Liverpool FC Forum

[red37]

Benitez: I issue the orders
Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez has made it abundantly clear that he makes the decisions over where Steven Gerrard for his club.

The Spaniard has been stung by more criticism this week following Gerrard's display in the centre of England's midfield in Wednesday's 1-1 draw with Holland.

And, ahead of Saturday's league trip to Middlesbrough, Benitez insisted he calls the shots after Gerrard was reported as saying that he had spoken to the Anfield manager about his unhappiness playing on the right.

Benitez said: "He did not speak to me about this, I spoke to him. I spoke to him before the Arsenal game because I wanted to explain that he will play more games in the centre, but against Arsenal he would play on the right side.

"And yes, it is a possibility that he will play in the centre against Middlesbrough now we have Momo Sissoko out injured for three months.

"I do not think the others are better than Steven there, but remember, I always say we must find the balance for the team."

He added: "But Steven is a great player from any position. He plays on the right and plays well, he will score.

"If he plays on the left and plays well, he will score and if he plays in the middle or as a support striker and plays well, he will score.

"It does not matter where you decide to play him, if he is on form he will score from anywhere.

"We have used Bolo Zenden in the middle and I have been really happy with him playing alongside Xabi (Alonso). But also I am happy with Steven when he plays in the middle.

"I have never had a right winger who can score 23 goals in a season. So when you have Steven who can play on the right side of midfield and score a lot of goals, while Xabi and Momo Sissoko give you the balance in the centre, I then feel we can use Steven on the right side.

"Steven can go forward and cause problems for the opposition from the right while others can stop the opponents from attacking.

"Using Steven where we have been is a tactical decision to suit our own team, with the players we have we used Steven on the right side."

Benitez knows, though, that he must start getting those goals from Gerrard after five successive away league defeats, their worst run for 12 years.

He said: "We need to find the spirit of the Champions League final, and last season's FA Cup final, we must keep going. But people will always talk when it is important to work and play better.

"Talking doesn't change things, we have to work to change what has been happening.

"Now people talk about zonal marking again because we made a mistake for Arsenal's third goal. It seems when we are not talking about Gerrard we are talking about zonal marking.

"But last season we conceded less than anyone else from set pieces, and we were doing same as now.

"I enjoy watching the highlights on TV each weekend, and seeing that maybe 95% of teams in England use man to man marking and I always see many goals each week conceded at corners and set pieces this way.

"I will not be considering using man to man marking. Zonal marking is good for my team and my responsibilities, man to man marking means you can blame one player. I prefer not to work that way.

"Clearly if you make mistakes like we did last weekend, you will concede goals. We must improve only because we made mistakes, not because of the system.

"After one season watching Steven score 23 goals and nobody asking me about his position, now we find that everyone wants to discuss his position. I will try to explain the balance of the team, and wanting the best for my team.

"Last season Steven was a great player from the right side, and we had two fine players in the middle. If we want to change we will, it is no problem.

"But he has played in the centre this season and not scored. In football it is easy to be clever after a game.

He added: "For me Steven is a great player on the right, in the middle and on the left.

"This debate is because we have lost games. If we were winning home and away people would talk about other things. It was the same with the rotation system, when you win two games people don't ask about it.

"Everybody has an opinion about Steven, but it will finish if we start winning. I have no problem with Steven, if I talk with him he understands the team is the most important thing, and after we think about individuals."

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the above is a snapshot of benitez attitude. and though in a condensed form posted in the gerrard thread. it is relavent here.

[account deleted by request]

This is a much better read than the condensed version I posted red37, Benitez doesnt come across as a whinging Houllier when you read this one! Thanks for posting it mate.

[red37]

This is a much better read than the condensed version I posted red37, Benitez doesnt come across as a whinging Houllier when you read this one!

btw i can sense the reticence from your comments in the other thread are still, i suspect viable in the above article. for me though..he comes across very much as ive grown to accept he is...his own man. and no one will sway that vice-like grip of his convictions. time will tell whether he'll stand or fall by them. i do, (despite illusions to the contrary in other threads) like his abrupt and to the point stance in this one. and no amount of reading between his lines will make any clearer his position on his policies.

[red37]

another brief interview with Rafa from the offal:

RAFA ON MOMO, DOWIE AND PUSKAS
Jimmy Rice 17 November 2006
 
 
Reds manager Rafael Benitez talks to liverpoolfc.tv about the week's footballing events.

Rafa on away form…
 
It's really important for us to start winning now. The players know this. We need to show character and the quality we have. We have a lot of confidence in the team and we will improve a lot. As soon as we win away, you will see a big difference in the team. We have the experience of Istanbul or Cardiff. We need to find this spirit. Remember we were talking about the same things two years ago and last season, then we won a lot of games in a row. You cannot say this season will be the same, but it's clear that in football talking doesn't change things.
 
Rafa on Gerrard…
 
If I say I'm going to put Pepe Reina as a centre-forward, people will then come say to me that Pepe is not scoring goals. After five games they'll come back and say Pepe is not scoring. Then I'll agree it was a mistake. But in one year Steven scored 23 goals and nobody asked me about his position. Now everybody is talking about it and all I can do is try to explain about the balance of the team. I want the best for the team. Steven Gerrard played in the centre against Blackburn and afterwards one journalist said to me it was a mistake and asked why he didn't play on the right! When I talk with Stevie he understands that the team comes first.
 
Rafa on Ian Dowie…
 
I was surprised because for a manager to lose their job so quickly is not so common in England. In Spain some managers know after two weeks that each game is a final for them – maybe even less than that sometimes! This year it is even worse because there used to be a rule in Spain which said if a manger is sacked the club must pay their whole wages within two weeks. Now the people from the professional league have decided that a manager who is sacked has to go through the ordinary system of justice to get his money. That means you maybe have to wait one or two years. It makes it even easier to sack a manager and it's crazy because the players and the squad needs stability.
 
Rafa on Momo…
 
The surgeons always say everything is fantastic but after two weeks we will see if he can move the shoulder or the arm. For two weeks he won't do anything, then after maybe he will do some cycling or something. We will come up with a specific training programme, and he will also improve his English if he can. We will need to wait maybe two or three months.
 
Rafa on the late Ferenc Puskas…
 
I didn't know him personally but I had some directors who remembered him when I was in charge of the under 19 team at Real Madrid. They were always talking about him. They said he could shoot to the top corner five times in a row if he wanted. He was amazing.

[red37]

intersting comment ive just read from Morientes regarding his time at the club:  "There were times when I felt like I should have been paying them to play".
he goes on to wish the club well however.

that opinion will be substantiated by the obvious desire of our supporters to carry on this clubs tradition, thats clear. but i find it curious that the same 'mentality' and 'attitude' is considered worthy of comment within the halls of Melwood on a daily basis. Professional hunger for success is all fine and well and expected because of the efforts placed upon its pursuit. but,other than the suspicion that 'arrogance' and a whole lot of unnecessary 'pressure' is being applied where the respect for history and stature throughout the world is without doubt smeared all over the training facilities and indeed the very institute in which its teachings are displayed...does it suggest (Morientes comment) that it is spoken of with fond regard and a nod to the past or instead is it rammed down the throats of its players as a matter of obligation. therfore allowing very little opportunity for any creative expression or relaxed frame of mind to develop. through harping on about past acheivement instead of future optimism for it to return. if so, who is engendering that 'anxiety' . the players, the management team. the media (why should they hold weight)    the fans notion of the clubs heritage (blindly spoken of with pride) allows us the luxury of expecting it at all times. but certainly not applied with so much emphasis to the playing staff that they end up sh1tting themselves at each obstacle towards that aim being unsurmounted. heck, that creates nothing else except the kind of 'disjointed, fractious' dressing room not unfamiliar now.

[alxy]

Actually, I think it doesn't matter where Gerrard plays, as long as he is motivated. Yesterday he played supposedly his best position, CM, but didn't look as threatening as what we'd come to expect. That's more to do with his attitude than anything.

A motivated Gerrard would probably even control the game playing at left-back.

And Gerrard has commented in the past about Rafa's supposed coldness towards players, even to Gerrard himself. That could be reason why players fail to lift themselves.

I think we do have enough quality among the team to seriously threaten any team. But willpower and motivation? NO!

Look at Arsenal. They have player whom we hardly hear of previously. Eboue, Flamini, van Persie, etc... But Wenger has molded them into a serious attacking force. When was the last time a youngster and unknown became a world name in Liverpool? Seems like Gerrard is being pulled down into mediocrity rather than pushing others up into his level.

[108-1163930576]

hes doin a grand job

[red37]

Actually, I think it doesn't matter where Gerrard plays, as long as he is motivated. Yesterday he played supposedly his best position, CM, but didn't look as threatening as what we'd come to expect. That's more to do with his attitude than anything.

A motivated Gerrard would probably even control the game playing at left-back.

And Gerrard has commented in the past about Rafa's supposed coldness towards players, even to Gerrard himself. That could be reason why players fail to lift themselves.

I think we do have enough quality among the team to seriously threaten any team. But willpower and motivation? NO!

Look at Arsenal. They have player whom we hardly hear of previously. Eboue, Flamini, van Persie, etc... But Wenger has molded them into a serious attacking force. When was the last time a youngster and unknown became a world name in Liverpool? Seems like Gerrard is being pulled down into mediocrity rather than pushing others up into his level.

id say thats a fairly decent post so early in your fledgling newkit existence mate- keep em rolling.

[Big Niall]

playing him centre , then right, then centre is guaranteed to get the worst out of him. players need one position. If we have to play him in the centre when momo is out then play him in centre every game until momo is back

Stop this rotation cr*p NOW!

I hate the 2006/07 season

[alxy]

Actually, I think it doesn't matter where Gerrard plays, as long as he is motivated. Yesterday he played supposedly his best position, CM, but didn't look as threatening as what we'd come to expect. That's more to do with his attitude than anything.

A motivated Gerrard would probably even control the game playing at left-back.

And Gerrard has commented in the past about Rafa's supposed coldness towards players, even to Gerrard himself. That could be reason why players fail to lift themselves.

I think we do have enough quality among the team to seriously threaten any team. But willpower and motivation? NO!

Look at Arsenal. They have player whom we hardly hear of previously. Eboue, Flamini, van Persie, etc... But Wenger has molded them into a serious attacking force. When was the last time a youngster and unknown became a world name in Liverpool? Seems like Gerrard is being pulled down into mediocrity rather than pushing others up into his level.

id say thats a fairly decent post so early in your fledgling newkit existence mate- keep em rolling.

thanks mate.... i do try...... 

[alxy]

As the topic says, this is all about Rafa's attitude. Tactics and strategies-wise, I think we have one of the best around. You don't just win the CL on sheer dumb luck alone. If you analyze the snippets that Rafa has let on about his tactics, you will see that he has a plan for everything. I am sure when he puts Gerrard out on the right, it is for some grand purpose and tactically meant to be the best option.

However, how he says it to Gerrard is a different matter altogether. I guess Rafa doesn't really explain or justifies his positional selections to the players. Maybe that's what making them lose focus.

Now straight to the point: Rafa isn't going to change his style, at least not overnight. So what's our hope then going forward? I would just say lady luck. If we can get a few results going for us, that would put the self belief back into our lads, which includes getting a good away win in the Premiership. Then, psychologically, Rafa's attitude won't seem to matter much. When you're winning, small details don't bother you much. It's when you're in a rut that nit picking becomes a huge problem.

So guys, let's all pray hard! 

[Mannyk]

Maybe we need to hire a sports psychologist ?

some clubs already do i understand.

I would be very surprised if the club did not have one

[red37]

i couldnt track these two articles down until now, at least not in full as they are here. so forgive me if they are already common knowledge. Much of the following interviews are transcribed somewhere within the pages of one or two of the biographies that Rafa has lent his name to. Some of you may not have read any of them at all, so its worth putting them up. i think they are relevant to the thread though and deserve a read. certainly, the two articles highlight the very essence of our manager in a clear and understandable way its hard not to see the magic in him...and some of his principles.

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Article 1) an interview from 'the technician' in October 05. after the Champions league success:


What were the key steps which you took to become a top-level coach?

Even as a teenager I was interested in football teams and I took notes and made assessments. Later, I studied physical education and over a three year period went through the three levels of the Spanish FA coaching programme.

For ten years I trained youth teams and the reserves at Real Madrid although I was not on the full-time staff. As the assistant of the second team, I found myself training two different teams, one in the morning and one in the afternoon, and working every day as a coach, writing reports or watching matches. After three months of this I decided it was time to be a professional coach and the President offered me a contract.

When you are at Real Madrid you are protected from many pressures, but when you go to another club as the coach you are on your own, and you find yourself dealing with many other problems like business, money, agents, etc.

My first two experiences as a head coach, at Real Valladolid CF and CA Osasuna, did not work out and both clubs sacked me. I changed my agent and continued to develop my football knowledge by visiting Italy, Brazil and England. I watched Arrigo Sacchi and Fabio Capello at work and spoke to many managers about their methods.

Then I returned to the front line with CF Extremadura, had success there in the second division, and went on to become head coach at CD Tenerife and then, in 2001, joined Valencia CF.

Who were your biggest influences on your coaching career?

The best team that I saw when I was developing as a young coach was Sacchi’s great side at Milan. But it is impossible to repeat what others have done – you can be influenced, but you must try to do something yourself. Yes, Arrigo Sacchi, the coach was a big influence.

What have been the main differences between coaching in Spain and in England?

Language is of course the first difference and that is difficult to deal with. In Spain, you have more pressure from the board, and the journalists are different because they are constantly present, constantly reporting every detail. In England, media attention is concentrated around the games.

How would you describe your coaching philosophy?

When I think of myself as a coach, the first thing I would say is that I am a worker. I have a very good staff and every day we ask: Why this? Why that? We are always questioning, always looking for new solutions, new ways to proceed. We pay attention to all the details. Regarding football philosophy; in Spain there are two considerations: Firstly, the short passing game or the long passing style? Secondly, to win or to perform well? I think you can play both styles of play, short and long. Our approach is to play well and win. It is important to have control over the situations in the game. If a team plays deep against you, you may need to circulate the ball; when you are being pressurised, sometimes the long ball is the answer. To know what to do in each situation is the key. I am very pragmatic in my coaching work.

What do you emphasise in training?

The first priority is to improve defensive tactical play because this is less complicated than the attacking side and is important for success. The most important thing for me is to be organised. I work a lot on patterns of play and, of course, as the statistics prove, counter-attacks and set-plays are very important. When we talk about set-plays, I agree with Sir Alex Ferguson that delivery is everything.

Do you do the coaching yourself or do you delegate it to other members of staff?

This is another difference between Spain and England when we talk about coaching. In Spain, you must do your job on the pitch, coaching the players in tactical work or working with your physical trainer and other members of staff. You must be there every day on the field. In England, you can give responsibility to your people because you may have to deal with agents, the board or a player. You need to have confidence in your staff to carry out the general work, but I am always there to deal with the tactical training. Some members of my staff have been with me for eight or nine years and they know my philosophy and the way I work. But I also have an assistant, Alex Miller, who was at Liverpool before me and he knows the mentality of the players and the philosophy of the club.

What were the important features of your Valencia team which won the UEFA Cup?

It was a team that worked very hard and had been together for three years. We were therefore able to talk about where, how and when to do the pressing. They know what to do and we could change tactics quickly. We used a lot of players by rotating the squad and this proved successful because we won the League and the UEFA Cup. This was a team which understood our style and what we were trying to do.

Has the history of Liverpool FC influenced the type of football you have developed at Anfield?

For sure. The former Liverpool sided played pass-and-move and we try to do the same, but as I said to you, we also have to be able to adapt to circumstances. For me, the pass-and-run approach is the best. I read a lot about the club’s history and at the moment I have a book about Bill Shankly, who built the foundations of the current club.

Your predecessor as Liverpool head coach, Gerard Houllier, met you shortly after you took over at Anfield to offer his support. How valuable was that?

For me, it was another country, another team, and I appreciated Gerard’s help – he gave me a lot of information. The advice I got from many people at Anfield, like Gerard, Phil Thompson and others, was invaluable.

What were the decisive moments on your way to the final in Istanbul?

The most important game was against Olympiacos at home. We had spoken about being cautious because if they scored we would need three goals. Just before half time they did score and, as we would say in Spanish, it was like having water poured on your hopes. Stevie Gerrard scored a fantastic goal before the end to give us a great 3-1 victory. But I have to add that the home tie with Chelsea was also very significant because of the rivalry.

Your tactical changes at half time against AC Milan transformed the final. What was the thinking behind your decisions?

I was thinking about what to say and how to say it as I walked into the dressing room at half time in Istanbul. People don’t know how difficult it can be at such a moment, especially if you don’t know the right words to use. Before half time we were losing 2–0 and I was writing some words when suddenly we lost a third goal. As I walked down the tunnel to the dressing room at the end of the first half, I was considering what to say. I said to the players that our supporters were still behind us and that if we scored one goal the situation could change. I then made tactical changes and went three at the back with Dietmar Hamann as part of a two-man screen in the midfield. But significantly, with Stevie Finnan injured and out of the second half, we had no right back on the field. After we went to 3-3 and Milan brought on Serginho on the left, I had to move Stevie Gerrard from his attacking role behind the strikers to right back – Stevie was the only appropriate player available to play the role. This was our captain’s third position in the game. At the end we controlled the game, controlled the spaces, and Stevie did a great job, ultimately leading the team to victory.

Since you started coaching how has the game evolved tactically?

The game has become faster and more technical, that is true. I remember when we started and we used a sweeper. Now nearly everybody operates with a flat four-man zone. The formations have also evolved and today most operate with only one striker. It has become more important to get players into the penalty box rather than have players already in there. This is the major difference of the game.

What annoys you most/pleases you most about football today?

Difficult question. However, I must say that I love the crowds, the atmosphere, in England. The supporters are wonderful. The respect you receive just for doing what you love doing – taking training and doing your job. I get enormous confidence from the support I receive; it is fantastic. A problem in football today is the money – it has become big business. There are a lot of people around the players and the coaches who are thinking only about money and business. Sometimes players don’t play so well because they are thinking about other things.

You had a difficult start as a head coach. What advice would you give to those who are starting out?

Put simply: you need a passion and hours. You need passion to spend endless hours at developing yourself as a coach. You also have to have faith in your ability. When I was sacked from my first two jobs, one of them after only nine games of the season, I looked for a new job and continued my education. I had a physical education degree, including four years of specialisation in football, and all my life I had been in sport, so it was my business. I remember my second agent telling me that it would be difficult to get a new job after two sackings. Without hesitation I told him I would be in the first division. My wife was also very supportive during those difficult days. When I went on my study tour to Italy, England and Brazil, I asked a lot of questions to the coaches I met, like Fabio Capello. If you don’t know something, you must look for the answers. You must do the right things in order to win and this means knowing what works – it is not just about theory, but about being practical and flexible. In my parents’ house alone, I had 1,500 videos, with three matches on each, and I used to analyse the details of the games. That was ten years ago. Now I use the computer and I have all the DVDs at our training ground. I suppose you could say, all things considered, that I am a student of the game.

[red37]

Article 2) Benitez Lives for Football:

Not for the first time, Rafael Benítez picks up his authorised biography, towards which he is politely ambivalent, and scours its pages. "The other day I was surprised. I saw an old photo and I said to my wife..." His voice trails off as he flicks backwards and forwards through the relevant chapter. "Is the photo here? Yes, this one."

It's a shot of Real Madrid's Under-18 side from season 1986/87. He traces his finger from left to right across the players in the back row then their crouching team-mates at the front, and starts to recite. "I said to her: 1.82, 1.84, 1.82, 1.79, 1.87, 1.76, 1.88, 1.84, 1.86, 1.79, 1.68, 1.72, 1.74, 1.69, 1.78, 1.73, 1.68."

These are the individual heights, in metres, of a group of teenagers that he coached almost 20 years ago. He closes the book, fingers strumming the table top, and grins, tickled not so much by the accuracy of his memory as its absurdity. "I live for football, no?"

He said as much in his first interview with Champions at the start of 2005 (issue 9), conceding that he thought "too much about football" while promising that he would "fight to win the Champions League, if the future allows me to do that, because I want to win the greatest title there is."

Obsession clearly has its rewards, however short-lived. Since that unreal night in Istanbul, the manager of the reigning European champions has permitted himself two holidays with his wife Montse, consisting of weekends in Edinburgh and the Lake District. When the couple married in 1998, the story goes that they spent their honeymoon in Italy just so Benítez could visit AC Milan’s famous sports complex. Fitting, then, that he was destined to manage a club whose legendary boss Bill Shankly once took his own bride Nessie to watch Huddersfield Town reserves.

Liverpool have granted only a few minutes with Benítez, but the interview lasts the best part of an hour. The players are on international duty and the training ground is quiet. For Rafa, this is as good an excuse as any to talk shop.

He recalls the grown-ups who'd scold him for playing for two hours after school every day; his trial as a youngster for Real Madrid when he starred in a mini-tournament for a team called Grosso in honour of the prolific goalscorer who succeeded Alfrédo Di Stefano in the mid 1960s; the repartee with the chairman at the first club he managed, and the player who got him fired. All related in that soft, familiar timbre with touches of humour that transcend his nagging informality with the English language and its still more peculiar football vernacular.

"At Valladolid we played really good football and the chairman said to me, 'We've got such confidence in you.' Three times he said that to me and he offers me a new contract over lunch. The next week, over lunch again, he says, 'Talk with your agent, we want to renew the deal because we're so happy.' I say, 'And what if we lose to Celta Vigo next week?' 'No problem,' he says, 'I'll still renew it.'"

Benítez is fluent in body language, particularly when he wants his point to be crystal clear. The rest of this anecdote can't be told sitting down, so in his red tracksuit he stands up to re-enact a long-ago set-piece. "OK, we are winning 1-0 against Celta Vigo. And we have one player [Croatian midfielder Alojsa Asanovic] who never came back to defend corners. He was the most expensive player we bought, but he never arrived. There was a corner and for once he comes back to defend it. He pushes their striker [simulates a clumsy challenge], gives away a penalty and they score. The next game we lose to Valencia and I'm sacked."

He returns to his seat and smiles again. "This is football. But the most important thing is to learn. In Spain we say that if you are not sacked, you are not a manager."

Benítez has another favourite Spanish proverb: luck is in love with hard work. Fortune as a residue of design, or a dividend of sweat. "I think always that you need a little bit of good luck," shrugs Benítez. "But if you don't work hard, you cannot go to a cup final and win just with good luck. There must be something behind it."
The something behind Liverpool's miraculous comeback against Milan last May has its roots in a passion for defying the odds that has defined Rafa's career so far. Resources have been finite to varying degrees at every club he has managed, but he's sought not only to adapt to adversity but overcome it through a combination of relentless industry, meticulous analysis and outright ingenuity, driven by absolute belief in his methods. A severed lateral knee ligament prevented him from realising his full potential as a footballer.

In the mid 1990s, as a youth and reserve-team coach at Real Madrid, he seemed to have a clear path to the top job until Jorge Valdano was appointed as manager and duly changed the regime. Real Valladolid and Osasuna both dismissed Benítez abruptly. His luck changed with tiny Extramadura, who enjoyed a short but sweet season in the top flight, then at Tenerife, the team he led back to the First Division. No sooner had he joined Valencia, a club traumatised by two successive Champions League final defeats, than their star Gaizka Mendieta was sold to Lazio. Benítez refused to blink, and no doubt he would have accepted Steven Gerrard’s vaunted move from Liverpool to Chelsea last summer with the same cool fatalism. Within 12 months, Valencia would win their first league title for more than 30 years.

"I arrived there as a young manager without a big CV. People were saying, 'He's too young, he has no experience.' We won the league, amazing. And then [the board] say, 'You have good team, good manager.' Good enough to do nothing. So they didn't change anything, they didn't sign any new players and the next season we finished fifth. We were focused on the Champions League, but lost to Milan.

"The next year, we changed three or four players and we said, 'OK, we need to do the same thing we did two years ago, to work really hard.' Real Madrid and Barcelona spent a lot of money, but we had confidence in our plan."

That season Valencia reclaimed the title and added the UEFA Cup. Benítez's biography identifies two epic comebacks, both at Espanyol, that epitomised his work ethic and his ability to "squeeze 100 per cent productivity from each and every one of his players." The objective, claims the author Paco Lloret, is an 'intensity of play' that overwhelms the opposition. The benchmark was set by Milan under Arrigo Saachi then Fabio Capello. "They changed everything because they didn’t allow their opponents to play," says Benítez. "It was almost perfect – not perfect because that’s impossible – but close.

"They worked hard, really hard. I watched them many times and I still have a good relationship with Saachi. One time they played Real Madrid and the day before, I went to the training session and saw them working for a long, long time tactically. It was unbelievable."

Tellingly, before last season's final, Benítez described Milan as "an unstoppable machine if we let them play, players of such quality that they can make decisions for themselves."

The phrase 'intensity of play' appears more than once in the Benítez biography. At lowly Extramadura, his players "began to acquire responses that became instinctive and natural." When they won their second Spanish title, Valencia were "an implacable steamroller, they were like boxers who pinned their opponents to the rope and wouldn't stop until they had annihilated them." Their style earned them the nickname 'the Crushing Machine'.
The apogee of Istanbul aside, Liverpool have yet to scale the same heights in the Premiership on a consistent basis, or rediscover the pass-and-move philosophy of their own great forebears which, combined with the kind of Milanese improvisation that Benítez so admires, would finally make them a domestic force to be reckoned with.

There are many fans at Anfield who would gladly trade another Champions League triumph for a first English title in 15 years; for Benítez to usurp the hegemony of Chelsea, Arsenal and Manchester United just as he challenged the sovereignty of Real Madrid and Barcelona in Spain. He understands their impatience.

"I don't think about this or that trophy, I only think about winning the next game. But I know that the Premiership is the target. If we improve, we can be closer to the top three teams. I don't think about them, either. We have so much to do here that I don't waste my time speaking about them. Our idea is to improve in every department."
The purchase of Peter Crouch, tall and long-limbed like John Carew at Valencia, was the most notable addition to the squad last summer. It has enabled Benítez to revisit a tactical policy – nominally one upfront with five across midfield – that he employed with great success at Valencia.

The 4-5-1 formation has been an issue dans le vent in this season's Premiership, drawing criticism for its perceived negative connotations, criticism that Benítez finds simplistic. Formations, he argues, are merely filters through which tactics can be refined during the course of each match, with full-backs pushing up and midfielders supporting the lone forward when the team's 'intensity of play' permits.

"I always say the same thing. What is the difference between 4-3-3 and 4-5-1? Only whether you play the wingers deep or high. Then if you press the other team they will play deep, 4-5-1. And if you cannot press them because they are stronger than you, they'll play 4-3-3. People talk about systems, but maybe they don't know a lot about systems.
"At Valencia we played 4-2-3-1. And here, when we play our best football, we play 4-2-3-1. When we control the game, when we score goals, we play 4-2-3-1. What's the difference? It depends on the second striker. If he goes back to defend, it's 4-2-3-1. If he stays up, it's 4-4-2. It's the same. The system is only designed around numbers. The most important thing is what the players do."

In the first half of this season, Crouch's uninspiring start to his Anfield career seemed at odds with the decision to keep crowd favourite Djibril Cissé on the bench. Famously, Benítez brazened out a similar clamour to play cult hero Pablo Aimar at Valencia.

"It's simple," he explains. "When you talk about players, you talk about personalities. And then it is the difference between you and me. You go to, I don't know, a theatre, and you see some things and they see other things because you are different. It's the same with players. Some understand the style of football, the culture, the language. Others don't. It's important to know all the things that you can before you sign a player. I always say that you can have a good player for winning one game, but you need a squad for winning trophies. You need good professionals because at the end you'll be with them for one, two, three, four years, not just one game. And then sometimes he's a hero to the supporters. They see him and think, 'Why isn't he playing?' But maybe he can have one good game but not the next four. OK, you can use players who can amuse the supporters, but if you want to win trophies you need workers, for 90 minutes, every week, every training session. Workers with enough quality for winning."
To borrow a local expression, Benítez did not arrive in Liverpool with his head sticking out of a crate. By winning the title with Valencia he succeeded where Luis Aragonés, Guus Hiddink, Carlos Alberto Parreira, Claudio Ranieri and Héctor Cúper all failed. Now he has the cachet of being only the second coach to lead a foreign team to the European Cup in his first season in charge, after – and the precedent isn't particularly encouraging – Jupp Heynckes with Real Madrid in 1998. But his own assimilation to his adopted country remains a work in progress.

"Watching the games on the TV, we knew it would be more physical. The thing is, you must be on the pitch to see the difference, to feel the difference. For me, the challenge with Valencia was to break Real and Barcelona. It's similar here with one big difference. In Spain you know the culture and language, but here you need to learn all these things.

"When you start working you think that, OK, it will be easy to learn English in six months and speak to everyone. But you run into problems with the language. I have a little story. If it's windy you say to the players, be careful with the wind [rhyming with 'tinned']. But if you say, be careful with the wind [rhyming with 'kind'], there's a big difference, no? People say that football is the same, but you still need to explain your ideas, you need to improve each day.

"The other big thing is that I am delighted with the supporters. The final in Istanbul, the atmosphere in the stadium, the faces of the fans. You can lose, play bad and they always support you. It's fantastic."

Note that down for the next biography. In one of his books, Latin American novelist Gabriel García Márquez touchingly re-lives the moment when François Mitterrand conferred upon him the Legion d'onneur in Paris. "He said something which moved me almost to tears and I'm sure it must have affected him as much as it did me. He said, 'Vous appartenez au monde que j'aime.' You belong to the world I love. When Rafael Benítez stares at the portraits of Bill Shankly along Anfield's corridors of power, remembers conversations with Arrigo Sacchi in Madrid and Milan and glances at the Kop chanting his name in full voice, it's a fair bet that the sentiments are the same.

[azriahmad]

He's a successful manager/head coach at 2 different clubs, he's not Howard Wilkinson who fluked a league title thanks in no small part to the mercurial talents of Eric Cantona and Manure's collapse towards the end of the title run that season, then promptly sold Cantona to a grateful Manure for a paltry 1.2 million the very next season as Leeds and their title defense went downhill.

He won not one but 2 Primera Liga titles in Spain and had early successes with us. This season, so many of our main players have been blowing hot and cold, with the new boys (who were not necessarily first choice) struggling to make an impact. All of a sudden, so many people has jumped on the media bandwagon on his back.

I believe that he is a much better manager than Houllier was and we should give him our support. I'm as furstated as any true blue Liverpool fan, but I think Rafa will turn the corner for us.