Is Benitez about to be found out…?

[Nic83]

Alonso, Gerrard, Carra, Agger, Reina, Finnan, Crouch, Garcia and Pennant for example.

I agree with Rafa being able to develop players and bring the best out of them but I have o disagree about Gerrard. He has had his worst season yet, for me, but i suppose that's because he's been shipped around too much so basically i don't know what I'm on about...

[BubbaZanetti]

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??

Are you Andy Gray? :whatever:

[Tom]

Don't feed the troll

[friedk]

In his last 6 seasons he has won 2 league titles and a UEFA cup in Spain; a European; FA Cup and has taken us to another European cup final (something Wenger, Mourinho and Ferguson have never achieved).

The lucky lucky *******

[redblood]

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.

Pure **** and what dreams do you believe in.

[Red_Polo]

I've just lost 2 mins of my life i'll never get back.

Thanks

No need for that mate.

[redblood]

Nice post, but no offence its a load of bollox

The buck stops with the manager and he shouldn't bring in a player unless he's done his homework. If the player doesn't make it a large portion of blame goes to the manager.

If a player isn't good enough he isn't good enough, bringing him in because he's cheap, or a swap deal or available is bollox management.

Not when you don't have the funding and are trying to be frugal with your budget.
Nunez was a risk as was Alonso and any other player that come in.
However when he's had to he's got rid of these players without any fanfare.
This season has been a disappointment but I don't solely blame Rafa for that.
A lot of our regular players who have proven themselves over the years have not been anywhere near as good as they should be.
We have improved our squad immensely and now we will see one or two top players come in to complete our first 11.

[Roboklopp]

Cannot be arsed structuring an argument, but here are a few points that speak for themselves:

• -GH took us arguably closer than Rafa in the league but never had the Chavski factor to contend with
• Rafa has spent £40m net, so £85m is very misleading. In that same time, Scum & the Chavs has spent £20m+ on single players.
• In that time he has takens us from struggling to qualify for the CL in GH's last 2 seasons to qualifying for it comfortably in Rafa's last 2
• In the same time he has revolutionised the squad completely & instilled a different playing philosophy.
• Records for home wins & clean sheets have been equalled or surpassed.
• He has raised the profile of the club so that we are respected and talked about in his homelands & elsewhere in Europe.
• You mention how Chavski were weakened when we played them, but you, like so many others who use the same argument, forget that we were missing Finn, Garcia & Kewell. They are equally as important players for us as the ones Chelsea were missing.
• We have every chance of finishing above the Gooners for 2 seasons in a row despite all but throwing the last 2 games. How long is it since that has happened?
• Fergiscum took 8 years to win Scum the League when it was a lot less competive than it is now. Also, the transition from Scottish football is less significant than that from Spanish.

I could go on.

It is undeniable that our away form needs significant improvement, but it was fine last year & the margin between victory & defeat has often been slight. Given the game-changing players we require I am certain that this- and our record against the other big 3- will improve significantly.

[redblood]

Cannot be arsed structuring an argument, but here are a few points that speak for themselves:

• -GH took us arguably closer than Rafa in the league but never had the Chavski factor to contend with
• Rafa has spent £40m net, so £85m is very misleading. In that same time, Scum & the Chavs has spent £20m+ on single players.
• In that time he has takens us from struggling to qualify for the CL in GH's last 2 seasons to qualifying for it comfortably in Rafa's last 2
• In the same time he has revolutionised the squad completely & instilled a different playing philosophy.
• Records for home wins & clean sheets have been equalled or surpassed.
• He has raised the profile of the club so that we are respected and talked about in his homelands & elsewhere in Europe.
• You mention how Chavski were weakened when we played them, but you, like so many others who use the same argument, forget that we were missing Finn, Garcia & Kewell. They are equally as important players for us as the ones Chelsea were missing.
• We have every chance of finishing above the Gooners for 2 seasons in a row despite all but throwing the last 2 games. How long is it since that has happened?
• Fergiscum took 8 years to win Scum the League when it was a lot less competive than it is now. Also, the transition from Scottish football is less significant than that from Spanish.

I could go on.

It is undeniable that our away form needs significant improvement, but it was fine last year & the margin between victory & defeat has often been slight. Given the game-changing players we require I am certain that this- and our record against the other big 3- will improve significantly.

Well said mate

[Johnny]

Cannot be arsed structuring an argument, but here are a few points that speak for themselves:

• -GH took us arguably closer than Rafa in the league but never had the Chavski factor to contend with
• Rafa has spent £40m net, so £85m is very misleading. In that same time, Scum & the Chavs has spent £20m+ on single players.
• In that time he has takens us from struggling to qualify for the CL in GH's last 2 seasons to qualifying for it comfortably in Rafa's last 2
• In the same time he has revolutionised the squad completely & instilled a different playing philosophy.
• Records for home wins & clean sheets have been equalled or surpassed.
• He has raised the profile of the club so that we are respected and talked about in his homelands & elsewhere in Europe.
• You mention how Chavski were weakened when we played them, but you, like so many others who use the same argument, forget that we were missing Finn, Garcia & Kewell. They are equally as important players for us as the ones Chelsea were missing.
• We have every chance of finishing above the Gooners for 2 seasons in a row despite all but throwing the last 2 games. How long is it since that has happened?
• Fergiscum took 8 years to win Scum the League when it was a lot less competive than it is now. Also, the transition from Scottish football is less significant than that from Spanish.

I could go on.

It is undeniable that our away form needs significant improvement, but it was fine last year & the margin between victory & defeat has often been slight. Given the game-changing players we require I am certain that this- and our record against the other big 3- will improve significantly.

Good post.

[The Glove]

Cannot be arsed structuring an argument, but here are a few points that speak for themselves:

• -GH took us arguably closer than Rafa in the league but never had the Chavski factor to contend with
• Rafa has spent £40m net, so £85m is very misleading. In that same time, Scum & the Chavs has spent £20m+ on single players.
• In that time he has takens us from struggling to qualify for the CL in GH's last 2 seasons to qualifying for it comfortably in Rafa's last 2
• In the same time he has revolutionised the squad completely & instilled a different playing philosophy.
• Records for home wins & clean sheets have been equalled or surpassed.
• He has raised the profile of the club so that we are respected and talked about in his homelands & elsewhere in Europe.
• You mention how Chavski were weakened when we played them, but you, like so many others who use the same argument, forget that we were missing Finn, Garcia & Kewell. They are equally as important players for us as the ones Chelsea were missing.
• We have every chance of finishing above the Gooners for 2 seasons in a row despite all but throwing the last 2 games. How long is it since that has happened?
• Fergiscum took 8 years to win Scum the League when it was a lot less competive than it is now. Also, the transition from Scottish football is less significant than that from Spanish.

I could go on.

It is undeniable that our away form needs significant improvement, but it was fine last year & the margin between victory & defeat has often been slight. Given the game-changing players we require I am certain that this- and our record against the other big 3- will improve significantly.

Nothing wrong with that Officer.

[Parm]

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.

as Napolean said, I'd rather have a lucky general than a good one.

[Morph]

Cannot be arsed structuring an argument, but here are a few points that speak for themselves:

• -GH took us arguably closer than Rafa in the league but never had the Chavski factor to contend with
• Rafa has spent £40m net, so £85m is very misleading. In that same time, Scum & the Chavs has spent £20m+ on single players.
• In that time he has takens us from struggling to qualify for the CL in GH's last 2 seasons to qualifying for it comfortably in Rafa's last 2
• In the same time he has revolutionised the squad completely & instilled a different playing philosophy.
• Records for home wins & clean sheets have been equalled or surpassed.
• He has raised the profile of the club so that we are respected and talked about in his homelands & elsewhere in Europe.
• You mention how Chavski were weakened when we played them, but you, like so many others who use the same argument, forget that we were missing Finn, Garcia & Kewell. They are equally as important players for us as the ones Chelsea were missing.
• We have every chance of finishing above the Gooners for 2 seasons in a row despite all but throwing the last 2 games. How long is it since that has happened?
• Fergiscum took 8 years to win Scum the League when it was a lot less competive than it is now. Also, the transition from Scottish football is less significant than that from Spanish.

I could go on.

It is undeniable that our away form needs significant improvement, but it was fine last year & the margin between victory & defeat has often been slight. Given the game-changing players we require I am certain that this- and our record against the other big 3- will improve significantly.

top post

[Roboklopp]

Ta.

[simey85]

a load of poo!