Liverpool FC Forum

Emerald Red wrote:Rafa's job is safe for at least another three seasons.

s@int wrote:Liverpool will NEVER crack Manchester United and Chelsea's dominance while Benitez is in charge
Rafa Benitez may have the Midas touch in Europe, but when it comes to the bread and butter of the Premier League, the Reds boss is out of his depth.
   by Phil McCauley on 23 July 2008

Another season is almost upon us - and it's time for what has now become a tradition in the red half of Merseyside - the annual posing of the same question: ''Is this the year we finally win the Premier League?''

Every team that wants to win the title needs a strong backbone. Look at Manchester United last year: Edwin van der Sar in goal, Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic at the back, Paul Scholes and Michael Carrick in the middle, Wayne Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo firing in the goals.

Chelsea before them had the same strength running through the middle of their team. There was Petr Cech with John Terry and Ricardo Carvalho in front of him, Frank Lampard and Claude Makelele in the middle, and Didier Drogba scoring from all angles up front.

A quick look at the Liverpool squad and you wonder why exactly they aren't putting up more of a fight in the Premier League. Pepe Reina, Jamie Carragher and Sami Hyypia are more than solid enough at the back, Javier Mascherano and Steven Gerrard are a match for any midfield pairing, and Fernando Torres is probably the best out-and-out front man anywhere in the country.

They're more than a match for most teams when it comes to European football - as proved in that quite magnificent Champions League victory of 2005 when they did the unthinkable and came back from three goals down to beat a rock-solid AC Milan side.

So why, when they've clearly got a wealth of talent at their disposal, have Liverpool failed so miserable and so consistently to take back the title which they have won more than any other English team in the history of the game? As things stand at the moment, it's down to one man - Rafa Benitez.

A lot of you may say he's on the right track, that he's still building, that he's almost there. Well, I'm afraid that's just not good enough. You can only be ''on the right track'' for so long, you can only be ''still building'' up to a point. There comes a time when you need to deliver - and I'm afraid that time has passed.

When the Spaniard arrived at Anfield in June 2004, he had a more-than-decent squad at his disposal. A midfielder or two here, a striker there, a bit of tinkering to get the details just right and Liverpool would be back at the summit of English football where they belonged. But, for whatever reason, it just hasn't happened.

He wanted to be given time to shape the squad his own way, and that's fair enough. But he's had time - FOUR YEARS have now passed and, if I'm being honest, Liverpool are no closer to winning the Premier League now than they were when Benitez took over.

Of course you could argue that Torres and Mascherano - two of Liverpool's best players - have only been at the club for a year. But if you go down that route then the question becomes: Why did it take Benitez three years to sign players good enough to seriously challenge for the title? But it's a moot point either way. Like I've already said, he's been there four long years now without a sniff of a Premier League challenge.

The simple fact of the matter is that the same question being asked by the Liverpool fans back then - the question which had been asked every summer throughout the Gerard Houllier era - is STILL being asked this summer.

Liverpool have become the nearly men of the Premier League. In Benitez's four years in charge, the club have finished fifth, third, third and fourth. Be honest, can you REALLY see them breaking even the top two this time around?

Let's face it, it's only Benitez's form in Europe that is keeping him in a job. If Liverpool hadn't won the Champions League and made the final
a second time, would he really still be in charge at Anfield?

I suppose the real question for Liverpool fans is: Are you happy with being geniune European challengers every year, and picking up the odd FA Cup or League Cup along the way, or do you want more? Because if the Premier League trophy is the one you really want - and I believe for most fans it must now be the priority - you're going to have an awfully long wait if Benitez remains in charge.

Rafa-Dodd wrote:Utter fu.cking bollo.cks that S@int.


"When the Spaniard arrived at Anfield in June 2004, he had a more-than-decent squad at his disposal. A midfielder or two here, a striker there, a bit of tinkering to get the details just right and Liverpool would be back at the summit of English football where they belonged. But, for whatever reason, it just hasn't happened."

Decent enough squad? Get to fu.ck. The squad left was a shambles. Our 2 best players were Gerrard and Owen - and  Owen - down to Houllier and Parry - was on his way out as he only had 1 year on his contract. Carra was a nobody until Rafa put him in the middle and the likes of Diao, Biscan, Troare, and other boll.ocks were in the team. Where the are those players now.

Maybe Rafa does need to challenge, maybe this is his year to show he can, but dis-reguarding the great work he has put in in the last 4 seasons is a fuc.king disgrace.

bigmick wrote:I suppose some fans would have been happy four years ago if someone had told them that far from finishing fourth like they just had under Houllier with that shambolic team, that in four years time we would finish fourth with a massively better team.