Liverpool FC Forum

[LFC2007]

Thirteen and a half hours to go and I've got to be up at six, but I don't care 

[NANNY RED]

Good article here from the Times on Raffas thinking could be worthy of a disscussion in its own thread but ill stick it in here

From The Sunday TimesMarch 23, 2008

Rafa Benitez hopes Valencia style will turn tide

Liverpool's manager is finally turning to a system that brought success in Spain in an effort to beat Manchester United

Jonathan Northcroft

Manchester United never did not play Valencia in their Rafa Benitez pomp. They met the Spaniards with Hector Cuper as their manager. When Benitez was in charge, Valencia were too good for Arsenal and Liverpool in the Champions League, but United were never put to the test. This is relevant because while Sir Alex Ferguson has won six and drawn one of the other seven Premier League meetings with Benitez, those matches were against plain old Liverpool. Only now does Benitez feel he can field a side close to the one he always intended creating, one that mixes Anfield traditions and local playing ingredients like Jamie Carragher and Steven Gerrard with the strategies that worked so well at the Mestalla.

Call them “Pool-encia”. “It’s more or less the same system,” Benitez said of the 4-2-3-1 pattern he has settled upon, with Gerrard supporting Fernando Torres centrally, and Dirk Kuyt and Ryan Babel augmenting the attack in wide areas. With his Valencia players such as Mista, Vicente, Rufete, Pablo Aimar, John Carew and Miguel Angulo filled these four attacking roles.Seven consecutive wins have resulted from Benitez using a settled team and deploying the Valencia formation. Why not do this sooner? “Every year people were talking about our signings but if you analyse the players who came here, Jose Reina, Xabi Alonso, Daniel Agger, Martin Skrtel, Javier Mascherano, Torres, Babel, we have found players that are now the spine of the team (with Carragher and Gerrard). Ferguson needed seven years to win his first Premier League and now we are in my fourth year. I’m disappointed because we could be closer, that’s clear, but now you have a spine, a group of young players you can progress with.

“We had the plan before, but not the options we have now. Everyone is saying, ‘Oh, you spent money’, but we only spent an important amount of money this year and on Torres, Mascherano and Babel. People were criticising (signings like) Mauricio Pellegrino, Antonio Nunez, but we didn’t spend money on them ose playersand we were trying to find the pieces we needed to improve the rest of the team. Pellegrino is a fantastic professional, for example, and Carra and Sami Hyypia learnted a lot from him.”

Another factor behind the creation of “Pool-encia” appears Benitez’s decision to admit defeat, for nowat least, in his quest to find top-class, out-and-out wingers. It is curious it has taken him so long, because his wide men at Valencia were not pure wingers but players who could come inside to either supplement their strikers or their midfield, as was one of his most successful early signings at Anfield, Luis Garcia. This did not stop Benitez looking for traditional flank men. Mark Gonzalez and Nunez came and went, Harry Kewell has hadgiven numerous opportunities and Jermaine Pennant and Sebastian Leto are in the current squad but descending the pecking order. Benitez’s current wide boys guysare converted strikers, Babel and Kuyt, neither of whom are particular crossers of the ball but who dooffer energy, goal threat and the inclination to come inside. At United, Cristiano Ronaldo has proved the potency of being a “winger” with non-traditional qualities, though his dribbling ability is as classic for the position as was Stanley Matthews’s.


Even more strangely, considering in terms ofhis delay in going to 4-2-3-1, Benitez prophesied the remodelling of the wide player when he was a young coach at Real Madrid. “I have an article from maybe 15 years ago which I wrote in a Spanish newspaper , El Mundo,and the title was, ‘Where are the Wingers?’ I was in the academy of Real Madrid and Vicente Del Bosque was its head. We used to talk: ‘Where are the wingers?’ The teams were all playing 4-3-3 and were trying to find players to put in the wide areas. They were difficult to find so you had to create them,” Benitez said. For “Pool-encia” to move to the next level, he needs more goals from Babel and Kuyt, who have scored eight and nine for the season respectively. “But if Torres scores 30 goals maybe you don’t need your wingers scoring,” he said with a smile.

Carragher observed Liverpool, their midfield choked by United, underused Torres in the December defeat. Benitez shared the expectation that today will be different: “Torres has improved. His understanding with Gerrard is much better and he needed time to settle, so he’s more dangerous now.”

Liverpool fans, reminded too often about their manager’s poor domestic record in “Big Four’ clashes, might wish to look away. Against United, Arsenal and Chelsea in the league he has played 20, won four, lost 12. He repeated his view that in most of the matches it has come down “to a corner, a free kick, small details”. It may also have been because until recently he has been managing Liverpool, and not “Pool-encia”.

[holylamb2006]

Pretty good read

[LFC2007]

Pool-encia 

[Emerald Red]

Just had a yarn on the phone with a Manc. Funny as f*ck arguing with them. Everything they come out with, I've an answer that can't be disputed back with. Like this for example. He claims we have to worry about them because they have goal scorers all over the pitch. I laughed. He then stated we'd be lost without Torres. I laughed again.

Right, so goal scorers all over the pitch, says he. I ask who. He claims Rooney, Scholes and Giggs. I ask him when's the last time they were scoring, and then said don't even mention Tevez. He'd no answer. I said, ooops, that leaves you with who? Ronaldo? Right, and he has the bollox to say we'd be lost without Torres. Jokes United fans are. Clueless c*nts. Don't know the facts.

I hope someone like Carragher scores. Oh, what sweet irony and justice that would be.

[The Manhattan Project]

Let's not give any silly free-kicks away, because Ronaldo is lethal with those.

[Feugo]

Come on Reds!
this would be my super formation!
Play it old skool. 4-4-2

                      Reina

Arbeloa    Carragher    Skrtel      Riise

Pennant   Gerrard   Mascherano  Babel

              Crouchinho  Torres

Reds win. 1 - 0
Gerrard's freekick.

My hands all sweat can't even sleep... ahh..
6 hours to go... cant wait. OMG OMG

[lakes10]

not happy today as i will miss most of the game, 1-1

[ConnO'var]

It's still hours away and I'm wound freakin tighter than a clock.

Conn Jr just told me that he had a dream that we'd pound the mancs and win 3-0...... and that I then proceeded to buy him a mountain bike the next day.
Smart kid, huh?


I told him that if we won, he can have half the mountain bike from me but he'd have to convince his mum for the other half!
Wiped the grin off his face didn't it?   



So, prediction? Based solely on Conn Jr's dream and with no scientific backing or detailed analysis.... just me boy's gut. And if it costs me a mountain bike.... I'd pay it everytime.... but he doesn't need to know that does he?

C'MON YOU RED MEN!!!!!!

[Igor Zidane]

Ripped this from RAWK ,and i thought it might get the juices flowing a bit.

COME ON REDMEN !!!!!!

It's the battle of the East Lancs Road,
A commercial rivalry 100 years old,
About shipping & spinning, silver & gold,
It's the Reds against the Mancs.

It's Melwood guile v. Fergie's bile
How easy is that to rile ?
It's his grimace v. a wry Scouse smile,
It's the Reds against the Mancs.

“It's like Catalans or Basques versus Real,”
Said red-hearted Carra to his new Spanish Pals
"It’s more important than the ‘Mundial’
It’s the Reds against the Mancs."

“Oh aye it’s better than the best bullfights
When Stevie tackles those
Get into Neville & punch out his lights
It’s the Reds against the Mancs."

It’s Viva España ! Andele, andele !
It's Masch getting stuck into Rooney - Olé !
Torres will give Rio one helluva day
For the Reds against the Mancs !

"F*ck their Shreks and Smiths & their treasons
This one's for love - not money reasons
Let's make it a habit, like we did for seasons,
Let's these f*ckin Mancs "

It's whisky breath v. fine Spanish wine,
We'll lay it down and take our time -
Show the youngsters how, in a few years' time
They’ll these f*ckin Mancs.

It's Liverpool lads v. in-breds from Bury
How ugly is horse-face ? Is right ! Very !
It's singing about Posh Spice, making merry,
It's the Reds against the Mancs.

It's Flash Gerrard against Emperor Ming
It's having dreams and songs to sing
Not letting the Dark Lord get your ring !
It's the Reds against the Mancs.

It's the Enterprise v. the Clingons of course
It's Star wars - can you feel the force ?
It's Red Rum against any other horse,
It's the Reds against the Mancs.

It's Robin Hood v. Bad King John
and the Sheriff, rolled into one
It's a people's insurrecti-on
It's the Reds against the Mancs.

It's a club for people versus one for profit
It's about a pedestal and getting them off it
Their jammy Camp Nou win ? They can stuff it !
It's the Reds against the Mancs.

Though they no longer are a PLC
It’s still “us-us-us” v. “me-me-me”
Like Militant v. Maggie T,
It's the Reds against the Mancs.

Our club’s revived, the stats revised
It's about the numbers Eighteen and FIVE
They won’t overtake us while we’re alive
It’s the Reds against the Mancs !

It's ha ha ha, it's hee hee hee
It's Bryan Robson's got VD,
If he comes too close he'll give it to me
It's the Reds against the Mancs.

It's Carlsberg versus Vodaphone
It’s nick nack paddy wack, give the dog a bone
It's Man United off home
It's the Reds against the Mancs.

It's Georgie Best , superstar,
Pink frilly knickers and a playtex bra
Shagging fast birds & crashing fast cars
It's the Reds against the Mancs.

It's not about a bandwagon & jumping on
When the bubble bursts they'll be gone
First ones off are the last ones on
It's the Reds against the Mancs.

It's Pete Wiley v. Morrissey
The Bunnymen v. Joy Division
Cast against the Stone Roses,
....OK some you lose

It's hearing "In your Liverpool slums !"
It's "Posh Spice takes it up the bum"
It's boring, boring "Sign On ! Sign On !"
It's the Reds against the Mancs.

It's NO SONGS PLEASE ABOUT 58
Even if they provoke or intimidate -
We've had far too much of that, mate,
It's the Reds against the Mancs.

It's a meaningless devil in your crest
Or a Liverbird upon your chest
For we are men of Shankly's best
It's the Reds against the Mancs.

It's usually at ungodly hours of morning
Thanks to Sky & "police warnings"
The atmosphere is not heart-warming
It's the Reds against the Mancs.

It's about who needs to catch who up,
It's ding-dong battles in League and Cup
It's when we needed him, Danny stepped up
For the Reds against the Mancs.

Both cities have suffered past neglect,
It’s been up to both clubs to earn respect:
Reap what you sow, cause & effect,
It's the Reds against the Mancs.

It's about your head, about your heart
Your identity, history, your craft and art
It's 40 miles, but worlds apart
It's the Reds against the Mancs.


© nige 2002, 2005, 2007

[dawson99]

brilliant igor!!!!

come on, its the mancs today, and we CAN win it... and we can win it well. cant wait for this game... its gonna be a goodun

[destro]

I hope the gritters are out in force otherwise there is a chance this could be off

[dawson99]

shuold be fine:

It looks like there will be the chance of some wintry showers at Old Trafford on Sunday afternoon, where the hosts take on Liverpool in the Premier League. It will be a chilly day with some sleet and rain at times, and a bitter wind. Temperatures will peak at 6C (43F).

[Red Dotty]

I hope the gritters are out in force otherwise there is a chance this could be off

It has started tipping it down here in distant old East Anglia,

hope it's not like that before the game

[Igor Zidane]

3 1/2 hours to go and i'm sh!tting it . COME ON REDMEN!!!!