LFC1990 » Fri Nov 21, 2014 4:55 pm wrote:eds » Fri Nov 21, 2014 12:42 am wrote:LFC1990 » Thu Nov 20, 2014 9:44 pm wrote:With the budget BR has had i think Rafa would have won us the title
I would argue we may have had a better side on paper, but winning us the titleno!
Rafas biggest Transfer fee was 20 M for one of the best strikers this club has had in Fernando Torres.
If he was given the budget of 200m that has been quoted that BR has had since he came in then im sure he would have recruited a stronger side and if he had a player of Suarez ability in his side he would have won the league in 2008-2009.
Rafa also would have had the balls to drop Gerrard like he did with Chelsea and drop Terry.
There is no denying that players he brought in like Alonso, Mascherano, Reina, Agger and Torres were quality.
Luis Garcia, Bellamy, Kuyt, Arbeloa, Benayoun and Skrtel were also relatively good buys.
But you can't overlook the following long list of flops:
- Josemi
- Antonio Nunez
- Fernando Morientes (7m)
- Bolo Zenden
- Mohamed Sissoko
- Antonio Barragan
- Godwin Antwi
- Besian Idrizaj
- Miki Roque
- Jan Krompkamp
- Mark Gonzalez
- Gabriel Palatta
- Fabio Aurelio
- Nabil El Zhar
- Alex Cooper
- Jordy Brouwer
- Francisco Duran
- Ronald Huth
- Daniele Padelli
- Jermaine Pennant (7m)
- Lucas
- Andras Simon
- Dean Bouzanis
- Krisztian Nemeth
- Ryan Babel (12m)
- Daniel Pacheco
- Andriy Voronin
- Sebastian Leto
- Gary Stevens
- Mikel San Jose Dominguez
- Daniel Sanchez Ayala
- Gerardo Bruna
- David Amoo
- Damien Plessis
- Emiliano Insua
- Charles Itandje
- Lauri Dalla Valle
- Andrea Dossena (7m)
- Vincent Weijl
- Vitor Coutinho Flora
- Robbie Keane (19m)
- Diego Cavalieri
- Nikola Saric
- Emmanuel Mendy
- David Ngog
- Philipp Degen
- Peter Gulacsi
- Zsolt Poloskei
- Albert Riera (8m)
- Christopher Buchtmann
- Victor Palsson
- Glen Johnson (18m)
- Sotirios Kyrgiakos
- Alberto Aquilani (20m)
That's a death by a thousand cuts over the course of 6 seasons.
The worst being the players I have highlighted costing us over 100m.
For every Torres there was a Aquilani, for every Alonso there was a Babel.......
I think that Benitez was a better manager than Rodgers but you can't point to the fact that just because he brought Torres you can assume that if he was given 200m he would have walked the league with a team of superstars.

His recruiting was very hit and miss. Fans sure do have a short memory.