Rafa Watch

[Lee]

Johnson and Aurelio would've been asked to provide more width and stretch the flanks.

I remember when he wanted Barry and the talk of the Christmas tree formation. Degen and Dossena were apparently going to be the ones to stretch the play.

Essentially, if he'd had the money, we would've seen Kuyt, Gerrard, Jovetic and Torres in between the lines with any width coming from Johnson and Aurelio.

Oh well.

Oh ****, and Keane too. When did he sign? 2008 wasn't it? Barry was supposed to supply the ammo from the left to Keane with Dossena overlapping. Degen and Kuyt on the other side with Gerrard behind Torres & Keane still?!

Reina
Degen Skrtel Agger Dossena
Masherano
Kuyt Gerrard Barry
Torres Keane

???

It's a shame we never got to see his plans come to life. Still think Aquilani would be great in our current team (yeah I know he apparently doesn't like it here) - Italy's only a two hour flight ffs.

[Kenneth]

Oh ****, and Keane too. When did he sign? 2008 wasn't it? Barry was supposed to supply the ammo from the left to Keane with Dossena overlapping. Degen and Kuyt on the other side with Gerrard behind Torres & Keane still?!

Reina
Degen Skrtel Agger Dossena
Masherano
Kuyt Gerrard Barry
Torres Keane

???

It's a shame we never got to see his plans come to life. Still think Aquilani would be great in our current team (yeah I know he apparently doesn't like it here) - Italy's only a two hour flight ffs.

If that was the plan, not really.

[Daniel 7]

Degen and Dossena - AGH!

[CJ]

i prefer the shout of thundercats ho.

[Lee]

If that was the plan, not really.

I'm talking more about Aquilani, Jovetic and to a point Simao and Alves.

[little dave hedgehog]

isn't he saying he would play 2 of those 4 players in the middle at any given time rather than saying all 4 would start?

[kingfunk]

Rafa is currently preparing the next Rafalution.

[magicalbarnes]

Rafa is currently preparing the next Rafalution.

I can picture him stroking his goatee as we speak.

[lucas]

[Helios Creed]

The Spaniard, who led the English outfit to Champions League glory in 2005, departed Anfield in the summer of 2010 after a disappointing seventh-placed finish in the Premier League.

According to Benitez, though, things could have been very different had he been given the cash to bring in Dani Alves before the right-back's 2008 move to Barcelona.

"Daniel Alves was our first option on the right side," the Spaniard explained in an interview with Sports Illustrated.

"The problem that we had was that I had to decide to bring Alves as a winger when he was an offensive full-back.

"It was a difficult decision as we had money at the time for only just one striker or a winger/full-back.

"We signed a striker - the striker was [Dirk] Kuyt, who to be fair has turned out to be a fantastic contributor to the club."

Benitez also alleges that he was not given the necessary funds to persuade Fiorentina to part company with Jovetic in 2009.

"Jovetic was our target but we didn't have the money," the former Valencia boss claimed.

"My idea was to play [Javier] Mascherano, Lucas, [Steven] Gerrard, [Alberto] Aquilani - two of these four players in the middle and Jovetic between the lines, but we didn't have the money."

Benitez has been out of the game since parting company with Inter at the tail end of 2010.link

wasn't Alves actually on a plane to come for a medical, but there was a dispute over the price and he was told go get off again?

[Reece]

Simao, I think you're thinking of the wrong player.

[Dhav]

I think it's time for him to come home. I love Kenny but I do think he is out of touch with the modern game and tactically is not in Rafa's class. I also think Rafa would have spent the money Kenny has far more wisely; Rafa was adept at picking up value for money signings from La Liga and if they didn't work out he would shuffle them out quickly at minimum loss. Unfortunately we've paid a premium for British talent who have proven to be neither tactically nor technically as astute or gifted as their La Liga counterparts. We had hoped that being Premiership proven they would hit the ground running. Unfortunately many of them have shown they are not up to making the transition to a bigger club or capable of handling the pressure and expectations that go along with that. And when we do sell them on, make no mistake we will make huge losses. Unfortunately we will be hamstrung for a couple of years as a result of the transfer policy under Kenny and Commoli; the club will have to be self-sustaining and the only transfer funds we will have in the foreseeable future will, IMO, be what we generate in sales. Oh to have had Rafa spending that money instead of Kenny.

[Nick77]

I think it's time for him to come home. I love Kenny but I do think he is out of touch with the modern game and tactically is not in Rafa's class. I also think Rafa would have spent the money Kenny has far more wisely; Rafa was adept at picking up value for money signings from La Liga and if they didn't work out he would shuffle them out quickly at minimum loss. Unfortunately we've paid a premium for British talent who have proven to be neither tactically nor technically as astute or gifted as their La Liga counterparts. We had hoped that being Premiership proven they would hit the ground running. Unfortunately many of them have shown they are not up to making the transition to a bigger club or capable of handling the pressure and expectations that go along with that. And when we do sell them on, make no mistake we will make huge losses. Unfortunately we will be hamstrung for a couple of years as a result of the transfer policy under Kenny and Commoli; the club will have to be self-sustaining and the only transfer funds we will have in the foreseeable future will, IMO, be what we generate in sales. Oh to have had Rafa spending that money instead of Kenny.

Agree 100% - English players are generally not good enough & it shows when the national team plays...

[Dhav]

Agree 100% - English players are generally not good enough & it shows when the national team plays...

Indeed. I'd have had fewer issues with buying the likes of Downing, Carroll, Henderson etc, if we'd paid far more modest fees which would have been a fairer reflection of both their values and abilities. They still wouldn't have been good enough but at least the damage would have been minimal as we could move them on and recoup a large chunk of what we paid for them. If you just consider transfer fees alone the cost of Carroll could have got you Aguero (third highest scorer in the league), the cost of Downing could have got you Mata (who has 5 goals and 10 assists for Chelsea this season compared to Downing's 2 goals and 3 assists, as well as being Downing's junior by 4 years). If we'd been a bit cleverer not only might we have acquired better players at lower prices, we may also have had surplus funds to spend subsequently instead of relying on selling players to riase funds which is what we will inevitably do now.

[Mattshark]

Indeed. I'd have had fewer issues with buying the likes of Downing, Carroll, Henderson etc, if we'd paid far more modest fees which would have been a fairer reflection of both their values and abilities. They still wouldn't have been good enough but at least the damage would have been minimal as we could move them on and recoup a large chunk of what we paid for them. If you just consider transfer fees alone the cost of Carroll could have got you Aguero (third highest scorer in the league), the cost of Downing could have got you Mata (who has 5 goals and 10 assists for Chelsea this season compared to Downing's 2 goals and 3 assists, as well as being Downing's junior by 4 years). If we'd been a bit cleverer not only might we have acquired better players at lower prices, we may also have had surplus funds to spend subsequently instead of relying on selling players to riase funds which is what we will inevitably do now.

That would be 1 assist for Downing mate.