Is Benitez about to be found out…?

[Bob]

Something that has crossed my mind and I wanted to share.

Now the facts don’t lie we are in our second Champions league final in three
years and on the brink of out third major trophy in three seasons under Benitez.
This is great case for celebration. However that aside is there a case to be
made to say he is just a very lucky manager who has flattered to deceive
on his way to getting humbled badly by a great Milan side in 2 weeks time??

Firstly, the league doesn’t lie and we have been average at best with no real
signs of major improvement that we all had hoped for especially this season.
And don’t forget Rafa was brought in on the basis of his league credentials
not his cup success. Parry wanted a man who could produce the good quickly
on the pitch on a limited budget. And by all accounts in the league at least
Benitez has failed this miserably.

Secondly, how good have we been in Europe? 2 years ago it took a Gerrard
wonder goal against a rubbish Greek outfit to scrape out of the group. Then
we beat a completely depleted Bayer L side and a Juve team we now know
had bought their success. We scraped by Chelsea in a very tight affair that
could have gone either way.

Then the final, we got absolutely battered for 55 mins should have been 4
down only for Milan to completely take their eye off the ball. Rafa got it
seriously wrong and only for an incredibly twist of fate we would have been
embarrassed for all of Europe to see.

Last year we went out to a very average Benfica side getting beat 2-0 at home.
And even this year it could be argued we beat, a Barca team in turmoil, a
very poor PSV side and a Chelsea team exhausted by their mammoth campaign.
Could Milan finally set the record straight by whipping the floor with us and
showing up Benitez as nothing more than a decent cup manager with poor
man management skills, poor record in the transfer market and an even
poorer one in the league? (We’ve been effective out of the title by Oct
each year in the last three)

Finally as I briefly mentioned above, Benitez’s man management must be called
into question when our best player for 20 yrs was within a whisker of
leaving, every striker we get turns to ****e, instantly it would seem. Even
Kuyt seems to have only one shooting boot on most of the time.

So is the truth that we allow are trying to deny or is this just a very negative
one sided look at it?

I hope it’s the latter.

Time will tell.

What i want to know is why do you have to carriage return every line?

[tomasjj]

What i want to know is why do you have to carriage return every line?

Probably cut n pasted from a Chav newspaper column.

[Sebastian Rooks]

Don't feed the troll

[vantage]

Dreambeliever, are you the same Dreambeliever that posts on 6CM?

No matter. Benitez has mastered European football but not yet the EPL. Slur Alex has about 20 years more experience and JM infinitely more cash. I expect Rafa to put up a better performance in the league tis year....

[Johnny]

Dreambeliever, are you the same Dreambeliever that posts on 6CM?

No matter. Benitez has mastered European football but not yet the EPL. Slur Alex has about 20 years more experience and JM infinitely more cash. I expect Rafa to put up a better performance in the league tis year....

**** face took 8 yrs to win the PL after 26 yrs.

[bigfooty]

Wenger took 1.5 years to win it with no experience of English football.

You could argue the team he inherited was stronger than the one Rafa got, but in 95-96, the season before Wenger took charge, Arsenal finished 5th. We finished 4th in Ged's last season.

Anyone who uses Fergie's 8 years as an excuse for Rafa is deluding themselves. Football has moved on since then, but apparently we haven't because being an also-ran in the league is supposedly acceptable to LFC so long as we pick up a Cup each season.

[Nicey]

Ha ha...... just interested to see what people's thoughts are on here.

I already know the replies I'd get on SCM so thought why not try another
forum.

What's your own opinion of the above post? Do you think it has any
foundation?

Not really mate, there is lucky and there is lucky. You tend to only get lucky once maybe twice .. But Rafa has won nearly every major trophey in football over the past 5 years, 2 La Liga Titles, Champions Lg, UFEA Cup, FA Cup, Super Cup.

Lucky? I dont think so

[Rashid]

It remains to be seen whether Rafa can win the league whilst playing top brand of football for LIVERPOOL.(Let's not get carried away with Valencia here). Previous teams mean **** all for any manager, if it was a easy as that then each time a manager changes then he would come and replicate his previous teams play and success and that doesn't always happen.

The jury is out on Rafa's 'attacking' signings and his preformances in the league (both of which were Houllier's downfall) this summer is time to deliver.

I too believe the unbelievable talent Rafa has shown in the CL has masked our sluggish football, poor league record and a very poor goalscoring record.

[einar]

Wenger took 1.5 years to win it with no experience of English football.

You could argue the team he inherited was stronger than the one Rafa got, but in 95-96, the season before Wenger took charge, Arsenal finished 5th. We finished 4th in Ged's last season.

Anyone who uses Fergie's 8 years as an excuse for Rafa is deluding themselves. Football has moved on since then, but apparently we haven't because being an also-ran in the league is supposedly acceptable to LFC so long as we pick up a Cup each season.

If this is the case, how does this compare?

[Rashid]

Wenger took 1.5 years to win it with no experience of English football.

You could argue the team he inherited was stronger than the one Rafa got, but in 95-96, the season before Wenger took charge, Arsenal finished 5th. We finished 4th in Ged's last season.

Anyone who uses Fergie's 8 years as an excuse for Rafa is deluding themselves. Football has moved on since then, but apparently we haven't because being an also-ran in the league is supposedly acceptable to LFC so long as we pick up a Cup each season.

Wenger won the double in his first full season in charge and not only took a team from 5th to 1st in 18 months but also got them into the CL in half a season.

But not only all that, he change the style of play and the attitude of the players - two major things.

Wenger didn't have to contend with Chelsea but then Rafa hasn't exactly been finishing 2nd each year has he?

[Tom]

Well we would have been finishing 2nd if it wasn't for chel$ki. don't quite see your logic here.....

[einar]

Squad for 1997-1998 Season

1. David Seaman (England international goalkeeper)
2. Lee Dixon (England int right back)
3. Nigel Winterburn (England int left back)
4. Patrick Vieira (French international midfielder)
5. Steve Bould (England int central defender)
6. Tony Adams (England captain, centre half, club captain)
7. David Platt (England international midfielder)
8. Ian Wright (England int forward, last term's top scorer)
9. Nicholas Anelka (French youth international forward)
10. Dennis Bergkamp (Dutch international forward)
11. Marc Overmars (Dutch international winger)
12. Christopher Wreh (Liberian international striker)
13. Alex Manninger (Austrian U21 international goalkeeper)
14. Martin Keown (England int central defender)
15. Ray Parlour (Eng U21 int midfielder with silly haircut)
16.
17. Emmanuel Petit (French international midfield/defender)
18. Gilles Grimandi (French international midfield/defender)
19. Remi Garde (French former international midfielder)
20. Mathew Upson (England U20 international central defender)
21. Luis Boat Morte (Portugese U21 interational left winger/striker)
22. Ian Selley (Eng U21 international midfield)
23. Alberto Mendez (German midfielder)

How does this compare to us now?

[redblood]

Well we would have been finishing 2nd if it wasn't for chel$ki. don't quite see your logic here.....

There is no logic mate you can't reason with someone who doesn't want to see the facts for what they are and not what they percieve them to be.
Anyway Rafa is coming to terms with the PL now he will have his final pieces this summer but while he's been perfecting that he's thrown us a couple of bones to chew on like a CL win and FA Cup win and another chance at winning the CL.
He's just an awful manager how ****ing dare he.

Ra-fa Ra-fa Raf-ael Ra-fa Ra-fa Raf-ael Raf-ael Ben-itez

[dww]

Wenger won the double in his first full season in charge and not only took a team from 5th to 1st in 18 months but also got them into the CL in half a season.

But not only all that, he change the style of play and the attitude of the players - two major things.

Wenger didn't have to contend with Chelsea but then Rafa hasn't exactly been finishing 2nd each year has he?

It is fair to say though that in the last two years a period in which Arsene has had his pattern of play established and almost everything at the club as he wanted and similar transfer budgets to Rafa has finished no better off than we have.

Therefore I contend that it is harder to challenege now than it was when Wenger took over.

I think this season has been a disappointment, Rafa wanted to evolve a different aspect to our play but it hasn't happened nearly enough. Adding attacking width and pace. To do this he had to spread his limited transfer budget over several players as the squad did not contain what he required. We then had injuries to Garcia and Kewell which made the task even harder.

If next season we don't see an evolution after significant funds have been spent then we can start to question wether Rafas methods work in the PL. However I think he deserves at least the next two seasons to get it right.

People who think we should expect to be challenging for the league every year have a point but we have to get things in place to do that. It's not a short term job. Stability is an important factor in continuing sucess.

[Dreambeliever]

Are you Andy Gray? :whatever:

Ha ha.......

So far I've been called a manc, Jose and now Andy Gray.

I assure you I'm none of the above.

I guess 10 days time will tell us everything we need to know.