Liverpool FC Forum

by **RED BEERGOGGLES** » Wed Jun 02, 2004 8:06 pm

Are Benitez's footballing principles really what we need ? as ive been reading certain quotes he's made in the past and i cant help having reservations ,basically the gist is this' Benitez has stated more than once in the Spanish media that his philosophy is the least number of passes that lead to a goal are in his view the most pleasing ,and he has often been lambasted by the press for his less adventurous style of football. It is also true Valencia's current brand of football would be more suited to Serie A ,but i will reserve judgement until ive witnessed them when the season gets under way,there is no doubt Benitez's teams play to win and defensively they are rigid but have never been popular with the press and sports analysts ,anyone else share my views ?

by **Leonmc0708** » Wed Jun 02, 2004 8:09 pm

by **RED BEERGOGGLES** » Wed Jun 02, 2004 8:25 pm

Informative reply Leon well thought out !

by **jonnymac1979** » Wed Jun 02, 2004 9:14 pm

It looks like he's coming. I'm willing to give him my full backing next season. I don't have any reservations about the way he plays his sides. He wins trophies, and WE are not Valencia.

With a backbone of Hyypia, Gerrard, Owen plus all of the peripheral players e.g Kewell plus whoever he decides to bring in, i'm quite looking forward to next season already to see how he gets them playing and to see if they can play a different way to the Houllier regime.

Also, to see which of the dead wood he gets rid of. Don't be sentimental. Would anyone care if Diouf, Diao and Cheyrou were let go? They are symbols of Houllier's failure. With the money (all £2 million of it) Benitez can sign who he wants.

by **leothelion** » Thu Jun 03, 2004 12:39 am

Lets give the man a chance don't think he could do worse and lets face it I don't see to many big names queing up to take the job
Then again how many big names are out their available so if he wants to come lets give him our support and hope we can get back to where we deserve to be

by **greenred** » Thu Jun 03, 2004 2:05 am

Everyone will give him their support if he arrives.Until then though he is just a spanish bloke who nobody wanted as Liverpool manager until the last week.

by **RED BEERGOGGLES** » Thu Jun 03, 2004 2:28 am

Well said Greenred:D

by **azriahmad** » Thu Jun 03, 2004 10:38 am

I'd give him my full support.

Before this, when Houllier first came to Liverpool, what were his notable achievements? He coached France and failed at the last hurdle of the World Cup qualification, losing in the play-offs. He only won the French league once, with RC Lens if I am not mistaken. We don't even know his style of play, we only discovered when he arrived at Liverpool.

Benitez has won the Spanish league twice and the UEFA Cup once. His team came to Anfield and beat us, and then beat us again in a pre-season friendly. We were outplayed by Valencia in the Champions' League. At least we have seen how Valencia plays under Benitez and owen is reportedly impressed.

Let's give him some benefit of the doubt at least, for those who had never seen Valencia play. i have and I am convinced that he will be an improvement over Houllier, just as I a believe Liverpool's youth academy as modernised by Houllier will yield fruition in say 5 years time.

by **jonnymac1979** » Thu Jun 03, 2004 10:46 am

azriahmad wrote:I'd give him my full support.

Before this, when Houllier first came to Liverpool, what were his notable achievements? He coached France and failed at the last hurdle of the World Cup qualification, losing in the play-offs. He only won the French league once, with RC Lens if I am not mistaken. We don't even know his style of play, we only discovered when he arrived at Liverpool.

Benitez has won the Spanish league twice and the UEFA Cup once. His team came to Anfield and beat us, and then beat us again in a pre-season friendly. We were outplayed by Valencia in the Champions' League. At least we have seen how Valencia plays under Benitez and owen is reportedly impressed.

Let's give him some benefit of the doubt at least, for those who had never seen Valencia play. i have and I am convinced that he will be an improvement over Houllier, just as I a believe Liverpool's youth academy as modernised by Houllier will yield fruition in say 5 years time.

Well said.

by **JBG** » Thu Jun 03, 2004 2:29 pm

Valencia's style of football over the last couple of years has been to go at opponents, taking the game by the scruff of the neck, score a goal or two, and then kill the game off. They have been extremely successful playing this way. The Spanish press have criticised them in the past for not being more adventurous once they have gone in front and score 4 or 5 like Deportivo do when they are on form, but Valencia's style ultimately proved to be the best in Spain.

They are also extremely disciplined in defence, and Bentetiz likes his out and out hard chaw defenders (none of these fancy Rio Ferdinands for him!).

If Benetiz succeeds at Liverpool we will certainly see a slicker style of play and less long balls than that played under Houllier, but don't expect a return to the Roy Evans' days of 40+ passes either.

I will certainly give Benetiz my support and he certainly has a fantastic pedigree but that doesn't guarantee success at Anfield.

by **Woollyback** » Thu Jun 03, 2004 5:23 pm

He's won La Liga twice in the last 3 seasons. What more pedigree can we ask for?

by **JBG** » Thu Jun 03, 2004 8:21 pm

Benetiz has exceptional pedigree but people better realise that just because we are about to appoint him doesn't automatically mean we'll win the league next year.

He will need time and money to sort us out, and even then we will be up against Arsenal, Man UTD and Chelsea.

by **Starbridge42** » Sat Jun 05, 2004 2:14 pm

To be fair, and this is probably a bit cruel and prejuduced (sp?) but I've never really thought spanish managers will do well in the long run in England. its not them its just that they've learned the craft in spain were the norm is to arrive do you best and then leave after 2-3 years regardless of how well you've done and I'm not sure if thats the right mentality at the moment. There isn't a quick fix to get us back to being champions of england and europe. Look how succesful Man U have been under Ferguson and they've stuck by him how long is it now? More than 14 years (not sure how many but he was manager since before I was born I know that) Maybe we need someone who is in for the long haul even when it gets tough and things don't go our way. I think Houllier's main failing was that when the going got tough he had a cry in the corner, and tried to make excuses instead of fixing the problem.

by **Redtribe** » Wed Jun 09, 2004 11:48 am

As to the fact the man wants to play as few passes to score is a good thing is it not!
How many passes do arsenal make on their counter attacks!
As few and as fast as possible!

Sounds fine to me!

by **JBG** » Wed Jun 09, 2004 7:14 pm

There's nothing wrong with scoring after only a few passes: in fairness I don't think Benetiz is talking about the old Jackie Charlton long ball.

Porto, Deportivo and Valencia often score quick goals on the break where there are only three or four passes.

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