WITH question marks hanging over Kenny Dalglish’s head after such a poor Premier League campaign, one name has been spoken about most regarding a potential successor to the King. Rafael Benitez, known as ‘Rafa’ to those who love him dearly, is the manager that seems to be the popular choice with the Media and supporters alike.
The Spaniard led Liverpool to the Champions League title in his first season, an FA Cup trophy in his second and almost supplied the Reds with their first Premier League success in 2009.
However, towards the end of his reign, a lot of people seem to forget that his Liverpool team simply went stale. In his final season, Liverpool’s title challenge ended before it even had the opportunity to shape itself with two defeats in their first three games. This coupled with a Champions League group stage exit afforded Liverpool fans their biggest opportunity yet to voice their concerns over Benitez’s reign. This they did and with notable anger. The fans were seeing a completely different style of football to what they were used to under Rafa, and it was a style of football that simply did not work.
After a trophy-less season, with even the Europa League evading the Reds, Benitez left by mutual consent. Every fan, including Rafa himself, knew it was time for change. Now, though, a lot of Reds fans are calling for the Spaniard to be re-instated.
There is no questioning the desire, commitment and passion that Rafa Benitez has for Liverpool Football Club however the alarming way in which his spell as manager faded out to a dull end should not be forgotten. As well as this, Mr Benitez spent a lot of money during his time at Liverpool on players such as Jermaine Pennant, Ryan Babel, Robbie Keane and Alberto Aquilani who simply never made the grade at Anfield.
Rafa was also to blame for the loss of one of Liverpool’s best players of the past decade; Xabi Alonso. After one uncharacteristically poor season at Anfield, Rafa decided it was time to move Alonso on and replace him with England midfielder Gareth Barry. After failing to both sell Alonso and sign Barry from Aston Villa, Alonso remained unhappy and felt unwanted for the next 12 months. The Spaniard responded with his best season of his career and as much as this benefited Liverpool, Real Madrid stepped in and snapped up the midfield maestro.
There are several reasons why Benitez should not return to Anfield but the most important and necessary one for me is how he lost control of the dressing room and struggled to get his players playing in his style. Turning to Rafa would be a step back in my opinion and as much as he will always be held in the hearts of every Liverpool fan, a fresh face is needed if Dalglish is relieved of his duties.
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Acquilani was never given a chance at Liverpool. Not sufficient enough evidence to cast him as a failure.
Not only that – but when he did play he made a very positive impression, whether in actual games or friendlies …
The Fenway Group are not made up of stupid people. They have a sufficient enough knowledge about football, besides, they also have better contacts now. Benitez wouldn’t be returning to Liverpool in the foreseeable future. Let’s not be mislead or wait with baited breath for something that is never going to happen.
But his record in his last season was better off than this and he left a team which included top class players such as Mascherano, Torres, Benayoun, who were all shipped out. Although his last team ddnt perform but there were so many injuries throughout that period Torres, Gerrard and Aquilani.His big signings were all hit except Aquilani who came in with an injury and wasn’t given a chance. Even his last signing Shevley is much better than Henderson.
I agree Salim
Obviously, the author of this article is pro Kenny Dalglish, of this I have no doubt.
Rafa Benitez has NOT resided over the worst league record, since 1953, after spending obcene money, on very ordinary players…..that m8 is a fact!.
With all due respect to Kenny, who i am sure that he has done all he can, for LFC past and present,but he himself must know that, after spending all that money, it has NOT worked out.
So your opinion is noted, but you are wrong!!!.
Salim, this author is nothing more than a KD fan, trying to secure Kd’s shaky position ahead of next season.
To be honest i was not a Rafa fan in his last season but i reckon it was a mistake to move him on. LFC should recognise this misatke too. He was our one world class manager in a long time.
A lot was said in his last season which was poor only by his standards. He had no money, 2 cowboys and their lackey to deal with and most importantly, KD with all the money he disched out (113 million in 1.5 season alone) KD did much worse than Rafa’s last.
I am convince that given proper backing and resources, Rafa can win the league. He almost did in 2009.
Stick with KD and we can look forward to relegation.
Hi, author of the article here.
Great to read feedback, I always take in what the fans have to say. For your own information I would be more than happy to see Kenny Dalglish removed from his position before the start of next season I just do not believe Rafa is the right man to take over. So the notion of me being some sort of activist for Dalglish is incorrect. Thank you for trying to fabricate my own opinion for me, however, YOU are wrong.
Cheers,
Elliott.
Hi Elliot,
I can’t read your mind but only what you wrote (which seems to indicate you are one of his fans). Nice to see that you are not a KD fan. As you can see, his fans only cares for that man’s selfish interest, even at the expense of this great club. Wonder why they called themselves LFC fans.
As whether Rafa is right to return or not, it depends, can we persuade anyone better than him to takeover? If so great, if not, why not Rafa? He almost won the league not too long ago with limited budget, let him finish the job with proper support and budget.
The dressing room was lost after numerous promises to Torres etc about big signings coming in and then Hicks & Gillette not delivering. Plus all the boardroom upheavale and uncertainty over the club’s future. To lay it at Rafa’s feet is a little smiplistic.
He had many fiascos. Robbie Keane etc and the mishandling of Alosno was a big one, but at the end of the day at least he signed the likes of Alonso and not Adam!!
Kenny has made as many mistakes in 1 and a half seasons as Rafa did in 6 and wasted more money!!
Both of them are steps backwards.
We are already in the midst of a romantic return that is ending in disaster!!!
Have you ever worked for a boss you didn’t like, get on with, respect or rate? One that made promises and assurances, and then time and again failed to deliver? I have. I can tell you that its soul destroying and eventually saps all of your motivation and energy. At Liverpool, Rafa had the misfortune to be working for the two Yank Clowns, and I would not play down the impact that their stewardship had on some of Rafa’s decisions of his lack of focus. Bottom line, he got to the point where he could no longer work for these chumps and had to leave.
if we take away the last two seasons, Rafa’s performance at LFC was pretty impressive, and whilst he did spend big on Babel – who had immense talent and Keane (did he? Didn’t he?), he also bought players like Torres, Masch, Alonso and Reina to the club.
If KK was to step down, I’d have Rafa back in a heartbeat.
i agree with ye , id have him back in a heartbeat , rafa made liverpool the number 1 ranked team in europe for 3 yrs
I do not understand all those who blame Rafa for our failures, just imagine him given the funds that are available now, IF that was the case we could have David Villa and Silva playing for us, perhaps Dani Alves too. How would that team look then?
Mind it if he had the money….Gerrard, Alonso, Masch, Silva, Villa, Torress. Need I go on?
I do not hate Kenny, but I also do not agree to those who wish to lay it all on Rafa.
Rafa’s reign ‘went stale’ only because the thieving yanks were actively trying to sell off the squad and deny him any budget to speak of.
And to say he wasted money on players who never made the grade is moronic. Name me one manager with a 100% record in the transfer market. That’s the sort of stick The S*n use turn public opinion against someone. It’s the same tactic they’re using now with Dalglish. They ignore the fact he’s signed players of the calibre of Suarez, Bellemy, Enrique and Coates and has won us our first trophy in 6 years – they only concentrate on the negatives.
Mr Elliott Tunstall why is he misleading the group of LFC fans.Should not forget how much KK bought for Cony Andy Caroll.Rafa Brought on these players at which price and sold many at which prices .exorbident see players like Alonso/torres/Mascherano/Reina/Agger/Skrtel/Leiva/
sterling/Suso/Johnson/kelly/kurt/Reina/flannagan/
shelvey etc and look at other sales.I think this man does not know anything in football not simply an accountant.Just compare all the managers of lfc after the departure of kk last time how much spend how much recouped and how much spent on salaries and how much trophies and how much income and who was the owners.loll
Rafa Benitez , him coming back would b a dream come true. Two European cup finals , FA cup , two league finishes with 82 and 86 points. If it wasnt for ronaldo heroics and injuries to Torres/gerrard we would have won the title that year.
His last season was bad mainly due to loss of form to carragher and mascherano in the beginning and injuries with Torres/gerrard again. The loss of alonso/arbeloa hurt too.
Another problem was funds not available to sign a striker a defender and a suitable replacement for alonso.
Aquilani was not rafas first choice signing as always the case when it came to funds.
Rafa wanted Martinez and silva and he thought Barry would come but chose citeh instead.
End of the day with owners like FSG rafa will get that support the previous clowns were unable to provide.
With the youth setup, rafa Benitez legacy continues.
End of the day Benitez is not perfect, but then again he wasn’t too far away from it was he ?
Rafa ynwa
rafa was a really good manager. He made CL football for liverpool look like a right. He had one bad season. Wasnt allowed to use the full 30milli he got for alonso he used 17milli the yanks took the rest. The players expect signings to come then the yanks refuse to fund what they promised. Wouldnt mind rafa coming back.YNWA
Rafa did not lose the dressing room (the owners, on the other hand, did) and, as usual, was right in his diagnostic of the team’s requirements at a difficult time. Disposing of Rafa when they did, in the midst of a successful overhaul of the Liverpool academy and the emergence of a number of young players, was a bitter mistake for which the first team is still paying the price. Kenny deserves to be evaluated at the end of the season once all has been played for and FSG have had the opportunity to consider all factors. Should the owners reach the conclusion that a change is due, the only “safe” choices are Mourinho and Benitez – and given their record in creating a sustainable platform at each of the teams they have been I know whom I would like to see at the helm.
Bought Alonso for 10million pounds and five years later sold him for a near 3o million. How many of KD buys we would make profit if we tried to sell them now. Under Rafa playing in CHL was given. Just how long do u think it will take Lfc to b back in CHL again with KD as mngr. No hope in hell.
rafa benitez made liverpool uefa”s number 1 ranked team in europe for a few yrs there , teams were scared to be drawn against us in the champions league under rafa , id have him back in an heartbeat !
very true!!
Agree with u 100% mate.
lazy journalism!!! Rafa made mistakes who doesn’t with alonso etc. However against the backdrop of issues which team would have been a success? The team went stale because of broken promises and lack of investment. With the alonso issue listen to the man himself, he brought in acqualani and was bringing in jovetic which will have kicked us on until the clowns pulled it. Had he known I am sure he could have had a pick of schneider, robben and vander vart at the time. Aqualani may not have been an immediate success but neither was lucas but look at him now. Has he not been our most outstanding performer over the last two years? Like Aqualani many said he could not cut it. I am sure our recent problems would have been mitigated had he not been injured. To slag of our most successful manager of recent times is just sick. If FSG are clever there will grab him quick and fast whilst he still in Merseyside!!
schneider? Isn’t he retired?
Agree with most comments on here… I would take Rafa back in a heartbeat. He made us a European Power again. People go on about bad signings but how many did he actually lose on these – R.Keane bought for £19m-£20m and sold for £12m + add ons — so he lost £4m-7m on him, yet the media never blast the Redknapp for spending £12m – £15m on a player who did nothing on his return to Spurs. Aquilani may have played for Rafa. Look at the players he tried to sign but didn’t have the backing from the board – many players he bought were not his first choice but the best we could afford.
What I liked about Rafa was if it wasn’t working, he would cut his losses (see R.Keane), and proceed to bring in a player who would work better.
The Alonso/Barry incident happened as he had to sell to buy and well, it did motivate Alonso to have his best season for us.
“one uncharacteristically poor season”??? Alonso had three poor seasons after one fantastic debut season. The year before he was sold, Alonso was only attracting bids of 12 million. If Rafa had had a little more financial support from Hicks and Gillett rather than having to sell players before he could buy, we would have had greater squad depth, which is what we really lacked. The spine of the starting 11 was world class, but when the manager is given less money than teams like Aston Villa, how the hell to you seriously expect to build the squad to challenge for the title every year? You find it acceptable to criticise Rafa for getting rid of Alonso after *one* poor year, but then say that Liverpool had to get rid of Rafa because of his one poor season… Seems a little hypocritical…
well said!
Ha ha very good point!
as an ex-lfc fan i have no place here but seems like an interesting discussion 🙂 LFC blogs are always in soul searching mode which is quite different with REAL MADRID 🙂 Rafa is a world class manager, no doubts. But there is a well trodden rule that says you shouldnt go back. Its turning out true for Dalglish, will it turn out true for Rafa if he gets offered by LFC? Sigh so perplexing isnt it? I personally dont really understand why this rule generally holds true, perhaps the author could shed some light?? Heynckes with bayern have broken the mould though..hmmm food for thought. BTW that was a f@cking soft penalty!!
I do think everyone should be a KD fan regardless of the current season.
If you’re not, I think it’s sad that you are a
Liverpool Fan.
Rafa has done well for us, so yes he’s a legend in his own right. Should he come back? I think not.
Should we stick with KD? I say we should since we can’t really do worse can we?
The signings haven’t lit up the team, but we need to pull together and push on.
Dalglish have already won a trophy qualify for the Europa League Rafa still unemployed the Past is the past think for the Present and calculate for the Future