Benitez wants overhaul at Anfield

[Bender]

Rafael Benitez admitted it could take five new signings to turn Liverpool into trophy challengers once more.
The Reds lost to Atletico Madrid on away goals in the Europa League semi-finals to compound a miserable season, which they will finish empty-handed.
"Someone said we needed four or five players. I would more or less agree with that. That is what we have to do," said Liverpool boss Benitez.

"I do not know whether I will have any funds. We will find out in the summer."
Liverpool do still have the fourth Champions League place to aim for, but even that is a forlorn hope.
They would require victory over title favourites Chelsea in their penultimate game of the season on Sunday to stand any chance, while hoping other results go their way.

Benitez acknowledged there is plenty of work ahead if Liverpool are to regain their former status.
"Liverpool is a massive club," said the Spaniard after his side beat Atletico 2-1 at Anfield but drew 2-2 on aggregate to bow out on away goals.
"There has been a change in the last two or three years. We have had to balance the books and manage in this way."


However, whether he will stay at Anfield to undertake the rebuilding job remains to be seen.
Juventus are reported to be keen on acquiring the services of Benitez, who saw his hopes of leading Liverpool to a third European final under his charge collapse after they had found themselves in such a promising position.
The 50-year-old was cagey about his future, refusing to look any further ahead than the two games his side have left.

"The future is Chelsea. And then Hull," he said.
The exit was a microcosm of Liverpool's season - plenty of effort and some finesse in the first half, Alberto Aquilani providing the latter with a superb finish to put the hosts in front.

Although there were no more goals in normal time, Yossi Benayoun struck at the start of the additional 30 minutes and seemed to have set up an all-English final with Fulham in Hamburg on 12 May.
But former Manchester United striker Diego Forlan wrecked those dreams, leaving Benitez to pick up his players once more, after he ran out of experience to make a difference from the bench.

"Everything seems to have been against the players this season," he said. "It is clear that we had some problems.
"We had too many injuries and were lacking forward options. But the players worked so hard tonight and I am very proud of them.
"Now we have to concentrate and do our best in the next two games."

BBC

[cream]

Messi
Ronaldo
Iniesta
Xavi
Aguero

[Bender]

Messi
Ronaldo
Iniesta
Xavi
Aguero

Let me change the title to Benitez wants a magic genie

[red g]

scott Parker
Nigel reo coker
steve sidwell
papa biouf diop
huddlestone

[the rev leeroy brown]

benitez wants overhaul - well i want a blowey from cheryl cole but that wont happen either.

[SB]

Messi
Ronaldo
Iniesta
Xavi
Aguero

" cough" dreaming "cough"

[SB]

benitez wants overhaul - well i want a blowey from cheryl cole but that wont happen either.

Why, are you really ugly like ?

[The Birdman]

Another **** article, Rafa's actual interview contains the words "Other people have said we need 3, 4, maybe 5 players and I would maybe agree with that".

So 3 players doesn't constitute an overhaul, 5 however constitutes a sensationalist headline

[Exiled_red]

We do need a squad overhaul, we seriously lack strength in depth. The first 11 is good decent, a couple of player need replacing, but given a couple of injuries we're in trouble.

Our first 11 is probably:

Reina
Johnson Carragher Agger Insua
Rodriguez Mascherano Gerrard Benayoun
Aquilani
Torres

Subs Cavalieri, Kryiakos, Skrtel, Lucas, Babel, Kuyt, Ngog

Insua and Benayoun would be decent squad players but shouldn't be starting, Ngog or Kuyt shouldn't be our first back up strikers. Babel I think is decent enough for our squad at the moment, but really isn't good enough IMO. Which shows up the inadequacy of our attacking options.

This is all based on the assumption that Aurelio, Riera are as good as gone, (it seems Cavalieri as well) Players like Degen and El Zhar aren't good enough.

Players like Spearing, Darby and Plessis I fear aren't going to make it

People are going over the top (IMO) In saying some of the young players, Kelly and Pacheco are ready to be first back up.

[The_weatherman]

People are going over the top (IMO) In saying some of the young players, Kelly and Pacheco are ready to be first back up.

I disagree, if the players feel that the managers trusts them and has confidence in them they can perform for us, although maybe Pacheco is a bit too young but Kelly can serve as back up IMO. Of course it would be better to have established backup but I would prefer someone like Kelly over a Degen.

[red g]

We do need a squad overhaul, we seriously lack strength in depth. The first 11 is good decent, a couple of player need replacing, but given a couple of injuries we're in trouble.

Our first 11 is probably:

Reina
Johnson Carragher Agger Insua
Rodriguez Mascherano Gerrard Benayoun
Aquilani
Torres

Subs Cavalieri, Kryiakos, Skrtel, Lucas, Babel, Kuyt, Ngog

Insua and Benayoun would be decent squad players but shouldn't be starting, Ngog or Kuyt shouldn't be our first back up strikers. Babel I think is decent enough for our squad at the moment, but really isn't good enough IMO. Which shows up the inadequacy of our attacking options.

This is all based on the assumption that Aurelio, Riera are as good as gone, (it seems Cavalieri as well) Players like Degen and El Zhar aren't good enough.

Players like Spearing, Darby and Plessis I fear aren't going to make it

People are going over the top (IMO) In saying some of the young players, Kelly and Pacheco are ready to be first back up.

hugely disagree, degen, el zhar, vrononin, pennant, babel half the time and if i thought about it could think of a dozen more all have taken up valuable playing time and have done nothing on the pitch.......i would much prefer kelly, pacheco, spearing, even mavinga and amoo etc given game time when quuite frankly they cannot do much worse and it would be good for there experience.

OK the counter argument is it could destro confidence but if someone said to kelly its ok to **** up as quite frankly if we put degen in he will anyway, they might be ok

[Exiled_red]

I disagree, if the players feel that the managers trusts them and has confidence in them they can perform for us, although maybe Pacheco is a bit too young but Kelly can serve as back up IMO. Of course it would be better to have established backup but I would prefer someone like Kelly over a Degen.

Kelly has started two matches for us. Fair enough he has been impressive in them but that's not enough to say that he's going to make it regardless of how highly regarded he is!

I too would take Kelly over Degen as a back up but that's not a measure of Kelly's ability more a measure of Degen's lack of ability. IMO only having a 19 year old kid with two games experience as you only back up is one hell of a gamble. Insua had alot more experience than this when he was given his opportunity, and there have been times where Insua IMO needed taking out of the firing line. If Johnson were injured the same could happen to Kelly.

[5europeancups]

Rafael Benitez admitted it could take five new signings to turn Liverpool into trophy challengers once more.
The Reds lost to Atletico Madrid on away goals in the Europa League semi-finals to compound a miserable season, which they will finish empty-handed.
"Someone said we needed four or five players. I would more or less agree with that. That is what we have to do," said Liverpool boss Benitez.

"I do not know whether I will have any funds. We will find out in the summer."
Liverpool do still have the fourth Champions League place to aim for, but even that is a forlorn hope.
They would require victory over title favourites Chelsea in their penultimate game of the season on Sunday to stand any chance, while hoping other results go their way.

Benitez acknowledged there is plenty of work ahead if Liverpool are to regain their former status.
"Liverpool is a massive club," said the Spaniard after his side beat Atletico 2-1 at Anfield but drew 2-2 on aggregate to bow out on away goals.
"There has been a change in the last two or three years. We have had to balance the books and manage in this way."


However, whether he will stay at Anfield to undertake the rebuilding job remains to be seen.
Juventus are reported to be keen on acquiring the services of Benitez, who saw his hopes of leading Liverpool to a third European final under his charge collapse after they had found themselves in such a promising position.
The 50-year-old was cagey about his future, refusing to look any further ahead than the two games his side have left.

"The future is Chelsea. And then Hull," he said.
The exit was a microcosm of Liverpool's season - plenty of effort and some finesse in the first half, Alberto Aquilani providing the latter with a superb finish to put the hosts in front.

Although there were no more goals in normal time, Yossi Benayoun struck at the start of the additional 30 minutes and seemed to have set up an all-English final with Fulham in Hamburg on 12 May.
But former Manchester United striker Diego Forlan wrecked those dreams, leaving Benitez to pick up his players once more, after he ran out of experience to make a difference from the bench.

"Everything seems to have been against the players this season," he said. "It is clear that we had some problems.
"We had too many injuries and were lacking forward options. But the players worked so hard tonight and I am very proud of them.
"Now we have to concentrate and do our best in the next two games."

BBC

I would advocate a top down assessment of the cuurent situation rather than a bottom up view on where things have not progressed and why we havent won anything since the FA CUP.

I saw last night that Pacheco came on with a few minutes to go.

Why on earth hasnt he been exposed more often other than the most crucial game of the season??

I think its very easy for Rafa to blame the owners based on expectations, but there is no doubt that not withstanding a perceiveed lack of funds his teams that He has built have failed to deliver.

I think that if we scrutinise his record, his success has been in taking legacy teams to the next level with a few astute signings, but has he got a track record anywhere of building a successful team?

Sure Rafa is a great manager, but I think he has run time time at Liverpool and I dobt that even if he was givne 100m this summer if he would deliver us no 19

[Exiled_red]

hugely disagree, degen, el zhar, vrononin, pennant, babel half the time and if i thought about it could think of a dozen more all have taken up valuable playing time and have done nothing on the pitch.......i would much prefer kelly, pacheco, spearing, even mavinga and amoo etc given game time when quuite frankly they cannot do much worse and it would be good for there experience.

OK the counter argument is it could destro confidence but if someone said to kelly its ok to **** up as quite frankly if we put degen in he will anyway, they might be ok

As I said in the post above Kelly has played two games for us. The Insua situation has shown me why we need experienced cover. Obviously the experienced cover has to be decent, the problem at the moment is that it isn't. I agree that I would take Kelly over Degen for example. But that is because Degen is thoroughly hopeless. Ideally we'd have better cover and could bring these kids through by giving the kids experience at the appropriate times, rather than throwing them in the deep end, and expecting them to play alot of games when a first choice player picks up an injury. IMO it is better for the team and better for their development.

[red g]

As I said in the post above Kelly has played two games for us. The Insua situation has shown me why we need experienced cover. Obviously the experienced cover has to be decent, the problem at the moment is that it isn't. I agree that I would take Kelly over Degen for example. But that is because Degen is thoroughly hopeless. Ideally we'd have better cover and could bring these kids through by giving the kids experience at the appropriate times, rather than throwing them in the deep end, and expecting them to play alot of games when a first choice player picks up an injury. IMO it is better for the team and better for their development.

i agree there, but thats the point in our situation i would play the kids more as the alternatives are just wank.