I don't really get why people take the things Stevie said as such a big deal.
Looks clear that, like many players (some being far far more extreme, remember Benayoun and Riera) he had difficulties with the cold aspect of Rafa's personnality or his attitude with the media. It's just a question of personnalities, and for all his human qualities Rafa doesn't seem to have an easy one, making some players feel they "weren't liked", etc...
And also that, like Carra, he had fondest memories of Houillier (logical affection for the man who trusted them first) and also believed, at a times most pundits were saying so, that Hodgson would be a good enough manager for lfc (remember the Hodge hysteria when he directed Fulham to uefa final).
But he still labelled Rafa "the best tactical coach I worked with at Liverpool and England" in his autobiography, which shows that if their relations weren't perfect, his judgment isn't clouded by them.
Finally I don't think supporters, who have all reasons to be positive about Rafa, but have never worked under him or had any close contact, are in good positions to judge anything his players said. Main Gerrard complaint can be resumed by "he was cold with me/some others", I don't see why he must have hidden this if that was true, and it's really not like a big deal... The second one is "The facts rant derailed the season", may be false according to points tally after, but it's perfectly possible that, as individual(s), Gerrard (and/or other players ?) felt a too heavy pressure / they were perturbated after and had the feeling it negatively affected their performances, even if the results remained good.
I may agree it was not a class act to have given the impression Rafa was responsible for the final failure (which wasn't really one by the way, but our best season in ages) with this critic, but look how Gerrard himself was treated after the slip, he's not the first or the last scapegoating someone for a collective (and not even real) "failure", to the point it's hard to find any footballer or manager who never gave the impression to do just that.
« Last Edit: Nov 20, 2016 03:37:51 pm by TonioLerouge, Reason: I get the complaints, but the importance... »
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