Despite admitting that the title challenge will not happen this season, Rafa Benitez has stated that he will be the man to win Liverpool the title.
Benitez even said he aims to spend a substantial period of time at Anfield.
Benitez, in confident mood, had this to say:
“If I think it’s impossible, maybe I could look at other options. But I’m not thinking about that. I think we can win titles, and win the Premier League. Not this year – it would be almost impossible – but in the future,” he said.
“Liverpool is a town of fighters and I will fight. It doesn’t matter if we draw or lose another game, I will try to do my best in every game and during the rest of my time here, which may be ten years.
“If you keep your mind positive then you can change things. If you keep your head down then you can’t change anything. If the manager is not positive then it’s difficult to improve. I’m convinced it is the only way.
“We have got through to finals and won trophies here already. I am positive we can improve as a club and win more.
“Some headlines in the Spanish press were saying Liverpool hadn’t won the league for 18 years and were blaming me. But I’ve only been here just over three years. We are improving but we need to progress more and faster if we are to close the gap.”
He added: “It’s clear there has been a different situation this season. The expectations this year were different, and that has made it more difficult. In football it’s difficult to stop that.
“We can improve, but the other teams are improving and to win the league we’d need to get our best Premier League points total and have an almost perfect season. I’ve said that in the past and it’s still the same.”
I grew up watching Liverpool win league title afer league title. the one thing the great liverpool teams of old had, but sadly lack today, is a leader on the pitch. someone who can take the game by the scruff and win it like roy keane used to for united. stevie G is a good captain, but how many times does he go missing in big games when they are there to win. he does not have the respect of all the players if truth be known, and thats why he does not have it in him to lead when he is on the pitch. people say how many times has stevie G pulled us out of another hole, but again lets be honest this is always against lesser teams, never against the big teams. look at the champions league final against milan. stevie G man of the match, no way, d hamman was the man who stopped milan, in return, it freed stvie G up to play his way, this is what liverpool lack. get a leader and free stevie g up to play the way he likes. also, on rafa, winning the premiership. NO! he is not good enough, he rotates too much, he droppes torres against the likes of birmingham and plays him in the league cup. get real everyone. sadly my beloved liverpool is no better than when roy evans was in charge. we need a manager, and players who know what liverpool fc means to the fans because more than 50% of this squad dont care, as they are getting thousands a week. they care more about money than LIVERPOOL.
lets support the gaffa if he thinks he can do it we should think he can to! lets get behind our club and manger !
Give him time. He will deliver. Chelsea have a low rated manager but a team built under mourinho, thats why they are doing well. Rafa will deliver, but isn’t it time for all of LFC players to deliver too?
To get rid of Rafa would be a mistake!!
Who would Liverpool get in to replace him? There is nobody who has changed the fortunes like Rafa, winning the Champions League tells you how much of a step we have made, and also getting to another final!! Give him more time, everyone is too quick to jump on the bandwagon and have him sacked!! What everyone seems to forget is that football is alot different to how it used to be, and it will only get harder for the teams outside the top 4.
Give Rafa time, he will change Liverpool for the better, we will win that title!!
ADRIAN, you are the kind of person that are responsable foir the reason why managers get no time to do things with clubs. This or you (Adrian) are a big problem in football not just England. I dont think Adrian is old or wise enough to remember a Mr Ferguson and his first couple of seasons at cold trafford, they wanted him out. History, Hey? GET BEHIND THE CLUB, MANAGER, TEAM! NEVER WALK ALONE!
Raffa will never win a title under the present owners they came with big idea’s(stadium)and little understanding of how the transfer system works,just look what happened when Raffa asked if he could sign players in January,they were outraged and just look what happened next,we all seen it played out in the media for all to see so how CAN Raffa believe that after dealing with owners who do not like spending our money a club like ours with global appeal should be competing with them up the road and Chelski and it’s scandalous that we don’t…..
I’ve no doubt whatsoever Raffa would deliver if given the chance But its down to two guys who’s rhetoric is to put up a screen of illusion whilst taking home the money earned through sales and gate money.If the Americans stay we as a club will go nowhere….
rafa should never be blamed for the position we are in. I think that one the biggest problems with Liverpool today is that the players often under estimate their opponent. reason for this belief is based entirely on the performance of the team, for eg. when they play against teams like Barcalona, Chelsea, Man U and Milan the team plays better than if they play against teams like Westham, Wigan, etc. I believe this motivation to play against big clubs comes from the respect that they have for these clubs, hence they are more alert and fired up when playing against these clubs, but they do the exact opposite when playing against small clubs, hence their casual approach. Why do you think we do so well in the Champions league?
Well, its easy to criticize Rafa for the continuous mediocrity in the performance of the team. But it seems to be that the true blame should be blamed on the shoulders of the players. And by players I don’t mean Gerard/Torres/Carragher/Reina/Mascherano. The five have done more than what they are supposed to in order to carry the team. I am directly blaming the ones that are quiet and no public announcements come from their sides. I am talking about Kewell, Kuyt, Babel, Benayoun, Riise, Crouch, Pennant, Sissoko, Xavi and the Great Fin. These players have continuously underperformed leading to all the created chances to be lost despite being superior in every game. Tactically, that is a great statement for Rafa as even the great MAN UNITED were outclassed in several games (West Ham as an example). But, their boys pulled through by scoring at the right times. I repeat, the players are the difference, as evident in Chelsea’s successful race for the title this season despite having more players on the injured list then off it and with a incompetent coach.
About the progress, the team certainly has improved. The problem is that the fans are being tricked by media to believe that we were ready to win the title. In fact, we just bought enough players to start becoming competitive with the Chelseas and Man Us who have done the same exercise 2-3 years ago. The difference is that now their team is playing as a unit as it took them a few years to build it. We just started. So breathe and give rafa a chance. This is the same guy that helped Liverpool take the Champions league by beating every big team such as Juve, Chelsea, Barcalona and MILAN!!! Man U is nothing but an overrated fat lady compared to those big names.
The proof will come when Inter exit out of the tournament!
Of course Rafa can win the title, he broke the Real, Barca stranglehold in Spain and I for one believe he can win many titles with LFC. Yes he has spent money, but he has sold well, Cisse, Bellamy, Diouf, Momo ETC….
Give Rafa the money Mou had and u´ll get ur answer.Can´t understand how u can compare them to him, Chelsea is owned by a multimillionaire and Ferguson is the richest club of the world. Look how much he´s had to fight to sign Mascherano.
The difference is that ManU and Chelsea get whoever they want, and the pay what they need.Rafa can´t do that(he´s done it just with Torres).A clear example is Skrtel ,as Rafa admitted, they first wanted 2 other full backs, but they cost 15 mil and 20 mil, he can´t spend that much so he had to sign Skrtel.
About the progress, of course Liverpool has progressed.I really think that the difference is lower.Liverpool is not the only team that improves. Miracles can´t be done but just in the cup competitions, in the premier league you need a big squad and to be consistent, something that Liverpool lacks of.
Have we made any progress under Rafa in the last 4 seasons?
Do we have a better team?
Is it bad luck that our performance is poor and that we are not getting results?
What expections Rafa is talking about? I thought he was employed as top coach because under the previous management we finished 3rd 4th and once second under GH.
Can our current squad develop into a team that can compete with the top three, let alone win the league.
Can Rafa win the league with only hard working headless chicken like Kuyt Voronin?
I would love to say yes for any of these questions but the answer is clear for any one who understands football.
YNWA
Who do you have to kid? How many more seasons do you need RAFA? Moan-rinho did this in one season. Ferguson when he started with Man-ure had an obsession and that is to f&%k liverpool of the perch. Yeah we are off that perch and for a very long time.
Where’s your hunger RAFA? Where’s your passion? I know where they are…your passion is rotation and you have done so with damaging results. Kudos to you for where we are now.