Liverpool FC Forum

[Owzat]

Now Rafa has 100 league wins under his belt, I thought I'd have a look how many league games it took fergie to reach 100 - and compare records after 181 games.

100 LEAGUE WINS

Benitez P181 W100 D45 L36 PTS 345 (Won 55.25%)
Ferguson P223 W100 D71 L60 PTS 371 (Won 44.84%)

fergie's 100th win came on 02/09/92, the first season the mancs won the league. The reason I say "some may read too much into this" is because the league is very different, there's more money these days, football is quicker and there is a growing dominance by clubs with money etc.

If you compare the two managers since Rafa arrived :-

PREMIERSHIP 04/05-PRESENT

Benitez P181 W100 D45 L36 PTS 345 (Won 55.25%)
Ferguson P180 W122 D35 L23 PTS PTS 401 (Won 67.78%)

fergie winning over 2/3 of his games, Rafa just over 1/2. Last three complete might be fairer given Rafa's 1st season

PREMIERSHIP 05/06-07/08

Benitez P114 W66 D28 L20 F181 A80 PTS 226 (Won 57.89%)
Ferguson P114 W80 D19 L15 F235 A83 PTS 259 (Won 70.18%)

fergie winning about 12% more games, the mancs scoring 18 goals more a season and wins to non-wins is 80-34 compared to Rafa's 66-48. The mancs may have more money and a better squad, but that isn't going to change any time soon so get over it, if we want to win the league we have to beat the mancs' level and if we don't have the money then we either accept it, moan about it or try to win in spite of their superior funding. Did Valencia sit and moan about Madrid and Barcelona having more money and bigger stars, or did they go out and win the league in spite of that?

AFTER 181 LEAGUE GAMES

Benitez P181 W100 D45 L36 PTS 345 (Won 55.25%)
Ferguson P181 W76 D54 L51 PTS 282 (Won 41.99%)

Different era, just interesting. The 100 wins/181 games is incomparable due to being an entirely different era, some will say the stats since 04/05 are incomparable due to differences in spending, but it's the same era AND we have more money/have spent more money than most of the teams we play.

The wins vs non-wins split I did in comparing the mancs 05/06-07/08 with Liverpool is quite interesting. Mainly because it emphasises point dropping in a way a win percentage doesn't

PROGRESS? WINS vs NON-WINS

08/09 : 17-12
07/08 : 21-17
06/07 : 20-18
05/06 : 25-13
04/05 : 17-21

03/04 : 16-22
02/03 : 18-20
01/02 : 24-14
00/01 : 20-18
99/00 : 19-19
98/99 : 15-23

97/98 : 18-20
96/97 : 19-19
95/96 : 20-18
94/95 : 21-21

93/94 : 17-25
92/93 : 16-26

Only twice in the Premiership have we won more than 60% (23-15 or better)