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View from the Kop

It’s Got To Be Rafa

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Wednesday was a very strange day. I think that because the rumours had begun on the Monday, we all probably expected any action to be taken on the Tuesday, at the latest. So the news on Wednesday afternoon took everybody a little by surprise.

But, what’s done is done. I have not hidden the fact that I thought it would be the right decision and going back to last summer I stated much the same then but, as I did with all the previous managers, I was prepared to get behind Kenny and give him all the support he needed.

It just never seemed like he had a proper grasp of what was required in the top division in 2011/12.

The old enthusiasm was there, as was his passion and love for the club and it’s wide fan-base (which was always reciprocated by the fans) but in the modern game, that just isn’t enough, not even when you have one of the most respected and knowledgeable assistants at your side.

So, while I believe it to be the right decision, I can appreciate that some people would be a little p*ssed off, much as I was back in 2010 when Rafa Benitez was sacked. Many fans felt that Kenny had unfinished business at the club and were determined to let him see his contract through. It can’t be nice to see a man you hold up as a god-like figure not live up to expectations, so it’s understandable that reactions would be varied. Not to mention a mix of relief, anger and bewilderment.

But while the list of potential candidates is certainly an interesting one, with a mix of potential and highly sought-after proven experience, I feel there is only one man fit for the job: Rafael Benitez. I can’t deny that the thought of Pep Guardiola being brought in to work alongside the likes of Txiki Beguiristain and David Dein is a seriously, highly attractive proposition but, much like the fans that carried Kenny into his second spell as manager on a wave of love and optimism, I feel like Rafa has a job to finish and this time he’d have the possibility of doing it without one hand always being tied behind his back.

Now, I know from some of the flaming and arguing I’ve seen across other fan-sites and forums in the past few days regarding the new manager that I will get a lot of stick for this so I will just ask this: please try to keep the criticism constructive, guys and avoid personal attacks, it’s unbecoming and a little bit petty. We’re all entitled to our opinions and so am I.

With that in mind, it’s only fair though to present some reason for why I believe Benitez is deserving on another crack. First – and perhaps, most obviously – he was stabbed in the back. To avoid the usual in-fighting surrounding this point, I won’t give my opinions on who or why I believe this was but, in my opinion (and those three words are important here), he was stitched up in his final season and, despite huge protests and marches against the owners Rafa was made the fall guy.

But conspiracy-theories aside, there are a ton of reasons why he is still the best candidate for the job – he loves this club; he may not have intended to but it happened and he is now Liverpool for life. He lives and breathes LFC and has a strong relationship with the City and fans. If you deny this, then you only have to take a glance at this short clip to see what the club means to the man and the man means to the fans. I’ve heard the same sentiments espoused about why Kenny was the man to lead Liverpool forward too so what is good for one must be for the other.

Not only this, but Rafa gave us back our pride between 2004-2010. He made us feared across Europe and England. It was this that led us to a run of 30 consecutive games during which we went unbeaten at Anfield. Only the fourth time in our history that that has happened.
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He took us to two Champions League finals during his 6 years, winning the Cup in 2005 on what was, for most of us, the most memorable and treasured night of our lives so far. For over 20 years before he arrived – or since – we rarely even competed to get in to the Champions League, never mind reach a final or win the damned thing. During the same period we were one of the best, most feared side in Europe and not even the likes of Real Madrid and Barcelona relished the prospect of a visit to Anfield. You just can’t put a value on that kind of thing; there isn’t an amount of money that can buy that sort of psychology when it comes to creating an aura around a team and a club but he did it for us.

Then there’s the fact that he signed some of the best players that have ever pulled on a Red shirt. There’ll be those trolls that remind us – for the thousandth time – that he sold Alonso but lets not forget that he also signed him and, in doing so, helped create one of the best midfielders in the world. He also gave us the likes of Reina, Torres, Mascherano, Agger, Skrtel, Arbeloa and Garcia and helped make world-class stars out of the likes of Carragher and Gerrard, for all the appreciation he got for that. People forget that when he signed, Carragher and Gerrard were Englishmen that were largely thought of as being very good but he made them into the players they became and neither have been the same since he left.

Likewise, the likes of Alonso, Reina and Torres were thought of as risky buys when we signed them but all three became the best at their trade in the Red shirt and they will all attribute that to Benitez. The players who have since left aside, what has happened to his signings since he left? Barely any of them have performed to the same level; even Reina has seen his form dip this season. And also, can anybody genuinely say that Torres would have been so eager to leave had he still been at the club?  I just can’t see many managers on that supposed list of candidates that would have the sort of pull he has when it comes to attracting top players, despite a lack of Champions League football.

Others will have their own opinions about his signings and I’m sure more than a few will enjoy pointing out where his dealings in the transfer market failed but one thing that nobody can argue with are cold, hard statistics and I have plenty of those too. For a start, Rafa has the third highest overall win percentage (post-war), at 55.43%, just behind Bob Paisley and Kenny Dalglish (this may have changed since 2011-12 season). He also has the second highest league win % which, for what some (Danny Murphy and Jamie Redknapp included) would argue was an unsuccessful period for Liverpool, is not bad going at all.

And for those that like to kid themselves that he was a defensive manager, I’ll just point out that, under Benitez we scored 585 goals, in all competitions over 6 seasons. That’s near enough 98 goals per season – does that sound like a defensive-minded manager to you? Perhaps it’s the fact that we conceded just 281 goals during those 6 seasons, in which time we also kept over 150 clean-sheets (he coached us for around 350 total games) that makes people view him as a defensive-minded coach. This wasn’t a defensive team, this was just a well-drilled team that happened to be good at not letting goals in. So then, during his time as manager we had an overall positive goal-difference of over 300. Based on statistics alone, you’d be hard-pressed to find a more qualified man for the job than Benitez.

So really, the only arguments against can be personal ones and you can’t really argue with those. None of us would want Mourinho or Alex Ferguson as manager but that’s a purely personal thing because they’re two of the top managers in the world. But any arguments that Benitez isn’t suitable based on ability or managerial reasons just don’t wash with me and getting sacked by Inter Milan means nothing; Jose Mourinho was sacked by Chelsea before he took over at Inter and after Rafa left Liverpool he was deemed the only worthy replacement for the current Madrid coach. Some managers just don’t fit with some clubs but with Liverpool Rafa Benitez is the perfect fit. I just hope that FSG and whoever happens to be advising them has pointed them in his direction.

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I'm a 32 year old Liverpool fan, living in the heart of the City Centre. I've supported the club since the day I was born and have been writing articles for L4L for over 3 years, writing close over 350 articles in that time. My favorite player of the past generation is Sami Hyypia.

I am the current editor for L4L, with my day job being in R&D for the NHS.

147 comments

  • stoneleech says:

    It’s gotta be Moyes…..

  • alfonzo mo says:

    with that attitude, we will never have a settled manager and ergo team s.mawere. whoever comes in needs our support as kenny demanded both when he came and when he (unfortunately) left, as we cant do sh*t without supporting the whole team.

    • Stevie says:

      And on this one point I agree with you. We must get behind whoever comes in (hopefully Rafa 😉 )

  • Kail says:

    Rafa is feared much wen it komz to CL futbal,bring him on fsg,d reason bn dt most of his recruits r stil at anfield,they ll neva luk down on him.. Wt rafa,lvapul fc ll hv it al nxt ssn

  • Scousewalian says:

    If there are a large number of fans who.want Rafa back, is there not away to at least let the owners know, without getting too militant about it. It’s our club as much as there’s so they should at least know what our thoughts are even if they don’t agree.

  • alfonzo mo says:

    my main grief with rafa is his defensive negative tactics. stevie im sure will tell us all about the number of goals scored in a paticular season, but by the way, football is more than just scoring goals, there is in my opinion a style of play to get the goals which encourages people to follow the game. the houllier and rafa years, even when sporadically winning trophies, were hard to watch as the foundations of play on which the club was founded was forgotten for the sake of puke.

    • Stevie says:

      I will politely agree to disagree with you on this point. We played some brilliant stuff under him. We just didn’t concede too often so maybe that made games seem less exciting. But watching Gerrard and Torres in full flow was the best I had seen at Anfield in a very very long time. I even think he improved players by using them better. For example, Gerrard’s scoring record pre-/during/post Rafa is an amazing contrast. I loved the 4-2-3-1. But I agree that we were at our best when he released the shackles a bit. But perhaps it was more down to the personnel at his disposal. Rafa was great for the club but H&G were the worst individuals we have ever had here! I would love to see Rafa with FSG. I also enjoyed not selling our best players for low prices or paying over the odds for most players during Rafa’s tenure. I love Carra but once he’s out of the team I’m sure we will see less of his hoofball out of defence.

    • David says:

      It’s all about goals – without them you don’t go very far and end up 8th or even lower. Style can come later but LFC must start winning first then worry about flair.

      • Stevie says:

        Ok, David actually has a point (you can probably ignore my long winded post above). For next season – it should be all about results.

    • Rory says:

      You’re wrong. I remember plenty of games especially at home won 3-0, 4-1 ecc…and i remember that we almost won easily every game versus small teams, and don’t forget we were beatings teams like Real, Barca, Inter, Chelsea quite often in those years, YOUR PROBLEM AS FOR OTHER PEOPLE IS THAT YOU ALWAYS ACCUMULATE THE RAFA REIGN AT LFC LIKE THE ONLY THING THAT COUNTS IS THE LAST SEASON, BUT YOU DON’T REALIZE THAT…

  • alfonzo mo says:

    don’t get me wrong i like rafa as a man and his admiration for the club cannot be questioned as seen in the hillsborough memorials.

  • F.O says:

    Rafa.com

  • The Voice says:

    Rafa did fantastic with the backing he was given and in his last season he screwed with the owners as much as they screwed with him and it cost him his job AND IT COST BERT AND ERNIE THEIR CLUB (THANK F***), he generated his own transfer funds through his buying and selling of players and spent bugger all compared to any of the other top clubs.He may not be everybody’s cup of tea but he knows what it will take to do the right job. As for AVB and RM they have both shown in their own ways why they MAY be good enough but as previously said on here FSG will appoint who they want and believe me it will be their choice so if they fail with their appointment then we can all give em loads and shout at them RAFA RAFAEL RAFA RAFAEL RAFA RAFAEL RAFAEL BENITEZ. AGREE OR DISAGREE. My opinion and mine alone. YNWA JFT96

  • David says:

    Rafa looks like the best choice as most of the others have rejected the offer!

  • minnah says:

    we want rafa because he is the best and will forever be the best for the Job.
    In Rafa we Trust.

  • RedSteve says:

    There is only one manager available that is capable of taking us forward and restoring our pride.
    He fits the profile like a glove, loves the club and the city.
    Let Rafa complete his project!

  • Jerry says:

    Thumbs up…!!! In Rafa We Trust…!!!

  • alfonzo mo says:

    ye can all shout for rafa but thankfully he wont be coming back. get used to the idea. rafa has support but there are those who would hate to see him back. with a fresh man at the helm at least we can all get behind him. avb is still in the frame for roma job as cantania do no want to release montella. this means martinez is back in with a shout. even i think martinez isnt good enough

  • zaheer says:

    I’ve read all your arguments I like rafa but want to see Rijkaard in the hot seat.I think we will see Raheem sterling morgan and suso in the first team with him at the heal.Rafa would get us some stars but let’s face it when he is good he’s great but when he is bad it just kills us.that being said I know he can do the job just think the owners won’t go for him.

  • alfonzo mo says:

    not that he aint good enough, hes a good coach, plays good footy and his 343 set up is interesting. but i dont think hes a big enough draw to encourage big names to come in and even to keep the big names we have. worrying.

  • Steve says:

    If you ask me, many of the people who don’t want Benitez back are the same ‘fans’ who screamed for him to go in the first place, called for (and got) Hodgson as his replacement… only for that to be proved a total and utter disaster, and with Kenny, claimed he should be have been more given time despite the worst league results in 50 years and the worst goals scored return in 100 years (and are still claiming he should never have been sacked).
    Now they want X despite only a handful of years experience in management (Martinez, AVB)/one successful year (AVB)/ ‘is young'(Martinez, AVB, Guardiola/Rodgers et al)… anybody but Benitez. The mind boggles.
    Admit it you guys, you know as much about football as my arse knows about snipe shooting!

    What we need is someone with a proven track record of winning major league championships/trophies at multiple clubs, years of experience – both in Europe and in the EPL and a reputation that can attract top players to the team. Of the names mentioned, Benitez is the only LOGICAL choice, and only Capello comes close.

    • alfonzo mo says:

      i suggest you crawl up benitez’s arse and take a shot from there. benitez won the league without his own players/signings and managed to leave the club with more sh?t than youre able to talk steve. forget rafa. his time has been and gone. look forward.

      • Rory says:

        Yeah, go fo AVB so we will see Suarez and Gerrard on the bench like we saw Drogba and Lampard this year…

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