What's Rafa ever done for Liverpool?

[Cunny]

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/sport/rorysmith/100004667/whats-rafa-ever-done-for-liverpool/

 

Listening to 6-0-6, Radio 5Live’s bi-weekly Moron-a-thon, is a constant source of thought-provoking debate. Many of Britain’s great contemporary philosophers are regular contributors to the show, commendably guided to previously unimagined heights of perception by intellectual titans of our era, sophists like Spoony, Tim Lovejoy and Alan Green.

To take an exchange at random, as I battled along the A50 – once in the Potteries, now, apparently, in deepest Siberia – on the way home from Stoke on Saturday, a Liverpool-supporting caller came on the airwaves. He was quite cross, it turned out, infuriated by his side’s draw at Reading, of the Championship, earlier in the evening.

He opened with quite a gambit. “So Alan, do you think Rafa’s flying to Madrid to get van Nistelrooy, or do you think he’ll meet him on the motorway?” Not in this weather, son, not in this weather. It’s chaos on the roads. Mind you, Liverpool John Lennon’s had a bit of trouble with ice on the runway. Fair point. Nice you’re concerned about travel safety. “Because he needs him.”

Sadly, at roughly the same time, Rafa Benitez – who, if he was a boxer, would have to be monikered “The Beleaguered” – was revealing he was not interested in the Dutch international forward, for a combination of reasons, including his wages, his injury record and his choice of prior employers. Still, our caller was not finished there. David Ngog, he claimed, would not get on Reading’s bench. Dirk Kuyt and Lucas are both rubbish. Benitez had to go. Besides, “what has Rafa ever done for Liverpool?”

See? 6-0-6: it really makes you think. Well, caller, allow me to answer your question. What has the Champions League winner Rafael Benitez ever done for Liverpool? If he were to be sacked right now, as a growing proportion of Liverpool fans believe he should be, what would his legacy be? How would the obituaries read? Would posterity judge him kindly?

Firstly, it is only fair to acknowledge that our caller, sword of truth in hand, did admit that he knew “he had won the Champions League and that” – which is possibly the greatest sentence ever uttered on national radio – so we can take silverware out of the equation. One Champions League, one FA Cup, one Community Shield and one European Super Cup can be put to one side. So should the runners-up medals, for last season’s Premier League, the Carling Cup in 2005, the World Club Cup the same year and the 2007 Champions League. Second is just first last, after all.

To balance out our analysis, we should also avoid falling into the trap of judging Benitez purely on the travails of the current campaign (although, for the purposes of our hypothetical argument, we can assume that Benitez is dismissed with Liverpool in 7th place, four points behind Tottenham and 12 behind league leaders Chelsea). No manager should be judged on one season, but on the entirety of their reign.

What has Benitez achieved in his Anfield lustrum, then? Well, his primary achievement would surely be re-establishing Liverpool as a credible European force. After the disastrous reign of Graeme Souness, the underachievement under Roy Evans and Gerard Houllier’s slow, occasionally painful rebuilding, Benitez took over a club in the shadows of its past as far as the continent was concerned. Two finals, one semi-final, one quarter final, one appearance in the last 16 later, despite one surprise group stage elimination, Liverpool can once again be counted among the Champions League’s elite.

Domestically, too, Benitez has restored Liverpool’s faded grandeur. Not completely, of course, but certainly partially. At the start of his reign, in the aftermath of Houllier, qualification for the Champions League was the absolute maximum Liverpool could hope to achieve. Now it is the bare minimum. The perception that Liverpool have always battled for fourth under the Spaniard is wrong. Only in 2004/05 and the current season have Liverpool been involved in scraps for fourth place. In 2007/08, they finished fourth, but 11 points ahead of Everton. They were as many points off the top. They were only in a scrap for fourth if they were also in a scrap for the title.

In 2006 and 2007, they finished third, once comfortably, once narrowly, and last season, as everyone seems to have forgotten, they came a close second. Liverpool are often seen as the poor relations of the Big Four. In one, economic sense, they are, but in terms of performance under Benitez that title probably goes to Arsenal. That Liverpool fans are so, rightly, disappointed with the anticlimax of the current season is evidence of how far Benitez has brought the club.

That he has done so while overhauling his squad makes that work all the more impressive. Chelsea and Manchester United already had the core of their squads for the second half of the 2000s in place when Benitez landed at Anfield, whereas he has had to compete while restructuring completely. The side he took over – had he not sold anyone, other than the wantaway Michael Owen - boasted Jerzy Dudek in goal, Steve Finnan, Sami Hyypia, Jamie Carragher and John-Arne Riise in defence, a midfield of El-Hadji Diouf, Steven Gerrard, Dietmar Hamann and Harry Kewell and a strike force of Djibril Cisse and Milan Baros. The squad, packed with youngsters, included the likes of Djimi Traore, Igor Biscan, Emile Heskey, Salif Diao, Danny Murphy, Vladimir Smicer and Chris Kirkland.

Contrast that with what Liverpool have after five years of Benitez. The best goalkeeper in England, Pepe Reina, and arguably the best right back, the Argentine national captain in midfield, and the world’s best striker. Gerrard and Carragher, of course, remain, while the likes of Daniel Agger, Yossi Benayoun and – who knows? – Alberto Aquilani are all upgrades on what went before. It is impossible to put a value on such things, but it is safe to say Liverpool’s playing staff are worth more than they were six years ago.

That is not to say that Benitez is without fault, of course. He has made a number of misguided signings, most notably, and expensively, Andrea Dossena, Robbie Keane and Ryan Babel. He has a lack of both quality and quantity in his squad after countless signings, although, where Liverpool are concerned, that is highly likely to be as much the owners’ fault as it is the manager’s. Liverpool have seen more average full-backs in the last few years than most teams have in their histories. He still exhibits a reluctance to allow his team to express themselves. A lot of the football Liverpool play is not exactly aesthetically pleasing. Most crucially, he has seemingly failed to take that giant leap from near miss to direct hit in terms of the title.

But none of that makes him a failure. Not an unqualified success, maybe, but far from a failure. Surrey has spoken, to Alan Green, and it has decided Benitez must go. Fine, if that is the way it has to be. But it seems fair to say that the future will be kinder to Benitez than the present.

[mofus77]

Decent article, as frustrated as I've been with Rafa recently I appreciate all he has done and understand that we would be worse off without him.

[Billy Dane]

I refused to read the rest of the article when I realised it was a sombre realistic piece without any resemblance to hysteria. Surely has no place on the internet.

[CarraLegend]

Yep, a fair article in praise and criticism.

 

Though no doubt this thread will end up as "Man Utd have never spent a penny" "Benitez is dirt" "Torres and Reina the only good signings" like about 5 others currently are at the moment.

[Hassony]

Alan Green is a c***, that's all that he needed to say really

[Raj]

Yep, a fair article in praise and criticism.

 

Though no doubt this thread will end up as "Man Utd have never spent a penny" "Benitez is dirt" "Torres and Reina the only good signings" like about 5 others currently are at the moment.

 

It's a decent article.

 

I think that there have been a few posters who have put across some decent counter arguments in those other threads, in their defence.

[CarraLegend]

It's a decent article.

 

I think that there have been a few posters who have put across some decent counter arguments in those other threads, in their defence.

 

I agree, there has been some good debate, you just have to go through pages of nonsense to find it.

[Flanders]

Get's you thinking, obviously no manager buys a player thinking the worst but if individually the side GH left behind had fulfilled the potential and reputation they arrived with, they'd have been some team!

 

Jerzy Dudek

 

Steve Finnan, Sami Hyypia, Jamie Carragher John-Arne Riise

 

El-Hadji Diouf, Steven Gerrard, Dietmar Hamann Harry Kewell

 

Djibril Cisse Milan Baros

 

Goes to show the line between success and failure is very fine. Kewell, Cisse and Baros could all have been World beaters, even Diouf looked decent in his Charity shield debut!

Edited January 4, 2010 by Flanders

[David Hodgson]

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/sport/rorysmith/100004667/whats-rafa-ever-done-for-liverpool/

 

Well written and fair comment.

[CarraLegend]

Diouf

 

Thought he was going to be the new Pele after that Southampton game. What a disappointment.

 

Though in his defence, as big a bellend as he turned out to be he did always work his balls off.

[_00_deathscar]

Get's you thinking, obviously no manager buys a player thinking the worst but if individually the side GH left behind had fulfilled the potential and reputation they arrived with, they'd have been some team!

 

Jerzy Dudek

 

Steve Finnan, Sami Hyypia, Jamie Carragher John-Arne Riise

 

El-Hadji Diouf, Steven Gerrard, Dietmar Hamann Harry Kewell

 

Djibril Cisse Milan Baros

 

Goes to show the line between success and failure is very fine. Kewell, Cisse and Baros could all have been World beaters, even Diouf looked in his Charity shield debut!

 

And a solid enough defence - lacking in pace and finesse though.

 

Gerrard/Hamann axis would be dependent on Gerrard being the Gerrard of old though - very, very old, and improving as a central midfielder - massively.

 

That side certainly had potential (hence why they were bought/at the club in the first place).

[Hightown Phil]

It's all well and good saying 'That was the team' but Carragher wasn't a centre half before Benitez, Finnan was terrible in his first season and Diouf, Baros and Cisse just weren't very good.

[Spiblish]

Get's you thinking, obviously no manager buys a player thinking the worst but if individually the side GH left behind had fulfilled the potential and reputation they arrived with, they'd have been some team!

 

Jerzy Dudek

 

Steve Finnan, Sami Hyypia, Jamie Carragher John-Arne Riise

 

El-Hadji Diouf, Steven Gerrard, Dietmar Hamann Harry Kewell

 

Djibril Cisse Milan Baros

 

Goes to show the line between success and failure is very fine. Kewell, Cisse and Baros could all have been World beaters, even Diouf looked decent in his Charity shield debut!

Not a bad side BUT don't Cisse or Baros would ever have been world class. They would have both been running down the same blind alley. From the GH team above, Riise, Kewell, Sami and Didi would all be great to add to the current team/squad but that would be it

[stonty]

All right... all right... but apart from better sanitation and medicine and education and irrigation and public health and roads and a freshwater system and baths and public order...

 

what has Rafa done for us?

 

[Flanders]

Not a bad side BUT don't Cisse or Baros would ever have been world class. They would have both been running down the same blind alley. From the GH team above, Riise, Kewell, Sami and Didi would all be great to add to the current team/squad but that would be it

i don't think Cisse or Baros would ever have been World Class either. The point i was making, is that irrespective of how they turned out, potentially that could have been an excellent team.

Cisse and Baros both arrived with reputations as the next great players of the future.

 

Also, what does World Class have to do with it? Few clubs in the world have more than three, it's hardly a realistic measure as to whether a player would be a benefit to us. The only players in that 11 that wouldn't benefit our squad is Diouf and Cisse because they are idiots.

[muleskinner]

I heard that prick mentioned who called up on Saturday, it was quite staggering to hear the garbage he came out with.

[stressederic]

There's a really strange phenomenon I've noticed recently. Whenever people start talking to me about why Rafa should be sacked and mention fans on 606 (or the like) they almost always immediately suffer horrific facial injuries.

[Spiblish]

i don't think Cisse or Baros would ever have been World Class either. The point i was making, is that irrespective of how they turned out, potentially that could have been an excellent team.

Cisse and Baros both arrived with reputations as the next great players of the future.

 

Also, what does World Class have to do with it? Few clubs in the world have more than three, it's hardly a realistic measure as to whether a player would be a benefit to us. The only players in that 11 that wouldn't benefit our squad is Diouf and Cisse because they are idiots.

I was actually referring to the fact you said they were potential world beaters is all.

[Raj]

There's a really strange phenomenon I've noticed recently. Whenever people start talking to me about why Rafa should be sacked and mention fans on 606 (or the like) they almost always immediately suffer horrific facial injuries.

 

Sometimes violence is more than acceptable.

[Stevie H]

I heard that prick mentioned who called up on Saturday, it was quite staggering to hear the garbage he came out with.

there's a real editorial trend on 606 at the minute for putting the absolute whoppers on on a saturday so that alan green can bombastically have a pop at them, while on a sunday they have to be really careful not to put anybody on who is at all intelligent because spoony gets all confused then marcotti has to embarrass him. it's become a terrible show unfortunately, every bit as bad as you're on sky sports.

[growler]

anyone who calls 606 is an idiot. The only people worse, are the ones that give the shows like this credibility by listening to it. What can you possibly gain by listening to morons slag off your team, pretending to be a supporter?

 

Lazy journalism that show is.

[Hassony]

there's a real editorial trend on 606 at the minute for putting the absolute whoppers on on a saturday so that alan green can bombastically have a pop at them, while on a sunday they have to be really careful not to put anybody on who is at all intelligent because spoony gets all confused then marcotti has to embarrass him. it's become a terrible show unfortunately, every bit as bad as you're on sky sports.

 

 

Green usually agrees with idiots like this though, he is still going about Lucas being Rafa's love child and how spearing is a better player

[richwilks]

he is still going about Lucas being Rafa's love child and how spearing is a better player

 

Crazy stuff.

 

One a Brazilian international and one who can't get into the England youth teams. If Spearing wan't English he wouldn't be mentioned by delusional fans and idiots like Alan Green.

[Eiler99]

Green usually agrees with idiots like this though, he is still going about Lucas being Rafa's love child and how spearing is a better player

 

Several people on here were saying that day after day day only a few months ago. Seems to have died down recently though.

[Gomez]

anyone who calls 606 is an idiot. The only people worse, are the ones that give the shows like this credibility by listening to it. What can you possibly gain by listening to morons slag off your team, pretending to be a supporter?

 

Lazy journalism that show is.

 

No, but it is humourous listening to mancs ring in calling for ferguson to resign.