Rafa Benitez - the kingmaker

[Frenchie]

[dww]

I'm down on our style of play under Dalglish precisely because there was no control and it was ineffective. There's a balance - pretty football with control and that gets results is what I want. If any one of those three is out of whack then I find it terrible to watch.

At times under Dalglish we did play some lovely football. There were some matches we'd open up brilliantly, passing well, pressing the opposition high up the pitch, forcing and capitalising on mistakes, it was great to watch. But other times we just looked ****e. And there was no way to correct it. And even if we did start well, if we didn't score, we always looked vulnerable and usually conceded.

If it didn't work right away, we looked like we didn't know what we were doing. It was dreadful to watch. By the end I had no faith that Dalglish was able to make a difference in matches.

And the Roy Evans' side wasn't that great either. Yes, it was better than last year's dog and pony show - we were more effective and the results were better - but the balance was still wrong, we had no control and when McManaman was nullified, we often had nothing else to offer. Of course at times it was a joy to watch but it was incredibly frustrating to watch so much attacking talent dragged down by such a persistently crap defence.

I tend to agree with a lot of that. I just think that if people take it on purely aesthetic grounds the football was not bad a lot of the time when it is stated to be universally dismal. I think the collapse at the end of the season has a lot to do with it and my feeling is that it came from the same lack of control we agreed with earlier.

I can see the point about the end feeling like Kenny was helpless. I tend to feel that we had no on pitch general and that made it hard to alter the games. I would be very interested to know what he was planning to change if given another season. I still think choosing Adam as the fulcrum of the side was the biggest mistake he made.

[Frenchie]

[Mostar]

He had a vision & a style that he wanted us to play in, but knew he didn't have the players to implement it, nor the resources to go out & get it quickly. Consequently, he played to the available players strengths, whilst continually wheeling & dealing to improve his squad. We remained competitive whilst going through a transitional phase.

He definitely made mistakes but these were compounded, if not intensified by the pillaging of our club by Hicks & Gillette.

Well said.

That pic gets me emotional every time I see it.

This is picture he took with Margaret Aspinall yesterday. Very few have done so much financially for HFSG as Rafa did.

[Shaggy]

[Shaggy]

He's still piling on the pounds though isn't he.

[el matador]

I tend to agree with a lot of that. I just think that if people take it on purely aesthetic grounds the football was not bad a lot of the time when it is stated to be universally dismal. I think the collapse at the end of the season has a lot to do with it and my feeling is that it came from the same lack of control we agreed with earlier.

I can see the point about the end feeling like Kenny was helpless. I tend to feel that we had no on pitch general and that made it hard to alter the games. I would be very interested to know what he was planning to change if given another season. I still think choosing Adam as the fulcrum of the side was the biggest mistake he made.

its hard to be critical about such an icon like kenny but he did make some pretty catastrophic decisions. the biggest one was paying 35m for carroll followed closely by paying 20m for downing.

you cant really fault the quality of the football because at times we were breathtaking and really unlucky. However, when you hit the post 40plus times you start to think its not just being unlucky but there's something wrong with the attack. we see the legacy of that now with suarez.

I think defensively we werent bad but the central midfield was very weak especially with lucas missing. after he got injured we just had no one in who could do a job. adam was ok going forward but a liability when we didnt have the ball so i couldnt understand him being played in midfield. We then brought spearing in and he looked out of his depth from the start and finally henderson who was brought in as central midfield player only got a run of games in the middle when adam got injured. seems odd given that a decent run of games might have meant a different henderson to what were seeing presently.

i couldnt see how we were playing either and who was meant to be doing what on the pitch. ultimately, the poor transfer business, the results on the pitch and his own failings in dealing with media / the whole suarez affair cost kenny his job. its a massive shame because if you wanted someone to advise the owners on footballing matters relating specifically to liverpool he wouldnt have been a bad shout.

[RedReet]

At the end of his last season, Rafa stated that he had gone in to work expecting to outline the plans for the following season only to be told that he was not going to get a single penny to spend on players. This let to a short and frank exchange of views after which Benitez was sacked. The owners wanted him out. That's it. End of story. They didn't give half a ****e about any fans - even at that time Rafa had a huge amount of support from much of the fanbase.

Oh, didn’t realise it was as straightforward as that and speculation was now indeed fact.

No point in arguing on I guess…

[kop-al-74]

Best manager since Paisley....was treated wrongly by a bunch of self obsessed pricks

[Mostar]

He's still piling on the pounds though isn't he.

He is unemployed you know

[Fredo]

He should never, ever have gone.

[Charly]

I always thought our play turned to **** when Alonso left. I know we had financial restrictions, but he failed to adequately replace the most important part of the team, using the tactics he liked to play with. He also had a agreement to sell Mascherano. I think he left knowing the team was ****ed.

I know there was a bit of a rift between him and Alonso, and he was not the sort of guy to get on his knees and beg the player to stay, but in hindsight, he should have done just that. I think his weakness was that distance from the players.

I still think it was best he left when he did, if only to preserve his own status. I think it would be wrong to go back to him now. He captured lightning in a bottle, and it would be sad to see him go the way of Dalglish if he could not recapture previous glories.

Also, I am not sure if things started to fall apart when Pako left. This draws a parallel to when Houllier lost Patrice Burgues. Sometimes being a great manager is more than just about the man himself.

[Buzzo]

Blimey Neil 2 conscutiveposts and not one dog pic or ounce of sarcasm

I agree with every word

[Buzzo]

He is unemployed you know

I wonder if he now extensively charts and records every episode of Jeremy Kyle and this morning? Cross referencing domestic disputes and bizarre occurrences amongst the chav populace?

His is a great coaching mind gone to waste?

[peekay]

I always thought our play turned to **** when Alonso left. I know we had financial restrictions, but he failed to adequately replace the most important part of the team, using the tactics he liked to play with. He also had a agreement to sell Mascherano. I think he left knowing the team was ****ed.

I know there was a bit of a rift between him and Alonso, and he was not the sort of guy to get on his knees and beg the player to stay, but in hindsight, he should have done just that. I think his weakness was that distance from the players.

I still think it was best he left when he did, if only to preserve his own status. I think it would be wrong to go back to him now. He captured lightning in a bottle, and it would be sad to see him go the way of Dalglish if he could not recapture previous glories.

Also, I am not sure if things started to fall apart when Pako left. This draws a parallel to when Houllier lost Patrice Burgues. Sometimes being a great manager is more than just about the man himself.

I think there was a huge psychological blow of doing so well but having nothing to show for at the end of the season.

There was some superhuman performances from a number of players in the second half of that season to overcome various obstacles. So many fantastic games.

I think when it all came to nothing the players were psychologically hit and they found it tough to raise to that level again.

Ideally what we should have done is retained the core squad and added a Jovetic, Suarez type of player and a back up striker. I believe that squad could have dominated the PL and Europe for years.

Look at Ferguson did after loosing out on the PL last season. Bought in Van Persie and Kagawa which is a huge boost for them and to a certain extent helped them overcome the scars of final day.