Finding The Real Reason For Our Poor Form And Why Benitez Has To Stay
Ahead of our last game of a roller-coaster decade that was all change, I try to find out what is the main issue with the club right now and why Rafael Benitez has to stay.
This article is written by E2K from The Red And White Kop Forums – It does not necessarily represent the views of LFCGlobe.com.
EDITORS NOTE: This piece is relatively long however, it’s worth the time.
What is the main issue regarding Liverpool F.C. these days? Unfortunately it isn’t the ownership issue, which has piled mountains of debt upon the club and apparently rendered us paralysed in the transfer market and in terms of the proposed (and badly-needed) new stadium. And while I’ve grown well-accustomed to the mass media completely ignoring this overriding issue at the club, I would have thought our own supporters would grasp that Mr. Gillett and Mr. Hicks are the real enemies within, and to a monumentally greater extent than our manager.
Most still do realise that if the “Rafa-Rafael“ chants I heard during the Wolves game are anything to go by, but there has been a worrying increase lately (as far as I can tell) in those fans who are losing faith in Rafael Benitez. Some Liverpool supporters I have met, others I have overheard talking about it, some I have heard on radio phone-ins (I avoid these as best I can, I swear), and others still I have seen on here, and they’re increasing in number all the time.
Personally, I do my best to ignore them. The debate (if you can call it that – it seems very one-sided in the media anyway, you normally need two sides for a debate) is one that I have been following with a dwindling level of interest. The media has always disliked Rafael Benitez, so this is just par for the course. When Liverpool have done well over the past five and a half years, praise will usually be lavished upon the players – particularly Steven Gerrard. When they have done badly (Rafa’s first season in charge, the past three months), however, the blame has always been placed squarely upon the manager. Maybe every manager has to put up with that, but I seriously doubt that every manager has had his transfer record picked apart and distorted and twisted to look far worse than it actually is.
As far as I’m concerned, the future of this club has already been written, and a change of manager will do little to improve our lot (though it could worsen it considerably). With Benitez reduced to a £10,000 net spend this past summer to replace outgoing players, Ferguson only able to replace Tevez and Ronaldo with inferior players in Owen and Valencia, Chelsea also strangely quiet (for them) and Arsenal signing only one big player in Vermaelen (whether by choice or necessity), the rest of the Premier League have caught up. Manchester City’s spending has been unprecedented, while Tottenham have also been able to add some expensive signings in 2009. Villa, meanwhile, have stability and a shrewd manager. So that’s money for City and Tottenham, a shrewd manager and stability for Villa. We have the shrewd manager, but unfortunately our lack of money and stability is seriously undermining him. That will not change with a new man, and replacing Benitez now will only destabilise us further.
I would go further than that, actually. With City having now arrived with their billions, Martin O’Neill (a good manager) seemingly under virtually no pressure at Villa, Arsene Wenger (a very good manager) being given all the time in the world to realise his vision at Arsenal (he said recently that the last five years have been his happiest at the club despite winning nothing), Ferguson still at the helm of United and showing no signs of slackening off, and Chelsea with a billionaire owner still who has been quiet of late but possibly fixing for one more big splurge in January, we will struggle to make the top four until our ownership issue is resolved i.e. until we get the investment that allows us to properly compete in the transfer market, build our new stadium and match the stability of other clubs. Rafael Benitez is not the root cause of the problems besetting our club, and until they are resolved, Shankly himself reincarnated would not be able to achieve much better.
That said, matters on the pitch have obviously been alarming this season as well. So after the Portsmouth game, when the vultures began to circle closer than ever to the manager’s wilting corpse, I said I’d go back to why I joined RAWK in the first place – not to argue but to vent. To put out there how I’m feeling and get some intelligent responses hopefully. I started putting together this post, which has grown into a monster over the past week (sorry, some won‘t be bothered “reading through all that sh*te”, but hopefully others might). What can I say, I feel passionately about this subject. This is my contribution to the debate, and it broadly deals with the two main questions on the table, which would appear to be as follows:
1. Should Rafael Benitez be given the time and leeway to turn this disappointing season around?
2. Is he the right man to then lead the club forward into the future?
These questions appear difficult to answer, as there doesn’t seem to be an obvious reason as to why we have dipped badly this season. They seemed to be more relevant than ever after the 2-0 defeat at Fratton Park last week. We have played as badly as that at times this season I’m sure (Villa at home, for example), but it was the first truly unacceptable result. Of our six other Premier League defeats thus far (some of which were suffered with the team ravaged by injury and players playing together for the first time, many of them youngsters), one was at home to Villa (who have also won at Old Trafford), one was away to Chelsea (who have also beaten Manchester United and Arsenal and sit top of the table), one was away to Tottenham (who hammered Man. City and have also spent more money than Liverpool over the past two seasons), one was away to Sunderland (who won with the aid of a beach ball, they have also beaten Arsenal and drawn at Old Trafford), and one was away to Fulham (who trashed Manchester United 3-0 last week).
Poor performances were had in most of those games (though we actually played quite well at Stamford Bridge, as I recall), but in one of the most topsy-turvy seasons I have seen in years where every team is dropping silly points, and with a ridiculous injury list throughout the autumn and early winter while also trying to stay in the Champions League, there is some context there. Nonetheless, with something approaching a full-strength squad to choose from last week, including Gerrard and Torres, and against the bottom side in the Premier League, Liverpool were terrible, particularly in the second half when they desperately needed to score. Even more alarming was Rafa’s selection of Dossena out of what appeared to be thin air, and his post-match interview which, for the first time, saw him truly go to town on a referee.
So while I have, over the past three months or so, had no choice but to entertain the notion that a manager who I have the utmost respect for and faith in may no longer be the right man for the job (people have simply been shouting it too loud for me to ignore), the past week and a half or so made me think about it even more. Has Rafa lost it? Has his tactical plan been found out? Have the players decided “You know what, f*ck Benitez, he doesn’t have a clue”? Has his poor judgement in the transfer market ultimately visited a terrible punishment upon his team? Where once there were Plans A-Z, does he now only have one? Is he, as one United supporter suggested to me the other week, like former Irish rugby coach Eddie O’Sullivan, who had simply taken his team as far as he could with his tactical straitjacket? And will a new man, ala Declan Kidney, rouse the players and get more out of them than Rafa ever could?
I’ve mulled these points over and also wondered whether, just like Gerard Houllier before him (an individual beloved by Liverpool supporters who gave the club some stirring successes before eventually slipping backwards), the theory is slowly becoming reality – that Rafael Benitez is not the man to take the club forward. And having watched that gutless defeat to Portsmouth and seen us slip down the table behind newly-promoted Birmingham City recently, it would be foolish and pig-headed of me or any observer of the game, no matter how much of a Benitez fan he/she is, to simply dismiss the notion out of hand. Right now, it should loom large on all of our horizons.
But I like to deal, as Rafa once suggested, in factual information, which is one of the main reasons why the debate has lost my interest. Unlike pundits and newspaper columnists who are never wrong and always know everything about everything, there are some things that I for one will not add to the mix. Useless speculation about why the manager hasn’t been playing Alberto Aquilani more often (who amongst us knows anything about his injury problems and match fitness, honestly?), whether or not he has “lost the dressing-room” (again, have any of us actually been in that dressing-room lately, stadium tours aside?), what happens in training (a sh*te view over the wall at Melwood excluded), not to mention what tactical instructions the players are being given, who is injured, who is fully fit, who is 80% fit, whose morale is low, what is happening with two American owners who are rarely there and how much money there is to spend adds nothing of substance to this situation what-so-f*cking-ever.
None of us knows the truth of those things mentioned above, neither supporter nor so-called “expert. “ All we can do is speculate, and I have grown to detest speculation. Conjecture and rumour only serve to cloud the situation, although guesswork disguised as insight certainly seems to be the best way to get ahead in football punditry. The landscape has changed for Liverpool F.C. as I mentioned earlier, and sacking a manager who has achieved plenty over half a decade because of the poor results of half a season will only destabilise things further. As supporters of the club whose sole priority is the good of Liverpool F.C., we should know that for starters. Then, when confronting the legitimate concerns about what’s happening on the pitch, we should be concentrating on real evidence and never allow our judgement to become warped with the dense fog of the media’s biased, fabricated bullsh*t. We should know enough to work out what is important and what is not, what is relevant and irrelevant, what is truth and what is lies, and collect enough solid factual information to work out (as best we can) the answer to the real issue at hand (i.e. to answer the two questions mentioned earlier).
After a week or more of considering what seemed unthinkable seven months ago as Liverpool ended a season with their best points total in two decades, the answers to both questions remain blindingly obvious to me based on the real evidence to hand: yes and yes. And it isn’t blindingly obvious because I think my opinion is right and everyone else’s is wrong. No, you see I am the exact opposite of the hoards of “experts” who have regularly lined up to take shots at Rafael Benitez over the past five and a half years (and particularly in the last four months). It isn’t so much that our attitudes and opinions diverge (which they most certainly have in the past and continue to do in the present). It’s more to do with the fact that I will never claim to or act like I know everything about the game or some issue within it, nor do I ever twist and bend the truth to prove a point. Sometimes the truth hurts, and I tend to accept it when it does.
The reason why I believe that the answers to both questions are blindingly obvious comes down to experience, reasoning, history and simple common sense. If Rafael Benitez is being adjudged to be a poor manager or simply not good enough for Liverpool, then it’s time for me to take up a new sport, it really is. If that’s the case, then many of the things that I thought I had learned, many of the beliefs that I have held, through over two decades of watching football and supporting Liverpool will have been proved wrong. If a man with far less resources than his major rivals in an era where money means so much can have five years of consistently solid, often brilliant work trumped by four months of poor results and performances (part of which coincided with one of the club’s worst ever injury crises), then nobody who takes the reins after him will be safe. It’s “what have you done for me lately” taken to mind-bogglingly ridiculous lengths.
To me it’s a no-brainer. If Benitez truly deserves the sack, then I know absolutely f*ck all about football after twenty-four years. I’ve wasted my time, and I need to take up something else.
This is to say nothing of how badly flawed my concept of who we are (“we” being Liverpool F.C.) would be proven to be if Benitez is fired. I thought we were a club largely trading on a glorious history who hadn’t won a League Title in two decades, who had only come anywhere remotely close to doing so twice in the intervening years (1996/97 and 2008/09, the latter under Benitez), whose greatest triumph is those years was a Champions League victory in 2005 (plotted against all the odds by Montse’s husband) after only winning a major trophy in four out of fourteen seasons prior to that pesky Spaniard’s arrival, a club that has finished in the top two only four times in nineteen seasons, which is far behind its rivals in terms of finances and is crippled with debt, which has a stadium that is vastly smaller than most of its major rivals and smaller even than some of its lesser ones (Sunderland, Newcastle, for example), a club where a manager these days will always have his hands tied by unreal expectations set against a lack of resources.
Of course Rafael Benitez should be given the opportunity to recover this situation. There should be no argument about it whatsoever because, as I touched upon earlier and being practical about it, if he is sacked the next man will have just the same amount of hurdles placed in front of him with no guarantees that he will be able to overcome them. Even more importantly, and leaving aside the myriad of football matters about which I know little (they would fill a warehouse, believe me, just like every pundit in the business), there are four absolute certainties that I have learned through twenty-four years of observing the game. These I will continue to believe until Rafa is sacked (at which point I‘ll know that the rules have changed):
1. A manager’s true worth is only proven over time (and by time I mean the long haul – seven years is a far more accurate gauge than seven months, for example);
2. Once a manager has proven his worth, he does not become bad overnight (overnight being a relatively short period of time, for example a portion of a season). He can, however, go through a bad patch, and usually will. Even the very best throughout the history of the game have had barren spells;
3. However, if a manager is truly good, he will recover eventually;
4. Finally, and more often than people would have you believe, a bad run at a football club is very rarely down to one person alone, though it is most often the manager who will pay with his job (and occasionally his reputation).
Naturally, if Rafa gets the bullet, I will have to revise these beliefs because each one of them (founded in historical fact) will have been proven wrong in an era when history increasingly means nothing. But for now, it is certainly crucial to bear the points above in mind when considering Liverpool’s current situation.
Some managers get a glowing reputation very early on based on the odd decent achievement or two, then quickly fade into obscurity. Steve McLaren got “the biggest job in English football” after leading Middlesbrough to their first ever trophy and European final, and having brought some good youngsters through at the Riverside (funny how two Champions League finals and an FA Cup makes Rafa a bad manager in some eyes, but the same eyes see a League Cup win and a 0-4 reverse in a UEFA Cup final as making McLaren the best candidate for the England job). Anyway, as we know, McLaren failed miserably with England and is now managing a small Dutch club (i.e. not Ajax, Feyenoord or PSV), though who knows, maybe he’ll do what Van Gaal did with AZ Alkmaar.
There are many others. John Gregory took over Aston Villa in the late nineties and helped them up the table, making fun of Stan Collymore’s depression (Collymore is a c*nt, but depression is a horrendous ailment) and calling David Ginola fat in the process. The tabloid media loved this guy for the same reason they love Sam Allardyce now – English, straight-talking, and takes no guff from no one. But as we know, Gregory achieved f*ck all at Villa really (a 2-0 win over us in his first game seemed to get him far more kudos than anything else he did), and he has since faded into obscurity (didn’t QPR sack him a while back?).
Paul Jewell (took Wigan up, kept them up, sacked by Derby County), Mike Walker (some success with Norwich, failed miserably at Everton), David O’Leary (spent quite a bit at Leeds, won nothing, nearly took Villa down), Kevin Keegan (as much as I like the man, he spent quite a bit at Newcastle and won nothing, and has failed to varying degrees in every other job he’s ever had at the top level), Ruud Gullit (an FA Cup at Chelsea, I believe he has since been sacked in every managerial job he’s held, even the LA f*cking Galaxy) and Gianluca Vialli (a couple of trophies with Chelsea, then sacked, also sacked at Watford) are other examples of men anointed by the media too early who were never as good as they were said to be. Glenn Hoddle was another one.
Others have been written off too early, but a manager’s true worth, good or bad, is only seen over the long haul. The Manchester United supporters who held up a banner saying “Ta-ra Mr Alex Ferguson” during the 1989/90 season had given their manager three years up to that point to overhaul a monster that had dominated English football for two decades (Liverpool). Such a job was always going to prove difficult, and it seemed as though Ferguson’s failure to pull it off relatively quickly despite spending quite a bit for the time (more than Dalglish) made him a bad manager in the eyes of some. Of course, this was simply not the case. After all, was this not the man who had broken the Old Firm monopoly in Scotland and led Aberdeen to a Cup-Winners Cup final victory over Real Madrid in the early eighties? In actual fact, Ferguson had had a tremendous managerial record going back almost a decade at that point and had proven himself to be very good at his job. That didn’t seem to matter, but it should have. He would go on to underline his credentials in the most spectacular manner possible over the next two decades. These days, most observers of the game will put him in the frame for greatest British manager of all time.
I can tell you for sure that when Ferguson retires, he will not be remembered as the man who was three and a half years in the Manchester United job by the time he won a trophy, and who managed to finish 11th (in the 1988/89 season) and get battered 5-1 in a Manchester derby in the meantime. More recently, I sat around a dinner table in February 2006 with two Manchester United supporters (not by choice, obviously) who will no doubt conveniently forget now that they wanted him out (I’m sure we all wish that they had gotten their way). And it’s not just Ferguson. Bill Shankly is remembered now as the man who built Liverpool F.C. into a giant of world football and not as the man who went on a seven year stretch between 1966 and 1973 without so much as a single trophy. Meanwhile, Arsene Wenger will not be remembered for taking three years to rebuild his aging, mostly inherited double-winning side of 1998, during which time he won nothing, finished eighteen points behind the champions in 1999/00 and got humiliated 6-1 at Old Trafford in 2001.
No, because the three greats mentioned above survived difficult times during which many of their own supporters often felt like they had lost it, that they would never recover it and that it was time to bring someone in who could. God only knows the kind of ignorant, crass comments that would have been made at Shankly’s expense if the 21st century media machine had been around back then. Seven years without a trophy? Are you kidding? What would Stan Collymore say? Yet Shankly was given the opportunity to rebuild, winning a League and UEFA Cup in 1973 and leaving a rich legacy for his successor, Bob Paisley. These days, there’s a statue of him outside Anfield. Ferguson recovered to become the most successful manager in the history of the English game and as scary as it sounds to us, he will no doubt have a statue outside Old Trafford some day. Arsene Wenger won two more League Titles, created the “Invincibles,” and took Arsenal to their first ever European Cup/Champions League final.
What’s more, it is debatable as to whether each of the individuals mentioned above were solely at fault for their barren spells. Shankly may have taken too long to break up his first title-winning side, but with Don Revie’s Leeds, Matt Busby’s Manchester United, Malcolm Allison’s Manchester City, Brian Clough’s Derby County, Arsenal’s double-winning side of 1971 and Bill Nicholson’s Tottenham all on the scene, it was an incredibly competitive era. Ferguson spent a lot of money and took his team to a lowly 11th place finish, but he was trying to overcome not only Dalglish’s Liverpool, but also George Graham’s Arsenal, the great Everton team of the mid-eighties, and a heavily-invested Tottenham side which included Gascoigne, Waddle and Lineker. What’s more, it was in the last era of true equality in English football, before Sky and the big money arrived, where Luton Town, Coventry City and Wimbledon all won trophies. In many ways, it was equally as competitive a situation as Shankly had experienced back in the late sixties and early seventies.
Meanwhile, Wenger was trying to overcome arguably Manchester United’s greatest ever side, winners of a trio of League Titles between 1999 and 2001, and Treble-victors in 1999. This while attempting to rebuild a back four and goalkeeper nearing retirement (Seaman, Dixon, Winterburn, Bould, Adams). Like Rafa’s Champions League victory in 2005 (which many suggested would take the pressure off, but instead increased it), Wenger’s double in his first full season only raised expectations at a time when major surgery needed to be carried out on his team. Again, the manager was not without fault (the likes of Richard Wright and Francis Jeffers were expensive flops), but given time and a bit of money, he was able to rebuild amidst what were, perhaps, unrealistic demands of both him and his team.
So with all of that said, what of Rafael Benitez? Well after a shaky enough introduction to senior management at the likes of Valladolid, Osasuna and Extramadura, he began this decade by leading Tenerife to promotion to the Primera Liga. After that, he led Valencia (a big club but by no means a giant of Spanish football who hadn’t won a League title since 1971) to two Spanish titles in three years, despite having nowhere near the resources of Real Madrid’s original Galacticos nor Barcelona, not to mention having just lost the club’s best player and talisman (Gaizka Mendieta). A UEFA Cup was also won.
He then arrived at Liverpool, where he was about to lose the club’s best striker for about a third of his true worth (Michael Owen). Nonetheless, he proceeded to lead a rag-tag team to Champions League glory in his first season, almost won a second two years later, completely rebuilt the playing staff at the club with meagre resources relative to his major rivals (Chelsea and Manchester United), achieved consistent improvement in every aspect of his team (e.g. goals scored, goals conceded, points tallies, league positions, etc), made the club regular achievers in the Champions League (which had never been the case prior to his arrival) to the point where Liverpool became the number one ranked team in Europe over the five years from 2004-2009, won an FA Cup as well, and helped the club to its most realistic title push since 1990, in the process hitting twenty-one-year high-marks for points accrued, goals scored and fewest defeats, all while playing a brand of football at times not seen since the great team of 1987/88.
So unless our heads are buried in the sand completely, we of all people should know that Rafael Benitez is a top, top manager. He has proven it over an entire decade, for f*ck sake. And if you disagree then please, cop yourself on. You are WRONG.
Thus far this season, however, things have not gone so well. The man who just seven months ago was being deservedly lauded by most Liverpool supporters for the achievements of the 2008/09 season has overseen seven defeats in eighteen League games (and eleven out of twenty-seven overall). In addition, the team has crashed out of the Champions League and is currently struggling for a top-four finish. He has also not won a trophy in three seasons. These are his real crimes. The lies of an unsympathetic media, for example the yarns about the squad being utter sh*te and the manager having spent an absolute fortune over the years or having signed 80+ players (so we‘re including trainees?) are fabricated and we should know that. What we should be doing instead of swallowing that garbage (as an increasing amount of us seem to be) is trying to tease out, based on real evidence, if this is simply Rafa’s barren spell or something much worse.
Establishing that Rafael Benitez has proven himself a very good manager over the long term is crucial in determining whether he should be allowed to continue in the job, because nobody can read the future and we can only go on the best evidence to hand. Ten years is a far better gauge of a man and his talents than four months, I’m sure that even a complete imbecile can see that. Couple that with the historical examples given above of good managers who have endured worse spells than this only to recover spectacularly given time and patience, and then consider one more thing: that Shankly, Ferguson and Wenger never had to deal with such a baying mob of a media, never had to juggle Champions League commitments that were vital to their respective clubs’ financial well-being and never had to deal with financial juggernauts like Chelsea and Manchester City who could buy players that they had no prayer of signing, and you might begin to understand my assertion that the man deserves a chance to get us out of this rut. A real chance, even beyond the summer.
If he is not given such a chance, then it may be the absolute ruination of Liverpool F.C. Why? Well what is any top manager going to achieve when his hands are tied financially in this era of big money? 3rd? 4th? A League Cup? What hope does any manager really have when five years of graft that has completely transformed a club’s playing and coaching staff for the better and succeeded above what could be realistically expected counts for nothing when four months of bad results happen (and they HAPPEN TO EVERY MANAGER)? Since when did we as Liverpool supporters become so demanding and unrealistic? Were we not always meant to be the most knowledgeable around?
Hand on heart, I am in awe of some of the match-going Reds (“the auld arses” especially) on this site who have been going to the games and supporting Liverpool at home and abroad for decades. Imagine me removing my hat and shaking their hands, buying them a drink and then removing myself to a quiet corner where I shut up and listen, and you’ll have some idea of the esteem in which I hold such people. I’m only an outsider, after all. But I fear that they’re a dying breed, and I truly worry that we too are falling victim to the Skyonisation of football, where supporters are increasingly defined by Soccer A.M. and 606, Talksport and the Daily Mail, where patience and knowledge of the game are concepts as foreign as fair play and attention spans are as short as Pepe Reina’s hair. Look at some of the attitudes gaining acceptance (the booing of Lucas last season, the “shove Gareth Barry up your arse” chants and the failure by some to back Rafa this season), and you can see that we’re going down a worrisome road.
Personally, I can’t think of an occasion in my time watching the game when it was more inconceivable that one man was the sole culprit for a team’s problems. If you look at the evidence objectively, that is clearly not the case. Benitez as manager must take his share of the blame, for definite. Clearly the team has suffered an alarming dip and have played very poorly in the last three months, even in victory against Debrecen, Everton, Wolves and Wigan. The defence, once the best around, is now frequently a frightening mess. Aside from Riera, all the height has gone out of the team almost overnight, not a problem for passing sides like Arsenal and Barcelona but certainly for us. We are woeful from attacking set-pieces. Every match, corner after corner is won. Opposition teams seem extra-willing to give them away now in the almost certain knowledge that we won’t score from them. Ryan Babel in particular seems to be getting misused, in spite of huge contributions away to Lyon and West Ham, while confidence and team morale seem to be alarmingly low.
Fair enough, granted. But it isn’t just him, is it? What of the players? In particular, the body language of Steven Gerrard is extremely disappointing right now. I would be disappointed in any player who at times looks like he wants to be somewhere else, but the club captain and arguably the team’s best player? Mascherano too has looked poor at times this season. Carragher has suffered startling dips in form and concentration. The likes of Skrtel and Agger have often looked lost. Where is the leadership on the pitch? As far as I can see, the only leadership being consistently offered is coming from Pepe Reina’s goal. There’s been nothing outfield.
Is that all Benitez’s fault? He can take his share, of course. But all I’ll say is that when this team was annihilating the world last spring, it was the players being lauded by many. Now that they’re not, is it suddenly all the manager’s fault? Of course not. Please, let’s have some balance. A team is comprised of its manager and players, they succeed and fail together. Sure, it’s up to the manager to motivate his players, but Benitez has been doing a fine job of that for five years for the most part, and for three years before that at Valencia. It’s up to the senior players as well to lift the club out of the funk that they have also helped put it in. One of the big bright points of this season for me has been the improvement seen in both Lucas and N’gog, the brief arrival of Martin Kelly, and the elevation to first-teamer of Insua, but can we really expect inexperienced young lads to lead this team? Of course not. In particular, Gerrard (captain), Carragher (vice-captain) and Mascherano (captain of his country) need to take their share of the responsibility and lead the team on the pitch.
Some will point to the squad being sh*t and blame Benitez for that. Well to be fair, this squad really isn’t sh*t. It isn’t as good as this time last year, no, although I’ll take a promising, humble youngster with no expectations who has been contributing and cost f*ck all (N’gog) over the £19m Robbie Keane we saw in his six months at Anfield (poor form, poor attitude, contributed very little in spite of his talent) any old day of the f*cking week. Aside from that, though, we can safely say that Alonso is a better player than Aquilani at least until the Italian proves otherwise, especially after the season Alonso had last year, and Hyypia is most certainly better than Kyrgiakos. Johnson (Arbeloa‘s replacement), however, has proven himself a good, potentially top signing in spite of a few shaky moments of late.
So overall, we’re worse. But the squad remains more or less the same as the one which spanked Manchester United 4-1 at Old Trafford last March (with only Hyypia not currently at the club out of that team). Ask yourself, seven months ago at the end of last season, what were we saying about this squad? Not that it was sh*t, that’s for sure. We were saying that the first team was ready but the squad needed a few holes filling, correct? Three to four good quality signings on top of what we already had, and we would have been happy, yes? Or maybe even just two world class signings. Most supporters agreed. And what did Benitez get? A £10,000 net spend, enough to replace the outgoing players and nothing more. Yes, you can be damn sure that the ownership of this club can take their share of the blame too. At a time when we needed to build on the successes of last season, Benitez was hamstrung in the transfer market once again. Even the blindest of supporters cannot fail to see that.
You know, ever since Blackburn started the defence of their title back in 1995/96 with no signings and subsequently finished 9th, I have held the belief that if you’re not moving forwards, you’re moving backwards. Blackburn were good enough to finish 1st in 1994/95, but the exact same team was only good enough for 9th in 1995/96. Benitez was only able to make three signings this past summer, one of whom was bargain basement (Kyrgiakos) when he would have clearly preferred Shawcross or Turner, one of whom has been injured for some time (Aquilani, though admittedly it was a gamble by the manager signing him in the first place) and one who has become an integral part of the team (Johnson). Unfortunately, these only replaced outgoing players. Meanwhile, the likes of Tottenham and Manchester City have spent big, while Villa have had stability. These are now the teams who have passed us out while we stood still (and even slipped backwards a little).
The manager surely cannot take the blame for EVERYTHING? Yet there is an increasing number of Liverpool supporters who appear to want him gone, and all I’ll say to them is wake up. We have no RIGHT to expect success, not anymore. Twenty years has taken a terrible toll on where this club actually stands in terms of power and muscle. All we really have now is a name, a top manager, and a handful of top players. Manchester United and Chelsea are far ahead of us in terms of power and financial muscle, while City’s financial might will see them streak ahead before long. Arsenal are cleaning up with their new stadium, and even Spurs have been outspending us.
So many of us saw that win in Istanbul as a continuation of the old days, but it was nothing of the sort. The old days are long gone. Istanbul was instead a potential second coming, a phoenix rising from the ashes thanks to one of the best managers in world football, a second coming which has now been hamstrung by a lack of finances and a lack of faith in the manager borne of a four month dip after five years of real success. It’s actually pathetic when you put it like that. Five and a half years Vs. four months. I think any supporter who wants him gone needs to look more closely at our situation and get a clue. We will get no other top manager to take over this mess, and even if we did, it is very debatable whether he could do better than (or even come close to matching) what Benitez has achieved.
But now it seems that the media campaign that has been waging for some time is finally beginning to get its way, and some of the club’s support are wavering over our manager. Some simply want him gone, end of story. Get Hiddink or Mourinho, they say. Ha! I’m sorry to laugh, but does anyone really think we’d get either of them? Top managers in the game with glowing reputations? We have a manager that has over-achieved in five years, resurrected the fortunes of this club at a very difficult time, a man described by Arsene Wenger as a “super” manager, whose reputation (in England, if not in Europe) will now lie in tatters should he get the sack? Yeah. Right. Over-achieve but fail to work the right kind of miracle and you’re useless? Oh yeah, they’ll be queuing up around the block to take this job. Sign right here, Guus. Jose, you got Lucio, Sneijder, Motta, Milito and Eto’o last summer, we’ll give you £10,000 to spend instead. Get real.
God forgive me, but some of us are starting to remind me of Newcastle supporters. It’s almost fitting that Rage Against The Machine are number one this Christmas because another of their songs, Bullet In The Head, seems to be a perfect description of the mentality that wants Rafa gone. “They say jump, you say how high, you’re braindead, you got a f*ckin’ bullet in your head.” Any supporter of any club worth his salt should question, but these questions should be based on the reality at hand. What’s more, even as we question, we should be concentrating fully on supporting our manager and players at all times, especially one who has done so much for the club. Supporters are meant to support, as the name suggests. Yet the voices on phone-ins or on internet forums (and God forbid, in the stadium itself) are now slowly joining those on Sky or in newspaper columns calling for Rafa’s head, and I find it ridiculous. “They pack the nine, they fire it at prime time” indeed.
Most of it is nonsense, but then the media coverage of Benitez has been since day one. Certain people rushing to defend the managerial records of Souness and Kilnsmann a couple of weeks ago was the most pathetic things I’ve ever seen. Defending the indefensible, the managerial records of a couple of clowns that Rafa could crush with just one fifth of his knowledge of the game, just to heap more derision upon our manager. But this is par for the course over his time at Liverpool. For me (as that cowardly little sh*t Ronnie Whelan might say), there is little doubt that the treatment meted out to Rafael Benitez during his tenure as manager of Liverpool has been unprecedented in English club football, even by the standards of the tabloid media.
I say English club football because the only comparable situation that I have ever seen is the national team job. That is the only position which, in my memory, has ever engendered such a gang mentality which in turn has led to so much pressure, sniping, carping, criticism and condemnation and which, just like the man in charge of England historically, has been laid on the Liverpool boss whether he has deserved it or not. The only difference in this case is that (a) Rafa hasn’t been photoshopped onto a turnip yet and (b) English journalists and pundits will naturally have a vested interest in the national team. Since when did they care so much about Liverpool?
Since they were given an easy target? A foreigner who uses different methods (zonal marking, for example)? A manager who from day one set his team up to win first and foremost in the best way he knew how unlike Arsene Wenger, who has always dished up a sumptuous feat of attacking football even as he loses? A man who is aloof and apparently difficult to warm to, as Henry Winter said recently, who will never (pardon my language) lick the arses of the media like Jose Mourinho? Who is also young and therefore doesn’t have the string of accomplishments in the game that Alex Ferguson does which would give him the benefit of the media’s doubt no matter how bad his treatment of them?
A manager who had the absolute nerve to play Steven Gerrard out of position on the right? Who did exactly what a media favourite (Alex Ferguson) did and rotate his players on a regular basis? Who, with a net annual spend of far less than his main two rivals, didn’t win a Premier League in his first five years at the club? Jesus Christ, someone think of the children!! Rafa you complete b*stard!! Or was it the consistent proving wrong that got them? Martin Tyler’s Monkey once intimated that Steven Gerrard should tell Benitez to play him in the centre of midfield or not play him at all. It was Gerrard’s best position, “full stop.” Yeah, sure. And last season, he became one of the most feared strikers in world football. Paul Merson, meanwhile, once laughed at the very idea that Liverpool would get anything in the Nou Camp before a 2-1 victory.
Those are just a few examples. In my estimation, throughout his time in charge of Liverpool, Benitez has had at least 80% of the media very vocally doubting him, his methods and his team at any one time. This percentage has obviously risen of late. Is it any wonder? Last spring, Benitez won a poll based on the combined votes of the readers of Italian sports newspaper La Gazzetta dello Sport and the Spanish publications AS and Marca as to who was the best manager in Europe. He beat everyone. At the same time, the media in England were hounding him because it looked as though Liverpool were going to finish another season without a League Title. Spanish and Italian football supporters thought him the best in the business, but the English media would have gladly seen him sacked.
Then, on the eve of Liverpool’s 1-0 win over Real Madrid in the Bernebeu and with his contract situation up in the air with nobody really sure what was going to happen, bookies in England stopped taking bets on him being sacked. Suddenly, the media went into a feeding frenzy, and the overriding sense you got was that this was great news. He had had almost five seasons in the job (albeit rebuilding an entire squad on relatively poor resources) without delivering a League Title, he had to go. Then Liverpool went on to trash Real Madrid 5-0 on aggregate, defeat Manchester United 4-1 at Old Trafford, become virtually unstoppable for the remainder of the season, had their best tilt at the League in nineteen years and delivered the aforementioned twenty-one-year high-points for points accrued, goals scored and fewest defeats. European football supporters 1, English tabloid media 0, eh?
So when plaudits are flying in a manger’s direction and his team are on their way to losing only two League games out of thirty-eight (four out of fifty-three in all competitions), yet he is still being declared a failure in the country in which he works, then something is seriously wrong. And something has been seriously wrong about the way in which the English (and Irish) media has covered Rafael Benitez since day one. First off, the Champions League triumph in 2005 was portrayed as a fluke by the majority of both medias. Bayer Leverkusen were riddled with injuries (so were we), Juventus froze (ah bless ‘em, can we chalk off a few of United’s cup victories over the years because the opposition “froze”?), Chelsea were missing Duff and Robben (the most expensively-assembled team in English football history up to that point missing two players, one of whom came on as a sub, and that‘s why they lost?), Milan were over-confident, etc. All designed to explain away a wonderful success. Yet when the team returned to the final two years later and proved it wasn’t a fluke, everyone was strangely silent.
There’s more, way more. Answer me these questions which I ask off the top of my head, if you can:-
- Why was Craig Bellamy “the nutter with the putter” that Benitez should never have signed back in 2006/07, despite scoring the winner in the Nou Camp and playing well for the majority of the season, yet becomes a great piece of business for Mark Hughes and Manchester City when signed for £14m (Benitez got him for £6m, sold him for £7.5m) in spite of being played out of position on the left for the most part, which Benitez was regularly criticised for doing?
- Why was Robbie Keane’s failure at Anfield seen as being 100% Rafa’s fault when his goals per game ratio has been little better since his return to Spurs (seriously buttressed by four goals in one game against newly-promoted Burnley at home), and why is it ok for Harry Redknapp to regularly drop him and play him out of position when Benitez was slaughtered for doing the same?
- Why was Benitez slaughtered for turning Steven Gerrard into a second striker and Dirk Kuyt into a right-sided midfielder, yet given no credit at any point for making both players amongst the best (in the Premier League for sure, possibly Europe) in those positions?
- Why have David Moyes (who budgets for 9th at Everton, but has broken their transfer record consistently over the years) and Mark Hughes (budgeted for 1st at Manchester City who spent in just over a year what it took Benitez five and a half to spend at Liverpool, now sacked) never been subjected to sustained media criticism like Benitez has for having a budget commensurate with 5th place and regularly finishing on or above that mark (2nd once, 3rd twice, 4th once, 5th once) and getting to two Champions League finals?
- Why have trainees been included in the media-created 80+ figure of players signed by Benitez during his time in charge, why has it never been said that the sale of Emiliano Insua tomorrow would raise more than the outlay on every other youth player signed during his tenure combined, and why can pundits not be arsed in the slightest researching this stuff for themselves in this era of Google (any suggestions that Paul Merson or Eamon Dunphy would be too drunk or coked-up to use a keyboard, or that Ronnie Whelan’s fingers would be too fat, are very naughty indeed, hang your head in shame and have yourself a beer, you deserve it)?
- When criticising Benitez’s transfer record, why is it never raised how many players he has sold for a profit, including the minor miracles that were Djimi Traore, Antonio Nunez, Mark Gonzalez and Josemi (all woeful players sold at a profit to the club), but also the likes of Peter Crouch (ridiculed for his signing), Momo Sissoko (an unknown), Milan Baros, Craig Bellamy, Scott Carson, Alvaro Arbeloa and Xabi Alonso, all players who contributed manfully and were then sold for a profit?
- Given the evidence mentioned above, why is Harry Redknapp seen as a transfer genius and Rafa as a transfer bum? Where is the balance?
- Why is the crassness of Alan Hansen’s statement that Benitez has never made a great signing in the £3m – £10m price range allowed to stand when evidence to the contrary is readily available – Pepe Reina (£6m, golden gloves winner twice, one of the world’s top goalkeepers), Peter Crouch (£7m, regular for England, now being lauded at Spurs), Luis Garcia (£6m, scored winners in the Champions League quarter-final and semi-final in 2005 and the FA Cup semi-final in 2006, how much were those goals worth?), Daniel Agger (£5.8m, very talented centre-back who has drawn attention from AC Milan and Real Madrid, beset by injuries), Dirk Kuyt (£9m, second to only Cristiano Ronaldo in assists and goals amongst Premier League wingers in 2008/09), Craig Bellamy (£6m, scored a famous winner in the Nou Camp, now apparently worth £14m)?
- Why was Ronnie Whelan allowed to say that the Torres substitution at Craven Cottage earlier in the season was proof that Benitez only cared about Europe when it was patently clear that Torres was unfit?
- Oh, on the subject of RTE (licence-fee-robbing b*stards that they are), why has Eamon Dunphy never been sacked for gross incompetence for saying that Luis Garcia was “only fit for the skip,” Gerrard was a “nothing player” and comparing Benitez to Jack Charlton? Would a mechanic not be sacked for replacing a brake pad with a Mars bar? Why are there no similar rules for football pundits?
- Why was the unprecedented success of Benitez’s team in Europe over five seasons marginalized as largely irrelevant, only to become a sackable offence this season with a first-round exit?
- Why is Mark Lawrenson (who once said that Fernando Torres would not score enough goals, if I recall correctly) still not only in a position to make ludicrous statements like Liverpool being further away from the title now than we were when Rafa took over, but seen as some kind of authority on the club?
- Here’s a mind-bender: why, when the majority of the media agree that Liverpool can only win with Torres and Gerrard both fit (another falsehood, or at least it was last season) was Benitez expected to win the Premier League last season when the two aforementioned players only played together fourteen times out of thirty-eight games due to injury?
- Ah, but injuries don’t count, everyone gets them? Well then why are Manchester United getting such great sympathy at the moment for having most of their defence injured? Did Liverpool not have to start Ayala, Degen, Kelly and Kyrgiakos at times this season, not to mention playing Carragher out of position at right back? How about having to start Skrtel at right-back in a crucial defeat at Middlesbrough last season? Are we allowed to mention that?
- Why, in the namajaysus, am I listening to a couple of knobs on the radio right now suggesting that the sending-off in the Wolves match changed the game, yet Rafa was ridiculed for saying the same after the Portsmouth defeat?
- And oh good Jesus, why am I now listening to the same two knobs wondering why Torres has not been taken off against Wolves when Rafa has been slaughtered for doing just that in the past (see Ronnie Whelan above)?
- Oh for f*ck sake, why am I now listening to some no-mark on the radio suggesting that Glen Johnson’s defensive frailties may have been the reason he didn’t make it at Chelsea (the club who offered £17m to buy him back in the summer) and that he’ll be always found out against better teams like Arsenal (right, and against Manchester United in a 2-0 win? Badly found-out, was he?). f*ck me.
- Oh this guy is a c*nt, pardon my language. A f*cking c*nt. He wouldn’t have let Lucas pay into Liverpool F.C., apparently. It was all Benitez’s fault that Alonso left too, no other reason. Why do people like this get paid a wage? Why is the world so f*ckED UP?! Lucas is a “dreadful player” and we’re “too patient” as supporters. Oh shut the f*ck up, you ignorant pr*ck!
- And speaking of Alonso: why is it still said that Benitez was solely responsible for his departure when the player himself has repeatedly described his relationship with the manager as professional and mentioned in interviews this past summer the respective strength of the € against the £ and how he and his wife never really got used to the English lifestyle?
- Finally, why do idiots continue to blame Rafa for not keeping Bellamy and Crouch when both players stated upon their departure that they had left for first-team football (we were hardly going to drop Torres or Gerrard) and Crouch was specifically offered a new contract which he refused?
There’s plenty more, naturally, but there is one man who illustrates the media’s habit of seeing the worst in Rafa than any other: Andriy Voronin.
“Arsenal have Andriy Arshavin, Liverpool have Andriy Voronin,” as Henry Winter quipped recently. Yeah, about £16m in the difference price-wise and just a couple of universes in terms of wages, but bless him, let him have his moment. Observers of football who earn a wage to have knowledge of it shouldn’t even need to do research on such things, but clearly Winter is lacking in one significant part of his job description (or just deliberately omitting facts?). Whatever the case may be, I don’t need to do any research to know that Voronin was signed on a free transfer as the club’s fourth-choice striker at the start of the 2007/08 season.
A few goals early-on apart, he never really looked the part for a title-chasing club, and never really rose above fourth choice. First he was behind Torres-Crouch-Kuyt (first half of 2007/08), then he was behind Torres-Gerrard-Crouch (second half of 2007/08), then he was allowed out on loan for the 2008/09 season with the striking line-up now reading Torres-Keane-Gerrard (and occasionally Kuyt). After a decent season with Hertha Berlin, Voronin returned and was seemingly waiting for Hertha to make the right offer to take him back to Germany permanently. It never came, and with Rafa’s transfer kitty clearly dwindling as the summer wore on, he was never able to adequately replace Robbie Keane (sold as early as possible in order to recoup as much of his transfer fee as possible) and Voronin was brought back as Torres’ main back-up.
Clearly, based on the substitutions at White Hart Lane on the opening day of the season, the depth-chart now went Torres-Gerrard-Voronin. But how does it read now? Well now it reads Torres-Gerrard-N’gog-Kuyt (and possibly Benayoun-Babel) before Voronin, who is arguably Liverpool’s seventh-choice striker now. So why is he still being discussed? Because a player signed for nothing as a minimal risk and who has, by circumstance, remained at the club is now being used as a stick with which to beat the manager again. More garbage, and I’m sick of all the bullsh*t lies surrounding this man, and I’m also sick of how easily people swallow them. By all means dislike or criticise Rafael Benitez, that is your right, but for f*ck sake base your attitudes on truth rather than fiction.
These are facts, check them if you don’t believe me. You don’t even have to leave your house, the internet is all you’ll need. How much is success in the Champions League worth? How much is a tournament win, a runners-up spot, a semi-final place, a quarter-final place and a last-16 place worth a club cumulatively in terms of basic income (forget about x-factors like improved sponsorship and merchandising opportunities, increased worldwide fan base, etc)? Find that out. Now find out Rafael Benitez’s net spend (i.e. the amount spent on transfers minus the amount recouped) at Liverpool during his time there, go on. You’ll find that it’s around the £90m mark, give or take. Now match that with your figure for how much Liverpool have earned through the Champions League in Benitez’s time in charge. Frighteningly close, aren’t they? And this is the competition that people said he should have prioritised the Premier League over.
Even better, now divide £90m by 5.5 (five and a half seasons) to get the man’s average net annual spend. It comes to £16.36m by my calculations. Of course, these are only estimates, they’re not 100% accurate. Anyone is welcome to comb the history books and get, to the last penny, Benitez’s true net spend. But let’s generously round it up to £20m to be safe. That’s £20m per season to rebuild an entire first-team squad and make it good enough to topple Chelsea, who spent more than that sum total on several individual players like Drogba (£24m), Essien (£24m), Shevchenko (£30m) and Wright-Philips (£24m) during Rafa’s time in charge, and Manchester United, who did the same on the likes of Berbatov (£32m) and Rooney (£25m). And people somehow just expected him to do this? Are they out of their f*cking minds?!
Anyway, are you still with me? Now take a look at the respective squads that Manchester United (League Champions in 2002/03), Chelsea (most expensive team in the history of English football up to that point) and Arsenal (undefeated League Champions in 2003/04) had in place upon Benitez’s arrival in June 2004. Now take a look at the squad inherited by the new Liverpool boss. Based on what you know about the game, go ahead and estimate how much it would take in your opinion to rebuild a squad in which Gerrard, Carragher, Finnan, Hamann, Hyypia and Riise were the only players even remotely good enough to play at the very highest level on a consistent basis, and make them good enough to win a Premier League. Be sure to bear in mind the vast sums of money that Manchester United (Rooney £25m) and Chelsea (Essien £24m) were routinely able to go out and pay on the world’s best talents. Also bear in mind that your most expensive signing in your first three years in charge will be £10.5m.
Are you getting what I’m saying here yet? Benitez’s outlay on players during his time in charge has been grossly and deliberately over-inflated by a media which has never warmed to him since day one. The number of players signed, meanwhile, is also inflated to include trainees. Unbelievable. And even respected pundits like John Giles sit there and quote these numbers back without ever researching them. Again, criticise Rafa by all means, but do so for actual reasons. Based on what he has helped the club earn in European competition (remember that Liverpool were ranked #1 in Europe for the period 2004-2009), his net spend and the kind of players his rivals (those he has been expected to overcome) have been able to purchase, the expectations placed upon him have been absolutely ridiculous. And this by a media who have frequently singled him out and attacked him even as he has achieved real success.
Let’s consider “the kind of players his rivals (those he has been expected to overcome) have been able to purchase” for a moment. Of the great managers mentioned earlier who all recovered from lean spells, only Shankly was in a similar position as Rafa in terms of overcoming top, top teams to reach the top (Leeds, Derby, Arsenal, Man. City, Man. United, though the latter did decline after Busby retired). Ferguson benefited greatly from the huge decline of Dalglish’s Liverpool and Graham’s Arsenal (winners of five League Championships out of six between them from 1986 to 1991), while Arsene Wenger (and Jose Mourinho, for that matter) had the good fortune of Ferguson needing to rebuild between 2002 and 2006 (Mourinho had unheard of resources too). Benitez, on the other hand, had to rebuild an entire squad with far less resources than his two major rivals (Chelsea and Manchester United) who, unfortunately for him, have also had the most successful periods in their histories in the meantime. Are we still expecting miracles? Should we?
Sure, results (and especially performances) have not been acceptable this season. Financially, we should still be finishing top four for the moment (bearing in mind that Tottenham and City have a fair bit of team-building to do) and we certainly have the wherewithal not to be drawing with Birmingham, losing to Portsmouth, etc. But Manchester United have only lost two less than us, including defeats to Burnley and Fulham. Chelsea have drawn with West Ham and Everton, which we haven’t. Arsenal lost to Sunderland too, and drew with West Ham. Manchester City, even considering the vast sums of money spent, had not won an away game since August prior to last night. Villa lost at Blackburn and at home to Wigan, Spurs at home to Stoke and Wolves. It has been an unpredictable season all-round, and we have been rebuilding a new team without Alonso (I wonder if Ferguson would have won that first title in 1992/93 if someone like Ince had upped and left in the summer of ‘92?) with very little investment, and with one of the worst injury crises in our history ongoing for much of it.
Not to mention the lack of confidence and momentum created by frequent patchwork line-ups and loss of form of key players. The media like to spin their clichés about confidence (“if only you could bottle it”) when they feel like it, but tend to pick and choose who to have sympathy with over it. Liverpool are clearly a side suffering from a lack of confidence at the moment, with none of the momentum that was built up over the last three months of last season. Three months worth of injuries and changes to the team will do that, especially with younger players like Lucas, N’gog and Insua expected to take on the mantle of leadership and responsibility so quickly. Considering that I have now heard Lucas described as “dreadful” by one pundit (former Brazilian player of the year, remember), I’d say things could be worse.
Look, nobody can predict the future. All we can do is look to learn the lessons of the past and judge a man upon what he has done rather than what we would ideally like him to do. We’d have him winning trebles every season in an ideal world, but that isn’t realistic. We can most certainly do better than we have been doing this season, but I’ll just repeat that if every manager was sacked after enduring a bad run of results, Alex Ferguson would have been sacked after finishing 11th in 1988/89 and Bill Shankly wouldn’t have walked away in 1973, he would have been sacked long before that. Don’t be fooled by the ignorant, stupid and callous games being played by the media, but instead think about the situation for yourself and weigh up the good and the bad of Rafael Benitez’s time in charge of Liverpool, and then come to your own conclusion.
Most of all, be fair to the man who has given us a real chance to be great again when we had no right to be, who won a Champions League with a patchwork team. Remember Istanbul and how it felt, and what an over-achievement it was. The least we can do in return is to be patient, balanced, and give him a chance, a real chance. At the very least, we shouldn’t be basing our attitudes on four months rather than five years. I’ll tell you what, I won’t feel sorry for Rafa if he’s sacked – he’ll get £20m, he’ll get another top job, he’ll still have his family. I’ll feel sorry for us as Liverpool supporters because, failing a billionaire knight in shining armour appearing at some point, Rafa is still our best chance of continuing to hang with the big boys in an era where the rules are being rewritten daily.
He has to stay. And if he doesn’t, well it’s another nail in the coffin of football’s aura for me. Everyone, Liverpool supporter or no, should be rooting for Rafa to overcome this difficult time because he’s a talented but also a decent man in a sport with few left. I’m not a Scouser, but I would have been damn proud too when he and Montse went on the radio some time ago and spoke of their affection for the city and its people. But we live in an era where we celebrate the wrong kind of people, the Drogbas and the Ronaldos, the Fergusons and the Rooneys, and I suppose it’s unrealistic to expect Liverpool’s support to be immune to that. I just think it’s sad, though.
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speechless….amzing article….YNWA!!!!!
Excellent piece. Before I was all for Rafa’s sacking, but this has swayed me. Aquiliani’s situation and Rafa’s refusal to play Babel have been my major thorns, but the good clearly outweighs the bad. What is not Rafa who bought Torres for a bargain of 25 mil? He’d go for over 75+ right now! Two summers ago, Rafa wanted Gareth Barry more than anyone, but Rick Parry had his way and signed Keane. We still could’ve had Barry last summer but he chose the money over the badge. Barry would look nice in centre midfield right now.
In Rafa we trust. and PLEASE PLAY BABEL!
only read a few parts…tooooo long…do u even have a proper job..this must’ve taken u ages..good job.
Well said. I say to the so called “expert”, up your game, do a research before you commit to saying something that is written by studio script writers..your name and reputation are at stake. Are you listening or reading this?!
I agree with waqas. Someone should write summary. And then maybe I’ll read whole article.
SOME relevant points made, but far too much nonsense and dismissal of some real facts. Benitez is a good manager, I agree, however he makes far too many mistakes and stupid decisions which are costing us and he has made few good, mid price signings. Kuyt, who I like is supposed to be a striker; not good enough and Gerrard one of the world’s best midfielders playing as a striker….all wrong I’m afraid.
great written work great read,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
fyck the yanks, get out fans who can not see what is going on,,, in rafa we love.
invest you pair of fucking cunt*.
BUY US BETTER PLAYERS OR FUCK OFF;
REINA
JOHNSON CARRAGHER AGGER AURELIO
SILVA MASCHERANO GERRARD MATA
VILLA TORRES
SUBS; INVEST
I’m sorry, but this article as a little too apologist for my tastes. I doubt anyone will read all through the whole thing seeing as you just keep repeating the same points over and over again (I was only able to get a third of the way through it, and that was more than enough for me).
Simple fact is, Rafa is NOT bigger than Liverpool FC. If he’s unable to deliver to the expected standards of this great club and to the historical Legacy of a Bill Shankley who once said “First place is everything, and second place is nothing” then he should simply be let go. There’s no arguments about this. 20 years without a title is one thing – but 5 years going onto six years for him, without improvement and barely competing with the likes of Portsmouth and Birmingham, is an entirely different and unacceptable thing.
It’s disgraceful enough that we are probably not going to be playing Champion’s League football next Season, but the prospect of no European football at all (which looms large now more than ever) is not only unacceptable, but will doubtless wind up being a financial disaster for the future of this club.
Cut our losses, pay the man his 20 Mill, and let him go. Let the new man start with a clean slate and rebuild properly from the ground up rather than slogging through another 5-7 years waiting for him to get it right.
Great post, thanks for the awesome read.
oh my god, i wna read it all, but i cant read long stuff like books, i`ll give it another go 2mro
one of the greatest move that rafa make which will be remembered later if he can bring back our era is his strategy in signing the contract. with the huge payout clause, he has all the time to build the squad. when there is new owner that can pay that pay (i.e. fire him), he surely be given enough transfer fund n time to prove its worth before get fired.
I totally agree with Teddy Ruxpin. He has got enough time to show what he’s capable of. He is constantly buying new players for the academy but neither of them has emerged into the first team. He let Nemeth go on loan when he scored four goals during pre season. He is doing well with AEK Athens and i think that he would have been a good partner to Torres. I am sure that we will see the best of Babel playing for another club in the premiership. He is now looking for either Nistelroy or Heskey????Players like Gerrard, Mascherano, Torres and others are emotional guys and would like to be congratulated after scoring!!They need a Manager who celebrate when his team is winning. This would motivate them!!!!
VIVI
You are stating your facts without any concrete evidences. Nemeth’s example of this. that kid has been injured for quite a while, and has no premiership experiences. If Rafa put him to partner Torres, you would have bashed him because he has played an unknown premiership standard player in the first eleven..
Rafa can’t win, can he?
If I am Rafa, I would not be able to stand all these abuses or shits he has been receiving at his end. I would have left….
Thank god, I am not Rafa, and God bless Rafa and Liverpool for this.
i didnt read the whole article, but well said. excuses for rafa to leave, like ‘not celebrating after a goal’ or ‘ not being able to deliver’ are ridiculous! a manager needs his time, just like alex ferguson. rafa is a good manager who hasnt had the mountain of funds availabile like chelsea or man utd to work with! rafa was using the same tactics last year and almsot got us a title, a patch of poor form happens, and in the last 2 games we have beaten wolves and villa, and we could repeat this if the players are confident enough. the players were very confident last season which means they dont need rafa to fucking celebrate like ferguson after a goal to motivate them, some men are emotional and others arnt (rafa). the win against villa should boost the players confidence up, and we are only 4 points behind a champions league place. i expect spurs and man city to blunder under the pressure and liverpool to take 4th spot. i also DONT think chelsea will win the title. i am tipping man u to do their typical rush of good form in the second half of the season, or arsenal to steal the title, if they win their game in hand and keep on winning, they are only 2 points behind chelsea. chelsea are getting too confident and cocky and will crack, and those cracks are starting to appear a little bit. they will lose very key players to the african nations tournament and i dont expect them to go that well through that
Boy oh Boy. I read the whole thing. Some good points. I need to print it out and break it down to make any further comments. All told the problem is with Rafa and the owners. If some wanker came into my business and started telling me how to run it, well I would probably have a punch up. Rafa is too smart signs a five year agreement with the buy out clause. Brilliant. The Americans have no idea about the real football. The Americans were only interested in the brand not the passion of the club. Most importantly it is the passion that is needed to win titles. Rafa doesn’t know how to win the title yet, but he will learn but I don’t think he has enough time to do it. Take 08/09 season, at times we were unstoppable then we would draw or lose to a lower team,(Middlesborough, Stoke comes to mind). Unacceptable as far as I am concerned. This year we have all witnessed the problems. I think Rafa got caught out in the transfer market, he stuffed around to long on the Alonso deal then didn’t really have enough time to do what he needed. Lets blame the Americans for that again. I really don’t want to have a crack at the players but we have some real primadonnas in our team, who really need a good kick up the arse. He really needs to ask some of those players whether they want to play for LFC or not. He needs LFC men in the bootroom behind him. He has the brought the European continental game to LFC, now is the time to bring back the british game to win the title again. At this point is there a successor to Rafa? I believe there is. But he needs to be British prefebably ex LFC man. To that point Rafa needs a understudy as Shankly had Paisley as Paisley had Fagan and so on.
Of course Teddy you didn’t read thru it all, it’s obvious! You would rather bathe in ignorance than perhaps taking some logic on board as to why this situation is happening. You then quote Bill Shankly, who didn’t win a trophy for 7 YEARS!! We would never have had a “great Bill Shankly” if supporters like you were around back in those days, you would be trying your best to have him fired for under-achieving. This is explained in the article, maybe read thru it all before commenting, it is only fair to the author of this excellent article. You are the kind of supporter this great club will be better off without. Demanding success without the means, then go support a richer club who can satisfy your demands, or get behind the club and do what you are supposed to do, support, or watch local sports where you are and probably have a better idea of. You say it’s disgraceful we are “probably” not going to be in the Champion league next year (though we are only 4 point off the pace for that spot), but never forget it was one Rafa Benitez that has got us to this level of expectancy. I’ll ask you a question, how many times did we get to the knock-out stages of the Champions league before Rafa? The answer is ONE! Supporters like you disgust me,Teddy Ruxpin..
Waqas/Myte If you are willing to watch the club you support for 90 minutes each game, and are also willing to bitch about the team with your fellow supporters/friends for hours then take 20 minutes to read this article and maybe learn something. Why should it be summarised?? Every part of it is relevant.
I read the whole article and found it very insightful. Some of the facts have been mentioned by others before but still hats off to the writer. A great deal of effort was put into it and the writer deserves a standing ovation. I emphatise this effort because I have found that it is not easy to reach out to the anti-Rafa supporters. Most of them go against the notion of LFC Supporters being the most knowledible fans in the world, while some are just plain pathetic in terms of knowledge of the football world.
I READ MOST OF THE ARTICLE AND , AS POINTED OUT , MANY THINGS WERE REPEATED . I AM ALL FOR GIVING ANY MANAGER PLENTY OF TIME TO MAKE THEIR TEAM WORK, BUT THAT IS NOT MY GRIPE . I WAS FURIOUS LAST SEASON KNOWING WE COULD HAVE WON THE TITLE BUT BENITEZ CHOSE TO PLAY SECONDARY PLAYERS AGAINST LOWER OPPOSITION. HE WAS , AND IS SO ARROGENT , AS THOUGH TRYING TO PROVE A POINT . HE NEVER GIVES BABEL A FULL GAME , BUT WILL PLAY OTHER SUB-STANDARD PLAYERS , WHO HE LIKES BETTER . HE HAS COMPLETLY DESTROYED BABEL, AMONGST OTHERS .
NOW , ON TO AQUILANI . IF THIS MAN PLAYS TO FORM , HE WILL BE OK AT BEST AND WILL PLAY JUST OVER A THIRD OF GAMES . THAT MEANS HE WILL HAVE COST 500 000 A GAME . NOT GOOD BUSINESS SENSE . IT IS OBVIOUS THE TEAM ARE NOT FULLY BEHIND BENITEZ . IF THE MANAGER LEARNT BY HIS MISTAKES , THEN OK . THIS MAN KEEPS MAKING THE SAME MISTAKES OVER AND OVER AGAIN . I HAVE BEEN A LIVERPOOL FAN FOR 37 YEARS AND SEEN MANAGERS COME AND GO . SOMETIMES IT IS BETTER TO PART COMPANY AND MAKE A FRESH START . THIS BUSINESS OF HAVING TO PAY RAFA 20 MIL IS A RED HERRING . IF HE DOES NOT WORK FOR 4 YEARS THEN OK , WE LOSE 20 MIL , BUT CAN ANYONE SEE THAT HAPPENING , NOT ME . HE WILL FIND WORK STRAIGHT AWAY AND WE WILL BE COMPENSATED FOR THAT . I SAY . IF WE START IMPROVING , GIVE HIM A BIT LONGER . IF NOT , HE MUST GO .
Manu rule
Shane
Going by your calculation which doesn’t make sense, wasn’t Aquilani signed for 5 years and not 1 year? I was made to understand that we only paid 5M for him so far. And how much would a fully fit Aquilani be worth soon?
As for last season, how would you know if Rafa had not played the secondary players as you put it, the first teamers would have been fit enough to mount the serious challenge, which resulted us being only 2 goals away from the title? I do not know, neither does anyone about the outcome of a game. But at least Rafa knew everything about the conditions of players and made his choice according to the information he had, afterall he is the manager and he is not a fool.
Guys, either you support LFC fully or you don’t support at all. Period!
Stop talking about firing Rafa. He gave us Istanbul 2005!!!!!! & we only lost 2 matchess last season!!!! Is that a fluke shot by the manager?????!!!!!
Those of you who are complaining / whinning are no better than the Yanks! Stay of LFC if you’re not supporting the club whole heartedly.
The worst mentality to have is “Praise those who are successful & condemn those who are not”. To all these hell, may you have a whining 2010……& stay out of LFC.
In Rafa we trust!!!! YNWA!!!!!!!!!!
KHAN. MY CALCULATIONS ARE BASED ON HIS PREVIOUS RECORD OF PLAYNG GAMES. WHEN YOU ADD THE MONEY PAID OVER THE CONTRACT , PLUS WAGES . THATS HOW . AND ALTHOUGH NO-ONE CAN FORESEE WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO A TEAM IF DIFFERENT PLAYERS ARE ON THE PITCH, IT IS QUITE CLEAR IF YOU PLAY YOUR BETTER TEAM YOU HAVE A BETTER CHANCE OF WINNING . NOT ONLY THAT BUT WHEN TEAMS LIKE LIVERPOOL LOSE TO TEAMS HANGING AT THE BOTTOM OF THE LEAGUE , IT DOES THEIR CONFIDENCE NO GOOD .
BEN . I HAVE BEEN A FAN AND FINANCIAL SUPPORTER OF LFC FOR 37 YEARS . I THINK THAT AT LEAST GIVES ME THE RIGHT TO AIR MY VIEWS .
TELLING PEOPLE LIKE ME TO STAY OFF THE SITE IS RICH COMING FROM SOMEONE WHO IS IN MALASIA.
BENITEZ MIGHT OR MIGHT NOT BE SUCESSFUL IN THE FUTURE . OF COURSE I HOPE HE IS , BECAUSE IT IS MY TEAM HE IS MANAGING . I DO NOT WANT TO SEE LIVERPOOL FAIL . THIS PLACE IS FOR EXCHANGE OF VIEWS . IF YOU DO NOT LIKE PEOPLE DISAGRREEING WITH YOUR PERFECT MIND , WHY DO YOU READ THE COMMENTS ?
YOU ARE NOT EXACTLY SUPPORTING THE CLUB WHOLE HEARTEDLY BY SLAGGING OFF ( THE YANKS ) YOU ARE A HYPOCRITE .
Shane
Fair enough if you have made the calculations based on Aquilani’s previous experience with injuries. But correct me if I am wrong, he was played too soon after an injury at his previous club/brought back too soon which aggravated his injuries. With that knowledge in mind, Rafa brought him in, seeing that he could be bought at a discounted price (probably saw his talents were worth the wait) and made sure he got through the much needed surgery and have used him sparingly since. So in the hopes that he doesn’t get crocked that easily again. So I presume we will see a new Aquilani in the BPL and he will definitely play more games for us.
As for playing your best team to ensure a better chance of winning, I would like to state the obvious that the league consists 38 games a season and when you take into account the cup ties and CL, that’s a lot of games. Rafa’s job is to ensure players are well maintained to last the entire season (Aquilani’s injuries in Serie A comes to mind). We might have won one game against a lower team but if it were to jeopardise other games in the future, then I would have to understand the manager’s decisions. Moreover when the manager has in his hands all the information on a player’s fitness. Now, if we had a stronger squad, this wouldn’t have been an issue at all.
I remember in one game last season, a half-fit Torres was played towards the end (can’t recall which one) in which he scored. This decision to me is a masterstroke because in that game, Torres coming in later gave him more chance against tired legs in the opposition half. That decision was made by Rafa, but I am sure many fans were furious why Rafa did not start Torres in that game.
Let’s hope 2010 will be a better year for us. Happy New year!
Shane, supporting LFC for 37 years doesn’t mean you can slag off anyone!!! On what basis did you deduce that i’m a hypocrite? We’re only half way thru the campaign & we shall only discuss about Benitez performance then, not now. He could have won us the Europa league & FA Cup. Will you fire him then?
Come on, let’s be reasonable. Benitez is going thru a hard time right now and needs all the support he can get. Did you realize Riera’s absence is really felt by the team? Hardly anyone is running at defenders and cutting crosses in the middle, which Torres thrives. Babel has a lot potential but isn’t it plain to see that his understanding with other players are off key? Other players can’t read his game thus causing a confusion not only to the opposition but to his teamates as well!!
You said Benitez never gave Babel a full game, well for your info, he played the full game against Arsenal in the Carling cup & did not manage to score against secondary defenders. That shows how consistent & talented he is.
I did not say i do not like people disagreeing and i don’t have a perfect mind. I’m just telling all the monkeys to get off the managers back til the end of the season.
Right now, give the gaffa your full support!!!!! YNWA!!!!
I for one did take the time to read the whole article.
I agree with most of the points made, especially do I agree with the fact that the media at the moment are taking cheap shots at Rafa at every opportunity. It is easy to start listening to them and begin to agree with them. This article has given us many reasons to keep believing in the Manager, how long would it take the media to judge SAF by the same yardstick as they judge Rafa, for some reason – alright I know that he has won a lot with Man U – he is always untouchable. But I believe that because Rafa refuses to use the media to his advantage – he is too proud a man for that – they take the easy option of criticising his every error and ignoring anything good thing that he achieves.
Thank you for this excellent read, it has helped me to see things more clearly and hopefully I can now stop jumping on the bandwagon with all the other doubters and support the manager as he deserves.
i hope buy… MATA and SILVA or VILLA
BEN . I CALLED YOU A HYPOCRITE BECAUSE YOU SAID WE SHOULD ALL SUPPORT LFC WHOLEHEARTEDLY . WELL, THE LAST TIME I LOOKED , THE ( YANKS ) AS YOU PUT IT , ARE PART OF LFC . DO YOU MEAN SUPPORT THE PEOPLE YOU LIKE AND NO OTHERS ? LOOK . THE FACT IS . THIS SITE HAS POLLED THE FANS AND MOST OF THEM WANT RAFA OUT . SHOULD WE ALL STAY OFF THE SITE ? TODAY . LIVERPOOL DREW WITH READING . I MEAN , COME ON . RAFA IS FALLING APART QUICKER THAN A LEPOR IN A WIND TUNNEL . GO ON THE CHAT AND SEE HOW FAR OTHERS WANT TO GO WITH RAFA . IF WE HAVE TO STAND BY OUR MANAGER WE WOULD STILL HAVE ROY EVANS . MIND YOU , THAT LOOKS LIKE A DREAM COME TRUE AT THE MOMENT . HAPPY NEW YEAR MATE . I WISH YOU WELL FOR COMING YEAR.
Look, Shane.
I’m not a Britt as you are. But even I understand that the FA Cup is a competition not like any others. I mean, where else would you see Milwall, of First Division (heck they didn’t even won the promotion back then) came all the way into the final, held in Cardiff Millenium Stadium?
JOHN OTAKU . WHAT IS YOUR POINT AND WHAT HAS THAT GOT TO DO WITH ME ? READING ARE CRAP AND WE SHOULD HAVE WALKED THAT GAME . NEVER WALK ALONE RAFA , TAKE ALL YOUR CRAPPY PLAYERS WITH YOU .
Shane, Happy New Year to you too mate. I still think we should throw in our support to the LFC, except for the Yanks! They’re supposed to bring in the cash to buy new players but brought in more debts instead. I still don’t understand why Moores & Parry decided to sell the shares to these two assholes!!!! They don’t share the same passion for LFC as we do. The moral of the story is…do not sell a club to two or more shareholder, otherwise there’s bound to be issues with the parnership & it will eventually affect the stability of the club.
We’re lucky to get a draw at Reading. Torres is not his usual self & i’m surprised Pacheco didn’t get a minute in the game. He was so lively in the Portsmouth game. Should’ve played him in the right wing.
YNWA!!!!
I’m not reading all of that!!!
This is by far the BEST and most spellbinding article I ever read with regards to the current unfotunate state Liverpool is going through, and best describes it in a fair and just manner detailed with endilible facts be it relating to the Owners, players and mainly the greatest Rafa. I truly would like to extend my sincerest thanks to the writer for having STOLEN -positively stated- the words and feelings out of my heart. Though I have written few thoughts on many sports’ sites re this issue, for sometime I had intended to write equally long letter in defense of the genius Rafa and the war waged against him from all and sundry which is beyond my understanding yet decided not to since it seemed no one is lending a listening ear in favor of LFC! What is more surprising to me is that great many other coaches in the League have come forward to defend him whilst few ex-plyers of LFC and some supporters called for his sacking mercilessly! Where is the Liverpool’s loyalty and spirit? I have been a supporter of this great club since the mid 70′s to date and like many others ache badly to win the league after this so long drought, but for God’s sake give the man a fair chance to prove his renowned and acclaimed potential/credentials. It is really amazing that people only point out minor negatives in hard times and tend to forget milestines the boss achieved for the club, and overlook the negatives of the players, owners and the hostile media against him; it really saddens the heart. Good luck LFC and Rafa in you I trust, love and you have my prayers for an astounding success and soon. My special thanks and sincere appreciation for the writer, it is a marvelous and great article. Best regards, Sam