League the Priority......says Rafa.

[the rev leeroy brown]

http://www.teamtalk.com/football/story/0,16368,2483_5701094,00.html

Following a disappointing start to the season which has seen them lose five league games already, many are ruling the Reds out of the title race this term.

Nevertheless, Benitez, who brought the Champions League trophy to Anfield in 2005, is desperate to claim the domestic crown.

He told The Times: "Anyone who knows me knows that I want to win every trophy, every game.

"But if you ask me what I prefer, I will say the Premier League.

"If I do not win the title, I'm sure I'd be so disappointed maybe I would have this feeling [of failure]."

Many saw last term as a great chance for Liverpool to challenge for the Premier League title, but Benitez saw his plans scuppered when he failed to bring Gareth Barry to Liverpool.

And he believes the season would have turned out differently - possibly even with his ultimate goal reached - had Barry moved to Anfield.

"You never know," he said. "Football is a funny game.

"The plan was for Barry to play on the left and feed the ball to Robbie Keane, who would play up front with Fernando Torres.

"This blueprint had to be scrapped. The collateral damage was Keane, who signed from Tottenham Hotspur before the Barry deal had been done.

"When we wanted to sign Barry, we were sure we were signing a good player with a very good mentality and the quality to play in the Premier League. The priority was Barry, then Keane."


delighted to hear him sya the league is his priority bu to then go on and say he wanted barry for the left??? makes me even happier we never got him.

[Shaggy]

Nah that's rubbish, Ronnie Whelan says his priority is the CL and he's not bothered about anything else.

Barry on the left though?

Mind you if we'd been able to keep and accomodate Alonso, Barry, Mascherano and Gerrard all together then..............ah well.

[Guest]

I'm a bit worried about all those comments by Rafa, they seem to be a bit 'prophetic' and feel to me he's a bit miffed with it all and thinking of packing it all in. He's been criticised left right and centre here, and unjustly. ****'s sake, he doesn't have to justify himself as any knowledgeable football analyst should have realised that English football was a different kettle of fish than European football and that it would take him time to adjust.

[Darkon]

I'm a bit worried about all those comments by Rafa, they seem to be a bit 'prophetic' and feel to me he's a bit miffed with it all and thinking of packing it all in. He's been criticised left right and centre here, and unjustly. ****'s sake, he doesn't have to justify himself as any knowledgeable football analyst should have realised that English football was a different kettle of fish than European football and that it would take him time to adjust.

I think the only reason he justifies himself so much these days is because he is under tremendous pressure because of recent results. Basically when defending his own position is so many ways, it only tells me that he fears for his job.

He is more or less talking to the fans as he knows they are the reason he is still in the job - he is a clever man.

Hopefully the international break will be good for the team so it gets back on track.

[Matt]

Is this a re-hashed version of the same interview from the other day?

[cream]

The Barry comments are interesting, looks like Rafa was planning to play the 3-5-2 formation.

[dww]

I'm not sure it does hint at a 3-5-2 at all. I think it is quite likely that we would have gone with the 4-4-2 type formation we used when Keane started that season but with Barry tucking in more to allow Gerrard greater freedom. I guess the idea being that this would prevent the problem that actually occurred with Riera in the team of Gerrard and Keane too often wanting to be in the same place.

I think Barry was probably the priority partly as he could have taken Alonso's place in future as well. I'm suspicious that Rafa has been a little revisionist there in what he is saying was a clear one intention plan. I think it is pretty clear that Keane was a failure and his problems were not entirely down to the lack of Barry - he still got service and he still would have had to adapt to playing with Gerrard and Torres and Riera did a fine job feeding everyone else.

That said it is pretty clear and always has been that Barry was the priority for Rafa that summer and those above him prevented that deal from happening.

[cream]

I'm not sure it does hint at a 3-5-2 at all. I think it is quite likely that we would have gone with the 4-4-2 type formation we used when Keane started that season but with Barry tucking in more to allow Gerrard greater freedom. I guess the idea being that this would prevent the problem that actually occurred with Riera in the team of Gerrard and Keane too often wanting to be in the same place.

I think Barry was probably the priority partly as he could have taken Alonso's place in future as well. I'm suspicious that Rafa has been a little revisionist there in what he is saying was a clear one intention plan. I think it is pretty clear that Keane was a failure and his problems were not entirely down to the lack of Barry - he still got service and he still would have had to adapt to playing with Gerrard and Torres and Riera did a fine job feeding everyone else.

That said it is pretty clear and always has been that Barry was the priority for Rafa that summer and those above him prevented that deal from happening.

The story of LFC.

[knockers]

Kinda explains why Dossena was bought and then not really played much since Keane went. Wonder if Rafa hoped he could do a similar job down the left?

[paulg]

I'm quite pleased that Rafa is being more open lately. The media love to make stuff up, or even twist some facts as Rafa rarely comments on details. It's about time he gave us his real thoughts and showed the press up for being the liars they are.

I think it's refreshing.