Brendan Rodgers VS Rafael Benitez Transfer Spend

That's very true and if Downing had been as successful as he should have been, as a lot of people forget he was actually a very talented player then, I have no doubt both Carroll and Suarez would have scored more that season and we'd have been a much better team.

Kenny liked using the 4-4-2 which I actually do think is a very good formation, we at least had some width and we stretched teams a lot more. Whereas Brendan plays a 5 man midfield made up entirely of central players and wonders why we can't get in behind defensive teams.

I certainly had more confidence in Kenny, even when we were losing league games for fun, than I do in Brendan now. Though Kenny had earned that confidence by actually winning trophies and getting good performances out of the team, even if we weren't getting the results.

4-4-2 is too dated a formation we would have been so exposed.

i think kenny is a good man manager at this point, but tactically was too outdated. We needed a modern manager. But at the end of the day Rafa should still be our manager.

Even though things werent great. i dont know who our fans thought was going to come in and do better? Who had a better resume at that point or who was young and up/coming.

There should have been massive protests for rafa to stay. banners, flag, aeroplanes etc.

To think rafa was 10+ years younger than hodgeson with 2342937423 times the trophies and people were ok with that . It was never going to work out for us.

Arsenal fans better be careful what they wish for cuz i dunno whos out there that will do better than wenger. They are spoiled just like we were. It will be interesting to see what happens to arsenal when he leaves.

4-4-2 is too dated a formation we would have been so exposed.

i think kenny is a good man manager at this point, but tactically was too outdated. We needed a modern manager. But at the end of the day Rafa should still be our manager.

Even though things werent great. i dont know who our fans thought was going to come in and do better? Who had a better resume at that point or who was young and up/coming.

There should have been massive protests for rafa to stay. banners, flag, aeroplanes etc.

To think rafa was 10+ years younger than hodgeson with 2342937423 times the trophies and people were ok with that . It was never going to work out for us.

Arsenal fans better be careful what they wish for cuz i dunno whos out there that will do better than wenger. They are spoiled just like we were. It will be interesting to see what happens to arsenal when he leaves.

tactics dont win game players do.

Well it is conjecture, given as it's a hypothetical situation with no proof either way whether he would have turned us around. I agree that we played more exciting football under Kenny, despite the fact we couldn't finish to save our lives, and the fact we actually won a trophy that year should have kept him in the job in my opinion. I would definitely have kept Kenny in the job.

But at the start of the summer after that season, before he was sacked, the transfer targets were really not inspiring and with the benefit of hindsight would most likely, though not definitely, have only dragged us further into mediocrity. The big mistake was getting in a rookie manager who has never won anything and only had one season in top-flight football under his belt which has now taken us to mediocrity anyway.

1 - And yet once Suarez started scoring he couldn't be stopped, shows it was very much a settling in thing.

2 - Shouldn't really listen to media speculation over transfer targets. Were they any more inspiring than Borini and Joe Allen!!

i think kenny is a good man manager at this point, but tactically was too outdated.

And yet once settled, his team easily tore the arse out of Ferguson's utd!!

And yet once settled, his team easily tore the arse out of Ferguson's utd!!

For me sacking Kenny was a death warrant as far as FSG are concerned I just want them gone. When you think how under two American Owners we have sacked Rafa and Kenny and replaced them with Hodgson and Brendan we should have realised we were in trouble

And yet once settled, his team easily tore the arse out of Ferguson's utd!!

When Kenny played Maxi and Meireles, yes. Suarez was F***ing amazing that day, Kuyt got a hat-trick. What a game!

tactics dont win game players do.

we have good players now. our tactics are a mess.

we have good players now. our tactics are a mess.

which good players do we have I didnt see any on Saturday regardless of shitty tactics

As I understood it Aquilani was one of the only options as Roma were willing to take payments spread over X amount of years. It was all hands tied stuff back then. Same with Johnson, as for Keane i'm pretty sure he was a genuine mistake but Rafa was quick enough to notice it and ship him back out.

I can accept mistakes, we all make them and will make more but it's recognising the mistake and adapting so that mistake at least has less chances to happen again that earns respect and credibility. It's one of the, now, many reasons why I believe so many are done with Brendan, he simply doesn't adapt fast enough when things start to go wrong. He's stubborn in the worst way, there's knowing you're right when people believe you're wrong but there's a greater talent in admitting you're wrong when you are quite simply wrong.

I did look up some stuff about Keane and it was Rafa who wanted him as a partner for Torres .

I did look up some stuff about Keane and it was Rafa who wanted him as a partner for Torres .

Yeah the quotes may say that mate, but everyone and his dog knows that was a signing done by Rick Parry.

Rafa really wanted Gareth Barry at the time.

It shocks me how little ambition people have here. He had 12 points of his last 15 games with Liverpool FC! It was a good decision to fire him. We want to fight for the league title. We are Liverpool, we should fight for the top 4 every year. If the performances aren't good enough or we are nowhere near top 4 you should be sacked as a manager. Like Man United did with Moyes. I don't like that people here have small team mentality. We have been champions 18 times ffs.

I notice in your latest post you have again confused yourself and are now saying Rodgers did indeed sign a new contract.

I'm not confused at all. I've explained what happened 4 times. If you don't get it by now, you won't. 

As I pointed out before, you went quiet when you said Rafa would never manage a big club again

Wrong *1

you went quiet when you predicted he wouldn't win another trophy again

Wrong *2

you went quiet when you said...

    

now you are counting on him never winning a league again - let's see how that prediction turns out for you.

Pretty accurate so far tbh. 1 game is all it took.

You would actually think, with law of averages, you would be right once in a while but it hasn't happened for you. Utterly clueless.

I've been right for years about him.

"Won't win a league for us" Didn't.
"Won't win a league for Inter" Didn't.
"Won't win a league for Chelsea" Didn't.
"Won't win a league for Napoli" Didn't. 

It was hard enough for you to top off your posting about wanting United to lose when their victory would have done us a huge favour in winning the league.

Hard?? It is standard procedure. My detestation of the Hillsborough mockers is permanent, not conditional on who they play on any given week. I have done it before, and will do it again as and when necessary.

I said we would recover the ground, and we did. The following month, we had the winning of that title in our own hands. The failure to do so was in what happened in our games, nobody else's.

scientists are paid to invent stuff and discover things and footballers aren't

Finally something you got right. Well done.

Sometimes I feel sad thinking about Rafa leaving the club but then I reflect he is better off at Real Madrid rather than leading fans like you. You don't deserve a manager like Rafa and that's why you don't deserve to follow a successful club.

I don't feel sad at all. I wanted him gone long before he left, and was anything but quiet in saying so. He had 228 games to win what he was here for, and I couldn't take any more excuses off him on why he didn't. Off he went to coach a ready made, treble champion side, and was back in England by Christmas. He has won one trophy of significance since, for all the millions invested in his squads by those that thought they were hiring one of the best coaches in the world, but found life rather different to what it said on the tin.

Real Madrid fans don't want him around either. Real fans want Klopp, and feel it's only a matter of time before he's over there. Tbh, it probably is.

I always felt the relationship between Gerrard and Rafa was a strange one. I remember when Gerrard asked for a transfer and all Rafa said was "now we can go shopping" as if he welcomed the opportunity.

Correct. The ruse behind all that, was that letting him go was an opportunity to rebuild the side, similiar to how the neighbours did the season Rooney left. Within months, we were destroyed by Palace in the cup, Chelsea at home, and firmly planted in the bottom half of the league, while star summer signing and multi-club lump Crouch, was still trying to kick snow off a rope, even from the penalty spot.

Maybe if Rodgers wasn't trying to be everyone's best friend he might get better performances out the players.

Rafa delivered trophies, Champions League football and created one of the best teams in Europe. If Rafa had the 100mill to spend in a summer then he'd have signed the likes of David Villa, David Silva, Dani Alves and Aguero...all players he wanted but got told he couldn't have by the owners. Add that to he likes of Torres, Masch, Gerrard and Alonso and we'd have been sitting with number 19 and possibly more.

Fact of the matter is, Rafa understood the club, the fans and the city and generally everything about Liverpool. He was trying to please us and get results.

That's what every coach is supposed to do.

You tell us he understood the club. Yet according to the book, he couldn't understand what his own captain wanted, a local who broke sweat trying to get blood out of a stone for this club. I find that odd.

He brought a ton of Spaniards and Latin Americans here, with varying degrees of success. You line up the above players as if it's a fantasy league team. We don't know a) how many said players really wanted to come here and b) we don't know if they would have adapted to the (one) system we churned out every week. Last year, someone else thought they were signing Di Maria. Instead they signed Di Dud.

Fact is, we had enough resources here to win number 19. Fact is, we still didn't make it. That's what makes me sad, and he has to be held responsible why.

As I understood it Aquilani was one of the only options as Roma were willing to take payments spread over X amount of years. It was all hands tied stuff back then.

I can accept mistakes, we all make them and will make more but it's recognising the mistake and adapting so that mistake at least has less chances to happen again that earns respect and credibility. It's one of the, now, many reasons why I believe so many are done with Brendan, he simply doesn't adapt fast enough when things start to go wrong. He's stubborn in the worst way.

I would never describe him as stubborn. When we do go behind, the tactics are frequently changed. Sometimes they work, sometimes they don't, but that is another matter.

Aquilani was a panic signing. Like most panic signings, it was a mistake. Bar his goal against Atletico at home, I struggle to remember any other meaningful contribution to the side. No loss.

Rafa could have turned the team around. Our fans were impatient and spoiled unfortunately.

He had his chances. He failed. We've won 2 trophies in 10 years. We are not spoiled. We have been waiting 25 years for someone to return our bread and butter to it's natural home. So we are not impatient either.

[quote author]We needed a modern manager.[/quote]

We have one. Many now overlook his football destroyed all the big clubs bar Chelsea 18 months ago, and want him gone.

But at the end of the day Rafa should still be our manager. There should have been massive protests for rafa to stay. banners, flag, aeroplanes etc.

There were. Lots of them. If he kept his mouth shut, he would probably still be here. But he couldn't, and he isn't.

Arsenal fans better be careful what they wish for cuz i dunno whos out there that will do better than wenger. They are spoiled just like we were. It will be interesting to see what happens to arsenal when he leaves.

Wenger is long past it. He signed one player this year, showing again that getting in the European Cup every year doesn't necessarily have players beating a path to your door. They should have fired him years ago, but didn't. That's their problem.

Now back to the Keane scandal that blew another title challenge...

to be fair, Keane was a proven Premier League goal scorer who was doing it season after season with Spurs so on paper he was an ideal signing but he unfortunately didn't settle.

In fairness, it's very hard to settle if you're kicked out the door after 6 months. Even loan signings struggle to adapt to a 6 month spell. In all my years supporting the club, I can't remember any player treated as he was. Even Balotelli got 12 months to hang around the 18 yard line belting the ball into Row 25 before clearing off.

Wasn't Keane forced on Rafa thats why he didnt last that long.

He wanted him alright. He was so determined to sign him, that we had to pay Spurs compo just for them to co-operate with the process, never mind sign him.

Yeah the quotes may say that mate, but everyone and his dog knows that was a signing done by Rick Parry.

Rafa really wanted Gareth Barry at the time.

Thank christ that didn't happen. Ask yourself, Xabi Alonso, (still) one of the finest midfielders in the world with medals steaming out of him, or an obscure toffee journeyman? It should be no contest, and thankfully it didn't get that far. Unfortunately not enough to keep Xabi here, but we at least we got another year out of him, which looked unlikely for quite some time.

The quotes are there in black and white. The signing took three weeks to complete, and because he was a proven goalscorer, didn't come cheap.

Every team's coach agrees to players been signed. Even Rodgers does with his signings today.

I'm not confused at all. I've explained what happened 4 times. If you don't get it by now, you won't. 

Wrong *1

Wrong *2

    

Pretty accurate so far tbh. 1 game is all it took.

I've been right for years about him.

"Won't win a league for us" Didn't.
"Won't win a league for Inter" Didn't.
"Won't win a league for Chelsea" Didn't.
"Won't win a league for Napoli" Didn't. 

Hard?? It is standard procedure. My detestation of the Hillsborough mockers is permanent, not conditional on who they play on any given week. I have done it before, and will do it again as and when necessary.

I said we would recover the ground, and we did. The following month, we had the winning of that title in our own hands. The failure to do so was in what happened in our games, nobody else's.

Finally something you got right. Well done.

I don't feel sad at all. I wanted him gone long before he left, and was anything but quiet in saying so. He had 228 games to win what he was here for, and I couldn't take any more excuses off him on why he didn't. Off he went to coach a ready made, treble champion side, and was back in England by Christmas. He has won one trophy of significance since, for all the millions invested in his squads by those that thought they were hiring one of the best coaches in the world, but found life rather different to what it said on the tin.

Real Madrid fans don't want him around either. Real fans want Klopp, and feel it's only a matter of time before he's over there. Tbh, it probably is.

Correct. The ruse behind all that, was that letting him go was an opportunity to rebuild the side, similiar to how the neighbours did the season Rooney left. Within months, we were destroyed by Palace in the cup, Chelsea at home, and firmly planted in the bottom half of the league, while star summer signing and multi-club lump Crouch, was still trying to kick snow off a rope, even from the penalty spot.

That's what every coach is supposed to do.

You tell us he understood the club. Yet according to the book, he couldn't understand what his own captain wanted, a local who broke sweat trying to get blood out of a stone for this club. I find that odd.

He brought a ton of Spaniards and Latin Americans here, with varying degrees of success. You line up the above players as if it's a fantasy league team. We don't know a) how many said players really wanted to come here and b) we don't know if they would have adapted to the (one) system we churned out every week. Last year, someone else thought they were signing Di Maria. Instead they signed Di Dud.

Fact is, we had enough resources here to win number 19. Fact is, we still didn't make it. That's what makes me sad, and he has to be held responsible why.

I would never describe him as stubborn. When we do go behind, the tactics are frequently changed. Sometimes they work, sometimes they don't, but that is another matter.

Aquilani was a panic signing. Like most panic signings, it was a mistake. Bar his goal against Atletico at home, I struggle to remember any other meaningful contribution to the side. No loss.

He had his chances. He failed. We've won 2 trophies in 10 years. We are not spoiled. We have been waiting 25 years for someone to return our bread and butter to it's natural home. So we are not impatient either.

We have one. Many now overlook his football destroyed all the big clubs bar Chelsea 18 months ago, and want him gone.
 

There were. Lots of them. If he kept his mouth shut, he would probably still be here. But he couldn't, and he isn't.

Wenger is long past it. He signed one player this year, showing again that getting in the European Cup every year doesn't necessarily have players beating a path to your door. They should have fired him years ago, but didn't. That's their problem.

Now back to the Keane scandal that blew another title challenge...

In fairness, it's very hard to settle if you're kicked out the door after 6 months. Even loan signings struggle to adapt to a 6 month spell. In all my years supporting the club, I can't remember any player treated as he was. Even Balotelli got 12 months to hang around the 18 yard line belting the ball into Row 25 before clearing off.

He wanted him alright. He was so determined to sign him, that we had to pay Spurs compo just for them to co-operate with the process, never mind sign him.

Thank christ that didn't happen. Ask yourself, Xabi Alonso, (still) one of the finest midfielders in the world with medals steaming out of him, or an obscure toffee journeyman? It should be no contest, and thankfully it didn't get that far. Unfortunately not enough to keep Xabi here, but we at least we got another year out of him, which looked unlikely for quite some time.

The quotes are there in black and white. The signing took three weeks to complete, and because he was a proven goalscorer, didn't come cheap.

Every team's coach agrees to players been signed. Even Rodgers does with his signings today.

Oh FFS
Give it a rest.

He brought a ton of Spaniards and Latin Americans here, with varying degrees of success. You line up the above players as if it's a fantasy league team. We don't know a) how many said players really wanted to come here and b) we don't know if they would have adapted to the (one) system we churned out every week. Last year, someone else thought they were signing Di Maria. Instead they signed Di Dud.

Gotta take issue with that
Torres was a success
Xabi was a success
Masch was a success
Luis Garcia got us through to a champions league final...and scored some great and important goals - success
Arbeloa - success - defensively solid

Ok not all of his signings were great, but at least we didn't do a Anderson (united) or Andy Carroll type deal under him? His most expensive 'flop' was Babel - and he wasn't even half what Anderson or Carroll cost!

Babel would have come good given a few more years development under Rafa I think

Benayoun was fantastic considering he was cheap so the owners forced him on rafa instead of a more glamorous purchase.

Finnan was excellent, Agger came in to be a mainstay in the team...Reina should still be our No1 now!

Kuyt came up with important goals...

Apart from Aquilani and Keane - all his 'duds' were cheap...not like Angel over at the old toilet!

Even then, Aquilani and Keane's fees put together would only have bought Andriy Shevchenko...as we didn't pay the full amount for Aquilani...

http://liverpoolfc.wikia.com/wiki/Rafael_Benitez/Transfers

Here are some of Rafa's signings in his first 3 years that weren't a success... I stopped at 2008.

godwin Antwi
Besian Idrizaj
jACK hOBBS
Miki Roque
Paul Anderson
Ryan Crowther
MartinHanson
Nabil El ZHAR
dAVID mARTIN
Astrit Ajdarevic
Daniel Pacheco
Alex Cooper
Jordy Brouwer
Francisco Duran
Ronald Huth
Daniele Padelli
Gary Stevens
mIKEL sAN jOSE dOMINGUEZ
Daniel Ayala
Gerardo Bruna
David Amoo
Damion Plessis
Andras Simon
Dean Bouzanis
Krisztian Nemeth
Lauri Dalla Valle
Emmanuel Mendy
Vincent Weiji
Vitor Flora
Peter Gulacsi
Zsolt Poloskei
Nikola Saric
Christopher Buchtmann




Obviously none or virtually none of these signing would have been Rafa's personal choices, but it does emphasize just how poor our scouting of talent, especially "potential" talent has been over the years. It is no point having the best facilities in England for training our players if the scouts can't spot the right players. Which is rather worrying now our whole transfer policy is built around buying "potential".

Here are some of Rafa's signings in his first 3 years that weren't a success... I stopped at 2008.

godwin Antwi
Besian Idrizaj
jACK hOBBS
Miki Roque
Paul Anderson
Ryan Crowther
MartinHanson
Nabil El ZHAR
dAVID mARTIN
Astrit Ajdarevic
Daniel Pacheco
Alex Cooper
Jordy Brouwer
Francisco Duran
Ronald Huth
Daniele Padelli
Gary Stevens
mIKEL sAN jOSE dOMINGUEZ
Daniel Ayala
Gerardo Bruna
David Amoo
Damion Plessis
Andras Simon
Dean Bouzanis
Krisztian Nemeth
Lauri Dalla Valle
Emmanuel Mendy
Vincent Weiji
Vitor Flora
Peter Gulacsi
Zsolt Poloskei
Nikola Saric
Christopher Buchtmann




Obviously none or virtually none of these signing would have been Rafa's personal choices, but it does emphasize just how poor our scouting of talent, especially "potential" talent has been over the years. It is no point having the best facilities in England for training our players if the scouts can't spot the right players. Which is rather worrying now our whole transfer policy is built around buying "potential".

we should start a "where are they now " thread. I cant even begin to understand how a football club like ours steeped in football men and talented men could get so many sigings wrong. Its hard to see how we could have done worse.

we should start a "where are they now " thread. I cant even begin to understand how a football club like ours steeped in football men and talented men could get so many sigings wrong. Its hard to see how we could have done worse.

A lot of them were Academy players, Majority of clubs have a high turn over of youth players who weren't good enough to make it.

Personally in England I think we should have a B League for the reserves and some of the youth players coming up through the ranks, make the football they play a bit more competitive and help players reach their potential.

Never really cared about "net spend" figure. The point is how much you spend, and if that money should guarantee a top squad. After 290 millions we should have a title challenging team.

Its easy, you get 290 million in a 3 year period to build the squad you want. Regardless of net spend an other bullsiht. He HAD a transfer budget of 290 million. Let it sink in