Liverpool FC Forum

by **Ciggy** » Sat Jan 22, 2005 9:28 pm

Lets remind ourselves about our manager hey, after reading this maybe some of you will change your minds about him I think we are lucky to have him.

Rafael Benitez in profile

Rick Parry and the Liverpool board had one man particularily in mind when replacing Gerard Houllier. His name: Rafael Benitez. Valencia had not won the Spanish title since 1971 when Rafael Benitez took over from Hector Cuper in June 2001. Valencia was doing well in Europe reaching two successive Champions league finals, failing to win either of them. Valencia only managed 5th place in Cuper’s last season, 17 points behind champions Real Madrid, after finishing 3rd the season before. Valencia’s fans expected a big-name appointment following Cuper’s move to Inter. Benitez wasn’t Valencia’s first-choice, but probably the board was later relieved they were denied by more illustrious names.

Benitez' Tenerife were promoted to La Liga in 2000-2001 in his first season and fans were not at all familiar with this talented young coach. However Valencia fans who had felt Cuper’s approach to the game was too cautious, were soon won over by Benitez when he introduced a more attacking style. Ruben Baraja, Pablo Aimar, Fabian Ayala and captain David Albelda who became the basis of his team had been bought the previous season. However the club's stars; Gaizka Mendieta and Claudio Lopez had left for Lazio. Benitez brought with him two players from Tenerife, Migel Angel Mista, who finished as Valencia’s top scorer in 2003-2004 with 19 goals and right-back Cristobal Curro Torres, who is now an established Spanish international. Benitez kicked off his Valencia career in style by beating Real Madrid 1-0 on the 25th of August 2001. His rotation policy caused a few upsets, sometimes resting his best players, but he was confident his system would get the results. Benitez’ tactics earned Valencia their first title in 31 years, winning it by a good margin of seven points over Deportivo La Coruna.

Valencia failed to follow up to their title success. Benitez' team finished only fifth in the 2002/03 season, 18 points behind Real Madrid and with 15 points less than the season before. Benitez' first season in the Champions league proved to be a valiant effort, but fell short of his own ambitions. Valencia were paired with Liverpool in the Champions League first group phase. Valencia defeated Liverpool 2-0 and 1-0 but were knocked out in the quarter-finals by Inter.

Rafael Benitez was born on the 16th of April 1960 in Madrid. He started out as a player at Real Madrid, but left 21 years of age. He played in the lower divisions for a few years, but a knee injury forced him into early retirement as a player. He joined Real Madrid's coaching staff in 1986, working with the youth squads and managing Real Madrid’s B team for two years. In 1995 he left Real for unsuccessful spells at Valladolid, sacked after two victories in 23 games in La liga and 1st division Osasuna, sacked after just one victory in the first 9 games. He finally had some degree of success when he led unfancied Extremadura into La Liga in 1997. Extramadura only played one season in the top flight, finishing 17th and losing to Valladolid in a play-off. Benitez wanted to learn more and he took one year off in 1999 to study training methods at Man Utd, Arsenal and in Italy.

Benitez began preparations for the 2003-2004 season under a cloud. Valencia’s Director of Sport Jesus Pitarch, refused Benitez plea to finance a proven goalscorer and signed instead against his wishes winger Néstor Canobbio. Benitez was outraged: "I asked for a sofa and they bought me a standard lamp".

Despite difficulties, Benitez’ side was crowned champions with three games to go and he was obviously delighted: "A month ago it looked pretty hopeless. We were eight points behind Real Madrid. But we never lost focus and knew this was a marathon. The team is a great long-distance runner and maintained a very high rate of form for a long period of time. Two championships in three years isn't easy - especially for a club of Valencia's size. But we have great professionals, who are also great human beings. This has helped us enormously."

Valencia's achievements didn't end there. Valencia beat Marseille 2-0 in the UEFA Cup final and a very successful season was in place. Valencia offered Benitez a better deal after Liverpool's interest was evident, but it was too late. He had decided to go to Liverpool.

"My ideas are near to the Milan of Arrigo Sacchi, I like technical and aggressive teams that don't allow the opponents to play. I like teams that play the ball with speed and look to score with as few passes as possible. My Valencia team is a mixture of youth and experience."

Guillermo Balague, Sky Sports’ analyst in Spain and self-confessed Liverpool fan is delighted with Benitez’ capture: "He was at one point obsessed with detail but he has corrected that and improved his relationship with the players. He got rid of the players that he thought weren't with him and has stuck by those who were committed to his style of management. Since then they have reaped the benefits with success both at home and in European competition.

His teams might be solid at the back but they are certainly given a licence to attack. He is a studious person and a very scientific coach. He uses computer technology to monitor his players' diets and physical development, and is keen to discover how he can apply computers to his football. He still maintains a little distance between himself and his players and is a disciplinarian. There is a famous story of him banning his players from eating paella on Sundays, which is a Spanish tradition. I would take him above every other coach in Europe. He speaks very good English. He would have no problem communicating with the players. He is a football man, a very big football fan and is a fan of English football.

Liverpool would become like the great AC Milan team. Defending as a unit but always attacking as one as well. He would change Liverpool and he would make them a force again. He appreciates English football and knows all about Liverpool. He is still young for a manager and would enjoy the challenge of taking over one of the great teams in football. I am confident he would be a massive success at Anfield

by **lakes10** » Sat Jan 22, 2005 9:33 pm

i have never said he was not a great manager in spain but i dont think he will ever be one of the greats over here, but i hope he shows that i am wrong by turning the club around from where it is today.
by the time he leaves when ever that will be only then will be able to judge him but that dont mean we can not question what he is doing with the club right now.

by **Santa** » Sat Jan 22, 2005 9:39 pm

i don't think you are simply questioning him because of the team's recent performance, you just don't like him and berate the club for his appointment. make up your mind which was it

by **JBG** » Sat Jan 22, 2005 9:45 pm

Very apt post CGGY, and a timely reminder of our manager's talents and past achievements.

However, he is not above criticism, and constructive criticism is not being disloyal. Even in the great old days the teams weren't above criticism, so long as its balanced and thought out.

Benitez has us playing better football and we are generally passing it about better, but there are still a lot of problems. Benitez has made some mistakes, such as some extremely strange team selections at times, and it remains to be seen whether we'll get value for money fro Josemi, Nunez and Garcia. I'm a bit worried in having so many players coming from a particular league, as this policy already failed under Houllier.

I honestly think that regardless of the money situation Benitez will have a radically different squad next August, and next year could be promising. However, until then it is vital we improve in our last 15 or 16 games or so and qualify for the CL.

by **82-1074641017** » Sat Jan 22, 2005 9:50 pm

I think Benitez belongs in this place:

by **Stan Laurel** » Sat Jan 22, 2005 9:51 pm

Roberts wrote:I think Benitez belongs in this place:

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz!!!

by **82-1074641017** » Sat Jan 22, 2005 9:53 pm

BENITEZ FOR JOBCENTRE!!
BENITEZ FOR JOBCENTRE!!
BENITEZ FOR JOBCENTRE!!
BENITEZ FOR JOBCENTRE!!
BENITEZ FOR JOBCENTRE!!

by **Stan Laurel** » Sat Jan 22, 2005 9:54 pm

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz!!!!

by **lakes10** » Sat Jan 22, 2005 9:55 pm

John Barnes' Granny wrote:Very apt post CGGY, and a timely reminder of our manager's talents and past achievements.

However, he is not above criticism, and constructive criticism is not being disloyal. Even in the great old days the teams weren't above criticism, so long as its balanced and thought out.

Benitez has us playing better football and we are generally passing it about better, but there are still a lot of problems. Benitez has made some mistakes, such as some extremely strange team selections at times, and it remains to be seen whether we'll get value for money fro Josemi, Nunez and Garcia. I'm a bit worried in having so many players coming from a particular league, as this policy already failed under Houllier.

I honestly think that regardless of the money situation Benitez will have a radically different squad next August, and next year could be promising. However, until then it is vital we improve in our last 15 or 16 games or so and qualify for the CL.

well said , as you know what i think of rafa i have hopped to be proved wrong , i think he is taking his time to get used to the spped that the prem is played at , i dont think we should be buying players that are out of form(we are doing this due to lack of money and that he knows them from his past)
i think he should take some time to understand the fans and why thay are unhappy about the fa cup and what he said before the game.
as for our passing yes we did seem to get better at it but then we had a spat of injuries that was not his fault.
but one thing apart from the football has made me sad and that we let our young keep go to leeds without getting a chans to run out onto the pitch and play for even just five mins , why is it that this makes me sad, well we all know the young lads history and that he had always said to hi dad that one day he would play for liverpool , as we know he lost some of his family at hillsborough, it might be just that i lost a friend at hillsborough that this fact that he has not had the chance to play for us sticks in my throat.

by **Ciggy** » Sat Jan 22, 2005 9:59 pm

I agree JBG he should be critised for persitantly playing Garcia, I also think Pellegrino is a big mistake, but hes only here till july, and didnt cost nothing.
He made a big mistake in the derby game and this week against Burnley.
But hopefully he will learn by his mistakes, and he is new to our league and so are some of the players hes brought in.
But not to use injury as an excuse again but in every game we play we get a first teamer injured Hypias out now for a weeks.
Why are we having so much bad luck?
Whats the problem with our away form?
Surely we cant blame the manager for these mistakes.
We are patient fans so noway should anyone be calling for his head this early, lets hope we get a new midfielder in a.s.a.p. and a good strong CB with pace, then maybe we will see a bit of a diffrence.
But the way things are looking at the moment is very daunting but I think we can still get 4th.

by **dawson99** » Sat Jan 22, 2005 10:03 pm

i dont know whats more depressing, the result or the way some fans (roberts) are reacting.
u seriously want to get rid of benitez?
do u even remember how we played for the past few years? we made watching pain dry interesting. now we do have some problems. some are caused by injury, some by players desires. Lets not add to them with fans being idiots. Benitez is the manager for us, he will make mistakes and he will need time but he is the man for us.

YNWA

by **82-1074641017** » Sat Jan 22, 2005 10:05 pm

dawson99 wrote:u seriously want to get rid of benitez?

Yes

by **82-1074641017** » Sat Jan 22, 2005 10:06 pm

Besides if we get rid of Gerrard in the summer can you realistically see things getting better? I can only see things getting worse

by **JBG** » Sat Jan 22, 2005 10:09 pm

We can get 4th place.

We have Everton to play at Anfield. At least match their results until then and beat them at home and we'll be at worst 4 points off them. We also have Middlesborough and Spurs to come at home as well, and a chance to put some distance between us and them. However, at this stage we need to start putting some good results together and getting a run going. I think it'll be a repeat of last season where we limp home in 4th, not because of our own strengths but due to the weaknesses of others.

The injuries are severe, but we CAN weather them. However, we need inspiration from somewhere............and I have a feeling it could come from Morientes.

by **Stan Laurel** » Sat Jan 22, 2005 10:11 pm

Roberts wrote:Besides if we get rid of Gerrard in the summer can you realistically see things getting better? I can only see things getting worse

That's a load of rubbish to say that cos Everton sold a lot of money for Fat Tw@t to Man Utd, right? They didn't even miss him so badly. They are playing well without Wayne Rooney and they didn't even need him playing for Everton.

Look at Stevie got injured at Old Trafford last September and was out for long time, right. We DID managed well without him!! That's why we got Xabi Alonso. Best player ever I see in this season.

Come on, just think about it, soft lad!!

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