So, over two years later....

[kopdan]

I think its simple

We have maybe overtaken Arsenal since he took over, I say maybe

BUT Utd and Chelsea are still a better outfit thanks in the main to their finances.

I think if Roman hadnt come along, we would be 2nd in the league now.

I still believe we need more cash to attract the better players

Working on a budget may simply be not good enough to win the league anymore

[Red Chilli]

We're still lightyears away from Rafa's Valencia side, in terms of style of play, quality of player and league title success...

Why?

Nonsense. Lightyears away? Valencia won 2 league titles, it won't take us "lightyears" to achieve that.
Quality of player? So who are these amazing Valencia players better than Gerrard,Carragher, Finnan or Alonso?
Style of play? As others have pointed out you have to adapt your style of play to match the conditions of the respective league.

[puredale]

you?

what does valencia's team 3 seasons ago have to do with us?

does fergie's ute play like his aberdeen team?
does wenger's arsenal play in the same way as his monaco team?

(the answer is no, the formations and styles are completely different)

but the truth is that rafa's valencia did not play scintillating stuff every week, they were solid, worked hard, defended and attacked well as a team. which, for most of last season is what liverpool did.

now, they also had rufete on the right, the good lefty who's name escapes me and pablo aimar as a creator.
compare that to what rafa has got to work with now (admitedly his own buys) and its clear that those new signings will need time to get to what he wants.

don't forget that the squad that rafa inherited wasa good enough to get to 2 champs league finals and finish in the top 3 when the spanish league was arguably at its strongest (when deportivo, madrid and barca were all excellent sides, now only barca and valencia still are)

it still took him a while to implement his ideas at valencia and he faced teh same questions then that he faces now, yet his methods were proved correct in the end.

as you're so interested in comparing, with us he inherited a squad good enough to limp to 4th a huge way behind the other 3 and again it took a while to get his methods across.

an example is to look at our defence. which had been one of the most solid under houllier. took them a while to get used to rafa's ways, once they got it we were even more solid.

same thing with the attacking players. it just takes longer to work out how to score goals as a team as opposed to keeping them out.

your original post was a clever way to get some criticism in, when frankly the team and manager are under enough pressure from outside, when his record at valencia and with us should buy our manager all the time he needs from our supporters to get it right

hopefully that answer is a bit less glib for you

class answer - how about an equally inteligent and considered response from the reformed DJ??

[saveferris]

Its just a different league, more physical and faster paced which means that any change in a style of play can take a long time to take place.

Another way to look at it is do we play better football than we did 2 years ago? I would say yes. This is down to Benitez and his team. It may not the Valencia way but its Benitez's way.

[thesilverfoxlfc]

I think its simple

We have maybe overtaken Arsenal since he took over, I say maybe

BUT Utd and Chelsea are still a better outfit thanks in the main to their finances.

I think if Roman hadnt come along, we would be 2nd in the league now.

I still believe we need more cash to attract the better players

Working on a budget may simply be not good enough to win the league anymore

I have to agree with Kopdan especially the last point you cant budget and win the title unfortunately and we need to attract bigger players with exceptional quality the likes of Aguero,Villa, Vicente etc i hope Villa could some way be at Liverpool next year. Clearly Rafa went for him in the summer but once again he met a wall called money

[Harv]

I dont really see the point in trying to compare us to Valencia.

We have different players, its a different league blah blah blah.......

We have a similar structure to the team that he chose in Spain, but it has been tweaked to suit the english game, such as the extra body as a defensive mid instead of an attacking mid (aimar)

It will never be as free flowing as his team however, simply because our players cannot play that style of football. Some can, but the majority cannot, case in point is seen when Garcia does his little flicks, often to no one you think, but looking more closley they are often played to space a player could be running into......Rafa's Valencia side did this to perfection i felt.

[keniget]

Rafa brings up Valencia a lot, so I think it's very valid to compare us to them.

As for buying the manager some time? How is that to be accomplished via an Internet forum? Internet forums are for people to air their views, negative or positive. It's not like any one of us is going to go to Anfield on matchdays and start booing.

[Craig_H]

Rafa brings up Valencia a lot, so I think it's very valid to compare us to them.

As for buying the manager some time? How is that to be accomplished via an Internet forum? Internet forums are for people to air their views, negative or positive. It's not like any one of us is going to go to Anfield on matchdays and start booing.

Good to see you ken.

Posted this for a reason, which not everyone seems to have picked up on.

[The Glove]

Posted this for a reason, which not everyone seems to have picked up on.

Then explain it rather than try to act smart?

[Craig_H]

Whilst there's some validity to the points made, i was curious to see if people would get all defensive, or whether there'd be any acknowledgement made of the points.

I particularly like the friendliness on here

[bazza76]

Whilst there's some validity to the points made, i was curious to see if people would get all defensive, or whether there'd be any acknowledgement made of the points.

I particularly like the friendliness on here

I still dont get your point that your trying to make.
bottom line is, we are in a different league with a different way of playing football, to say that Rafa has to turn us into anohter valencia is asking the impossible.
Sure we can be equally as effective going forward and defending. but as for playing style, it will inevitably be different.
Please explain your thinking on this.