Rafael

Does anyone think that he will play against Blackburn? His performance against Aalborg was probably the best we have had from a right back this season. Does he deserve the spot?

I'd be very surprised if he started.
 
Rafael in my opinion will start againt West Brom, but deffiantly not against Blackburn. Thats a huge risk, esically away from home, they have after all scored a fair few goals this season and sit in 7th place.
 
Neville's never been 'great' in defence imo.

Each to their own. I thought he's been great for the last 3 or 4 years, while improving his attacking. He's always been better at defending that attacking, no doubt about it.
 
No chance. We'll need to do some defending against Blackburn.

Not so sure, Blackburn is one of those teams we struggle to break down, they play like Boro that Rafael played well against so it's not impossible that he will play.
 
Does anyone think that he will play against Blackburn? His performance against Aalborg was probably the best we have had from a right back this season. Does he deserve the spot?

no i don't think so.

i'm excited about the lad, but he definitely still needs some work re: his defensive positioning, so chucking him in against that lot is not advisable.

if we are winning comfortably, then maybe yeah...
 
Not so sure, Blackburn is one of those teams we struggle to break down, they play like Boro that Rafael played well against so it's not impossible that he will play.

I agree, Blackburn's defence has been a shambles so far this season, and he'd do well on the counter-attack. Pedersen's been awful for the last two seasons too.

He most likely won't play, but he could do well if given the chance.

Brown is still miles better than Rafael though.
 
Starts today, absolutely massive test.

We know he has the confidence to do it and as long as he keeps focussed he should be alright.

Their left back is pretty poor defensively but going forward, along with Robinho, Rafael will have a lot of work to do.
 
Starts today, absolutely massive test.

We know he has the confidence to do it and as long as he keeps focussed he should be alright.

Their left back is pretty poor defensively but going forward, along with Robinho, Rafael will have a lot of work to do.

you're right, a MASSIVE test.

Hope he's up for it. Our formation may change as the match goes on with park helping him out if he needs it.
 
Let's hope he keeps calm and doesn't dive in too much. He's made some great sliding tackles before but he can be a bit reckless.

Can't wait to see how he performs.
 
Brilliant going forward today, didn't have many problems defending either.

Stupid foul and even stupider decision to throw the ball away to get him that yellow card though.

He needs to be wary of how often he dives in now.
 
Played well the entire 90 mins. Didn't really make any major mistakes, although he was rightfully reluctant to get forward too much in the second half as we were defending our lead. Very happy for him.
 
Kept his position and showed discipline. SAF was right, once they turn a corner you really can't hold them back.

Bollocks.

Park did more defending than him at the back today.

Very good going forward today and it gave us an added dimension though.
 
Brilliant going forward today, didn't have many problems defending either.

Stupid foul and even stupider decision to throw the ball away to get him that yellow card though.

He needs to be wary of how often he dives in now.

I thought it wasnt a booking.
 
I thought it was a harsh booking since he didn't throw it that far, but with Webb being as picky as he was today with every player it was fair enough when put into context.
 
A lot of people were calling for O'Shea to start because they didn't think Rafael could handle Robinho. Rafael showed that he is a better player than John O'Shea and probably deserves to be first choice at this time.
 
Bollocks.

Park did more defending than him at the back today.

Very good going forward today and it gave us an added dimension though.

:rolleyes:Compared to his usual standards he did hold his position alot more! He was out of position a few times but nowhere near as much as usual, yes park did help but the kid showed far more discipline than usual.