An evening with Rafa Benitez.

[meredithmathieson]

Hugely enjoyable. Anybody else go?

 

Audience was massively pro. Standing ovation and a huge "Rafa, Rafael" when he walked on.

 

No major surprises, but he did manage to get around confidentiality agreements by quoting, e.g. from Pepe's book about the last owners to convey his thoughts.

 

Clearly not a fan of Purslow! ("These new owners showed that they are very clever when they accepted [Purslow's] resignation offer...").

 

nor Hodgson ("He moaned because he had [Gillett and Hicks] for three months. I had them for three years.").

 

nor Mourinho. ("Are you on friendly terms with Jose Mourinho, Rafa?" "Er, no.").

 

Loved the bit where he was describing the Liverpool fans in Cologne who saw him in the Irish Bar: "They shook my hand (grimaces to show that his hand was crushed). They were massive. Just massive."

 

Stated that he wants to come back as manager, again no surprise.

 

The warmth of the man shone right through.

Edited October 17, 2011 by meredithmathieson

[lfc4eva99]

Any pics or videos?

[JRC]

My Lad and I went. Great atmosphere, like a really good away game session - you knew everyone there was a proper Red. Very warm reception - naturally, it was an elective audience - and interesting throughout.

 

Nothing dramtically revelatory, but always informative and instructive. The tactical sessions were fascinating and eye-opening for me (as one who avoids all formation threads like the plague).

 

Very,very enjoyable, although I understand there are other Reds who would perhaps not be so amenable.

[Flight]

 

 

[Sir_Bob_Paisley]

Really enjoyed it.

 

Best part for me was the tactical analysis.

 

The headlines today will be he's trying to steal Kenny's job but it wasn't like that at all.

 

As stated above, the warmth of the man shone through.

 

Well in Rafa!

[johngibo YPC]

Yeah very enjoyable

Not much new information but the tactical stuff was good, and I'm glad they used footage to demonstate it, rather than having it all on the screen

And always good to hear Purslow getting a kicking

 

Oh and he was full of praise for SOS, which was nice

[Chili Palmer]

 

 

 

 

 

Is this the part where he was describing Roy Hodgson?

[Spike]

Was a very enjoyable evening and you really can't help but love the guy.

 

Of particular interest was when he brought Kenny back, he brought him in to deal with the press, the FA etc and try and build relationships (obviously Rafa recognised this as a weakness of his own), as well as work with the Academy. Purslow wanted that role though and shifted Kenny into solely the Academy role.

 

Purslow also wanted Hodgson over Kenny.

 

I enjoyed the bit about the champions league final and how he wanted Gerrard and Smicer to make runs either side of Pirlo and how we then adapted again when Silvhinho came on. He also said that for the penos he had a database going back 15 years of how every player takes penalties.

 

I'd have loved for it to be a bit more detailed about how things didn't work out, what was going on behind the scenes with Hicks and Gillet. However, he wore the tracksuit in the famous 'coach and train the team' presser because he'd forgotten his shoes - he insisted it wasn't a deliberate thing!

[Epic Swindle]

Apparently he said he had to choose between Alves and Kuyt and chose the latter

[Benzo-13]

Apparently he said he had to choose between Alves and Kuyt and chose the latter

He was right.

Moores should've stumped up for both.

[Maldini]

What size crowd was at it? I reckon they could do it here in Dublin and get a good audience too, there'd be a much higher ration of knee-jerking anti-Rafa heads though.

[meredithmathieson]

What size crowd was at it? I reckon they could do it here in Dublin and get a good audience too, there'd be a much higher ration of knee-jerking anti-Rafa heads though.

 

 

Sell out as far as I could see.

 

No empty seats downstairs where we were.

 

Not sure what the Empire holds?

 

John Barnes was there, by the way. Nice to see.

[Will]

Capacity is 2,350 apparently

 

Was a good night last night. Rafa is a gent - he unsurprisingly somewhat fudged the Alonso issue a little, but you couldn't help but love him just as much as you did before you went in, if not more

[Superjay]

Wonder is there any chance of another one.

[BG]

there'd be a much higher ration of knee-jerking anti-Rafa heads though.

 

Never really get how anyone who loves our club can dislike that man. Especially after watching the Hillsborough memorial thing.

[Stupid Sexy Flanders]

What size crowd was at it? I reckon they could do it here in Dublin and get a good audience too, there'd be a much higher ration of knee-jerking anti-Rafa heads though.

They'd all be taxi drivers too.

[Chili Palmer]

Capacity is 2,350 apparently

 

Was a good night last night. Rafa is a gent - he unsurprisingly somewhat fudged the Alonso issue a little, but you couldn't help but love him just as much as you did before you went in, if not more

 

what do you mean by that? was he kinda admitting he made a mistake?

[Flight]

what do you mean by that? was he kinda admitting he made a mistake?

 

 

All he said was Xabi wanted to leave and it's hard to keep a player who wants to leave and left it at that (apart from a dig at agents stirring it up).

 

He went on to say that Barry was his number one target to replace Xabi and wanted him bought before Keane. On Keane he said that he was a good player but that he just couldn't learn to play with Torres so the decision was made as soon as two or three months after we bought him to cut our losses (said we lost £3mill on him).

 

Rafa also made a point of saying a couple of times during the evening that his net spend at LFC was £4mill a year and that the squad he inherited was worth £80mill when he arrived and £240mill when he left.

[D.Boon]

Is this the part where he was describing Roy Hodgson?

 

And i said "Montse, are you sure about this?"

[Bigal]

is that jeremy kyle with him?!!?

[jimmylibel]

Was at it too. Really great to listen to him and there was such a magnificent reaction to the man.

 

Thought he was still a little defensive and I think hes still trying to convince a lot of people over the sticks that have been used to beat him - rotation, zonal marking, transfer spending. Given the audience I think most understood the reality of those arguments.

 

I thought the interviewer wasnt great, didnt drill down into anything deep. Was just ticking boxes with his questions.

 

Rafa also mentioned how Gillette had offered him 50 million to go to the draft with. He was then told by Gillette he wanted a plan to win the Premier League with 50 million. When told who would sign off on that plan he was told Foster Gillette!

 

He spoke highly of the impression he has of the new owners and said you could see they were good operators by the fact they got rid of Purslow so quickly.

 

Fudged on Alonso and I was disappointed about his Robbie Keane answer, basically saying he was good but couldnt gel with Torres. Given all we saw of Keane Id be disappointed if that was really Rafas take on things.

[Foo]

Considering the direction Keane's career took after Liverpool, I'm not surprised.

[Epic Swindle]

He's on Soccer am today.

[Stupid Sexy Flanders]

He's on Soccer am today.

Awful lot of crap to sit through though.

[muleskinner]

Hes on now