Dream Boss

[Leo No.8]

When you look around the team and the way the players have developed individually under Rafa, it makes you realise he must be an absolute dream to play for.

 

Not only is Rafa quite clearly a decent, honest and straightforward bloke, with good man-management skills, he is technically something else. The man must have studied the game inside out practically since he left school.

 

Stevie Gerrard has always been a phenomenal talent, and Rafa has either clearly bought wisely in Alonso, Garcia, Reina and Sissoko, or is being proved right with Morientes and Crouch. But more specifically looking around the squad at some of the players he inherited, its incredible to see their improvement.

 

At full-back Riise and Finnan have improved dramatically; is that due to their improved positional sense and more intelligent running - I believe so absolutely, and that is completely down to the manager and his team.

 

Its interesting on that front, to note the way Rafa talks about players 'wasting energy' last season. I thought that was a fascinating statement; it shows that although Rafa demands hard work from his players, it isn't just about giving 100%, but giving 100% in the right ways, using their energy to the best use of the team.

 

A vast amount of work studying patterns of play and movement around the pitch must go in, and I think this is an area in which practically every player in the squad has benefitted, but most notably our current first choice full-backs.

 

Then you look at something quite simple which is players' positions. One of Gerard Houllier's biggest errors was buying players then playing them out of position. The best example of knowing a players' best position is when Rafa came in and put Carra straight in at centre half.

 

Now, personally I have to admit I'd always said I didn't see Carra as the long term future at full-back for us; although he was fantastic defensively I always felt we suffered from his lack of ability going forward and he'd eventually become a squad player.

 

Little did I know the player he'd become in the centre under Benitez; again I think he has benefitted from Rafa's positional direction, but just as importantly his passing has improved dramatically, and over the duration of Rafa's management he has gone from a decent Premier league full-back to one of the finest centre-halves in Europe, no less.

 

Training methods also fascinate me; how on earth have his coaching team managed to find Kewell's pace again? I never thought in a million years I'd see Harry shift as quickly as he has in the last few games again. There must have been very specific work done to improve acceleration over a few yards, and as a result he looks like becoming some player again if he can avoid further long-term injuries.

 

The only player with potential I don't feel he has been able to mould yet is Cisse; but injury has of course hampered his progress, and I'm still hopeful after the way he took his goal last night.

 

I suppose we should have expected it after what Rafa did at Valencia, but it really is gobsmacking to see the development of this squad of players. The approach is so incredibly scientific, if managers in the game received awards for their style our boss would have a PHD.

 

If I was a football anywhere in the game, I would want to play for Rafa Benitez. He can turn the average into good, the good into great.

 

A truly incredible man, and an absolute blessing to us and our football club.

[Dalglish]

A vast amount of work studying patterns of play and movement around the pitch must go in, and I think this is an area in which practically every player in the squad has benefitted, but most notably our current first choice full-backs.

 

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I agree with you.

 

And as you already stated above, the times we're trying to play one-touch football without hitting the ball out of bounds has increased dramatically.

[Swan Red]

At full-back Riise and Finnan have improved dramatically; is that due to their improved positional sense and more intelligent running - I believe so absolutely, and that is completely down to the manager and his team.

 

A vast amount of work studying patterns of play and movement around the pitch must go in, and I think this is an area in which practically every player in the squad has benefitted, but most notably our current first choice full-backs.

 

Then you look at something quite simple which is players' positions. One of Gerard Houllier's biggest errors was buying players then playing them out of position. The best example of knowing a players' best position is when Rafa came in and put Carra straight in at centre half.

 

Now, personally I have to admit I'd always said I didn't see Carra as the long term future at full-back for us; although he was fantastic defensively I always felt we suffered from his lack of ability going forward and he'd eventually become a squad player.

 

Agree with a lot of what you say but Finnan was exemplary at full back at Fulham the best RB in the league possibly and I have to disagree with regard to Carragher who has become one of the very best CB's around but was none to shoddy at full back either and had shone in that position when he came back from the broken leg

[Eiler99]

He's alright.

[Buzz]

I thought Finnan was good anyway , but your right with the way Rafa has given players confidence. One of the best examples of this was our Igor, who's game improved dramatically last year. One wish I have is we still had Heskey here when Rafa got here, as seeing what he has done with other players confidence, we could possibly have seen the real Heskey that first burst into our team alot more often.

[Magic8Ball]

The only player with potential I don't feel he has been able to mould yet is Cisse; but injury has of course hampered his progress, and I'm still hopeful after the way he took his goal last night.

In general I tend to love your posts, and this is no different.

Ive seen Cisse while at Auxerre, and he was more a Collymore player - could score out of very little and was WAY WAY WAY better than Droba, at Liverpool he's been a pale shadow of the Auxerre player.

After the last few games Ive been more a positive about Djbril being able to adapt enough to persuade Rafa to keep him.

 

His passing was good as was his ball retention, these are improving rapidly along with his touch, areas that still need to be worked on are his movement, his closing down, and his aggression when playing against CH's

 

All in all Cisse has such huge potential I would love for him to stay here and deliver on it at Anfield or Stanley Park

[Swagger]

 

Excellent piece, Leo.

 

Good point about Cisse's injury resulting in Rafa having less time to coach him. If Cisse is willing to learn, I am sure Benitez will transform him into a much better player than he already is.

[Leo No.8]

Agree with a lot of what you say but Finnan was exemplary at full back at Fulham the best RB in the league possibly and I have to disagree with regard to Carragher who has become one of the very best CB's around but was none to shoddy at full back either and had shone in that position when he came back from the broken leg

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Agree with you Vic that Finnan was superb at Fulham; I remember reminding people he was in the official Premier League team of the season when he was there.

 

However, people forget that at one stage he'd disappointed that much here he looked to be on his way out. I went to a pre-season game at Wrexham just after Rafa had taken over and made josemi his first signing; he played poorly in that game, and Blackburn were showing a strong interest.

 

Of course after that he grew in stature; but at first he was employed on the right side of midfield as a makeshift winger due to injuries, and then as Josemi struggled he went about establishing himself again as our first choice right-back in 2005.

 

Don't get me wrong, I have always rated Finnan very highly, but was disappointed with the way he had developed under Ged. He made quite a few errors in that first season, and if Josemi had turned out to be better than he did, things may have been different.

 

As it is for me, Finnan was our most consistant player of 2005, and I hope to see him at right-back for us for a good long time now, in the way a similar player in Irwin served to his late 30s for United. But I put that re-discovery of the player he was and a new found level of consistancy down to Rafa.

 

Regarding Carra, I of course loved him for his commitment and defensive ability, but I like full-backs to offer a threat going forward, and in general he didn't.

 

Its not easy to criticise a player becoming an absolute legend at the club, but that was how I felt about him when he played at full-back. I freely admit I had no idea of the player he could become, and for me thats down to Rafa.

[Swan Red]

Benitez identifying him as the future CB was an excellent move but not one I think was that totally unexpected. i was suprised however to see that Carragher was getting forward more as FB after the injury against Blackburn Rovers and we disagree slightly in that I probably place less emphasis on the FB's ability going forward. That maybe my myopia.

 

Regarding Finnan you may be being a little tough on GH. He was not the player in his first season at the club that he had been at Fulham but he had also had a number of injuries interrupt his progress. Josemi if nothing else gave him the kick up the ass he needed but I am confident he had everything anyway.

[Gomez]

Then you look at something quite simple which is players' positions. One of Gerard Houllier's biggest errors was buying players then playing them out of position. The best example of knowing a players' best position is when Rafa came in and put Carra straight in at centre half.

 

1130398[/snapback]

 

Agree with most of what you say except this. Carra was playing at CB for the latter half of the previous season under GH, he continued to play there under Rafa.

 

Rafa is well beyond the point where he needs comparisons with falsified or exagerrated actions of previous managers in order to look good.

[Leo No.8]

Agree with most of what you say except this. Carra was playing at CB for the latter half of the previous season under GH, he continued to play there under Rafa.

 

Rafa is well beyond the point where he needs comparisons with falsified or exagerrated actions of previous managers in order to look good.

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I apologise if it looked I was taking a pop at Ged - I suppose I was but people would do well to note I was still defending Gerard for a long time after many gave up on him! I'm delighted to see him doing so well at Lyon as well; he will always have a place in my heart as the man who brought us a great many happy memories.

 

Funny enough I've usually got a good memory for these things but I genuinely don't remember Carra playing consistently in the middle under Houllier, and if so certainly to nowhere near the level he is now.

 

Quite simply the point I was trying to get across was that Jamie Carragher has, in the last season and a half, become a far, far better player than I'd ever dreamed he could become during the seven seasons before. Perhaps I just didn't hold him in as high a regard as some on here, and if thats the case fair play. But I don't think anyone here could honestly say, for all his qualities, Jamie Carragher would be a player of the stature he is now in the European game.

 

When people spoke about Liverpool it used to be Owen and Gerrard; now its Gerrard and Carragher.

[boohog]

All in all Cisse has such huge potential I would love for him to stay here and deliver on it at Anfield or Stanley Park

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Are you in the know or summat? Thought even if we do move to Stanley Park it would be called Anfield anyway.

 

Funny enough I've usually got a good memory for these things but I genuinely don't remember Carra playing consistently in the middle under Houllier, and if so certainly to nowhere near the level he is now.

1130438[/snapback]

 

To be fair Ged tried a few other players there to disastourous effect, Big Ig being the prime example, so whether it was genius on his part or blind luck, who knows . I don't remember Carra playing there consistently though, I think he had a few games here or there filling in for Henchoz, but aside from Henchoz/Hyppia, Biscan probably played there the most