Rafa interview with Ballague

[Rory Fitzgerald]

http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11661_6841476,00.html

 

• Analyse my statement, it was not a rant, we played well after the statement
  
• Garcia and Alonso were not Houlliers players in 2005, plus our tactics of playing a higher line was different
  
• Alonso was 2nd highest paid player but not playing to that level and with new rules we looked at Barry
  
• Alonso played very well the next year and then looked for transfer
  
• We looked at Jovetic from Fiorentina
  
• Claims that net spend was 10-12mln (not sure if he means per season or overall- think it has to be per season)
  
• No-one looks at the flops of other squads
  
• Fans voted on best foreign players for club like Kuyt, Reina, Agger, Torres, Garcia, Alonso cause they are good players
  

Edited March 29, 2011 by Rory Fitzgerald

[yellow jumper]

more frank than usual.

[CarraLegend]

Cant wait to see the same arguments repeated that we've heard for months and months.

[Rory Fitzgerald]

more frank than usual.

 

Hugely agenda driven interview, I'm surprised Sky gave him the platform for such an easy one. Though in fairness, he does deserve the chance to get his point across because I do think he was unfairly treated* - just surprised it was Sky that gave it to him.

 

 

*and I'm not one of the forumites that feel Sky treat us unfairly because they utter a negative word against us

[Clay Davis]

Thats the thing about Alonso, the year before Rafa tried to get rid he was actually quite s***. Kept being really slow on the ball and getting caught in possession. I remember a couple of people at the match really moaning about him and a couple even said 'get rid'. Then the next season Alonso was absolutely world class. And then he wanted to leave. Its not quite as cut and dry as 'Rafa thought Barry was better than Alonso - what a prat'

[Raj]

We looked at Jovetic from Fiorentina

 

Critical issue that there, Been mentioned before, but the owners have to a lot to answer for during the summer of 2009

[Ethan]

[Big Red Machine]

Critical issue that there, Been mentioned before, but the owners have to a lot to answer for during the summer of 2009

 

He gave another interview in the summer were he pretty strongly hinted that the Alonso money was meant to be Jovetic + Aquaman but the money disappeared before they could both be done.

[schmuckdonald]

briankettle - Benitez on Sky: He wanted Gerrard "deeper" alongside Jovetic, with Alves and Malouda wide, feeding Torres. Thanks Tom, George and Rick. #lfc

Admittedly, it's pretty easy to proclaim things like that after the fact, but still.

Edited March 30, 2011 by robmcburger

[David Hodgson]

briankettle - Benitez on Sky: He wanted Gerrard "deeper" alongside Jovetic, with Alves and Malouda wide, feeding Torres. Thanks Tom, George and Rick. #lfc

Admittedly, it's pretty easy to proclaim things like that after the fact, but still.

 

I wonder where he saw targets and buys like Stelios, Kenwynne Jones or Robbie Keane fitting in . Wonder how 2009 would have turned out if Tottenham hadn't wanted to buy back Keane, Alonso been sold for £15m and Barry bought with that money. Had that happened Rafas net spend figures would have looked about £30m worse, and we might not have finished as high in the league (in that Barry is much worse than Alonso).

 

No doubting the Americans did us over, and Rafa should have enjoyed better ongoing funding, but it strikes me as a very weak defense to cherry pick good players currently doing well at other clubs, and say 'but I wanted him'. Houllier should be claiming Parry failed to get him Cristiano Ronaldo, and that he'd have won the league with him.

[muleskinner]

Houllier refused to pay the asking price for Ronaldo, not Parry.

 

This is going to turn into a sack of s*** of a thread very quickly.

Edited March 30, 2011 by muleskinner

[madaboutlfc]

With Houllier incharge we would have not got past the group stages. I cannot believe this topic keeps cropping up and some idiots still seem to think any part of Istanbul could in anyway be attributed to Houllier

[Jiggy Hates Jazz]

I wonder where he saw targets and buys like Stelios, Kenwynne Jones or Robbie Keane fitting in . Wonder how 2009 would have turned out if Tottenham hadn't wanted to buy back Keane, Alonso been sold for £15m and Barry bought with that money. Had that happened Rafas net spend figures would have looked about £30m worse, and we might not have finished as high in the league (in that Barry is much worse than Alonso).

 

No doubting the Americans did us over, and Rafa should have enjoyed better ongoing funding, but it strikes me as a very weak defense to cherry pick good players currently doing well at other clubs, and say 'but I wanted him'. Houllier should be claiming Parry failed to get him Cristiano Ronaldo, and that he'd have won the league with him.

 

blah blah blah

[Gomez]

Houllier refused to pay the asking price for Ronaldo, not Parry.

 

This is going to turn into a sack of s*** of a thread very quickly.

 

According to Thommo (can't remember where he said it, but sure he did) we'd agreed a deal for him, then whilst him and GH were having breakfast at Melwood they saw on TV he'd signed for man u, for about £7m more than what we'd agreed.

[David Hodgson]

Houllier refused to pay the asking price for Ronaldo, not Parry.

 

This is going to turn into a sack of s*** of a thread very quickly.

 

That's not what Phil Thompson said in his autobiography IIRC.

 

Anyway, as you say, it's going to go down the toilet.

 

Rafa is god. The end.

 

With Houllier incharge we would have not got past the group stages. I cannot believe this topic keeps cropping up and some idiots still seem to think any part of Istanbul could in anyway be attributed to Houllier

 

Whom are these idiots of which you speak ? Let me at 'em.

 

Thats the thing about Alonso, the year before Rafa tried to get rid he was actually quite s***. Kept being really slow on the ball and getting caught in possession. I remember a couple of people at the match really moaning about him and a couple even said 'get rid'. Then the next season Alonso was absolutely world class. And then he wanted to leave. Its not quite as cut and dry as 'Rafa thought Barry was better than Alonso - what a prat'

 

In the pre season game at Anfield that summer the Kop where chanting Alonso's name and slagging off Barry. No one in their right mind thought it a good idea to let Alonso go. He'd been poorer the season before because his season had been disrupted by injuries.

 

According to Thommo (can't remember where he said it, but sure he did) we'd agreed a deal for him, then whilst him and GH were having breakfast at Melwood they saw on TV he'd signed for man u, for about £7m more than what we'd agreed.

 

Yep. That's what I remember. If only. eh.....

[D.Boon]

This thread promises to be a really refreshing, eye opener where we will finally get to see where people stand on Rafa.

[_00_deathscar]

Thats the thing about Alonso, the year before Rafa tried to get rid he was actually quite s***. Kept being really slow on the ball and getting caught in possession. I remember a couple of people at the match really moaning about him and a couple even said 'get rid'. Then the next season Alonso was absolutely world class. And then he wanted to leave. Its not quite as cut and dry as 'Rafa thought Barry was better than Alonso - what a prat'

 

No. The season when Rafa tried to get rid, Alonso was injured. Twice. Out for a while. He came back storming and had a superb games vs Chelsea and Arsenal. In 2007 he wasn't great, but he wasn't bad either. He can't have been that s*** anyway, we made the final vs Milan.

 

There was very little justification to sell Alonso - most times we played without him we looked like a sack of turds.

 

And there was NO justification to sell Alonso in exchange for Gareth bleeding Barry. Rafa got that wrong - MASSIVELY wrong.

Edited March 30, 2011 by _00_deathscar

[schmuckdonald]

I wonder where he saw targets and buys like Stelios, Kenwynne Jones or Robbie Keane fitting in . Wonder how 2009 would have turned out if Tottenham hadn't wanted to buy back Keane, Alonso been sold for £15m and Barry bought with that money. Had that happened Rafas net spend figures would have looked about £30m worse, and we might not have finished as high in the league (in that Barry is much worse than Alonso).

 

If none of the Barry saga happened then Alonso may well have had another mediocre season and his value would have been less anyway. The fact he was effectively hamstrung so he couldn't sign the players he wanted is the point. He made mistakes, he made bad signings, and he sold players prematurely but he did a fantastic job within his resources and it would stand to reason that he would have done better with more resources.

 

That's enough of that, anyway.

[Benzo-13]

It's a debate done to death this.

 

None of it changes our road back that's ahead.

[_00_deathscar]

If none of the Barry saga happened then Alonso may well have had another mediocre season and his value would have been less anyway.

 

More s***. He was 'poor' (in relative terms) because he was injured.

 

Seems to be Mourinho's 'man' at Madrid and they're not trying to sell him every season.

[schmuckdonald]

More s***. He was 'poor' (in relative terms) because he was injured.

 

Seems to be Mourinho's 'man' at Madrid and they're not trying to sell him every season.

 

Notice the passive voice in what I said, as in this COULD have happened. Was more in reference to the fact that DH was dealing with possibilities, not realities.

 

But beyond that, Alonso struggled to adapt after teams knew to close him down to stop us playing. He had a foot put up his a*** and was also helped that we reached our pinnacle of dominating possession and grinding teams into the ground in that season, so there was always less pressure on him because midfields couldn't get close to him.

 

But anyway, that's enough of bait biting for one day.

[mally]

football

[Red]

So Rafa had a definite post-Alonso plan, which was within budget, but got the rug pulled from under him by the owners? He wasn't just lying in bed dreaming about unattainable targets 'forum-style' then... it's bit more than that?

[Redray]

So Rafa had a definite post-Alonso plan, which was within budget, but got the rug pulled from under him by the owners? He wasn't just lying in bed dreaming about unattainable targets 'forum-style' then... it's bit more than that?

 

He is being criticised for trying to make best of bad job after said rug had been pulled. Couldn't have the players he wanted so went for lesser/cheaper players and got hammered for that too.

 

Sounds reasonable enough.

[David Hodgson]

If none of the Barry saga happened then Alonso may well have had another mediocre season and his value would have been less anyway. The fact he was effectively hamstrung so he couldn't sign the players he wanted is the point. He made mistakes, he made bad signings, and he sold players prematurely but he did a fantastic job within his resources and it would stand to reason that he would have done better with more resources.

 

That's enough of that, anyway.

 

.....is the correct summary.