Comments on: Rafa’s ridiculed reign at the reds

By: John Shamon

John Shamon — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 01:35:39 +0000

Spending so much? Liverpool?

Before this window, £5m was spent per window during Rafa’s career at Liverpool. That is pittance.

Now, after another disappointing window, Rafa has made £6m in PROFIT yet he continues to have to find loans/frees.

2 players out, 1 player in and we still don’t have a striker to back up Torres.

As Peter highlights below, he is now being forced into looking to next season with Jovanovic and Chamakh on free transfers to solve our problem and free funds for the squad, if he gets any, next season.

By: Peter

Peter — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 16:23:53 +0000

Kopites 25m pounds 4 Marouane Chamakh is he worth it? Is it the best move during this crisis period in LFC? “With Liverpool’s season apparently lurching from one crisis to another, the club’s hierarchy have decided not to enter the transfer market this month, opting instead to save the money they have already received from the sale of Dossena and Voronin – and the impending sale of two other star names – in order to finance the Chamakh deal”

The approach reflects Benitez’s new desire to purchase good young players instead of fringe squad players, a tactic that has, for the most part, been a distinct flop” – ESPN SOCCERNET

By: Peter

Peter — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 16:14:51 +0000

though he(Lucas) doesn’t like to defend, I think he looks @ himself as a striker more than a central/defensive midfielder. Wake-up friend! Also you called our finishing 2nd last year “good management” dat we ran United close. United is carrying d premier league 4 d upteen time & we r yet to taste that glory. Not only did United taste that glory again last season(@ our detriment) they spent less than us in the transfer mkt(summer and winter) & when they sold players they made more than us. what is the need of spending so much only to come 2nd, we can as well be QPR or Arsenal who buys once in a while.

By: Peter

Peter — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 15:58:43 +0000

Friend look @ MU in d last 5yrs r we better off than them? for 5yrs we have stayed without a trophy r u not worried, r u not tired off d magic, d signs Rafa does on TV. what LFC needs are trophies if Rafa can’t deliver them he should go. Obviously he’s shown he cannot deliver them so what r we waiting for? I am surprised seeing LFC faithfuls like urself still standing behind Rafa, the man should get-out. If it will take us five yrs to build a team let it be, let’s do it slowly but with another coach. Rafa has spent his own 5yrs wasting transfer-budget on overpriced players, depleting the quality of players he has and subjecting youngsters to perpetual bench. Kopite, Rafa is our problem, he should go.

By: BOBIESCOUSE

BOBIESCOUSE — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 07:47:17 +0000

Very interesting what you put about arsenal as like allot of my friends i just see them as arsenal youth talent and forget that they have poached most of them form under the noses of clubs who put in all the effort and time to help them grow.

These day’s tho who’s the best youth developer in the premiership ? who can claim to having developed local talent and at what age would you consider them a youth development and not cheap poaching tactics ?

By: BOBIESCOUSE

BOBIESCOUSE — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 20:29:57 +0000

I am simply venting my frustration like any fan who pays to watch them would !

I do see the bigger picture which is why on the whole im not getting at rafa because i know the restrictions he has been under since day one but when i go and watch the players put in effort levels most under 10 football teams would be ashamed with i start to question things ( it’s only human to)
My problem at the moment is effort not confidence or tactics and i would say im pretty justified that whatever situation were in as a club and what ever quality level were at that the bottom line from any professional should be 100% effort.

With regards to insua my only concern for him is that he looks to be going the way of Sissoko who looked more than promising to begin with but then started a dip in form from which he never recovered from. I hope he has the strength to get through this spell but again it’s about will and effort in that situation , if he works at it his quality will come through “hopefully” .

Johnson needs to work on his defensive ability to which i mirror him with Ashley Cole who at the start of his career who was good in offence but lacking defensively. It is simply the fact of fine tuning his raw talent for me but we do look weaker defensively when he is included imho.

I have been positive for ages but i wont stand for the effort put in recently ! Dose that bring me down to the level the media want me ? I don’t think it dose, it simply shows that i care about the club and that i will voice my opinion, not simply act like everything’s ok when it’s not.

By: BOBIESCOUSE

BOBIESCOUSE — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 19:47:44 +0000

Sorry probably misunderstanding the way iv put it.

I did not mean Alonso was worse ( even though if your honest we only got two seasons of good play from him.) and was only muting the fact that Riise lost ability when rafa came in but it was my intention to include Riise along with alonso and the others in that list as quality players who we’ve let go and replaced with substandard additions.

Well pointed out that most of that list made their names at liverpool ( something i already knew ) but i wasn’t getting at that ! My argument was that what is the point in selling players who work in liverpool’s team only to risk money and time on players who have not or are not making the grade.

Maybe it’s not our year but i wonder if you said that last year or the year before that and maybe next year if nothing happens ? I would bloody hope the manager would get rid of me if my attitude/ commitment was not rite but more so the manager shouldn’t get rid of/ or force out quality players and replace them with 3/4th rate players .

Im not rafa bashing or hating the institution in any way but i wan’t to see progress at the very least on some level in the club and as a fan who regularly pays my hard earned money to watch and support the red’s every week i demand a level of effort from every player which most notably in games against reading, portsmouth, seccond half arsenal, fiorentina away to name a few wasn’t there .

We have a good core of players who when playing well are better than anything this league has to offer however our support players are just not good enough for varying reasons and when the top boy’s don’t perform no one steps up to the plate.
Our young lads are being starved of the opportunity to progress , just look at the quality of Spearing, Darby, Kelly, Pacheo, these lads need more chances but are forced out even when players like Kuyt, Lucas, Skirtle, Insua, Gerrard(yes i said it) are not performing .

In the end iv seen this before with Houllier, going so close then falling apart is so cruel to take and to see it happen again is unbearable ( been there done that and don’t want it again.) All i want is for rafa to turn it arround.
I hope im proved wrong with any negative thing iv said about the squad because i could live with that , my pride for liverpool’s glory ?, id take that any day of the week and i know any true liverpool fan would too.

By: McrRed

McrRed — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 11:30:33 +0000

Hear hear!!!

By: McrRed

McrRed — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 11:29:04 +0000

This is just nonsense.
Rafa is as close to an honorary scouser as you’ll ever find from abroad.
I can’t stand these sorts of comments from people who mimic and copy what they’ve heard from poxy commentators and pundits without actualy watching what’s happening on the field.
Lucas just passes backwards? Nonsense.
Yes, we are struggling to put passes together in some games…now look at exactly who and you’ll see there are some crowd favourites who also are adding to that struggle, but because they’re favourites, they never get mentioned.

Rafa’s defensive? Scored more goals than anyone last season. Defensive? How quickly some forget…
No other manager would put up with the rubbish Rafa has had to (especially with one of the top sides in the world waiting for him in the wings).

Rafa leaves?…and it really hits the fan.

Agree about the cancerous owners though.

By: John Shamon

John Shamon — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 10:05:10 +0000

Liverpool have been sub-standard and i haven’t said otherwise. I moan about the lack of ‘spark’ the side has had for 9/10ths of the season as much as anybody. But i don’t look at it just on what’s happening now.

What most fail to see is the overall picture and Insua, along with almost every other player, has gone backward but they are quality players.

Kuyt, Insua, Carragher and Johnson are all quality players in their role but a dip in form and a drop in morale has seen the sloppiness in their play exaggerate to a low to mid-table club’s form.

Negativity is a form of release for some, but i don’t want to be drawn down to the level that most media outlets want us to be.

By: TB

TB — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 14:49:22 +0000

Olivetti,

In response to your message I don’t believe Benitez has been crying about not having any money, if so I would ever so like you to quote where you think Rafa has been crying about it! The real issue here is fans like yourself are ‘crying’ about Rafa and he’s inability to work wonders in the transfer market. As highlighted in the article he has made some fantastic signings albeit he has also made some questionable signings. However, what you cannot dispute is that ALL managers make signings that haven’t worked out. If every signing he made turned out to be a success story like Torres, Reina, Arbeloa etc then he wouldn’t be at Liverpool FC but would surely be managing a club with a bottomless pit of money such as Manchester City or Chelsea! I suggest you stop ‘crying’ about it and be a little less hypocritical!

Some of your quotes regarding current players such as Lucas, Pacheo & Nemeth are just pure observations with little thought behind them. The three of them all arrived at the club with great potential and in the latter two are still very young. I believe Nemeth is plying his trade on loan and Pacheo has recently figured in the LFC first team with rave reviews from the Reserve set up. Lucas has been our best player over the last 3 games and has contributed more then Javier Mascherano, who seems to be playing erratically. Rafa’s loyalty in Lucas seems to be paying off, I suggest next time you watch LFC look at Lucas’s work rate and sheer determination to break up the oppositions possession and starting the next attack.

Were you saying ‘bad management’ when we finished 2nd last season? Running United close to the title when we missed Torres for almost half the season? You can’t go from a manager everyone thought was great for LFC to useless within 6 months?!? Again your probably just a minority fans being hypocritical who can’t handle a period of bad form.

“WHY SHOULD US FANS SETTLE FOR DECENT WHEN WE CAN HAVE GREAT” – In particular I would like to know more about who you think will make us great in your opinion? If you suggest Mourinho then just look at his loyalty to clubs. Stays for a few seasons, ruffles a few feathers and then gets booted out because no one can stand him. I’m not saying he is a bad manager, in fact the opposite a very good club manager. However, he has no interest in building the LFC brand and future. Rafa has signalled that the future of this club is just as important with the re-structure of the academy.

Take your rose tinted glasses off and look at the wider picture and the long term objectives.

By: John Shamon

John Shamon — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 11:31:44 +0000

Transition!

This is the perfect example of media brainwashing those who want to listen.

He has had to sell to buy most of his Liverpool career and wanted to create his own squad instead of Houllier’s. Wit 14m quid a season to do so, high turnover is expected.

By: ndlfc

ndlfc — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 11:18:54 +0000

Do you not remember Hughes being at Blackburn Rovers? He got them into Europe on a hell of a lot less money than Rafa has spent. You must be having a laugh when you queston Wengers ability as a manager – he hasn’t won anything in the last 5 years as they’ve been going through a transitional period, but they’ve not been too far away – remember the whooping his young lads gave us at Anfield. Warnock has played for England & will again as he’s a much improved player now he gets more game time.
As regards the league last year, we would’ve won it if we’d dared to play 4-4-2 against bottom & mid table clubs at Anfield & I can’t see another chance coming our way in the near future, with all the backing Chelsea & City have. For every good signing Rafa has made he’s made 3 or 4 bad ones, don’t get me wrong I love Liverpool & I really want Rafa to succeed, so lets hope we do better in this window. YNWA

By: olivetti

olivetti — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 10:07:00 +0000

The role of a Manager – is not to cry about money , he knows his budget and must work accordingly.
if he cannot work to the best of the clubs abbility and his , then he should hand in his papers and walk.
poor Babel – looks like he had so much promise and still does .
lucas – came to us with so much of promise.(and dont think his premiership material)
nemeth – so much talk , but no game time
pacheco- same thing
Kuyt – was a striker (now his just a workhorse)
Reirra – not the best winger in the word but decent enough, quite effective last season when somebody actually capable enough passes the ball wide.
we have gone backwards in to the second season rafa was here , no width and not good enough tactics not good team selection , quite franky we look pathetic and never looked like we can dominate the game.
why – lets blame Aqulani , cause he has not plyed ball in such a long time and rafa expected the lad to hit form for the latter part of the season.
bad managment – as in business any in world you can say he’s messed up and ryoally as well,under these circumstances he’ll normally be fired , quite simply he has lost out on money in different avenues.
rafa’s incapable of nuturing young talent .
bad mangament plain and simple, poor STEVIE , how much more can we ask from this guy , he’s out of form , out of luck and he’s looking tired ,really tired , and they call this a team sport .
lucas has started every game and now everyone is saying he’s getting better , HOW !! at least 50% of the goals we concede come from he’s sloppy play.he’s the sam age as Fabregas and we say ”HE’S STILL LEARNING”
the deal with REAL and ALONSO , we could have taken at least two players from that deal from Real as they had to many players on their wage bill??????????/ BAD MANAGEMENT ,
sure I hate the Americans , but quite franky it could have been anybody that bought the club and found it hard to re-invest due to the hard financial times.
we need to look at mistakes,decisions, and player managment – these have not been the best and I use the word DECENT , cause thats what i say about Rafa’s time on Anfield

WHY SHOULD US FANS SETTLE FOR DECENT WHEN WE CAN HAVE GREAT

By: GB

GB — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 08:44:55 +0000

Spot on Bob. I can’t believe the rave reviews some of our fans are giving him. He’s no better than our other left-backs and they’re nothing special. He gets caught out of position so often it’s embarrassing.

By: Kopite

Kopite — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 22:52:37 +0000

I don’t understand why Rafa has signed so many players. Wouldn’t he have been better off spending the same amount of money on 12 – 15 real quality players? The Reading game highlighted how poor we are, and I’m only talking about basics here. The ability to pass and move with both feet, bring a ball under control, take players on and retain possession. We are void of all of those things at the moment becuase too many of our players can’t do it. For me, it’s not the poor results that hurt the most, it’s watching us play so poorly. We can kid ourselves that being well organised, athletic and disciplined is the right formula, but we all know it’ll only take us so far. It’s embarrasing that we marvel at the football played by sides like Arsenal and Utd. Once we were the envy of the league. And before someone tells me that times have changed, well the principles are still the same, stick the ball in the net more often than the opposition and you’ll win. We barley create chances these days. We need to rediscover our principles again, start playing some quality football, rather than this football by numbers we’ve grown so used to.

By: GB

GB — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 22:02:27 +0000

What are you on about? Of course nobody is blasting Ferguson. Have you seen where his team is? They’ve had one poor performance and been punished. Saturday was one of our better performances recently and it was still poor. Benitez is getting blasted because bar the odd player, we had our strongest team out, as we did against Wolves and were made to look so ordianry it was embarrassing. The problem is, we as a collective of supportes have come to accept mediocrity e.g. Lucas, Insua, Riera (yes I know he’s an international ut City fans laughed when we bought him,) and possibly Skrtl too. The Reading goalscorer admitted they looked at our defending at set pieces and exploited. I can see this zonal marking hasn’t worked, the players know it hasn’t worked which is why confidence is low at corners etc yet the manager puts it down to defenders not doing their jobs properly. Well guess what Rafa, give them a system that’s within their capabilities or only buy players that can adapt. Our football is currently depressing to watch; defenders hoof the ball en-masse, midfielders can’t control the damned tihng and forwards get little service.

By: BOBIESCOUSE

BOBIESCOUSE — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 18:03:03 +0000

totally agree !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

By: John Shamon

John Shamon — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 17:34:31 +0000

Rafa wants the money? He was offered the Inter job, and even Besiktas offered him millions in personal salary a season but said no and came here.

With Madrid sniffing around as always, he told them to do one and signed a 5 year contract with us.

If he wanted a transfer budget/higher salary then he’d be off in a jiffy.

Kuyt scored 15 goals (12 in the league) and had 9 assists last season, which is a fantastic return. Not to mention, when studying Liverpool’s play, he is drawing players away from the ball and opening up space.

His play this season has been incredibly below par, but on the whole Kuyt has been a pretty good signing.

Insua and Lucas need time to show their potential. If Insua is playing left back for Argentina, he must be doing something right as Benitez said Maradona was studying Insua’s progress for some time.

By: TB

TB — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 16:52:44 +0000

Firstly I think it’s a refreshing article although obviously can be deemed bias from a Liverpool fans perspective. I agree Rafa has made some excellent signings (highlighted in the article) and has also made some questionable signings. However please compare these to other managers of the top clubs of current playing staff, Ferguson – Nani, Hargreaves, Anderson, Tosic, Oberton. Wenger – Almunia, Senderos, Eduardo, Walcott, Djourou, Eboue. Chelsea – Ivanovic, Mikel, Malouda, Boswinga, Ferreira, Deco, Belletti.

From last season players such as Arbeloa and Alonso had made their mind up in terms of joining The ‘Galacticos’ when Real came knocking on the door. Rafa took these players including Alonso and made them into International regulars (Xabi was unknown outside of Spain when bought from Real Sociedad as was Arbeloa for that matter ). Lets not forget the development of Gerrard and Torres under Rafa, he has turned them into a much more effective offensive players and found a system that utilizes them both to their maximum potential. The same development can be said of players we have sold on for a profit yet never made an impact for us like Bellamy, Crouch and Sissoko. Much has been said about Insua’s & Lucas’s involvement but they have provided us with stability and potential. The same fans calling for Lucas’s head are the same petty fans questioning why there is a lack of young players coming through the ranks!! Stop contradicting yourself!! If you actually study Liverpool play Lucas has probably been our best player over the Xmas and New Year period!!

If we’re talking Youth Development please please don’t refer to Arsenal as all they do is scour the continent for young prospects and find a loophole in their contract and buy them. Ramsey, Walcott, Clichy, Merida all bought from other clubs, technically called poaching. Their only home grown is Wilshere and Lansbury. There current regular first team squad doesn’t boast any home grown talent! Although no doubting that poaching young players can be the way forward it does cost a club a lot of money and risk for a player that has no Premiership pedigree. Liverpool are starting to nurture the likes of Kelly, Spearing, Darby and there are more in the pipeline with Eccleston and Martin. Since signing his contract Rafa has appointed King Kenny to the Academy to help improve their potential so there is no doubt it is in the forefront of his mind.

I agree with RED1028 and you stand by your team thick or thin. Lets think about the situation when Rafa took over and what playing squad he inherited and where we are now. The only reason why there are disgruntled fans is because Rafa has raised the expectations by going to Real Madrid & Barcelona and beating them! I ask you if Rafa went who would be the best candidate to replace him? Its an honest question and realistically there is no better club coach available!!

This season has represented a dip in form and often provides frustrating times but with essentially our best player from last season leaving and lengthy injuries to key players the stability has not been there. We will return to play better football with the likes of Aqualani getting fitter and sharper and Torres and Gerrard free from injury. Also once the defence has settled we will look less vulnerable in the Premier League

One last note I will mention is it is amazing to see the same fans moaning and chanting Rafa to get sacked when 6 months ago they were the optimists cheering on the team when we were almost head to head with United!!!