Rafa...

[Pacman]

I'm worried for him, i really am.

I know he had a cold but he really didnt look well, looked extremely stressed (as you'd expect) and almost looked like a man who's doing all he can, but to no avail.

You cant blame anything on him tonight, we played well, we controlled the game...villa did nothing other than benefit from sloppy defending and good luck. Rafa could've done little more than he did (other than play Crouch from the off) but in fairness, the side he picked did everything but kill the game off.

Rafa, bless him, didnt do much wrong and yet still the side dont win.

I really felt sorry for him when i saw his post match interview and i hope he still has the strength and will to keep fighting, he's done a great job of fighting the yanks from the inside and i hope he keeps going.

Rafa.

Best post I've read from you in ages Syd.

Well in mate 100% spot on

[Skillz]

Liverpool owners are undermining Rafa - LMA

Managers chief Richard Bevan has accused Liverpool's owners of undermining manager Rafael Benitez.


Benitez's position has been the subject of constant speculation over the past two months with the Spaniard's relationship with co-owners George Gillett and Tom Hicks reported to have broken down.


The uncertainty increased last week when Hicks admitted he had spoken to former Germany boss Jurgen Klinsmann about the job as an 'insurance policy' should Benitez leave.

Bevan, the chief executive of the League Managers Association, believes the matter has been badly handled and feels clubs need to improve their lines of communication between from boardroom to training ground.

Bevan told Sky Sports News: 'Clubs and their owners must act in a professional and business-like manner.

'Certainly what happened to Rafael Benitez undermined the club and certainly undermined him professionally and personally. It was surprising to hear the comments from the owner.

'But we also have to realise it is a massive multi-million pound business.

'It is really about making sure all the stake-holders properly communicate their views, sit round the table and build medium to long-term plans.

'If we were to focus on communication the game would be better off and many issues behind the scenes would be kept behind the scenes.'

RAFA

This was taken from ESPNSoccernet

That's akick in the guts for Hicks I would say.

[Dhav]

I think the problem for some is that Voronin and Kuyt have been toilet as well all season, but they've gotten more starts than Crouch, who, to be fair, hasn't been given a fair crack - for whatever reason.

I agree that both Voronin and Kuyt have been on the whole complete trash, and I for one would have preferred to have seen Crouch given more starts, but the troubling thing is whenever he has started he has been completely underwhelming, and even offered less than Kuyt and Voronin on occasion.

So he had some bad games pre-season, isn't that when you want your players to have bad games?

Like I've said before Rafa's treatment of Crouch last season was poor, culminating in that shocker of a decision for Athens. His handling of him in the league was largely lead to me taking the position that Rafa just didn't have what it takes to deliver us the league title.

His treatment this season has been even worse.

Whenever he has come from the bench he's done his best to try and turn things in our favour and I can remember a few games where he's had an impact. Blackburn & Besiktas away we looked much more dangerous after he arrived on the pitch. Today he bagged a goal from the subs bench, matching Kuyt's tally for the season from open play despite only starting 4 ****ing league games all season.

I agree that Rafa should have started Crouch in Athens and we should have played two up, but that is a selection error, but I don't see how it equates to "poor treatment and handling" of Crouch. I also fail to see why not playing Crouch leads you to believe Rafa can't win us the league. I for one am in agreement with Rafa (if that is indeed how he feels) that we need a higher calibre of player than Crouch if we want to win the league. Top scorer for us last season he was, yes, but I remember also the points he cost us with straightforward chances he missed against Man U at home and Blackburn away to name but two.

Sadly, this season, Crouch has looked far more threatening coming off the bench than he ever has when he's started.

[dww]

So he had some bad games pre-season, isn't that when you want your players to have bad games?

Like I've said before Rafa's treatment of Crouch last season was poor, culminating in that shocker of a decision for Athens. His handling of him in the league was largely lead to me taking the position that Rafa just didn't have what it takes to deliver us the league title.

His treatment this season has been even worse.

Whenever he has come from the bench he's done his best to try and turn things in our favour and I can remember a few games where he's had an impact. Blackburn & Besiktas away we looked much more dangerous after he arrived on the pitch. Today he bagged a goal from the subs bench, matching Kuyt's tally for the season from open play despite only starting 4 ****ing league games all season.

I think he is under used but since his purple patch last year around the Arsenal match he hasn't looked as good a player to me. He probably is best used as an impact player at the minute. Having said that I think the poor performances of others could easily mean that they warrant more game time (same to an extent applies to Babel who I think is being handled well individually but for the team as a whole I think we need his pace to be on the pitch more often).

[dww]

I'm worried for him, i really am.

I know he had a cold but he really didnt look well, looked extremely stressed (as you'd expect) and almost looked like a man who's doing all he can, but to no avail.

You cant blame anything on him tonight, we played well, we controlled the game...villa did nothing other than benefit from sloppy defending and good luck. Rafa could've done little more than he did (other than play Crouch from the off) but in fairness, the side he picked did everything but kill the game off.

Rafa, bless him, didnt do much wrong and yet still the side dont win.

I really felt sorry for him when i saw his post match interview and i hope he still has the strength and will to keep fighting, he's done a great job of fighting the yanks from the inside and i hope he keeps going.

Rafa.

There seems to be a lack of killer instinct to the team at the minute - seemingly bought about by a collective lack of confidence. Between the Blackburn and Reading games we looked to be developing the right mentality but I think that game set us back psychologically in the league.

[bigfooty]

II agree that Rafa should have started Crouch in Athens and we should have played two up, but that is a selection error, but I don't see how it equates to "poor treatment and handling" of Crouch. I also fail to see why not playing Crouch leads you to believe Rafa can't win us the league. I for one am in agreement with Rafa (if that is indeed how he feels) that we need a higher calibre of player than Crouch if we want to win the league. Top scorer for us last season he was, yes, but I remember also the points he cost us with straightforward chances he missed against Man U at home and Blackburn away to name but two.

Sadly, this season, Crouch has looked far more threatening coming off the bench than he ever has when he's started.

Crouch didn't start Man U at home last season, that was another cameo from the bench when he got 10 minutes and still caused more problems than Kuyt.

We ended 2005-2006 with 9 straight league wins and then a Cup win. Momentum. Crouchy at the fulcrum of the attack, not prolific but doing the job and us winning those games despite a pretty average strike force of Fowler, Nando, Crouch and Cisse. He had a decent World Cup despite being given limited chances by another manager who had his favourites (in Owen and Rooney) and did everything possible to get them on the pitch, regardless of their fitness or suitability for the game. It's widely accepted that Sven fkd up picking Rooney on his own against Portugal, allowing him to get booted around the pitch until he snapped with nobody to play off or share the load.

The problems for me comes with what Rafa did in Summer 2006 which, as we can now say, was a waste of time and money in terms of lasting impact for the club as not a single player we bought then is still around having a regular positive influence on the team.

If you look at the start of 2006-2007 Crouchy was on fire. He had an impact coming off the Bench against Haifa, I think he got a flick on the ball to Gonzo to score the winner, scored the winner in the Community Shield, scored for England against Greece, scored away against Haifa, scored home against West Ham, scored against Andorra and then the winner away to Macedonia. Then came the Derby when we picked a very odd side with no pace and some defensive howlers lead to a defeat.

At that point Crouchy, who had scored 6 in 8 starts, is benched by Rafa as he seeks to go with Bellamy & Kuyt for a few games. We fail to score against PSV, we lose to Chelsea, then we have a couple of decent results. He doesn't start any of those games. He comes back into the side and bags a couple against Galatasaray, including that wonderful overhead kick, but is immediately benched for the Bolton game which we lose. He comes back in and does okay against Blackburn, then scores the winner against Bordeaux, but it is then reported in the papers that he will not start against Utd. He doesn't and we lose 2-0 with an inept 4-6-0 formation spearheaded by Kuyt.

Crouch returns to the starting line-up and we win the next 4 he starts, only to go to Arsenal and play with Gonzalez and Zenden in midfield, losing the game 3-0. Crouch is benched, not Kuyt, and we go to Boro and have a dismal 0-0 draw. Crouch comes back in and we start to pick up again.

Later on in the season Crouch is out with an injury, he comes back and bags the hat-trick against Arsenal, scores against PSV, sets up Arbeloa against Reading, scores against PSV again, then is "rested" for Man City away where we go 4-6-0 again with Kuyt and fail to beat a team that didn't score at home for over 4 months prior to our visit. In comes Crouch again and we win a couple before dropping him for Chelsea away in the Champions League, which we lose. After that Crouch's only start is home to Chelsea, a game we won as you will recall, this being his only start in the final month of our season, culminating in his sub appearance in the Athens final.

Last season when Crouch started we won over 75% of our games. When he didn't start we won 36%. The season before that ratio was not as high, but still pretty good, above Rafa's win percentage overall, and thats with him having a run of 24hrs without scoring for us.

Now it doesn't take a math genius to see how that suggests starting with Crouch is a GOOD THING. And that is without a player of Fernando Torres' calibre to partner him, instead having a Morientes, Cisse, Fowler, Kuyt or Bellamy.

Crouch is clearly not the guy to lead the attacking line for any title challenging side, for that you have Torres. But he should be the guy playing alongside him more often than not, sharing the load, being an outlet, allowing Torres to do things other than challenge giant centre-halfs for balls from deep.

The difference between Crouch and Kuyt is fairly simple. For Crouch generally you point to games where he didn't contribute to things as being the exception, rather than the rule. For Kuyt it is the reverse.

[Shaggy]

Crouch didn't start Man U at home last season, that was another cameo from the bench when he got 10 minutes and still caused more problems than Kuyt.

We ended 2005-2006 with 9 straight league wins and then a Cup win. Momentum. Crouchy at the fulcrum of the attack, not prolific but doing the job and us winning those games despite a pretty average strike force of Fowler, Nando, Crouch and Cisse. He had a decent World Cup despite being given limited chances by another manager who had his favourites (in Owen and Rooney) and did everything possible to get them on the pitch, regardless of their fitness or suitability for the game. It's widely accepted that Sven fkd up picking Rooney on his own against Portugal, allowing him to get booted around the pitch until he snapped with nobody to play off or share the load.

The problems for me comes with what Rafa did in Summer 2006 which, as we can now say, was a waste of time and money in terms of lasting impact for the club as not a single player we bought then is still around having a regular positive influence on the team.

If you look at the start of 2006-2007 Crouchy was on fire. He had an impact coming off the Bench against Haifa, I think he got a flick on the ball to Gonzo to score the winner, scored the winner in the Community Shield, scored for England against Greece, scored away against Haifa, scored home against West Ham, scored against Andorra and then the winner away to Macedonia. Then came the Derby when we picked a very odd side with no pace and some defensive howlers lead to a defeat.

At that point Crouchy, who had scored 6 in 8 starts, is benched by Rafa as he seeks to go with Bellamy & Kuyt for a few games. We fail to score against PSV, we lose to Chelsea, then we have a couple of decent results. He doesn't start any of those games. He comes back into the side and bags a couple against Galatasaray, including that wonderful overhead kick, but is immediately benched for the Bolton game which we lose. He comes back in and does okay against Blackburn, then scores the winner against Bordeaux, but it is then reported in the papers that he will not start against Utd. He doesn't and we lose 2-0 with an inept 4-6-0 formation spearheaded by Kuyt.

Crouch returns to the starting line-up and we win the next 4 he starts, only to go to Arsenal and play with Gonzalez and Zenden in midfield, losing the game 3-0. Crouch is benched, not Kuyt, and we go to Boro and have a dismal 0-0 draw. Crouch comes back in and we start to pick up again.

Later on in the season Crouch is out with an injury, he comes back and bags the hat-trick against Arsenal, scores against PSV, sets up Arbeloa against Reading, scores against PSV again, then is "rested" for Man City away where we go 4-6-0 again with Kuyt and fail to beat a team that didn't score at home for over 4 months prior to our visit. In comes Crouch again and we win a couple before dropping him for Chelsea away in the Champions League, which we lose. After that Crouch's only start is home to Chelsea, a game we won as you will recall, this being his only start in the final month of our season, culminating in his sub appearance in the Athens final.

Last season when Crouch started we won over 75% of our games. When he didn't start we won 36%. The season before that ratio was not as high, but still pretty good, above Rafa's win percentage overall, and thats with him having a run of 24hrs without scoring for us.

Now it doesn't take a math genius to see how that suggests starting with Crouch is a GOOD THING. And that is without a player of Fernando Torres' calibre to partner him, instead having a Morientes, Cisse, Fowler, Kuyt or Bellamy.

Crouch is clearly not the guy to lead the attacking line for any title challenging side, for that you have Torres. But he should be the guy playing alongside him more often than not, sharing the load, being an outlet, allowing Torres to do things other than challenge giant centre-halfs for balls from deep.

The difference between Crouch and Kuyt is fairly simple. For Crouch generally you point to games where he didn't contribute to things as being the exception, rather than the rule. For Kuyt it is the reverse.

End of.

[bigfooty]

I think he is under used but since his purple patch last year around the Arsenal match he hasn't looked as good a player to me. He probably is best used as an impact player at the minute. Having said that I think the poor performances of others could easily mean that they warrant more game time (same to an extent applies to Babel who I think is being handled well individually but for the team as a whole I think we need his pace to be on the pitch more often).

The Arsenal game was his first match back from injury. Since that fixture, which was on the 31st of March, he has started 7 league games. We have won 5, drawn 1 and lost 1. The loss was the 4-3-3 Reading game where he was played out of position. To me that suggests he is a) underused and b) quite effective when played in the right position.

It also suggests to me he has every right to be pissed off at Rafa for not picking him more.

[Pablo]

There seems to be a lack of killer instinct to the team at the minute - seemingly bought about by a collective lack of confidence. Between the Blackburn and Reading games we looked to be developing the right mentality but I think that game set us back psychologically in the league.

Agreed. We are still way too weak psychologically to be able to put in a sustained challenge for the league. One setback can take us months to recover from. Man Utd can recover much quicker and their confidence is much less fragile. Im really not sure how we overcome this, winning the title would certainly do it, but to win the title you need that confidence in the first place. Catch 22 im afraid.

[dww]

The Arsenal game was his first match back from injury. Since that fixture, which was on the 31st of March, he has started 7 league games. We have won 5, drawn 1 and lost 1. The loss was the 4-3-3 Reading game where he was played out of position. To me that suggests he is a) underused and b) quite effective when played in the right position.

It also suggests to me he has every right to be pissed off at Rafa for not picking him more.

Fair enough - I think my memory must be off or I add the Arsenal game to a run of form prior to that in my head. I agree he has been under used but I think the Reading game apart he has started games where he was well suited to play against the opposition in the role he plays which makes him look more effective than he might be generally. He does however offer much more of a goal threat than Kuyt has looked like doing of late so he would be right in feeling hard done by.

I don't think he suits the way Rafa wants to evole our style (or at least he doesn't when he isn't in the imperious form he showed in his Arsenal hat trick game). Given our present run though I would hope Rafa will be more pragmatic and short term in his outlook and Crouch will get more starts.

[Skillz]

Good post, Big Footy

Rafa's 06 buys are looking very similar to Gerard's 02 buys. I hope he doesn't pay the same price because I still believe with the right backing this summer Rafa will get it right.

EDIT: and lets stop buying in Olympic years.

[bigfooty]

To be fair to Rafa financially the deals he made that Summer are not going to cost us in the long-term. But when you think about how the money might have been spent better it is disappointing.

[Dhav]

Crouch didn't start Man U at home last season, that was another cameo from the bench when he got 10 minutes and still caused more problems than Kuyt.

We ended 2005-2006 with 9 straight league wins and then a Cup win. Momentum. Crouchy at the fulcrum of the attack, not prolific but doing the job and us winning those games despite a pretty average strike force of Fowler, Nando, Crouch and Cisse. He had a decent World Cup despite being given limited chances by another manager who had his favourites (in Owen and Rooney) and did everything possible to get them on the pitch, regardless of their fitness or suitability for the game. It's widely accepted that Sven fkd up picking Rooney on his own against Portugal, allowing him to get booted around the pitch until he snapped with nobody to play off or share the load.

The problems for me comes with what Rafa did in Summer 2006 which, as we can now say, was a waste of time and money in terms of lasting impact for the club as not a single player we bought then is still around having a regular positive influence on the team.

If you look at the start of 2006-2007 Crouchy was on fire. He had an impact coming off the Bench against Haifa, I think he got a flick on the ball to Gonzo to score the winner, scored the winner in the Community Shield, scored for England against Greece, scored away against Haifa, scored home against West Ham, scored against Andorra and then the winner away to Macedonia. Then came the Derby when we picked a very odd side with no pace and some defensive howlers lead to a defeat.

At that point Crouchy, who had scored 6 in 8 starts, is benched by Rafa as he seeks to go with Bellamy & Kuyt for a few games. We fail to score against PSV, we lose to Chelsea, then we have a couple of decent results. He doesn't start any of those games. He comes back into the side and bags a couple against Galatasaray, including that wonderful overhead kick, but is immediately benched for the Bolton game which we lose. He comes back in and does okay against Blackburn, then scores the winner against Bordeaux, but it is then reported in the papers that he will not start against Utd. He doesn't and we lose 2-0 with an inept 4-6-0 formation spearheaded by Kuyt.

Crouch returns to the starting line-up and we win the next 4 he starts, only to go to Arsenal and play with Gonzalez and Zenden in midfield, losing the game 3-0. Crouch is benched, not Kuyt, and we go to Boro and have a dismal 0-0 draw. Crouch comes back in and we start to pick up again.

Later on in the season Crouch is out with an injury, he comes back and bags the hat-trick against Arsenal, scores against PSV, sets up Arbeloa against Reading, scores against PSV again, then is "rested" for Man City away where we go 4-6-0 again with Kuyt and fail to beat a team that didn't score at home for over 4 months prior to our visit. In comes Crouch again and we win a couple before dropping him for Chelsea away in the Champions League, which we lose. After that Crouch's only start is home to Chelsea, a game we won as you will recall, this being his only start in the final month of our season, culminating in his sub appearance in the Athens final.

Last season when Crouch started we won over 75% of our games. When he didn't start we won 36%. The season before that ratio was not as high, but still pretty good, above Rafa's win percentage overall, and thats with him having a run of 24hrs without scoring for us.

Now it doesn't take a math genius to see how that suggests starting with Crouch is a GOOD THING. And that is without a player of Fernando Torres' calibre to partner him, instead having a Morientes, Cisse, Fowler, Kuyt or Bellamy.

Crouch is clearly not the guy to lead the attacking line for any title challenging side, for that you have Torres. But he should be the guy playing alongside him more often than not, sharing the load, being an outlet, allowing Torres to do things other than challenge giant centre-halfs for balls from deep.

The difference between Crouch and Kuyt is fairly simple. For Crouch generally you point to games where he didn't contribute to things as being the exception, rather than the rule. For Kuyt it is the reverse.

Statto! Seriously impressed by that knowledge.

Purely judging Crouch on this season, and particularly games he has started, i dont think he has been much of a goal threat, and despite being much more technically proficient I also don't think he has contributed as much to general play as Kuyt. Fact remains when he has started this season he has on the whole been poor, so I can see why Rafa has not started with him. Right now he looks far more dangerous coming off the bench than he has done when he's started. I would prefer to see him being given a run in the side because he is more threatening than Kuyt, but I can see Rafa's side of it as well, which is why I'm not judging him too harshly on it.

[bigfooty]

I don't think he suits the way Rafa wants to evole our style.

Possibly, because it does seem as if Rafa more often than not over the last season and a bit wants to go with one out and out striker (Torres) then people playing off him - Kuyt or Voronin for the most part this season.

Some people call this a 4-2-3-1 type of formation, something similar to what he used at Valencia, but this is where my gripe is with Rafa's approach to the Premiership. Too often for me this becomes congested in midfield because the players he picks in the "3" tend not to be natural wide men, always cutting infield and clogging it up which leads to no space to shoot or having to pull off inch-perfect short passes to get through the massed ranks of the opposition. It's also true that Kuyt, if played in the middle of that three, ends up dropping deep into midfield to leave the striker even more isolated.

Personally I'd much rather see us play 4-4-2 with Torres + Crouch or Babel up front and some proper wing play that keeps an opponent stretched with crosses coming into the box. Far too often this season we've either not had enough bodies in the box due to Kuyt / Voronin dropping deep or ended up trying to drive through the middle of defences.

[friedk]

Rafa Benitez position still unclear whoever owns LiverpoolJan 22 2008




by Ian Doyle, Liverpool Daily Post


RAFAEL BENITEZ will have to prove he should stay as Liverpool manager if the rumoured takeover of the club takes place.

The Dubai International Capital (DIC) – the investment arm of the Dubai government – is thought to be readying a £350million offer to buy out American owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett.

Benitez’s position has come under intense scrutiny since the duo assumed control of the club last February, particularly after confirmation last week from Hicks that Jurgen Klinsmann had been approached with a view to taking over from the Spaniard.

There were protests at Anfield last night during Liverpool’s Premier League game with Aston Villa in support of Benitez and a possible DIC takeover.

But while DIC chairman Sameer al-Ansari is a keen Liverpool supporter, the business will demand the best possible man for the manager’s role.


And that would mean Benitez having to convince the prospective new owners he remains the ideal choice to end a championship drought that stretches back to 1990.


Hicks and Gillett are currently looking to refinance the club’s debt and are hopeful that a deal could be struck in the next few days, with the announcement of designs for the new stadium revealed next week.


However, it is feared the package could compromise Benitez’s summer spending plans.

The headline of that article is totally ridiculous, nobody from DIC made that statement, it's just the opinion of Ian Doyle presented as gospel.

As for the state of Liverpool, what the new owners have done is take all enjoyment out of the club. Win, lose or draw there is a constant cloud hanging over Anfield, Rafa is miserable, the players are miserable and so are the fans.

Tom Hicks could well be the worst thing to ever happen to our club. He's the Sean Dundee of club owners, a lot of hype, but totally ****ing useless when it really matters.