I began to doubt Rafa roughly this time two years ago as I saw him repeating many of the same mistakes he’s already made. To my mind, there are several areas for which he is deserving of criticism. None of them can be explained away by the ownership issue, in my view, and I see all of them in the context of an expectation that Liverpool Football Club must put in a credible challenge for the league every season.
Now the apologists inevitably nit pick over that criterion, but it should be interpreted as (relatively) loosely and fair-mindedly as you like. I think we should be getting a roughly improving points tally each year (give or take a minor blip), rather than regressing, ultimately finishing within a couple of matches’ difference of the winners at the end. We should be talking about maybe two draws and a defeat being the dividing line rather than 20 points when all’s told, and the 82 point record should be seen as both a precedent and a benchmark.
So, those are my criteria and they’re not dependent upon matching the spending of the big two. I wouldn’t mind, but as I said, he’s already measured up to what I’m looking for in his second season. Against that context, I believe Rafa has consistently made numerous errors of judgement:
1. He is obsessed with rotation to the point of disrupting both individual and team performances. There is a ton of what I would regard as evidence for this, but I’m not going to bother citing any here. Basically, I think too many times we’ve seen players go out on the pitch and look like total strangers to each other, as well as fall short of their own individual best. Rotation is an essential element of top class football now, but it should be used far less liberally than it has been under Rafa. I’m most dubious about its use in defence and it worries me that the last season or so has seen him begin to deploy the policy there too after being previously more circumspect.
2. Because of the above issue (and the changing tactics mentioned later on), he has signed dozens of players who were never good enough to improve the first team. So what if he moves some of them on for a profit? There is still the money that has gone out of the club’s pockets in agents’ fees that was needlessly spent. And besides, the priority is to improve the team, not the balance sheet (this was going on way before The
came near the club).There have been a number of players who have been broadly good signings, but the only ones I consider to have unequivocally proven their first team quality are Reina, Agger, Alonso, Mascherano, Torres and Crouch - and at least two of those would have some Reds quibbling and a third has been injured for going on half his time here. Beyond them, there have been other decent signings and a couple could still prove their brilliance, but how many were dramatically better than those they replaced?
The bottom line is that Rafa has, with very few exceptions, spread the money too thin - and often at the expense of Academy/youth players. No-one can yet argue that a youngster has left the club to prove him wrong (Ste Warnock would be stretching the term “youngster”), but I don’t see why he has to sign so many 4th or even 5th choice players on contracts that will exceed those of the young lads and simultaneously impede their possible development. If all you want of a 4th/5th choice is someone to “do a job” a mere handful of times a season, why can’t that player be a youngster?
Quantity over quality is a flawed policy and one that is still being employed.
3. He is obsessed with changing things in almost every area of his job. He uses players out of position too many times. Lucas on the left, Kuyt on the right of a 4 (or even a three), Yossi on the left, Xabi too deep, Keane on the left, I could go on and on and on as those are only examples from the five games of this season. How can he possibly think these players are better than specialists for those roles? And if he doesn’t, why has he not signed specialists yet? He has had four years to do so, after all.
Similarly, he has ditched systems that work (Crouch as the fulcrum in the 2nd season to accommodate Kuyt and apparently 4231 this season) to no discernable advantage, and players who still have plenty to give, at least relative to many of those who remain.
4. He is tactically too cautious. Too many people interpret this criticism as a call for reckless and naive football, or else they attempt to diminish it by picking holes in the tactics used by the clubs who have consistently finished above us. Is there anyone who can deny that Rafa seems more concerned about avoiding defeat rather than going for the win, though? The fact is that a win and a defeat gives you a point more than two draws - and we’ve had too many of them under Rafa.
5. His personal relationships are fraught with conflict and create extra tension for the club and team. In terms of players, Crouch and Alonso have been poorly treated in my view, both to the possible detriment of the team. He has also had detrimental public arguments with his bosses, coaches and colleagues in The Academy. The fact that his stance in some of these may be justified, doesn’t mean it is in his or the club’s best interests to play them out in public. Am I alone in being reminded of the boy who cried wolf in relation to the quit threats?
In short, I don’t think Rafa is going to achieve what I regard as the minimum requirement for this season and I don’t think he will have recourse to any explanation beyond his own decision making. The thing that is so frustrating is that if he’d stop over-complicating absolutely everything, he actually has the players to beat that 82 point record. In my view he should play the 4231 system with these players (despite the question marks that exist about the fullbacks and Babel):
Reina
Arbeloa Carra Agger Dossena
Xabi The Chief
Gerrard Keane Babel
Torres
The front four should be given the freedom to play fluidly in terms of their positions, the full backs encouraged to push right on (albeit not recklessly), Xabi given licence to dictate the play and The Chief told to sit and protect the centre halves. A high defensive line should be held with Pepe able to sweep up behind and a high tempo employed in an aggressive manner. He would then have some great options from the bench in those who remain - maybe not to change a game (although I think Yossi and Dirk could be much more effective players if used in the hole and centrally, respectively), but certainly to allow the first teamers to have a rest.
Loads of people will call my criticism unfairly premature, but I can’t see our position in terms of either the results or performances of a five game-old season; I see it in the context of a tenure in its fifth year. What I want is very simple and I think both Rafa and the players are equiped to deliver it. However, I don’t think it will happen because Rafa will over-complicate everything as outlined above and if we fall short, I will want to see a change in manager at the end of the season.
I really and truly hope that I am wrong and that Rafa can deliver in the league. I’m not saying that to placate those with the opposing view or to sound like “a good Red”; I’m saying it because, despite his faults, I really like Rafa and I want to see him succeed.
Come on Rafa, lad!!!
Paul
Ripped from TLW
I know a few people don't like posts being copied from other sites , but I would have written something similar if I had the ability. I agree with most of what he has written and think he has put across the main worries of the "doom and gloomers " well. Hopefully it will lead to some good debate, but if not its only a thread wasted , no one died.
. Other than them... where are the other match winners? Benayoun is capable of scoring a few odd goals but he has bee almost useless playing on the left. Babel went to the olympics and still couldn't get enough sleep. Why could Mascherano straight away put in a good performance after getting back from Beijing and Babel could not? Alonso need to step up and become a match winner abit more regularly. Danny Murphy was no where near Alonso's ability or technical skill but he was more of a match winner than Alonso is now IMO. And now we don't have anymore of 3-4 Hyppia's headed goals off corners and 4-6 riise's piledriver winners a season. Agger was scoring a few goals in his first full season but what happened to him? why isn't he playing? It seem to me that the players need shoulder some of the blame as well. Is their relationships with rafa not as good as it should be?
