Liverpool FC Forum

Posted: **Fri Apr 18, 2008 2:29 pm**

grayghost wrote:What i think is 1 of Rafa biggest faults is when he buys a player who is not at the level this club needs it takes him far to long to realise it. Or maybe he does but is to stuborn to admit it.

seems we see different Rafa Benitez' mate. Benitez is one man who ships you out as soon as he possibly can. Nunez, Morientes, Josemi, Barragan, Kromkamp, Zeden, Cisse and so on. The only one he's kept for to long IMO is Kuyt.

There's arguements to be made against Aurelio, Pennant, Crouch, Voronin, Sissoko and maybe a few more that they've outstayed their welcome, but by and large Benitez gets rid of a player very quickly if he can.

Posted: **Fri Apr 18, 2008 2:36 pm**

thats exactly the problem, turnover of players. weneed more research before buying so we dont have to ship out and start again all the time

Posted: **Fri Apr 18, 2008 3:15 pm**

dawson99 wrote:thats exactly the problem, turnover of players. we need more research before buying so we dont have to ship out and start again all the time

d'ya fancy rick parrys job when they finally sack him dawson

Posted: **Mon Apr 21, 2008 2:58 pm**

these things happen though dawson. you might sign a world star who you've been tracking for years but he still turns out to be a flop (veron) I think Benitez does research and study the players he's buying very closely, I don't however believe he's quite grasped the kind of players we need yet. Every year Benitez comes out and says "we need a right winger" but he hasn't broke the bank for one. The money has been there. I'm sure out of 150 million he could of spent 15/20 million on a right winger if we were that desperate for one. I think that's one of Benitez' main failings in the transfer market.

Posted: **Mon Apr 21, 2008 4:07 pm**

I think Rafa has his own valuations and if he thinks a player is not worth the asking price he won't sign him even though we may have the money.

thats exactly the problem, turnover of players. we need more research before buying so we dont have to ship out and start again all the time

Every signing is a bit of a gamble Daws', no matter how much you research it and for some players how much research is actually required ?. Morientes to Liverpool or Schevchenko to Chelsea, how much research would be necessary and who would have thought that both would prove to be so disappointing for their respective clubs.

Posted: **Tue Apr 22, 2008 3:45 pm**

god_bless_john_houlding wrote:I think Benitez does research and study the players he's buying very closely, I don't however believe he's quite grasped the kind of players we need yet. Every year Benitez comes out and says "we need a right winger" but he hasn't broke the bank for one. The money has been there. I'm sure out of 150 million he could of spent 15/20 million on a right winger if we were that desperate for one. I think that's one of Benitez' main failings in the transfer market.

You can study a player a million times at their club, you can't study them at your's until you sign them and certainly not in the new environment. By that I mean Chelsea could only watch Shovepenny in the Italian league, how he would adapt to the Premiership, or how quickly if at all, noone knew.

Rafa has leaned too much towards players between £5m and £10m, some he's paid too much for but there are not that many absolute bargains in his buying. So if he can't spot a bargain like Wenger why not spend big instead of throwing too much at players like Pennant on the offchance they pay off? It's like betting £50 on a horse at 20-1 in a race rather than £5 on 200-1 or £500 on the 2-1 favourite. You're not breaking your bank backing the favourite and not having a longshot punt on the outsider where the gamble could return the biggest amount, you're backing the also ran who is neither going to give you the biggest profit for your money or the best chance of winning.

The Premiership Derby odds

2/1 fergie - spends big, has the experience and owns a lot of the best nags. Always there or thereabouts, rarely third but doesn't pay out big if you back him

5/2 Grant - spends biggest but lacks that je ne sais quoi. Still has enough to be a frontrunner

10/1 Rafa - not terribly ambitious, no real quality to stand out from the rest. May often be a place finisher but not the winner. A good way for a punter to lose his money

25/1 Wenger - surprising how often this outsider finds something in him to win, may not win often but certainly upsets the rest of the field. If you're happy enough to win big but rarely this is your horse.

100/1 Keegan - this donkey should have been put out to pasture years ago!

Liverpool FC Forum

The truth about rafa's £150m spending spree