Liverpool FC Forum

by **alessandromagno** » Thu Aug 24, 2006 4:47 pm

I admire Rafa very much. He's done a lot for LFC--but this is a crucial season for both him and the club. If he wins the PL or the CL no one will cheer louder than me. However, some things I've been hearing lately have come together with certain memories of the last couple of seasons...

I am not sure I like the tone of Rafa's comments that every player must prove himself again and that no one is so good they can expect to always start. Fine and dandy in theory. But isn't Rafa forgetting how he was gotten out of jail over the last couple of seasons by players who gave heart and soul for the club? Rafa made a bad blunder in the CL final of 2005 by not playing Didi Hamman from the beginning. SG and Didi himself got him out of jail. Similarly, in last year's FA Cup Final Rafa was largely an ineffective person screaming on the touch line as all his plans went AWOL. As we all know it was again SG who got him out of jail once more--and there was no way Rafa or anyone else could have predicted what happened in either final.
Now, Didi Hamman has been sent packing for his pains (and Rafa was originally keen to get rid of him after the CL Final remember?) and Gerrard has obviously been included in Rafa's latest statement that no one can be sure of a starting place. In my opinion SG is at his best when he's out there all the time battling for his team. Interesting that Stevie's negative remarks about Rafa have surfaced at this time too. Rafa doesn't see the need to "get close to his players", "not even his captain" and believes all his players are "cogs in the Benitez machine". This is clearly a criticism.

Now, Rafa's Valencia was a fine team and did a great job over two legs against GH's LFC. On the other hand Rafa never won the CL with Valencia after knocking us out--as Benfica didn't either after beating us by the same score last year. In other words, the pattern of play may have been too much for GH at that time, but other teams in the competition were able to respond better.

My essential point is that while Rafa seems to like it a lot when he can put pressure on the players and have them by the short and curlies, the importance of his own overall Benitez plan is never doubted--but it was only thanks to Stevie Gerrard that we ever got back into the CL and FA Cup Finals after all Rafa's plans had gone AWOL.

In some ways, Rafa seems a cold fish--but no one will object about that if he wins the PL or CL this year. However, what some posters on this board haven't pointed out is that Rafa and his methods are also on trial this year. If his large spending spree and acquisition of "2 good players for every position" doesn't pay off in a title win then his custodianship at LFC will go on to the back burner. Anything less than what was achieved last season (82 points) will be seen as failure--and if he has some of his own key players like Gerrard complaining about him as well, then the honeymoon will definitely be over.

Of course, I hope Rafa will deliver this season--though I will never like him personally in the way I liked Shanks, Paisley, Kenny and Roy Evans.
Anyway, these are thoughts to be shared with other LFC fans in the privacy of this Forum and not ideas I would repeat anywhere else.

by **Bad Bob** » Thu Aug 24, 2006 5:07 pm

WTF are you on about?

First, let's get something clear. Rafa did not send Didi packing, as you say. He informed Didi that he wouldn't get many games this season due to the Gerrard-Alonso-Sissoko triad in CM and gave him the option of leaving to play first-team football elsewhere--an option Didi took. Anyone that seriously thinks that Rafa wanted Hamann out has a screw loose.

Now, to the main flaw in your argument. So, it's Rafa's fault if we struggle in a game but it's the down to the players if we succeed? In case you didn't notice, our lads didn't exactly cover themselves in glory on the pitch in the first halves of the CL Final or the FA Cup. They wouldn't have needed rescuing had they performed like they were capable of over the whole 90 minutes. It just pisses me off to no end when people bitch about Rafa's selection and tactics without criticizing the players on the pitch for their part in poor performances. Take last weekend. Rafa's gotten plenty of stick for his team selection--some of it deserved, I assure you--but that doesn't change the fact that the team on the field had the ability to beat Sheffield United easily yet failed to do so. The players have to take responsibility for their shortcomings too--it's not all on Rafa.

As for being a "cold fish" and keeping player egos in check, I think Rafa's got that spot on. Gerrard could do no wrong in Houllier's eyes and was the first on the teamsheet week in, week out. But he was the shadow of the player he is now under Rafa and that's partly down to how Rafa keeps pushing him to be better. Gerrard admitted as much in his bio but you didn't quote those remarks, did you? Sure, I suppose Gerrard would prefer having his ego stroked but Rafa's right to keep his feet on the ground. The stakes are high and the difference between success and failure are matters of slight degree in both the league and the CL these days--players cannot afford to get complacent and self-satisfied and Rafa's approach assures they don't. I'll take his methods over the "buddy gaffer" approach any day.

As for your mentions of Valencia and Benfica in the CL...what exactly are you on about? I'm confused.

by **Sabre** » Thu Aug 24, 2006 11:19 pm

Well winning again the CL or the Premier after so many years would be a good reason to yell for Rafa again, that's no merit.

BB put it better than me, but I think the same thing, one of the major dangers of a team is the players that think that cannot be substituted and do not fight in the training sessions.

Whatever he says in order to keep their awareness up, it's a good tactic, IMHO.

by **Raj_Xedos** » Fri Aug 25, 2006 4:44 pm

rafa is an intelliegent man, 4 trophies in 2 complete seasons so far is not bad is it......

I would love for Rafa to topple Chelski......what do u think it would take to win the title now??

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