Rafael Benitez Discussion Thread

1. I have answered the question in regards my opinion of GH -

2. Your question makes no sense

“What do you tbink or “ ?!! “ and his achievements to Rafa ?’

So if you want to ask me a specific question - try and make it at least make sense

Yes you did ..sorry

I can't believe I actually read this.
The ramblings of a couple of players who wouldn't play to instruction, and an entitled player who couldn't get a game at chelsea and spent his whole career whinging.

Actually quoting a guy who said "He thinks he's in charge" when talking about the manager, who is actually in charge?

What kind of demented fool was Riera to say this?

Those quotes are pretty hilarious for those who remember how f**king useless those players really were, but still thought they were the equal of Messi.

Actually flabbergasted somebody looked them up and then decided they'd use them to prove a point.

Steven Gerrard never got praise for his performances from Rafa so why the F**k would the likes of Benayoun or Riera who did nothing.

Rafa had and has a simple philosophy its all about the team not the individual. Shankly wouldn't speak to players I suspect Souness would get into their faces Managers all have their own ways they are harshly judged and sacked because of players like Riera who think the game owes them a living the same as Babel who has done very little since leaving Liverpool.

Its bizzare to denigrate a manger because he isn't nice to his players I could imagine you could get a bus load of ex players to tell you all sort of horrible things about Ferguson but his record was ok.
The managers job is all about the team some players only care about themselves.

1. I have answered the question in regards my opinion of GH -

2. Your question makes no sense

“What do you tbink or “ ?!! “ and his achievements to Rafa ?’

So if you want to ask me a specific question - try and make it at least make sense

should have been “What do you think of “
try and make it at least make sense abit like your “What do you tbink or “...?? 
Yes we can all make mistakes from time to time 

Actually flabbergasted somebody looked them up and then decided they'd use them to prove a point.

But prove the point they did...
Can you see Klopp tell any of his player especially after the fans a cheering a player "I'm was surprised the fans booed because I was not good enough."...??

Steven Gerrard never got praise for his performances from Rafa so why the f**k would the likes of Benayoun or Riera who did nothing.

Come on Walt' You miss the point.... Gerrard was never slag off of his performance either... And Rafa could have said to the likes of Benayoun "I need you to try harder" instead of saying "I'm was surprised the fans booed because I was not good enough." that's poor man-management

Headline news Disgruntled players who cant hold down a place say the manager was horrible to me...oh boofucikinhoo lets them cry into their big fat bank accounts.

If Jürgen fails to win anything in his time here I am sure his record will say "Won F**k all but he was a lovely man and kind to his players".

Sorry did not notice you had answered the question i asked you
So on the basis that we won the Cl under Rafa that was enough for you to put his accomplishments above Houllier's..?
Lets be clear here
Rafa won the CL 04/05 the Super Cup /05 and the FA Cup 05/06
Houllier won The League Cup, FA Cup, UEFA Cup, and the Super Cup all in won season 00/01 followed by a second League Cup  in 02/03  Four thorphies vs two unless you wish to count the FA Charity Shield/FA Community Shield then that is one more each.... Both managers had runner up squad in the Premier League...

Houllier clearly won more thorphies yet you still feel he was the better manager... interesting

Yes because Rafa won the CL - that is the biggest prize in European Club football and also gave us a chance of winning a second

Winning an extra couple of league cups doesn’t override that CL - you ask any player or manager what they would prefer- a CL or League Cups and UEFA Cup

And you accuse me of spouting tripe... Please

It’s not tripe at all - Rafa , Gerrard , Torres etc all said the same - they went for the trophies they thought they had the best chance of winning - it is always better to win one than come second in two

And how  he treated about Yossi B' and Riera...? Remember all four players were there at the same time...
So there were clearly man-management issues going on...

I remember Rafa being the manager and being the one to pick the player - Yossi etc were always whining that they didn’t play week in week out like Torres and Gerrard etc - guess what they weren’t as good as those two. Rafa believed in rotation - any player arriving knew that - and how have Yossi and Co done since leaving - nothing but sitting on benches elsewhere

And on Alonso, players forms drop from time to time, when a player is playing well you do not let it be known especially as public as Rafa did; that you are chasing down another player as a replacement. Alonso loved the Club and would have stayed had the manager manged things better... You make it sound as if Alonso just decided one day that he just wanted to leave for no reason

I remember many chats and debates about Alonsos form dropping off - there was lots of talk about selling him and him wanting to go back to Spain , Alonso was always going to go back to Spain and he did for very good money after playing a great final season ( the summer before no one wanted to buy him for half the price ). If it was any other club bar Real then I suspect Alonso wouldn’t have left - since leaving the club Alonso was extremely complimentary of Rafa and how much he improved him as a player and helped him in his career.

Whilst you can pick up four players of which three weren’t that great just look at all the others that Rafa bought and said nothing but good about him - Pepe , Agger , Masher , Torres , Lucas , Kuyt and then add in players like Carra and Gerrard

There is not one single manager who will make every single player happy - all managers through time will piss a player off - I remember reading Thommos book and how he was just cast aside by Bob - it’s football it happens and it’s the managers that make the calls.

At the end of the day Rafa won us the CL , he was building a great side but was then hamstrung by the financial situation the owners put us in - players like Silva etc could have easily ended up at the club but we ended up massively in debt and Rafa spoke up about it - we all finally saw how bad the situation is and it cost him his job

But it shows exactly what sort of man he is when he still lives and loves the city and attends the Memorial when he can. I don’t think you will ever understand the impact he had and how many of us will always speak of him highly and fondly and will always be welcome at the club. Bet you didn’t know that he has had a number of regular meals with Klopp since he arrived at the club.

Come on Walt' You miss the point.... Gerrard was never slag off of his performance either... And Rafa could have said to the likes of Benayoun "I need you to try harder" instead of saying "I'm was surprised the fans booed because I was not good enough." that's poor man-management

just gossip from avg players nothing more and they are players who will not be remembered as successes

Can't believe the defence of Reira..You know the one who tried to hit a youth player, the one who slagged the club by claiming we are a sinking ship...those comments & actions are fine to some but if Rafa disciplines them they loose their F***ing mind..




 

You're not a proper red. Never have been, never will be. You're a loner who has seen a forum as some sort of solice. I can live with that, but really, go away, educate yourself a bit and then try and blag it again. Honestly, in my time on this forum I've never known anyone to talk as much bollocks as you and that's some f**king list that you're sitting at the top of. You're embarrassing yourself just trying to copy off that other w**ker but at least his is a real opinion albeit a weird one. I cringe for you on those rare occasions I bother reading your sh*t.

Was gonna reply to the blert but nothing can explain things better than this. Cringey, embarrassing oddball who clearly tries to be controversial in an attempt to come off clever.

You’ve got a great way with words WAHS

Did someone just use quotes from the News of the F***ing World to back up their anti-Rafa bile?

Jesus Christ. Walk into the F***ing sea.

You mention that you thought it was bitterness, tbh, in one way that has an element of truth. for with the teams we had we should have won more, and did not purely down to both Rafa's overly defensive style of football

When I see Gerrard rescuing us with goal after goal down those years, I can't help but feel it's an awful shame how he didn't win the league here in his prime, with some of the best players in Europe at the time, having to settle for top 4 spots instead because of football with the handbrake on, the kind of which Mourinho is getting (rightly) hammered and ridiculed for now.

In the summer he lost one of the biggest players in the squad in Owen and also bought one of the best players the club has seen in Xabi. Sad - have a word with yourself.

No, I'll have a word with yourself, to help set the record straight.

He didn't lose Owen that summer. He took him all the way to Graz to put him on the bench. All he had to do to keep him was put him on the pitch. But no he wouldn't do that. He then got rid of him three days later, so the backlash against Owen began and continues to this day. Without him, we finished out of the top 4 that season, 40 odd points down the table.

The credit he gets for buying Xabi, was lost when he tried to get rid of him to buy Gareth Barry. Thankfully the bullying didn't work for him that time, we got another year out of Xabi and Barry never showed up.

To understand my thinking about Benitez, you have to understand what most fans think about Owen. They see him as someone who played for the mancs, not as the 158 goal machine who won us several trophies, (including Cardiff on his own) so he must be discredited and insulted personally at every opportunity.

I see Rafa as the man who was brought here to win us the EPL and failed. So pretty much everything about his time in charge, (bar Istanbul and Cardiff) and his adventures since, is fair game for discussion, in a "Rafael Benitez Discussion Thread".

10 years ago he was drawing 0-0 against Stoke. 10 years on he is still drawing games 0-0, and is bottom of the pile nowadays, while we're setting new records and going for new accomplishments.

When I see Gerrard rescuing us with goal after goal down those years, I can't help but feel it's an awful shame how he didn't win the league here in his prime, with some of the best players in Europe at the time, having to settle for top 4 spots instead because of football with the handbrake on, the kind of which Mourinho is getting (rightly) hammered and ridiculed for now.

No, I'll have a word with yourself, to help  set the record straight.

He didn't lose Owen that summer. He took him all the way to Graz to put him on the bench. All he had to do to keep him was put him on the pitch. But no he wouldn't do that. He then got rid of him three days later, so the backlash against Owen began and continues to this day. Without him, we finished out of the top 4 that season, 40 odd points down the table.

The credit he gets for buying Xabi, was lost when he tried to get rid of him to buy Gareth Barry. Thankfully the bullying didn't work for him that time, we got another year out of Xabi and Barry never showed up.

10 years ago he was drawing 0-0 against Stoke. 10 years on he is still drawing games 0-0, and is bottom of the pile nowadays, while we're setting new records and going for new  accomplishments.

To understand my thinking about Benitez, you have to understand what most fans think about Owen. They see him as someone who played for the mancs, not as the 158 goal machine who won us several trophies, (including Cardiff on his own) so he must be discredited and insulted personally at every opportunity.

I see Rafa as the man who was brought here to win us the EPL and failed. So pretty much everything about his time in charge, (bar Istanbul and Cardiff) and his adventures since, is fair game for discussion, in a "Rafael Benitez Discussion Thread".

Phew, thought something had happened to you.

When I see Gerrard rescuing us with goal after goal down those years, I can't help but feel it's an awful shame how he didn't win the league here in his prime, with some of the best players in Europe at the time, having to settle for top 4 spots instead because of football with the handbrake on, the kind of which Mourinho is getting (rightly) hammered and ridiculed for now.

No, I'll have a word with yourself, to help set the record straight.

He didn't lose Owen that summer. He took him all the way to Graz to put him on the bench. All he had to do to keep him was put him on the pitch. But no he wouldn't do that. He then got rid of him three days later, so the backlash against Owen began and continues to this day. Without him, we finished out of the top 4 that season, 40 odd points down the table.

The credit he gets for buying Xabi, was lost when he tried to get rid of him to buy Gareth Barry. Thankfully the bullying didn't work for him that time, we got another year out of Xabi and Barry never showed up.

To understand my thinking about Benitez, you have to understand what most fans think about Owen. They see him as someone who played for the mancs, not as the 158 goal machine who won us several trophies, (including Cardiff on his own) so he must be discredited and insulted personally at every opportunity.

I see Rafa as the man who was brought here to win us the EPL and failed. So pretty much everything about his time in charge, (bar Istanbul and Cardiff) and his adventures since, is fair game for discussion, in a "Rafael Benitez Discussion Thread".

10 years ago he was drawing 0-0 against Stoke. 10 years on he is still drawing games 0-0, and is bottom of the pile nowadays, while we're setting new records and going for new accomplishments.

Christ there is two of them

Owen was always leaving in that summer even if he did play in shading Graz , he still would have gone but just a little bit cheaper

I’m not sure what the rest of that bile about Owen has to do with Rafa - he tried to persuade him and Owen left , without him we won the CL

My feelings for Owen come from someone who pulled on a Manc shirt , chased the money at Newcastle and even refused to play for them for fear of getting injured - nothing to do with Rafa

Yep we didn’t win the league under Rafa , just like we didn’t under Souness , Evans , GH , Owl Face , Kenny return , Rodgers and Klopp

What Rafa did bring though was CL win plus regular CL footy and also getting close to the title win - we just fell short at a time when money became big in football - we were a club who couldn’t spend whatever they want and at times had to sell to buy.

Right now at Newcastle last year he performed brilliantly to get into 10th despite being hamstrung by an owner who will give him minimal money to spend and the same again this season - he doing the best with the cards he has been dealt with there - last season they would have been relegated with another manager.

Rafa had his tactics and just like all managers some times they work sometimes they didn’t - but they worked enough to win titles and the big European Comps - his CV is there and can’t be denied

Phew, thought something had happened to you.

he is as useful and as welcome as a fart in a lift

Rafa            350  games 55.4% win ratio
Jürgen        162  games  54.3% win ratio
Brendan      166  games  50.0% win ratio

Rafa FA Cup: 2005–06
FA Community Shield: 2006
UEFA Champions League: 2004–05
UEFA Super Cup: 2005
number one ranked team in Europe 2009

he is as useful and as welcome as a fart in a lift

Reminded me of that time I was in a lift going to the sixth floor at work. Some fella got in at two, farted and then got out at three before a fit bird got in at four.

Bad moment.

Rafa            350  games 55.4% win ratio
Jürgen        162  games  54.3% win ratio
Brendan      166  games  50.0% win ratio

Rafa FA Cup: 2005–06
FA Community Shield: 2006
UEFA Champions League: 2004–05
UEFA Super Cup: 2005
number one ranked team in Europe 2009

what no comment on Rafa's actually win game ratio having played more than twice that of Jürgen and Brendan.

Rafa            350  games 55.4% win ratio
Jürgen        162  games  54.3% win ratio
Brendan      166  games  50.0% win ratio

Jürgen inherited Rodgers dross initially.
That win percentage will rise. 
This season so far ..... 100%   

there is two of them

Owen was always leaving in that summer even if he did play in shading Graz , he still would have gone but just a little bit cheaper

I’m not sure what the rest of that about Owen has to do with Rafa - he tried to persuade him and Owen left, without him we won the CL

My feelings for Owen come from someone who pulled on a Manc shirt , chased the money at Newcastle and even refused to play for them for fear of getting injured - nothing to do with Rafa

Yep we didn’t win the league under Rafa , just like we didn’t under Souness , Evans , GH , Owl Face , Kenny return , Rodgers and Klopp

What Rafa did bring though was CL win plus regular CL footy and also getting close to the title win - we just fell short at a time when money became big in football - we were a club who couldn’t spend whatever they want and at times had to sell to buy.

Rafa had his tactics and just like all managers some times they work sometimes they didn’t - but they worked enough to win titles and the big European Comps - his CV is there and can’t be denied

He is 15 years without a major league championship.
He is 14 years without a European Cup.
He has a history of repeated bust ups with players, owners, backroom staff, and boards.
He has also been relegated at 2 clubs.

That is also on his CV. Or do you just pick the nice bits?

Dalglish, Rodgers, and Klopp had different targets here. "Just make top 4" is all that was asked of them. Rafa already had it when he arrived, so the next step was for him to build on it and win the league.

Owen was not always going that summer, he had a contract to play for us. There were no bids made or considered for him, until Rafa took one look at him and stuck him on the transfer list. He didn't try to persuade him, he was happy to let him go.

He would never have played for the mancs if we had signed him when he was available for free, Carra asked Rafa to sign him. But we had Rafa in charge, so we didn't sign him and off he went to the mancs. We finished 7th the following season and Rafa was therefore let go.

Yes because Rafa won the CL - that is the biggest prize in European Club football and also gave us a chance of winning a second

Winning an extra couple of league cups doesn’t override that CL - you ask any player or manager what they would prefer- a CL or League Cups and UEFA Cup

You do realize how hard it is to win a treble...? You have to win all the games in three different competitions, which is ultimately harder than winning the champions League yet you still rate Rafa over Houllier for that...?? 

It’s not tripe at all - Rafa , Gerrard , Torres etc all said the same - they went for the trophies they thought they had the best chance of winning - it is always better to win one than come second in two

I remember saying somewhere on another forum three years before he was sacked that Liverpool FC will never win the Premier League Title Under Rafa Benitez...

He was made manager for the club to  win the Premier League, or at least to try and win it. He had more chance of winning the title had he tried; than winning another Champions League. The fact that he did not go all out to win it is unforgivable in my eyes and yet you, this time i mean You are ok with that..?
He fielded weaken side  choosing to priorities on the CL matches days later, and robbed us or the chance to win the title in 2008/09  and yet you still defend him..?

The money wasted on sides that were built not to challenge for the Premier League Title and yet you still defend him..?

The guy was and still is all about making himself look good, it was never about Liverpool, else why take the job at Chelsea...??

When I see Gerrard rescuing us with goal after goal down those years, I can't help but feel it's an awful shame how he didn't win the league here in his prime, with some of the best players in Europe at the time, having to settle for top 4 spots instead because of football with the handbrake on, the kind of which Mourinho is getting (rightly) hammered and ridiculed for now.

Stuck by Liverpool and deserved better than to have Rafa as a manager, deserved someone that would at least try to win him the title he wanted