Former Liverpool defender Mark Lawrenson believes the upturn in fortunes for some players may have not happened under previous manager Rafa Benitez, especially during the last six months of his tenure. He wrote in his column for the Liverpool Daily Post:
“With Torres away at the birth of his second child, David Ngog and Ryan Babel were handed the chance to form an alternative strike partnership and their performances showed that there is now good competition for places. A few months ago, Babel was probably drinking in the last chance saloon at Anfield while Ngog is getting better even though there was a lot of improvement to be had. Their upturn in fortunes could be down to having a manager who is very approachable and talks to his players on a regular basis. This wouldn’t have happened in the last six months of Rafael Benitez’s reign with the Spaniard having made up his mind over several players.”
Lawrenson also praised Pepe Reina for his record of 100 clean sheets:
“Reina is a top class goalkeeper but a lot of the praise should also go to the defence in front of him as Liverpool don’t concede too many sloppy goals on the whole. What I like about Reina is that he’s undemonstrative and gets on with his job, always talking and always helping his team-mates. He’s a bit vocal in the dressing room and such a good performer should be a strong character amongst the squad. Reina’s needed to do this with both Gerrard and Carragher out and it’s only right that he’s both encouraging and criticising.”
This week it is self-proclaimed Liverpool supporter and Tennis ace Caroline Wozniacki!
————–
CLICK ON THE IMAGE OR HERE TO GET TO THE GALLERY
–
Like Andy Gray, Lawrenson has become another pathetic pundit who can’t seem to keep his dirty mouth shut. Why do you have to criticise Rafa when he brought so much success to the club? One bad season and everyone starts jumping on him. “Their upturn in fortunes could be down to having a manager who is very approachable and talks to his players on a regular basis”. Up until the Steaua game, Roy kept Babel on the bench for 3 months and only played Babel cause Torres wasn’t available. You don’t always have to criticise the previous manager to get your point across.
“This wouldn’t have happened under Rafa”. Yes, of course, Rafa would never let the club fall in the relegation zone, he would never loan out a 20 mil signing and he would never sign Konchesky and Poulsen and what’s more, he wouldn’t let the club linger in mid table in December.
No doubt Rafa was a master but its a fact he doesnt trust youngsters. The season we have finished 2nd babel was there in the team at start of that season. we still remember the wining goal against mancs but later he didnt gave him a chance. Some time some lads need backing from manager, needs to boost their confidance.
What a load of nonsense – I agreed that it was time for Benitez to move on, but the way Hodgson’s supporters have to keep bleating on about Rafa in order to make Roy look better is ridiculous.
Most of the criticism doesn’t even need any basis in fact any more – they just keep talking sh*t incessantly!
Turning us into relegation candidates before just returning us to a version of what we were already previously does not prove that Hodgson is a great manager! It just shows that his ceiling is even lower than that which we had before, which means that we are wasting time sticking with him as he is never going to win us the league
I too am sick to goddamn death of having to defend Benitez. When did hypocrisy reach a level where it’s ok to slag off the former manager but we’re not allowed to say a word about Saint Hodgson because that makes us all awful, sinful people? If he had any decency himself he’d ask for former players and pundits to stop the comparisons, but he won’t because it is always going to paint him in a beautiful, rose-tinted light when compared against a man that the press loathed so much.
The fact of the matter is: there is still a lot of love for Rafa because he made us matter again. No matter his methods, or whether certain players hated his guts, he made the club important again. Least we forget, he also won us a few trophies in the process. I will take to Hodgson as soon as I get that feeling back that I had for 6 years under Benitez; ie. we can beat anybody. And for six years, I believed it every time and ordinarily, we usually won too.
David Ngog had 37 appearances and 8 goals last season, so we can safely say that he was getting his chance under Rafa
Rafa inherits a treble winning team, look what happens. Enough said. He started off well but is far to concerned with his own ego than doing the right thing. He had to go.