Out of excuses?
In a new regular feature at Live4liverpool.com, we are offering fans the opportunity to put their case forward for and against Rafa Benitez staying at Anfield. Each week one anti Rafa Liverpool supporter and one Pro Rafa supporter will be given the chance to make their case. For starters, we will give an anti-Rafa Reds fan the opportunity to put forward his point. The Pro-Rafa response will be published tomorrow:
Liverpool fans are famous for the loyalty they generate to their players and manager as well as the club itself. The fans back their heroes to the tilt and if one man has needed that support this season it is Rafa Benitez, the question is whether that loyalty is misplaced.
Tom Hicks and George Gillett are enemy number one on Merseyside, and rightly so as well for they have broken promises that they ought to be ashamed of, but even worse they have ploughed masses of debt on a club which is now in danger of that debt crippling its future. The owners bought into England’s most successful football club and they should have felt honoured and privileged to be doing so and instead they have treated it like a child’s play thing, and have done what all children eventually do to their toys – they have ripped it apart.
Despite this however, I do feel that in terms of blame, Rafa Benitez has managed to escape his fair share of the blame from fans, many of whom still hold him in the highest regard after that amazing champions league victory over AC Milan almost half a decade ago. Yet here we are five years later and the club find itself in the sorry state it finds itself in today. Has the club gone backwards?
Djimi Traore, Igor Biscan, Josemi, Jerzy Dudek, Harry Kewell and Vladimir Smicer were all Liverpool players when that amazing Champions League odyssey occurred, although not all of them played that night. Compare them players with the ones that are gracing the Anfield turf today in the shape of Pepe Reina, Javier Mascherano, Dirk Kuyt and Fernando Torres and you could rightly argue that Benitez has improved the standard of players since his arrival on Merseyside.
Yet here we are all these years on and Rafa Benitez only has one FA Cup to show for his efforts at the club since that Champions league success. Yes, Liverpool were agonisingly close to landing the top-prize last year when they came within a whisker of taking the title from under the nose of Manchester United. On that occasion, it was not to be which is why many Liverpool fans had high hopes of this year making up for it.
Let’s forget how much Benitez has not had to spend, let’s take a minute to concentrate on what he has had to spend. It is believed that during his tenure at Liverpool, Benitez has spent somewhere in the region of £230m. Many Reds fans will counter that by arguing that on every occasion he has had to sell to buy. Yet that is still £230m and whether Liverpool fans agree or not, Liverpool should now not have gone almost four years without any silverware.
There isn’t even a League Cup success to warrant the money that has been spent. Do Liverpool fans really believe it takes £230m to win a trophy that some mock ‘’The Mickey Mouse Cup?’’ There is little doubt that Benitez has not had as much money as his arrivals Alex Ferguson and Arsene Wenger (who has not spent much himself) to spend but what he has spent has on many occasions been wasted on mediocre players at best. Robbie Keane was a total flop at £20m and although Liverpool fans have been heard bellowing that he wasn’t Benitez’s signing, he still signed for the club.
This is even more bizarre when you think that Peter Crouch, who did little wrong at the club and added an extra dimension to Liverpool’s game, was allowed to leave. Crouch did a fantastic job at the club yet Benitez thought it a good idea to move a player on who may well play a part in securing Tottenham fourth-place in the premier league at the expense of Liverpool.
Liverpool fans remain extraordinarily loyal to the Spanish boss. As far as most are concerned it is Rafa V the American owners and the fans will be in no doubt whose side to take. Yet it appears to me as though Benitez may well be using the ownership situation as a smokescreen for hiding his own shortcomings. After all he has never been shy to hide his displeasure at his ‘’shoe-string’’ transfer budget at the club and the Boardroom squabbles that take a new twist with each day that goes by. Yet he was happy enough to accept the five-year contract that they offered him at the back-end of last season which will now cost the very same people a reported £16m if they were to release him from his duties.
Don’t get me wrong, I think Benitez has done a good job since his arrival from Valencia in the summer of 2004. Yet there is part of me that thinks that Benitez uses the continuing boardroom problems as a way of influencing the verdict of the fans who in turn forget the manager’s own failings. How long the support lasts however, remains to be seen.
If you want to be one of the pro or anti-Rafa supporters please contact the editor at editor@live4liverpool.com
Support for Rafa should last at least one more year. One down side year is not enough to make Rafa a loser!
Hi,
In your article you credit Rafa with improving the
1st team.
I totaly disagree.
If you compare the last team put out by Houllier
and the team Rafa could put out,even with Gerrard
and Torres in it. I would put my money on the Houllier team every time.
You could even add Alonso.
the upside, rafa bought torres, made gerrard a more prolific goalscorer, bought reina,agger, skrtle, made big money on alonso, won the champions league – the downside, he rests our best player needlessly and takes him off when he is scoring goals unbelievably bad management totally counter productive, giving torres the licence to become leading goal scorer from day one will motivate him,lift the team,frighten the opposition and win us the title (its not rocket science it really is that simple)(are rooney and drogba treated like that)rafa wont address the blindingly obvious left back problem, is far too cautious against lesser opposition, he bought several duds, no excuse for some of them.
@ Chris: Absolute nonsense mate. Totally different styles – don’t you remember Houllier trying to counter attack at home?
With Rafa, along the way, we got closer to the top with 78, 82 and 86 points. The trouble is the other top sides are always improving, so we theoretically have to improve more than they do.
Also, why did the owners not back Rafa last year in the transfer market? We had a team that finished second and we lost some key personnel. We didn’t strengthen for the whole (Johnson aside) we replaced.
And as for Crouchy, great player but he WANTED to leave when told he would mainly be used as back up. Rafa was cool enough to let him go.
On the anniversary of Hillsborough and all you can do is f**king argue about Rafa. Get a life.
I’m tired of reading anti-Rafa articles which use the same inaccurate arguments to beat him down.
Rafa did not sign Keane, so why is this used against him? If anything it could be argued that he emerged with credit over the whole fiasco, given that he managed to get what today, looks a fantastic price for a striker who has been poor since signing for us.
Rafa did not ‘move on’ Crouch. The player made it clear he wanted first-team football, so with his contract running down, Rafa took the money rather than risking losing him very cheaply, like the club had done with McManaman and Owen. And he gets stick for this?!
Yes, he has spent a lot of money, but so have other clubs. They can’t all win trophies every year! There is only one title, and whilst Rafa has spent a lot over 6 years, he has not been the biggest spender in any one summer – so there is always one other club who has spent more, and therefore by the same argument used against Rafa, that large expenditure deserves trophies, he has never been in pole position.
I do think he has significant weaknesses, but for me and other intelligent, observant, free-thinking fans who do not subscribe to lazy media-fuelled stereotypes (rotation? zonal marking?) anti-Rafa articles only discredit themselves by using such arguments.
‘the loyalty they generate “to” their players’, ‘The fans back their heroes to the “tilt”‘, ‘Compare “them” players’?
Go and learn how to speak your own language, then I might finish reading something you’ve written!
What a dreadful dreadful idea. Posting a clearly divissive article at a time when all Liverpool fans should stand together behind the club on the anniversary of a tragic day.
It really does damage the reputation of this site that this has been allowed to happen. Then there is a fact that you have chosen to post a negative article an Rafa when surely the space would be better spent educating more fans on the cancer at the club that is our owners
I’m not a blind Rafa fan. I have lots of problems with him. However, the reality is he inherited a poor team from Houllier. He had to get rid of many poor players at a huge loss, and try to bring in new ones at quite low cost. he has brought in some rubbish, but also some gems.
For the last few years he has had to operate in the bargain basement. Liverpool now are spending less in the transfer market than Sunderland! they are not a ‘big club’ in terms of spending or rv=evenue. Any major monies they have earned, for example on the sale of Alonso (a Rafa signing) or from the Champions League, have been siphoned off by the owners. Yet anti Rafa ‘fans’ keep trotting out the same rubbish. For crying out loud, Crouch wanted to go. He wanted to be a first choice striker (and was never going to be ahead of Torres). Not only that, but Portsmouth offered him much more money (and look where they are now!!!). My own beleief is the club has been punching above its weight for years, mainly due to Rafa. Unless new investment comes in, and soon, LFc is heading for mid-table obscurity.
Same thing happen when he was incharge of Valencia. he left for liverpool and blame the board of Valencia for not giving him enough funds. He never blame himself. And now hes doing it again. owner as a smoke screen.
I being a Liverpool fan for the last 40 year and I have seen enough to say that the reach and famous Anfeild tradition is loosing it pride through internet critic invasion and rumour mongers.If you are a true Red then give our manager some breathing space and support them when the odds are against the team and the manager,I am sure this current team is capable of beating any team but it seem their confidence is very low due to many external factors.
Let’s stay together with Rafa at least for another year and he will make correct decision for Liverpool FC holistically.
All i can say is a Manager is to show the team how to create chances in the last game against Fulham the team created at least 8 or 9 chances what more can a manager do if your best striker is hurt wait till next year if we get 3 or 4 world class players you will see a big difference in the team let’s hope some one will buy the Club Rafa for me.
As others have commented, Peter Crouch wanted to leave as he knew he could only play in one position, and the guy ahead of him was not only the best in the league, but he never seemed to get injured. Isn’t it ironic that since Crouch left Torres has spent nearly as much time injured as playing? If Torres had had a few injuries that first season (and then gone the next season uninjured, the one where an injury-free Torres might have won us the league) Crouch might well have stayed.
I agree that rafa has not had the money. He has to sell players to get more players and this does not allow stability of the team. Personally I would not have sold alonso and tol him he has 3 years left on his contract and that I will let him go next year.
However, 17m for Johnson was too much, especially when the likes of redknapp pay 2m for kranjcar. 20m was too much for a player he would not play. Ngog is better than what I thought he was but to be the number 2 striker shows where the money should have been spent. We should have kept arbeloa and spent the money on another top quality striker. This is one time we cannot blame the owners, after all Rafa is the man pulling the strings.
Having said that I hope that Aquillani turns out to be a hit and johnson can only get better under the guidance of rafa. But once again you only have to look at adam johnson, why could we not spend 7m on him while we spend 8m on Riera and 6m on Lucas (who I am actually warming to).
Give Rafa 1 more season but who will he have to sell to bring in more players. We need investment.
I absulately agree with kazzak if we can spend 6 million on lucas and 8 million for reira why didn’t he forked out 7 million on Adam johnson. I had a feeling about rafa that he only wants player’s who can be used for multitasking purposes and are hardworker’s. Kuyt for example i watched kuyt for feynoord for 2 season’s and he played as an out and out striker and scored plenty but in liverpool after toress came he was shifted to rightwing. FOR THE LAST 10 YEARS WE DIDN’T HAVE ANY ATTACKING RIGHT WINGER ATTACKING LEFT WINGER AND WE HAVE NEVER PLAYED 4 4 2 EVEN IF WE ARE PLAYING AT ANFIELD BARRING ON SOME OCCASSION AND ACCORDING TO ME THIS IS THE MAIN REASON THAT WE HAVN’T WON ANYTHING. Why torres is injured frequently this is main reason when we will shift so much of workload on 2 Player’s. In last 10 Year’s on only one player played as a left winger and was fast and attack minded. I don’t remember his name something like johnson other than that rafa is too defence minded and don’t have attacking insticts
Rafa plays a good system for European nights were a more defencive system is required due to it being mainly over two legs.
If he were to stay I could see him possible winning another european cup.
But and its a big but after 6 years he still has not relised that playing this system in the league
will not and never will win the league.
I think its his mentality thats at fault.
when I hear comments like YOU WIN GAMES BY KEEPING
CLEAN SHEETS.
That just goes to prove it in my mind. Because the best you can get from the above is a nil nil
draw. To Win games you have to score goals.
anyone with an ounce of football knowledge after watching dossena for 90 minutes would know as i and thousands of others knew, that he could not defend,
did rafa ever see him play before buying him ?
anyone with half an ounce of football knowledge can see that insua is out of his depth at left back.
gary o’niel of middlesborough is a proven premiership player, infinately better than both of these and riise – why no bid for him ????
i’m not saying these players could not play in other positions at the top level they just cant or dont know how to defend.
ive been a liverpool fan for over 50 years, i dont want rafa to go, even so we all have the right to air our views if its constuctive. creating chances and blaming torres being injured is not being unlucky its being unprepared, it was unbelievable that the only back up we have is ingog a promising young lad.
Liverpool have punched above its weight under Rafa. Some myths need to be corrected for the thousandth time
1) Crouch wanted to leave.
2) Aquilani did not cost nowhere near £20 million. His fee is based on appearances etc. Any way how is it all the attention is on Rafa. How about Hargreaves at Man U and Zhirkov at Chelsea. As always some fans are easily swayed by the media.
3) Rafa has not had alot of money. Net spend not in the same planet as Chelsea, Man U, Man city and recently Villa and Spurs.
4) Rafa did not want to buy Keane. he was forced upon him
5) Rafa has turned some good players into great ones. Torres, came for around £22 million and now regarded as the best striker in the world and probaly worth at least £60 million. Alonso came for £12 million and sold for £30 million. Reina cam for £6.5 million and probably worth at east £20 million. Mascherano bought for £17 millionand now worth around £30-35 million. people point to playes leaving. Alot of these were 2nd, 3rd or at worst 4th choice transfers. How many times has the board stopped Rafa from buying his 1st choice players?
Heres to all the fans who still have faith in Rafa.