I’ve always had a soft spot for Barca, and not because their city is so fantastic (it is though!). My affection for them comes mainly because of something they have cared about for a long time: their youth development policy. During the last Champions League final against Manchester United, 6 out of 11 of their starters were Catalan players. Add to this Messi, who joined them at 13, and you have 7 of 11 players on the pitch developed at the club. The bench was further composed with 2 Spanish players and 2 Catalans (Bojan was born in Barcelona. I count him as a Catalan). Their coach is a local man as well, having spent almost his whole playing career at Barca, spending a short time in Italy at the end of it, and coming back to Barca as a coach. Compare this with their opponent’s squad: 3 English players in the starting line-up, none being raised at the club. The Mancs paid for these three a combined sum of at least 80 millions pounds. Then you have Giggs and O’Shea, who can be compared to Messi, as they have spent their whole career at the Mancs. On the bench: Scholes, 35 years old, and Evans, 21. That’s it. And it’s even not bad, compared to many other big clubs these days.
Barca’s commitment to local players has tradition, and I admire this really. It has to do with Catalonia’s fierce opposition to the Franco regime. Barca was the only way Catalan people could beat Franco, embodied in a team by Real Madrid. A symbolical extension of the civil war, in some manner… Local identification was thus a thoroughly important topic for them. The song which is heard and sung by every fan before every match is the Catalan hymn. For every Catalan, Barca was, and still partly is, the embodiment of Catalonia. Barca are one of the wealthiest clubs in the world, and are currently the best team in the world. They showed it last season, giving a lesson to each of their opponents, and finishing the season with five trophies. Their spending power doesn’t come from some super-sponsor or Abramovich-style owner who wants to white-wash his millions with a football club. No, it comes from their huge popular support, and surely from the best youth-development system around, a culture of giving confidence to young players, and bringing them progressively into the squad. Their revenues are that great that they can even afford themselves to have the Unicef sign on their shirt (actually Barca support them with money, whereas every other top club receives multi-million-packages to wear the sign of company x or y).
They give us a huge lesson here: no need to splash hundreds of millions to crowd your squad with players coming from all over the world. Barca demonstrate that there are other values that lead ultimately to huge success. They show us that the Chelsea’s, Manchester City’s, the Oil Sheiks and greedy businessmen around football, the current LFC-owners included, are only one (ugly) aspect of this game. The fans own the club. Every member holds a part of the club and elects regularly the board members. They have a say on the politics going on at the club and looking at this, is it merely a coincidence that they surely hold the most offensive and spectacular playing philosophy of all clubs in Europe, a philosophy which has been nurtured for decades? I feel it maybe more than coincidence only…
Anyway, it’s very refreshing and heartening that a club which holds these values shows its ability to compete at the top level and ultimately reaping major honours on a regular basis. I wanted to write something about this, because I feel that there are some aspects at Barca which are similar to LFC. There is an equally strong identification between supporters and club. The hymn being sung before the match begins, the huge tradition surrounding both clubs, the fact that club comes before country etc. Now, what can our beloved club learn from this? I’d say it should rely more on young players developed at the Academy as this would give us this extra spending power Barca has, to buy the one or two truly exceptional players from abroad who would have the capacity to enlighten our play. I know it’s a difficult way to go, it upholds the possibility of disappointment also, because you never know if a youngster will make the grade, but I would support the idea to give them at least their chance before they are shipped out!
Rafa Benitez has clearly showed signs of intent in recent times, especially with him completely reorganising the youth development structure. Kenny Dalglish, Pep Segura, Rodolfo Borrell and Frank McParland are all teaming up now as youth-coaches … the amount of experience and quality working together is really staggering. I for one can’t imagine anything else than success coming from this association in the long term. Both Borrell and Segura, who contributed to Barcelona’s success story in youth development, have clearly stated that’s it all about developing local youngsters first, then looking at a wider area to bring in absolute top quality in the youth team. The recent recruitment of Raheem Sterling shows they are trying to emulate a similar youth policy.
Will it work out? No one can say that for the time being. Still, the fact is that Insua, El Zhar, Ayala and Pacheco all have tasted first team action this season, while local youngsters Darby, Spearing and Kelly were included as well, although sparingly. I for one hope that Rafa Benitez will continue down that road, with 100% energy and real intent to play the most talented of them. I think it’s rather a cultural question rather than anything else. It’s about managers giving their faith to youngsters, in order to prove if they can make the grade or not. This is something we have missed here during these last few years, not only at Liverpool, but generally in English top-flight clubs. I feel this is something which must be corrected. As a matter of fact, I desperately want to see us having more Scouse spirit in our team. When Jamie Carragher and Stevie Gerrard finally retire, who will carry the local identity and make the link between team and supporters, if not players who are fans themselves, who have been raised in the city and speak Scouse?
Rafa Benitez has a heavy responsibility in regard to this topic. Fortunately he seems to have got the measure of it and he is now working towards helping this club become self-sufficient again, and not having to rely on mega-bucks coming from abroad. No one can say for the time being if we can do it, but there are signs of interesting things to come on that front.
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A good article both in terms of the break down of the (highly) successful Barca system and the fact that Rafa is trying to get our system along the same lines.
He has managed to ship out the old guard and has brought in some really fresh talent with experience in none other than Barca itself. Sadly the media (inc many ex-players & pundits) are building a huge campaign against him. Yes the first team are not doing well this year but each and every year Rafa has clearly moved the club forward in every area. This season is the one major disappointment in a good 6 years. I think he deserves more time.
Rememeber Mr Ferguson? He was all but fired only 4 years into his tenure at Utd. If my memory serves me correctly he won NOTHING in his first 4 years and if wasn’t for a semi final cup win was facing the reality of the sack. He won, they started an empire and look where they are now….All Rafa wants to do is EXACTLY the same, build, develop and create a winning empire once again. It is coming if only they (the owners) would be patient and insert some real cash….
In rafa we trust.
In Rafa we trust but please get rid of Sammy Lee. he has coached us into playing like Bolton and its really not enjoyable to watch. i agree with allowing him one more season but i am not sure i would trust him with all the money we clearly need to spend!
Rafa deserves one more season. However, that means he`s been here for 7 years and if he still doesn`t deliver his tenure at Lfc is over for sure.
He has done a great job bringing the club forward, reorganising and injecting new models of thought into the institution. Football develops rapidly and Rafa is updated training-wise, medically, nutritionally. He is also very astute when it comes to strategy. He is like a chess player which takes his tasks extremely seriously.
However, at times Rafa has also shown a (worrying) display of bad tactics and a lack of flexibility when plan A doesn`t work, especially in away games where Lfc all too often have looked static, slow and unimaginative. Too often neither the manager nor the players has even responded to breakdowns as they happen on-field.
Also, he needs to buy the right players. In hindsight, his decision to hold on to Dossena, Voronin and Riera last summer was flawed to say the least. Instead we could have almost funded a move for let`s say Di Maria of Benfica. And no sane person would deny that Di Maria alone would have lifted us (pace, creativity, assists) more than the aforementioned trio could combined. Fact.
Furthermore Rafa needs to depart from his cautious ways. In the Premier League your desire for victory must always outshine your fear of losing. Rafa will never ever win the league with a careful approach. Look who`s won the league for the last 17 years: Ferguson, Wenger and Mourinho. Three very strong characters, hell-bent on success and the recipe for success: attacking football. Playing with two holding midfielders at home versus Birmingham just isn`t good enough Rafa.
And last, when young talent is coming up the ranks (and I`m sure we will see plenty within 2-3 years) then he needs to play them, at least occasionally. His decision to play the awful Degen this season instead of Kelly, Darby and hey even Irwin is beyond me.
The time is running out. If we had the right owners though, I`m sure Rafa and Lfc would have made it bigtime already.
How can you say that Mourinho plays attacking football. He is more negative than Benitez, he wins because he is a good tactitian, excellent motivator and always had the best depth in the league that he manages. Last season we scored more than any other club so we aren’t a negative team. Just when the team struggles Rafa opts for safety first when he should continue attack.
I agree with you on Mourinho, I was a bit too fast on that one. He is a cynic and plays it safe and tight. And it speaks volumes that he A) always criticises Rafa and still, B) wouldn`t dare to manage Lfc himself unless he had a pool of money. And he`s an annoying person.
Rafa is extremely respected when it comes to organization, strategy, professionalism – but in order to improve his results at Anfield I do feel he needs to raise his game when it comes to tactics, motivational aspects/man-management. However, I don`t believe for a second that red-nose Fergie would have made a better job, to the contrary!
I am fully behind Rafa as the manager of Lfc. 100%. There is just one thing that annoys me, but hopefully not for long. Why has Lucas been given such a prominent role in the team? Yes, until december Rafa didn`t have much choice but come on… Aquilani has already shown enough to partner Mascherano and Gerrard for the rest of the season, period.
Lucas is unimaginative, he gives away the ball unless he kicks it to his defenders, he loses duels and/or gives away free-kicks in dangerous positions, he`s slow and physically suspect. All these factors creates insecurity in the team. If Riera has a shit game down the left it doesn`t affect us that much, but when Lucas plays badly or at best mediocre in the team`s engine-room and heart, the insecurity spreads like wild fire. In central midfield you need an enforcer like Mascherano, a commander like Gerrard and a playmaker like Aquilani. What you don`t need is a wuss who`s equally mediocre in all departments.