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Benitez







Lady Whistledown

Well-known member
NSC Patron
Jul 7, 2003
47,639
According to Wikipedia, Rafa has a higher win ratio than Bill
Shankly :lolol:

Lies, damned lies, & statistics...
 


Billy the Fish

Technocrat
Oct 18, 2005
17,594
Haywards Heath
And you can't really discount a Champion's League trophy and another final appearance as "flukes".

The year they won it though, that was a ridiculous run of good fortune. Seconds from going out against olympiacos and gerrard closed his eyes and kicked it as hard as he can from 40 yards out. A dodgy goal line decision against chelsea in the semi and Milan pretty much rolling over and handing them the title.
 


Kinky Gerbil

Im The Scatman
NSC Patron
Jul 16, 2003
58,792
hassocks
To be fair, their record last season would have been enough to win the league in many other seasons. And you can't really discount a Champion's League trophy and another final appearance as "flukes". How many have Chelsea won, with all their money? Add to this Benitez's record at other clubs before he joined Liverpool and he isn't really that bad a manager. He's just having a mediocre season having relied on a handful of really quality players for too long. Alonso was his biggest mistake.

I love the Alonso thing.

He tried to flog him to anyone last year to try and get Barry in, he failed. This year when Alonso said he wanted to leave Rafa says he should be loyal :lolol:

I also heart the reason he cant be fired is money, the liverpool fans wanted him to be given a new deal and Im sure they will blame the yanks still for giving him one
 


crodonilson

He/Him
Jan 17, 2005
14,062
Lyme Regis
There are a few unhappy Liverpool fans in Lyme Regis today, they want him out but I think he should be given until the end of the season and I still fancy them to finish 4th.
 




hans kraay fan club

The voice of reason.
Helpful Moderator
Mar 16, 2005
62,763
Chandlers Ford
I can't see why they are so worried. Rafa has GUARANTEED they'll make the top four, remember...
 


Pavilionaire

Well-known member
Jul 7, 2003
31,269
10 defeats in 20 matches for Liverpool is bizarre considering they finished Prem runners-up barely 8 months ago.

Most pundits concede that Man Utd are weaker without Ronaldo, while Chelsea and Arsenal are no stronger than they were last season. The immediate problem for Liverpool is that City, Spurs and Villa are all stronger than last season and the loss of Alonso means they're looking at finishing 7th.

Liverpool do still have 8 good players - Reina, Glen Johnson, Carragher, Agger, Gerrard, Mascherano, Benayoun, Kuyt and Torres all have something to offer, so in theory if Benitez switches 4 or 5 players they could be competitive again.

If you were to throw, say, Gary Cahill, Hugo Rodallega and Stephen Hunt into that team it wouldn't look too bad.

What made me laugh this morning was Ronnie Whelan descibing the Europa League as a "competition for losers". Is that because Everton are still in it?!

The fact is that other than Liverpool, who have been in the European Cup final 7 times, 10 of the other 31 teams have made the European Cup Final, combining to 30 appearances and 11 wins.

Those 11 wins have been spread over 6 clubs currently competing in the Europa League.

So, is Whelan saying Ajax, Juventus, Marseille, Hamburg, PSV and Benfica are LOSERS, while Stuttgart, Olympiacos, CSKA Moscow, Seville and Bordeaux are WINNERS?

The bottom line is Liverpool need to sort out the mess in the boardroom, ship out some deadwood and bring in some quality.

I still rate Rafa as a manager, but he may have run his course at Anfield.
 


WhingForPresident

.
NSC Patron
Feb 23, 2009
17,268
Marlborough
Liverpool just have no depth.
Without Gerrard and Torres, I put them on a par with West Ham at best.

They will never win the title with players like Insua, Lucas, Ngog, Degen, Cavalieri, and Aquilani has looked extremely poor- not sure what is going on with him exactly though.

Rafa has ripped that club apart with his poor spending, selling players and not replacing them, and not giving players that he's spent money on a chance; Pennant, Babel, Keane, Crouch etc etc.
I think he's just lost the plot completely.
 








Lady Whistledown

Well-known member
NSC Patron
Jul 7, 2003
47,639
Bad times.








:lolol: :lolol: :lolol: :lolol:
 




Pavilionaire

Well-known member
Jul 7, 2003
31,269
So Liverpool need to start praying. Their first objective is that Blackburn get knocked out of the League Cup; if Rovers were to win Liverpool would need to finish 6th, i.e. above one of Villa / City / Spurs just to play in the "Losers Cup", as Ronnie Whelan called it.

We could do our own little bit in keeping Liverpool out of Europe by beating Villa and making a non-Top 6th finalist all the more likely.
 


seagullsoverlincoln

New member
Jul 14, 2009
521
bit difficult to replace. Which big name would want to go there? Benitez spent the
family silver on a team of average Carlos Kickaballs plus £20m on Aquilani. Not to mention
his own pay off if he were to go. A new manager would have to cash in on Torres to
fund a rebuild.
 


Gwylan

Well-known member
Jul 5, 2003
31,830
Uffern
bit difficult to replace. Which big name would want to go there? Benitez spent the
family silver on a team of average Carlos Kickaballs plus £20m on Aquilani. Not to mention
his own pay off if he were to go. A new manager would have to cash in on Torres to
fund a rebuild.

Does anyone out there understand why Liverpool wouldn't cough up £18m for a proven Prem performer like Barry but were quite happy to fork out £20m that Aquilani would cut it?
 




seagullsoverlincoln

New member
Jul 14, 2009
521
Does anyone out there understand why Liverpool wouldn't cough up £18m for a proven Prem performer like Barry but were quite happy to fork out £20m that Aquilani would cut it?

Yes its symptomatic of the club,not to mention the Robbie Keane fiasco.
Maybe nobody could manage Liverpool properly with those American clowns
running the show
 




Mellotron

I've asked for soup
Jul 2, 2008
32,476
Brighton
The bottom line is Liverpool need to ship out some deadwood and bring in some quality.

Rafa has had 5 years and TONNES of money to do this. He has failed miserably on this count. This is why I don't rate him.
 


Danny-Boy

Banned
Apr 21, 2009
5,579
The Coast
Most still think the amount of support they get (based on their past) will save them and they will become great again.

You see loads of liverpool shirts around but in terms of money they really are the poor relations to Manure & Chelski.

You could say they are the choice of the "grey" generation, the first surge of wally supporters who backed the winning team at school rather than their local side, based on MOTD and the Big Match.

A few Leeds supporters like that around as well.
 






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