Riera - Benitez never talks to Liverpool Players

[MrMichael]

I know Rafa's got pretty bad management issues, worse than **** on a stick. Its just that all the recent players that Rafa has attempted to shift out say the same generic thing. I just wish a player would say I want to leave.

Crouch
Bellamy
Pennant
Babel?

All said the same thing, Rafa simply wanted them out to raise money and did not give a ****e about telling them he wanted them out, he just did it. Thats just underlines how bad his man-management skills are.

Really bad examples dude.

Rafa did nothing of the sort with Crouch, in fact he stuck his neck out with the lad when many thought it was a crazy transfer and Crouch's career benefited enormously from that. In the end though Rafa couldn't guarantee Crouch a first team place (rightly) and he didn't want to sit on the bench. Crouch recently said his time at Anfield was the best of his career.

Bellamy, well, Rafa put faith in him given his reputation at the time, and he repaid that by attacking a team mate with a golf club. Rather than hang him out to dry for it Rafa used him for the rest of the season then quietly moved him on. Amicable too, almost a miracle considering. Bellamy also wasn't very good for us.

And well, Pennant. yeah. Like anyone cares what he has to say.

I do think Rafa is not the sort of manager who inspires great devotion from his players through his personal touch. He expects professionalism and believes in tangibles like systems and fitness rather than more ethereal concepts such as morale and motivation. However he gets an awful lot of stick for "ruthlessly" cutting players when he really does nothing of the sort in my view, or at least no more than any manager does.

[darkstar]

I couldn't be bothered by Riera. I feel he is better suited for Spain, than England, where pace is not so much a factor. While I have seen some great play from him, I have seen more on the lackluster side. I hope we have the funds to bring in someone like Turan in the summer.

[reds123]

Rafa seems to lack communaction with his players -

This was said before in Gerrard's autobiography 3 years before.

And it hurts!

Goodluck Albert, you had a great season last year but were unlucky this season!

[Darkon]

Riera is hardly the first player to say this about Rafa and there just seems to be a clear split whether you can thrive under Rafa's man management or not. There seems to be no middle way with him.

I don't think Rafa is the best man manager in the game today, but I guess it's far from a coincidence that it is always the fringe players that believe they deserve better that come out attacking Rafa.

He is basically begging for a summer transfer back to Spain.

[Bender]

Bye Bye Albert Reira

Liverpool winger Albert Riera has hit out at Reds boss Rafa Benitez over a lack of communication with his struggling squad.

The Anfield outfit have endured a miserable season and their only remaining hopes of silverware hang in the balance as they bid to overturn a 1-0 deficit at home against Lille in the second leg of their Europa League last 16 clash on Thursday night.

Spain international Riera has made just two appearances for Liverpool since January, both of which came in Europe's second tier competition, and he is becoming frustrated by his lack of action.

The 27-year-old, an £8million signing from Espanyol in 2008, does not understand why he is out of the picture and is eager for more action to secure a place in Spain's World Cup squad.

Personal

He told Radio Marca: "When the coach says nothing to you and you are well, with no physical problems and training well, you cannot help but think it must be something personal.

"If I'm doing something badly and you are my boss, and you value me, then you are going to come and tell me what I have to do to play again. This is what hurts me.

"You see that the team are not doing well and there are no changes. It's a little frustrating because you see that you can help.

"I've been here two years and I know how he (Benitez) is. He's never sorted out a situation with a player by talking with him. He thinks he's in charge and everything else falls on deaf ears.

"His dialogue with the players is practically nil."

Offers
Regarding his future, Riera knows his hopes of featuring at South Africa in the summer depend on him playing first-team football.

"I would like to be here for the rest of my career, but players live to play. My objective is to go to the World Cup and for this I have to play," he said.

"Right now the only market open is the Russian one, I have offers from two teams and, looking at my situation, that has made me reflect a lot."
LINK

[Darkon]

aw Bender you where beaten to a link story already

[Bender]

damn i just got in from work never mind mods delete please

[Kenneth]

This story is soooo Wednesday.

[Matt]

Not the ideal time to come out with something like this but there'll probably be an official denial by lunchtime. He's obviously frustrated and with a World Cup round the corner, maybe kicking up a fuss is a bit of a PR stunt to at least get people talking about him?

Fact of the matter is he's been injured a lot and in poor form the rest of the time. He came in against Unirea, played dreadfully and was nowhere to be seen for the next couple of games. When he came on in Lille, he looked like he had his touch back so I was surprised to not see him play a part against Pompey.

Despite his form I can empathise with the way he feels because some players are not cast aside after one or two poor performances.

[dww]

This cant be true. Sami Hyypia said Rafa's a great man manager.

Could it be that we need to draw a more complex picture than merely stating that Rafa is a great or rubbish man manager? We have had very different views come out from a variety of players. Babel seems to have pretty regular talks with Rafa if his interviews are to be believed. Perhaps Rafa likes players to be proactive, perhaps Riera has breached his trust in some way?

[Rich]

I'd stick with Rafa over Reira on this one but it does highlight again that Rafa's man management skills obviously aren't the best for personalities that need an arm around the shoulder.

As long as we buy players that have the steel and mental fortitude then its not really an issue. However I'd suspect that the more creative players are the one more likely to need a kiss and a cuddle every now and again.

[Shaggy]

Riera can't complain, I'm a fan generally but there's a reason he's not being picked this year and it's because he's been absolutely ****ing ****e.

[dww]

I'd stick with Rafa over Reira on this one but it does highlight again that Rafa's man management skills obviously aren't the best for personalities that need an arm around the shoulder.

As long as we buy players that have the steel and mental fortitude then its not really an issue. However I'd suspect that the more creative players are the one more likely to need a kiss and a cuddle every now and again.

This is possibly true but I think we have seen Benayoun come through a similar period and it actually looks like Babel might have too. Perhaps it is tough love that makes some players into the type of player who don't need the good times to thrive.

You learn a lot about people when the chips are down and I suspect that Rafa feels that he has gained a lot of knowledge about the current squad. I remember talk at the beginning of the season that Riera was responding badly to being asked to cut inside more by Rafa (presumably by e-mail) - perhaps his unwillingness to change and early season poor form have counted against him.

[Rich]

This is possibly true but I think we have seen Benayoun come through a similar period and it actually looks like Babel might have too. Perhaps it is tough love that makes some players into the type of player who don't need the good times to thrive.

You learn a lot about people when the chips are down and I suspect that Rafa feels that he has gained a lot of knowledge about the current squad. I remember talk at the beginning of the season that Riera was responding badly to being asked to cut inside more by Rafa (presumably by e-mail) - perhaps his unwillingness to change and early season poor form have counted against him.

or semaphore

[Rich]

The other point about Benayoun is that he's Israel's captain so I'd imagine he has a bit more steel about him - he's a player that has that additional responsibility. Granted, at the moment, Babel seems to have got his head around the need to put a shift in on the pitch - however this could be down to the World Cup being on the horizon.