of mine. He has a consistent record of success though, which I respect, and is respected worldwide. He took Chelsea this year to within 4 points of the league and the European Cup semi final, much closer to the title than last year and a competition they couldn't get out of the group phase from the year before. At Inter, he left Rafa with a squad full of champions. Rafa left them in complete disarray, from which the club has never recovered.
If anything, I've been more silent about Rafa this year, but there's no retraction or revisionism of my opinion. The best coaches in the world don't go 10 years without any league title on the mantlepiece.