Liverpool FC Forum

[The Ace1983]

Another season, another chance gone to lift the Premiership trophy for the first time. But that dream is edging closer and closer to becoming a reality and it is in no small part to our manager and his slow playing.

When I say slow playing, I am speaking of course, as some of you will know, about poker. For those of you who don't play or know, slow playing is a specific tactic for playing the game which I will now explain with an example. I have this friend who I play poker with called Liam and he is a master of this art. Liam will sit at the table, guarding his chips and doing absolutely nothing. Even when he has a good hand, he will never make the first bet. But if he has a good hand and someone else bets, he'll match it all the way to the end. He doesn't always win, but he always lasts a long time and he accumulates enough chips to sustain him and his frugal approach for ages. It makes him safe, always with a chance of getting second place or even first and impossible to read.

And this is Rafa. I was reading today about his praise for Bolo Zenden who, in truth, I don't really think about. I always regarded him as being: solid, reliable, does exactly what it says on the tin. But he does get his crosses in, he can tackle better than a lot in the Premiership, he's got a decent shot and he works hard.

And Andy "Can I turn around and kiss you, Jose?" Gray thought about putting Steve Finnan in his team of the season which he is certainly deserving of, but outside of Liverpool supporters, no-one remembers him. He's got an amazing work ethic, he's more than competant and he responds to competition well. And there's Carragher, Hyypia, Agger, Riise, Reina, Sissoko... The list goes on. If there is one word that can describe all of these players' performances, it has to be: Solid.

And this brings me to my point about Rafa. This is how he will win us the league. Through every week putting out a side that will simply score more goals than they concede. Any flair, any fireworks, they might happen but they are not essential (though any team that has Gerrard, Garcia and the like should certainly expect some). He could have gone out and bought a right winger who was super fast, a primadonna and full of tricks. Instead, he bought, Jermaine Pennant, a player who is really good at crossing the ball. Simple as. He does what it says on the tin.

When Gerrard Houllier wanted a striker he looked for Cisse who was full of speed and packed with flair. The only problem was, he couldn't hit the side of a barn even if he was in the barn. Who does Benitez go for? Kuyt. He scores goals, he creates goals. The only flair or controversy he comes with is how to pronounce his name. Morientes was in the same mould but he just wasn't good enough.

So Benitez sits there, guarding his hand, and thinking. While those around him lose their heads, he waits until he has the best cards and then he goes for it. His interest and investment in the youth team and the players he buys are indicative of the manner in which he plays his game. And I know that it's been said time and time again, but its true. The future's bright, the future's Red.

Ok, so in terms of trophies, we may end this season with just a Charity Shield. But we could yet be European Champions for a sixth time and the summer should see an influx of top talent come into the club. Stevie and the rest want to see out their careers with us, Rafa's wfe won't let him leave and our foreign owners seem to be pretty nice guys on early impressions. And at the heart of it all, with our Crest in his heart, sits Rafa Benitez with his mind working away. And he'll get us there by employing players who do what they need to do. Not divers, not cheats, not players who are all bells and whistles with none of the fundamentals. He's cautious, and we have to patient. So prepare yourselves this summer to expect a few buys that won't necessarily reflect our now sizeable wallet.

So, if you do ever sit next to Rafa at a poker table, don't expect him to represent his hand. Don't expect him to go all in or bet silly. He'll be there at the end of the night, with money in the bank and a mind like a razor. Let's just hope he'll have a premiership title under his arm as well (and another European cup wouldn't be bad either).

[Dundalk]

Fantastic post Ace and you are right about everything being solid and reliable, the days of the 'Spice Boys' and the type of footie that went with it are well and truly gone.

However as much as it would delight me to win the league in anyway we possibly could, I would still like to do it with a bit of flair and some proper football. After all it is the Liverpool way.

'Pass and move' not 'launch and hope '

[Igor Zidane]

Nice post ace, pretty accurate that mate. Good things come to those who wait.

[metalhead]

Top post ace, very well put

[DazH-]

The thing I love about Rafa is that he sticks with his principles no matter how much stick he may get from the 'experts'. Zonal Marking and rotation are two of these that come to mind. In his early days rafa was savaged in the media for this 'crazy' idea of zonal marking after we had conceded a number of goals from set pieces, but if you look at these last two seasons you could count the number of goals conceded from set pieces on one hand, therefore proving that this system works!
As for rotation, and that famous 99 game run without playing the same team in consecutive games, well that happened to stretch across the entire 05-06 season which happened to be our most consistent season in the Premiership. Ok, fair enough, we didn't win the league but that 82 point haul is the best we've managed in the Premiership to date, so rotation isn't necessarily a bad thing either.

Rafa used rotation and zonal marking at Valencia where they finished ahead of Barcelona and Real Madrid to win the league twice, which was a similar situation to where we find ourselves now, with Man Utd and Chelsea seemingly too good for us in the league......

[DazH-]

Oh and does anyone think the stadium in Athens kinda looks like the Ataturk in Istanbul? Same opposition and all!

[zarababe]

Another season, another chance gone to lift the Premiership trophy for the first time. But that dream is edging closer and closer to becoming a reality and it is in no small part to our manager and his slow playing.

When I say slow playing, I am speaking of course, as some of you will know, about poker. For those of you who don't play or know, slow playing is a specific tactic for playing the game which I will now explain with an example. I have this friend who I play poker with called Liam and he is a master of this art. Liam will sit at the table, guarding his chips and doing absolutely nothing. Even when he has a good hand, he will never make the first bet. But if he has a good hand and someone else bets, he'll match it all the way to the end. He doesn't always win, but he always lasts a long time and he accumulates enough chips to sustain him and his frugal approach for ages. It makes him safe, always with a chance of getting second place or even first and impossible to read.

And this is Rafa. I was reading today about his praise for Bolo Zenden who, in truth, I don't really think about. I always regarded him as being: solid, reliable, does exactly what it says on the tin. But he does get his crosses in, he can tackle better than a lot in the Premiership, he's got a decent shot and he works hard.

And Andy "Can I turn around and kiss you, Jose?" Gray thought about putting Steve Finnan in his team of the season which he is certainly deserving of, but outside of Liverpool supporters, no-one remembers him. He's got an amazing work ethic, he's more than competant and he responds to competition well. And there's Carragher, Hyypia, Agger, Riise, Reina, Sissoko... The list goes on. If there is one word that can describe all of these players' performances, it has to be: Solid.

And this brings me to my point about Rafa. This is how he will win us the league. Through every week putting out a side that will simply score more goals than they concede. Any flair, any fireworks, they might happen but they are not essential (though any team that has Gerrard, Garcia and the like should certainly expect some). He could have gone out and bought a right winger who was super fast, a primadonna and full of tricks. Instead, he bought, Jermaine Pennant, a player who is really good at crossing the ball. Simple as. He does what it says on the tin.

When Gerrard Houllier wanted a striker he looked for Cisse who was full of speed and packed with flair. The only problem was, he couldn't hit the side of a barn even if he was in the barn. Who does Benitez go for? Kuyt. He scores goals, he creates goals. The only flair or controversy he comes with is how to pronounce his name. Morientes was in the same mould but he just wasn't good enough.

So Benitez sits there, guarding his hand, and thinking. While those around him lose their heads, he waits until he has the best cards and then he goes for it. His interest and investment in the youth team and the players he buys are indicative of the manner in which he plays his game. And I know that it's been said time and time again, but its true. The future's bright, the future's Red.

Ok, so in terms of trophies, we may end this season with just a Charity Shield. But we could yet be European Champions for a sixth time and the summer should see an influx of top talent come into the club. Stevie and the rest want to see out their careers with us, Rafa's wfe won't let him leave and our foreign owners seem to be pretty nice guys on early impressions. And at the heart of it all, with our Crest in his heart, sits Rafa Benitez with his mind working away. And he'll get us there by employing players who do what they need to do. Not divers, not cheats, not players who are all bells and whistles with none of the fundamentals. He's cautious, and we have to patient. So prepare yourselves this summer to expect a few buys that won't necessarily reflect our now sizeable wallet.

So, if you do ever sit next to Rafa at a poker table, don't expect him to represent his hand. Don't expect him to go all in or bet silly. He'll be there at the end of the night, with money in the bank and a mind like a razor. Let's just hope he'll have a premiership title under his arm as well (and another European cup wouldn't be bad either).

Eat that Valdano 

Good one as always Ace - just hope he gets who he needs over the summer so we can make a good start to the season. We must get off to a good start early on - the secret of the mancs success this year no doubt!

[Dundalk]

Oh and does anyone think the stadium in Athens kinda looks like the Ataturk in Istanbul? Same opposition and all!

A bit maybe, hopefully it will be the same result as well 

[lakes10]

what a great post ACE

[Effes]

Hmmm, I think it would be easy to bluff Rafa at poker.

I like your analogy; I think it fits the way he approaches the season as a whole.

So, you could say his cautious approach is reflected in away perfomances like at
Boro, Bolton, Villa, Man City, etc.

I hope Rafa starts using those chips and hedge his bets away from home, because naff results/performances like those will get us nowhere.

[Naomi]

Great post. Lets hope that 07/08 gets off to a great start

[Woollyback]

interesting post ace, but how we're gonna win the charity shield this season is well and truly beyond a non poker-player like me

[weringo]

Great post ace but I still think that Rafa can definately be "over cautious" at times. When we're playing the likes of Portsmouth at home and anyone can see they have no interest in winning the game then we need to be more decisive with substitutions. Just as a reminder in that game we played 3-5-2 and took off Crouch for Fowler after 60 minutes, Garcia off for El Zhar after 71 minutes and Guthrie on for Pennant after 84. Games like that Rafa needs to make subs half way through the game and not after 60 minutes, and instead of bring off a striker for another striker, perhaps take off a defender instead. Once teams set out to defend against us for the whole game, we never seem to have an answer for it.

[Redstavro]

I think Rafa targets his trophies at the begining  of the season but when we got knocked out of the FA cup against burnley and all the that followed he said ok ill win you the FA cup next season and did . so dont whinge next year when we get knocked out by arsenal ive done that already . the champions league you can not turn your nose up  at such a trophy  even if you have won it 5 TIMEs. but Give Rafa a chance next year will be it. 2 trophies League Cup and Prem champs all the trophies a domestic club can win in 3 years. UNBELIEVABLE!

[The Manhattan Project]

I beat Rafa at poker.

I was trained by Bret Maverick