Rafa Benitez in "being an utterly s**t man-manager" SHOCK

[Simster]

You've managed to be wrong twice in one sentence.

Your posts on this entire thread are CHOCK full of wrong.

 

[Mellotron]

The KEY issue is, Rafa has spent more than anyone bar Chelsea (who have had more success) and Man City (whose spending was all THIS/LAST season), yet their achievements nowhere near match this. Is that or is that not true? That's really what it boils down to.

 

[Mellotron]

Your posts on this entire thread are CHOCK full of wrong.

Not really though are they? You are FACTUALLY wrong on the spending issue. You clearly misread me on the Houllier issue.

 

[sten_super]

Let's see how Man Utd get on if they lose Rooney for 6 weeks, or Chelsea if they lose Drogba and Anelka. There are only so many "world class" players in the world, and Liverpool don't have the financial muscle of Man U or Chelsea.

Expanding (I think) on BoF's point, the issue is not that he has only two world class players; it's that he has two world class players surrounded by (in the main) complete and utter dross. He's wasted significant amounts of money on players that would not get anywhere near Man Utd/Arsenal/Chelsea's first team. In that respect he is a big team's Harry Redknapp.

I'm not saying that other managers have perfect records in the transfer market, but they have policies which seem (in the main) to be more successful. Ferguson tends to buy fewer more expensive players, and while some of these have failed, the majority have a good amount of quality and at least some kind of resale value. Wenger buys a large amount of youngsters for relatively small fees; these probably have a higher failure rate than Benitez's purchases, but as they cost less it is not as noticeable. Benitez's policy is to buy players of middling value (£5-10m) and hope that they succeed. Of those that he has bought, I can think of only Reina and Benayoun that have been unqualified successes, and you could argue the case for Kuyt. Beyond that, he spent a LOT of money on Torres (who of course is fantastic) and wasted the rest, while at the same time seemingly not improving the depth of the squad or bringing through many good young players.

 

[The Wizard]

If they still had Alonso I think they would have won the title/been in with a shouting chance this season. shame.

 

[Rookie]

And also, the title was utterly sh*t MAN manager. It is WELL DOCUMENTED that Rafa treats his players with contempt at best.

Is it? Bar Alonso and this rant from a player not playing I don't remember any other players coming out and saying stuff about him. Quite the opposite with Torres, Reina and Maxi all joining because of him. Yes this season they have been poor but that not helped by losing one of the best players in the world at the beginning was it

 

[Safe.]

I reckon Rafa will be at Real Madrid next season and if he is they will at least get to the semi final of the champions league.

 

[Chesney Christ]

Is it? Bar Alonso and this rant from a player not playing I don't remember any other players coming out and saying stuff about him. Quite the opposite with Torres, Reina and Maxi all joining because of him. Yes this season they have been poor but that not helped by losing one of the best players in the world at the beginning was it

He treated Robbie Keane and Xabi Alonso like shit.

Obviously, I don't want to ignore Rafa's phenomanol ability to get a team containing World Class players such as Alonso, Mascherano, Torres and Gerrard to..... WOW....... FOURTH (!!!!!) ...... season after season whilst never ever (last season aside) coming even vaguely close to winning it.

However...

I think it MIGHT be possible to argue that;

Spending most of this season around SEVENTH positon
Going out of the FA Cup in the THIRD ROUND to the mighty READING
Going out of the Champions League in the GROUP STAGES
Being on the verge of going out of the EUROPA LEAGUE
Making it all the way to the FOURTH ROUND (Wowser!!!!!!) of the Carling Cup

.... isn't that phenomenol an achievement. Sorry to be so incredibly demanding of the most successful club in British Football history, but perhaps, and I'm going out on a limb here... they could have done a TINY bit better with the resources and players they have. Hell, maybe even the heady heights of the FIFTH round of The Carling Cup or the FOURTH round of The FA Cup.

But, still, lets look on the bright side shall we? Rafa should be congratulated to have ensured yet another top half finish, and for their brave run through 1 group stage of the Champions League and two whole rounds of the high profile Europa League, as well as their enthralling run to the fourth round of the Carling Cup!! Keep up the good work, Rafa!

 

[mcshane in the 79th]

Albert Riera has been suspended by Liverpool over his comments about about Rafa

 

[Barrel of Fun]

Well, he has engineered a cut price move from Liverpool. Good man.