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View from the Kop

At last Rafa says what we’ve all been thinking

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I have never been an unabashed pro-Rafa fanatic but neither have I been in the other camp, attacking every decision he makes and slating him for bad results. It is very clear to me that many of the problems of Liverpool FC are a combination of factors, which do include managerial mistakes by Benitez but centre around the issues of American ownership. Certainly, mistakes have been made in signing and selling players over the last few seasons, but the net amount of what Rafa has had to spend in those years has also been remarkably low for a side purporting to challenge for the Premier League title.

Expectations were certainly heightened after last season’s second place, and he was always set for a fall this season if he didn’t improve on his runner up position. We can gone on all night about the mistakes of selling Xabi Alonso, the failed purchase of Gareth Barry, the lack of a replacement for Robbie Keane and they can be attributed to both the board and the manager. The media tends to hit Rafa over the head with these issues, and they are utilised to affect the reasoning for the demands of his dismissal. Of course, there is a big split among Reds fans about his future, but there is certainly no indication of that split in the media. It is a united against him and Rafa himself in an interview today with the Spanish media, talked about the British press

“I hope things get better and that Liverpool are competitive again. My critics in London say that I am not a good manager but they forget many details. Liverpool have averaged 69 points in the last 12 seasons. We made a huge mistake, as we won four titles at the start. That meant people were expecting more, expectations rose and this year things haven’t been good since the start. But in reality in the Premier League it’s assumed that at the start a coach needs time to adapt. (Manchester United manager Sir Alex) Ferguson took seven years to win the Premier League.”

For me, Rafa puts things in the right perspective here. When he arrived at the club, he transformed a failing team to win the Champions League, following up his success with the FA Cup the next season and another European final the season after that. Since then though he has failed to win a trophy and like he said, he has been a victim of his own success in the early years of his reign. It doesn’t mean though that Rafa should be immune to criticism because of these successes but it should allow him a bit more time to succeed.

One bad season does not make a bad manager, and I think it is an excellent point that Sir Alex Ferguson didn’t win a league title for seven years. The media does have a selective memory and although it can’t be blamed for criticising Rafa for this shockingly bad season, it can be blamed for rewriting history and forgetting to admit mitigating circumstances as well. Liverpool have never spent £300m in three summers to create a title winning squad like Chelsea did, they have never spent £30m on a central defender like Ferguson did with Rio Ferdinand, and they haven’t ever been able to spend over £40m on a new strike force like Harry Redknapp has over the past year an a half. The media tends to have a love-in with certain managers and a love-hate relationship with some others. Rafa is certainly in the latter category now and they have really been out to get him.

He either has to ride the storm and get on with rebuilding the team, or make his way to sunnier climbs so Liverpool can get on with the mammoth task of getting a squad capable of challenging for some trophies again.

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13 comments

  • Deano says:

    Good article, again I agree Rafa has made lots of mistakes, but what manager hasn’t. Your article has no comparison to Wenger, who I think we all agree makes his players believe in his footballing philosophy but he hasn’t smelt duraglit in the Highbury / Emirate corridors for a long time.

    Losing Rafa now may well be short term fix, but I would rather stick with him, show patience (a trait we are famous for) and hope he gets the financial support to mount a challenge and shut the London / Manchester based press up. Let’s face it nobody does defiance like Liverpool !

    YNWA

  • bigredfred says:

    Doesnt alter the fact that his system on the pitch doesnt work

    and he calls the european super cup and charity shield “titles”

    when houllier said that, we laughed

  • Dan says:

    It also doesn’t alter the fact that Rafa displays:

    1. Poor man-management
    2. Poor game management (substitutions, tactics)
    3. Inequitable treatment (Keane vs Kuyt or Lucas)
    4. Poor judgment in the transfer market
    5. Dour and negative football
    6. Lack of humility and willingness to learn
    7. Petulance and poor public demeanor
    8. Absurd personnel decisions

  • MisoSoup says:

    Dan

    All the points (except number 2) are purely subjective assessments; you are welcome to your opinions but please don’t expect them to be treated as facts by anyone else, because they are merely your opinions. I disagree, largely, with most of your opinions to a greater or lesser degree.

    The one objective thing you mention is tactics. Now, whether you like the tactics is one thing but you cannot (that is CANNOT) say they have been unsuccessful over the last 6 years – taken as a piece. There have been tactical mistakes but that is unavoidable and everyone makes blunders now and again. Everyone. (Of course, you can say it but it would be palpably false and recognised as such as soon as anyone looked at the evidence. And it might, perhaps, be instructive for you to do that.)

  • Bob says:

    To Dan, I think the great Bill Shankly suffered many of the traits you list and also in that list shall we put Bob Paisley, Kenny Dalglish and mr ferguson and Brian Clough, if you can tell me they all were prfect in the list of 1-8 you can pull your self off

  • Browny says:

    Again, a comment on here from an idiot.

    Dour and negative football.. (this season maybe) But the article is about setting 1 bad season aside..

    You seem to forget that Liverpool were the leading scorers in the league last season and the leading scorers in the whole of europe the season before..

    But that is how it works with some of our fans. Watch match of the day and read the papers … you are an expert.

    As for his behaviour, have you ever seen Jose.. Fergie.. Wenger… All far worse! Utd and Arsenal never lose to a better team as they have always been cheated or robbed. The humble (NOT) managers that you seem to think are different class, dont even show up when they lose!! How many times does Phelan appear with the excuses. Rafa always does his interviews.

    Remember when Rafa threw a boot at Beckham…. oh.. no….

    Bad signings.. Vorinin etc, will be on your mind too, but think about it! you, me, Rafa, anyone! would want Ronaldo, Kaka, Villa etc etc… there are reasons he doesnt sign them and opts for the players he does. These reasons are not that he is a numpty who thinks he knows better.. they down to price, fees, wages, restrictions etc..

    I could go on, but people who compile the anti Rafa lists, will never listen.

    Support the club and the people at it! that has always been the Liverpool way…

  • Andy says:

    As long as I live I will never understand fans who claim to love a club, then tear it apart publicly every chance they get. All they do is give the clubs detractors ammunition and heap pressure on the manager / players etc. As Browny said “Support the club and the people at it! that has always been the Liverpool way…”.

  • gary says:

    Dan Dan Dan what a load of rubbish you wrote. You name me one manager that hasn’t made a tactical mistake or signed a bad player? A manager wants a certain type of player to fit into his system and even if he gets that player it doesn’t mean that the player in question will adapt to the prem. I could write a list but don’t have enough space. And Dan i think you forget the players he’s wanted to sign but was not given the money for!

  • Kaleem says:

    Dan – Where Sir do you impart your great footballing lessons? We should all line up to hear more words of wisdom from you. Who the hell is Rafa? No one hardly knows him outside of Liverpool while you Sir are being chased by top clubs all over the world. Such humility from you for so much talent, great man and game management. Spot on with Rafa’s poor transfer market judgement; buying rubbish like Torres, Riena, Mascherano, Alonso. You Sir must have had far superior targets in mind, such as Keene instead of Torres. What a miss Keene was; set Park Lane alight and had to be shipped far up north to put out the fires lit up by him in north London. Great message; from start to finish!!!

  • Sylvan says:

    This season has without doubt been one of utter and sheer disaapointment and frustration. Its is very very easy to blame the manager. I am guilty of it too and the last 2 weeks of the season, seeing Rafa’s face on the tele used to piss me off SO much.

    It has been a few weeks now and the storm and doom has cleared to a certain degree and I certainly feel differently now. Rafa has to stay. I say this for a few reasons and the are in order of importance.

    He is a fantastic manager. Let me make this clear. I am no blind fan who supports the manager no matter what but if you think about it objectively, Rafa has given us many, many games of sheer joy. He is a master tactician. And at this point I would also like to refute a few posts here that claim we play negative football. I definitely do not think so. Under GH, yes. But not under Rafa. Sure we don’t attack like the Mancs and Arsenal but we play a brilliant solid, team attacking style that has served us very well. You think Mourinho is going to bring exciting football? Think again. His Chelsea side were accused so many times of being boring. Think about our best matches and we will remember fantastic attacking displays. Man U (4-1), Arsenal (4-1) and so on.

    No manager is going to come in here and so a better job with the shit funds we have. No one. If you think mourinho or o’neil are going to come and do well, why? What prove is there? Are Villa an exciting, attacking side?? I don’t think so. I love our current solidity as a team sure we need more attacking flair but I think that has got to do more with players not being available (either because of price or injury) then Rafa not wanting to play attacking football. Mourinho came into Chelsea and spent millions. Im am not for one moment suggesting that that is the reason they won their titles, but it definitely played a huge part. He will not have anything even close to that amount of money here.

    Rafa has deep roots already in place that will take time to produce their fruits and i think we should give him that time. Lets not be impatient muts. I believe he is the best person for the job at this point in time. If you ask me who out of everybody at the club I trust (amongst the player, staff, and boardroom) then hands down its got to be rafa. He loves this club and the fans and he wants to win it for us. And I think he will.

  • Sylvan says:

    And yeah come on Dan. Browny sums up my points perfectly. This season our football has been atrocious. But i think its a blip rather than a permanent change in style. It cant be. Think about it logically.

    Why would Rafa change a system that worked absolute wonders last season? We beat real madrid 4 freaking Nil and I cant remember the number of 4 nils that we had in the league.

    I trust in our performances last sesaon and we will get back there. Injuries have to be kind to us and we need 2-3 solid signings. Not potential or bargain buys. Solid players who would do the job immediately. And we will be up there playing trmendously well bombing anyone off the park.

    Just want to point out Maxi as a fantastic signing for 1.5 million.

  • chris says:

    The playing system.
    This I see as Rafa main problem.
    I thought you played the best system for the players you have,not the other way round.
    If you do its like trying to bash round pegs into square holes.

  • red2death says:

    Sure, Rafa definitely has his weaknesses. But I can’t think of a manager that could do better in his situation. Put the challenge to any manager out there – win the premiership with no extra investment – how many takers would there be? Teams can’t even break into the top four with a billionaire’s windfall, how much do you think Rafa can do with $20m a season (and that contigent on him selling at least $20m worth of players…).

    Sure, sack Rafa. But unless you can replace him with a miracle-worker, don’t expect miracles.

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