Rafa Benitez - the kingmaker

[peekay]

Same here.



I was sitting on the fence as I felt we needed the change and I thought he lost the dresssing room but as soon as he was let go I thought we made the mistake.

Still do.

I was the same.

I think most people who wanted him gone would have softened their stance on him if they knew he was going to be replaced by Woy.

One of the biggest mistakes a lot of fans made was thinking that if Rafa left, Jose and Van Gaal would be queueing outside our door wanting to manage us.

However there was a vocal minority, remember the Anti Rafa Taliban on TLW , who wanted him out at all costs and who thought that all we needed to get back to fourth was a little bit of man management and "keeping it simple". I can simply not comes to terms with that.

I can understand and rationalizing people not rating Rafa. However, I can never understand people not liking Rafa and going to that extreme.

[leftpeg]

Different excerpts here. A bit heartbreaking (except for the bit about his lucky Tasmanian Devil underpants).
http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/footba...former-1317275

[Eric Swindler]

His footy was boring as ****e. Great manager mind.

[ashey]

His football was pragmatic. 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.

[peekay]

[Lee]

Can't wait to read this book.

[barnes10]

those who genuinely wanted rafa gone - and some said some pretty disrespectful things - were / are bellends. simple as that. many others should have gone before him. Owners, board, leading players if rumours are true.

far too many couldnt see the wood for the trees and allow him any slack for the difficult circumstances he had to work under

the treatment of rafa by some fans exposed the myth that we have the best fans in the world. Maybe we did in the 70s, 80s & 90s but certainly not any more.

[Muddled]

His football was pragmatic. 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.

Excellent post.

[kingfunk]

Can not wait to read this book.

[marksared]

His footy was boring as ****e. Great manager mind.

See the below .

His football was pragmatic. 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.

Excellent post.

[Lee]

His football was pragmatic. 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.

Completely agree. Well said.

[sean_lfc]

His football was pragmatic. 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.

those who genuinely wanted rafa gone - and some said some pretty disrespectful things - were / are bellends. simple as that. many others should have gone before him. Owners, board, leading players if rumours are true.

far too many couldnt see the wood for the trees and allow him any slack for the difficult circumstances he had to work under

the treatment of rafa by some fans exposed the myth that we have the best fans in the world. Maybe we did in the 70s, 80s & 90s but certainly not any more.

There was no internet back in the day...

[bonzai]

those who genuinely wanted rafa gone - and some said some pretty disrespectful things - were / are bellends. simple as that. many others should have gone before him. Owners, board, leading players if rumours are true.

far too many couldnt see the wood for the trees and allow him any slack for the difficult circumstances he had to work under

the treatment of rafa by some fans exposed the myth that we have the best fans in the world. Maybe we did in the 70s, 80s & 90s but certainly not any more.

Couldn't agree more. Still love the guy, still want him back more than anything else.

[ronanm]

I'd like to see him back in the near future - sorry BR!

[Eric Swindler]

I enjoyed going to the game far more under most other managers than I did under Rafa. Houllier's football was worse mind. Both got fairly decent results, but the style was awful at times. Most of the time in fact.

I was raised on Liverpool great style of the 80's so for me it's not the 'Liverpool Way' to be pragmatic (boring as ****e). In the golden years, we won, but with style. Hopefully Rodgers can implement that again.

Not to take anything away from Rafa's achievements though, he was a great manager, and brought us some great nights. Just not the right man for me. If that makes me a bellend, then so be it.