The BIG question Liverpool fans must ask themselves
Football FanCast guest columnist Dean Mullen feels supporters need to back Benitez, not jump on the media bandwagon to get rid of him.
You don’t have to pick up a newspaper tomorrow to know the doom and gloom merchants will be out in full force and writing off our title chances. It does look a little bleak at present I grant you, but I for one am refusing to give up on us just yet.
The media are trying to break this football club, determined to destroy Rafa, but the big question is do we join their party, or do we stand tall behind Benitez and show defiance against the detractors?
Don’t get me here I’m not blinkered towards Benitez, or feel he can do no wrong, as my friends can verify I have been critical of him in the past, but I cannot criticise the man, or look to whip the team when we have been on the end of some horrific luck. If Liverpool were playing badly and getting beat that is one thing, but we have been on the end of some shocking refereeing decisions, horrendous run of injuries and although clubs always have to suffer and cope with these, very few managers tend to get them all mount up at once.
I was talking to supporters in a pub in Fulham before the game and you kind of sense talking to them that this season is make or break for Benitez and he must deliver, but isn’t that slightly unfair, considering what he has achieved at the football club, under what are difficult circumstances? With a transfer budget that is hardly comparable to his rivals and being forced to sell arguably our best player of last season, a mere 10 days before the big kick-off, Rafa has hardly been given the best preparation to be able to go one better and land that elusive Premier League title. You can’t be expected to make a silk purse out of a pig’s sow, although it appears Benitez is expected to.
Although a glance at the League table shows that our task of winning it this season doesn’t look great, thinking that a change of manager is going to make our situation any better is a grave oversight in my opinion. Whoever coming in will have to work with the same players, will not have any money to spend therefore what is the point? Rafa is having his first real bad spell at the club, in terms of a run of defeats, therefore rather than jump on his case like the media have seemingly been doing, let’s give the guy our support and show them we won’t be moved.
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Only a fool would want Rafa to go, he is our best chance for future glory.
It has been tough this year with new and old injuries, but the young players are finally coming through (Insua, N’gog, El Zhar, Kelly, Lucas, Spearing, Eccleston and others) – and improvements on the financial side following some decent sponsorship deals and, hopefully, new investment will allow Rafa to continue building by attracting both promising talent and ready-made players to strengthen the squad.
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Thats it Dean keep sucking up to him. It will make Rafa feel good. If Alonso wanted to go, the deal should have been done quick smart. rafa only has himself to blame for that one. By the way there are plenty of fans out there that would play for no money just to wear a Liverpool shirt. It makes me sick the amount of money some of our second rate players make yet us fans are meant to feel sorry for them. Rafa is not trying hard enough neither are the players. It must be so hard for Rafa boy I feel sorry for him. Its pretty simple he has passed his use by date. Shankly, Paisley, Fagan, Dalgleish, great footballing minds great managers. Dalgleish has unfinished business at the club. By the way if the blame game has already started then I can’t wait to see Carlsberg removed from our shirts to.
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I agree that we have to stand behind the manager. As has been said, the media is out to get Benitez and Liverpool. The endless negative coverage over the past 3-4 years in particular has been unbelievable. Every time things calm down there is something else in the papers, mostly negative speculation with little or no facts.
Benitez is not exactly helping things with some of his decisions, and luck has indeed seemed to turn against us, but now is not the time waver in our support. That is what the media is trying to achieve.
Liverpool fans always backed the manager until as in the case of Houllier, it gets to a point where everyone knows it is time for change. If Liverpool fans start to turn on the Manager then we will be like all the other teams and you get into an era of instability. Man Utd and Arsenal are always up near the top partly because of the stability. Chelsea, Spurs and Man City will be up there mainly because of the money. We don’t have money so we’ll have to bank on stability.
Some of the young players are starting to enter the full squad, mainly out of necessity, but at least he is giving some of them a chance like Wenger does, and it hasn’t worked out too bad for Arsenal. Just by being enthusiastic and to take their chance they will be better than Babel and Voronin.
In Rafa I trust. (even if I don’t always understand the decisions) lol
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Alot of fans may dislike my points but these are my honest opinons.
Problems with team:
Poor defence! Carragher decline and having confidence crisis and being exposed due to new partnerships. Liverpools new expansive attacking style isn’t helping him. Used to being shielded by older defensive systems we played in and also the withdrawn defensive line we used to play with. More opponents have sussed him out. Watching a variety of quicker attackers getting goal side of him more frequently. Big challenge is that Carraghers not going to get more quicker and we may have to consider relegating him to 3rd choice promoting Skrtel and Agger to the first choice pairing.
Lack of quality cover for Torres!
Benitez needs money at x-mas at the very least to sign up a quality back up player with pace and power to act as a contingency. Unfortunately voronin and babel are not consistent enough and lack the quality!
Gerrard!
Reliance on him has to stop!! Gerrard is likely to need the opperation! Or a major layoff!!
Said this two weeks back on a variety of sites LFC like CFC need to start planning for life after our talisman it’s inevitable Lampard and Gerrards powers are likely to start wane in the next 18 months! Gerrards game relies very heavily on pace and power and he will become more suceptable to injuries if he continues his career in the Uk over the next 18 months. He will either need to adapt his game over time or move abroad. The premiership is the best league in the world but because of the pace and demand very few dynamic attackers/offensive players can continue at this level once they hit the 30+ bracket. At the same time we need to be looking ahead for Gerrards replacement during this period as it’s likely he will pick up a high percentage of injuries during this stage if his career.
Unless we can develop a player inhouse or sign convert an existing playmaker to take on this role we face a huge challenge. My thinking is that Aqualani has been signed to tackle this challenge in mind. However we are going to have to sign at least one major midfielder in the next 18 months! This is on the proviso If Mach stays but realistically I think Mach will be off in 18 months!
Lack of quality throughout the next 11
I watched CFC with me uncle at the bridge on Wednesday and despite my dislike for them. I admire CFC strength and quality in depth! Unfortunately for LFC too many of our next 11 are sub standard. I don’t know who takes the blame for this but after 5 years we have seen an improvement of the first 11. However to win the league title we need a squad of 22! Where’s the competition for places in our squad? Most of our first 11 pick themselves and this will ultimately need to complacency! Mourinho and Fergie talk about competition for each position regardless of reputation. So it’s either the question of a number of these players rising to the challenge or more juniors making the grade quickly or major transfer repair surgery!
Babel voronin, degen, nabil, plessis and host of others need to be sold!
Left wing issue:
Riera had a solid season last year but injuries and a loss of form and uncertainty have effected him. I am still not sure he is the option to strike fear into opponents. LFC need a viable natural option on this side benayoun is not the answer nor babel neither these option are naturally left footed and their games are limited when thrusted in this role. Benitez needs a Silva or a player like Matta for this position to create challenge for opponents and also to create competition for this role inhouse!
Problem at left back!
Despite insua showing promise he lacks defensive discipline his tactical awareness is very poor he will get better but he’s a little too raw! Need to either have Aurelio ahead in left mid role or replace him all together with Aurelio. In time insua will improve and he has done a stirling job but against the top sides he has been exposed too many times!
Problem in midfield:
Lucas and mascherano are a solid defensive unit but lack the flaire and guile to break down troublesome teams!
I’m hoping aqualani will help solve this but let’s be realistic it’s probably going to be post x-mas before he starts to perform at a really high level.
Ultimately Rafa is in real spot of trouble as there are too many problems that need to be repaired!
The directors will face a tough decision to make in December do they back benitez and give him the funds or do they aggresively step up their plans to sell?
My feelings is that he will be gone at the end of this season! In addition LFc will not qualify for the champions league and the owners will be forced by the banks from spring to sell! It means we are in for a very challenging 12 months of many lows and a few highs!
I’m praying to the big man and Shanks that this doesn’t happen but the hope in my heart is at embers stage!
LFC are looking at the FA cup run and also a massive battle for fourth or fith place as realistic targets for this season.
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I have to agree that we do need to back Benitez. A new manager won’t stop the players being injured, won’t stop bad referee decisions, won’t bring with him a fat cheque book and certainly won’t have the pedigree that Benitez has got. So why change the manager? Liverpool are playing good football and until the last few games had been scoring lots of goals, it’s just a bad patch nothing more.
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i dont agree .benitez time is up .he has spend over 225 million on 76 players.his team selection is bad.he has sold better players kept the like veronin.we only have 1 top class striker.if he plays mash and lucas together that means lack of goles.and that is a fact wake up all lfc fans….. put dalglish back or god help us
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Here’s the full list of players he’s signed since he’s been at the club (please read the summary below):
2004/05
£2m – Josemi: peanuts and was moved on in a swap for Kromkamp 18 months later
£1.5m – Antonio Nunez: part of the Michael Owen deal and filled a gap for a while. Peanuts.
£10.7m – Xabi Alonso: Massive success and sold for £30m+ in the summer when he wanted to leave
£6m – Luis Garcia: Massive success and sold to Athletico Madrid for £4m
Free – Pelligrino: Stop gap that allowed us to rest Sami for league games, benefitting us massively in Istanbul. Now on the coaching staff.
£6.3m – Fernando Morientes: Pretty much everyone made up when we signed him, top class, but never settled. Sold for £3m to Valencia.
£1m – Scott Carson: One the most highly rated young keepers around. Lost out through injury and signing of Reina when Dudek left the club. Sold for £3.25m.
Total bought: £27.5m
Free – Marcus Babbel: Released to Stuttgart at the end of his career.
£2.5m – Danny Murphy: Xabi Alonso signed to fill the role Murphy had in the side
£8.5m – Michael Owen: Wouldn’t sign a new contract and sold before he left on a free. He’s done nothing since that is a masterstroke with hindsight.
Free – Stephane Henchoz: Released to Celtic at the end of his career
Total sold: £11m
A total of £16.5m net spend in his first year at the club, with the vast majority of that being spent on Xabi Alonso.
2004/05 net spend: £16.5m
2005/06
£240,000 – Antonio Barragan: Kid for the future. Sold for £675,000 to Deportivo a year later.
Free – Boudewijn Zenden: Signed for nothing and released for nothing. Did a job for us.
£6m – Pepe Reina: In the top 3 or 4 keepers in the world now and still young. One of Rafa’s best signings.
£5.6m – Momo Sissoko: Brilliant for a few years, had that eye injury and sold to Juventus when his form dipped for £8.2m. Replaced by Mascherano.
£7m – Peter Crouch: One signing I did question but proved to be a great bit of business. Turned him from a laughing stock into an international. Sold for £11m.
Unkown – Miki Roque: Kid bought for peanuts. Sold again for an unknown amount.
£150,000 – Jack Hobbs: Highly rated 16yr old signed from Lincoln. Didn’t progress as hoped and sold to Leicester for a reported £1.5m, although figure not confirmed.
£190,000 Besian Idrizaj: No idea who he is
£1.5m – Mark Gonzales: Cheap player to provide back up for the left wing. Sold for £3.5m to Real Betis.
Exchange – Paul Anderson: Swapped for John Welsh. Sold for £250,000.
Exchange – Jan Kromkamp: Swapped for Josemi. Later sold for £1.75m
£5.8m – Daniel Agger: Blighted by injuries but potentially top class and great signing for the money.
£250,000 – David Martin: Young reserve keeper
Free – Robbie Fowler: Pay as you play deal and no risk involved. Scored a few goals. Released in the summer.
Total bought: £26.73
Free – Vladimir Smicer: Out of contract and released. Played a small part in Istanbul.
£3.5m – El Hadji Diouf: The best £3.5m Rafa has ever recieved.
Free – Pellegrino: Filled the gap in the last 5 months of the previous season, not good enough and released.
£2m – Alou Diarra: Sold for £2m. One of Houllier’s buys.
£2m – Antonio Nunez: Bought for £1.5m and now sold for £2m when didn’t work out.
£6.5m – Milan Baros: A Houllier signing sold at a profit. He’s done nothing since.
Exchange – John Welsh: Swapped for Paul Anderson
Exchange – Josemi: Swapped for Kronkamp.
Total sold: £14m
2005/06 net spend: £12.73m
2006/07
£6m – Craig Bellamy: Good signing and later sold for £7.5m to fund Torres deal.
£2m – Gabriel Palletta: Played a few league cup games, not good enough and sold for £1.2m
Free – Fabio Aurelio: Very injury prone but a good player when fit. Great signing for nothing.
£6.7m – Jermaine Pennant: Second choice after missing out on Alves. Ran his contract down and released. Attitude stank.
£9m – Dirk Kuyt: Has his critics, but has been brilliant for the money. 15 goals last season from wide and vital to the way we play. Ultimate pro. Great signing.
£200,000 – Nabil El Zhar: Few cameos last season and improving. Injured now. Promising still. Peanuts.
£750,000 – Astrit Ajdarevic: No idea who he is, and released on a free to Leicester.
Loan – Daniele Padelli: Reserve keeper, made one appearance and never seen again.
Undisclosed – Jordy Brouwer: Young reserve.
£2.5m – Alvaro Arbeloa: Bargain signing, great service for a few years and sold for £3.5m when running his contract down.
Loan – Javier Mascherano: Rescued from West Ham, now one of the best defensive midfielders in the world and will probably be sold to Barca this summer for a massive profit. Paid £18.6m for him a year later at end of loan deal.
Total bought: £27.15m
£200,000 – Zak Whitbread: Youngster
Undisclosed – Bruno Cheyrou: Houllier flopped, sold for a reported £1.5m.
£3m – Fernando Morientes: Didn’t work out. Cut his losses.
Free – Didi Hamann: Great servant, released at the end of his career
£675,000 – Antonio Barragan: Paid £240,000 for him.
£2m – Djimi Traore: Houllier signing and daylight robbery getting £2m for him
£500,000 – Neil Mellor: Signed as a kid and did a job for a while. Not good enough and released.
£1.75m – Jan Kromkamp: Nunez bought for £2m, swapped for him, who then sold for £1.75m. Stop gaps at minimal expense.
£525,000 – Darren Potter: Acadamy lad, not good enough and robbery getting that much for him.
£1.5m – Steven Warnock: Probably sold to cheap and looks a mistake with hindsight. Good squad player.
Free – Salif Diao: The clearout of Houllier’s flops continues.
Total sold: £10.15m
2006/07 net spend: £17m
2007/08
£5m – Lucas Leiva: Brazilian player of the year when signed. Could still go either way but a lot to prove.
Undisclosed – Krisztian Nemeth: Promising youngster currently out on loan in Athens.
£270,000 – Mikel San Jose Dominguez: Youngester plays in the reserves.
£1.8m – Sebastian Leto: Left winger signing but refused a work permit. Sold for £3m.
£20.2m – Fernando Torres: Bargain of the century
Free – Andriy Voronin: Free transfer to strengthen the squad. Plays well in Germany, garbage over here.
£5m – Yossi Benayoun: Took a while to settle but now a key player. Superb signing and an absolute bargain.
£11.5m – Ryan Babel: Highly rated dutch international. Absolute waste of space. Bad signing on reflection, but nobody knew how he’d turn out. Still got potential but he can’t be arsed.
Undisclosed – Charles Itandje: Back up keeper signed for peanuts. Now released.
£1.3m – Emiliano Insua: Youngster who is now a full Argentinian international and massive potential. Bargain.
£6.5m – Martin Skrtel: Been off form this season so far, but brilliant last year and a good signing for the money.
£18.6m – Javier Mascherano: Completion of loan deal
Total bought: £70.7m
£2.7m – Florent Simana-Pongolle: Houllier youngster sold wanting first team football.
£100,000 – Daniel O’Donnell: Kid sold
Free – Jerzy Dudek: Released at end of contract
Free – Zenden: Released at end of contract
Free – Robbie Fowler: Released at end of contract
£4m – Luis Garcia: Wanted to return to Spain. Great service.
£6m – Djibril Cisse: Houllier signing sold to part fund Torres deal.
£7.5m – Craig Bellamy: Sold at profit to part fund Torres deal
£3.5m – Mark Gonzales: Signed for £1.5m and sold when didn’t work out.
£1.2m – Gabriel Palletta: Bought for £2m but never worked out. Young defender.
£3.5m – Chris Kirkland: Houllier signing. Injury prone and wanted first team football.
£8.2m – Momo Sissoko: Great signing, good service, sold when lost his form at a profit.
Total sold: £36.7m
2007/08 net spend: £34m
2008/09
Free – Philip Degen: Garbage, but free.
£7m – Andrea Dossena: Italian international left back. Hasn’t settled. Bad signing.
£3.5m – Diego Cavalieri: Reserve keeper. Only played league cup games so far.
£1.5m – David N’gog: Young French striker. Promising.
£19m – Robbie Keane: Everyone made up when we signed him. Didn’t work out and sold back to Spurs for £16m.
£8m – Albert Riera: Spanish international. Started well but jury still out.
Total bought: £39m
£4m – John Arne Riise: Good servant but form tailed off. Snapped their hands off at £4m.
Free – Harry Kewell: Harry who?
Undisclosed – Anthony Le Tallec: Houllier youngster finally released. Fee not known.
£11m – Peter Crouch: Laughing stock bought for £7m. Great signing. Wanted first team football.
£2.25m – Danny Guthrie: Youngster from Acadamy thought not good enough.
£3.25m – Scott Carson: Injury prone and Reina now first choice. Sold at profit.
Undisclosed – Steve Finnan: Sold for a fee believed to be £1m
£16m – Robbie Keane: Didn’t work out.
Undisclosed – Jack Hobbs: Young defender that didn’t progress. Sold for believed to £1.5m.
Total sold: £36.5m
2008/09 net spend: £2.5m
2009/10
£17.5m – Glen Johnson: Big fee, but has been brilliant so far.
£17.1m – Alberto Aquilani: Injured so far but meant to be a class act. Highly rated in Italy.
£2m – Sotirios Kyrgiakos: Last minute signing to fill Hyypia’s shoes. Only money we had to spend.
£160,000 – Daniel Ayala: Young defender, played a few times this season and looked promising.
Total bought: £36.76m
£250,000 – Paul Anderson: Youngster that didn’t progess.
Free – Jermaine Pennant: Out of contract. Poor signing.
Free – Miki Roque: No idea who he is. Bought for peanuts.
£3m – Sebastian Leto: Signed for £1.8m but didn’t get a work permit. Had to sell.
£3.5m – Alvaro Arbeloa: Wanted to leave and out of contract in the summer.
£30m – Xabi Alonso: Wanted to leave. Bought for £10.7m. Great signing.
Total sold: £36.75m
2009/10 net spend: £10,000
Total Players Bought: £228,976,000
Total Players Sold: £145,100,000
Total Net Spend: £83,876,000
So, that’s a total spend of just over £83m in 5 years at the club. An average of £16.6m a year.
The vast majority of his signings have been sold at profit, or if still at the club, are worth a lot more than we paid for them. Exceptions being Babel and Dossena, but we’ll still get decent fees for them when sold as they’re full internationals.
A lot of the signings above have been stepping stones in rebuilding the squad, gradually improving it by replacing players with better ones. Our league positions over the past 5 years and the improvement in our league positions and points totals show the progression.
2004/05: Finished 5th – 58 pts
2005/06: Finished 3rd – 82 pts
2006/07: Finished 3rd – 68 pts
2007/08: Finished 4th – 76 pts
2008/09: Finished 2nd – 86 pts
Is it any coincidence that the progression seems to have stopped this summer? Look at the transfer activity above for this year and it might explain why.
Look at our net spend over the past 2 years!
We have a wage bill that is the 5th highest in the league. We can’t afford to pay players £70,000 to be sat on the bench like United and Chelsea can.
Rafa Benitez’ record with signings at the top end of the market is nothing short of brilliant. Robbie Keane being the only flop, but he was sold 6 months later and only a small financial hit taken on that mistake. Rick Parry agreed the fee for buying him in the first place, and common knowledge Rafa wasn’t happy with it; feeling it was far too high.
Where has this myth come from that he’s wasted money on s***e players? Have a look through the lists above and try to point them out. There isn’t many.
The ones that haven’t worked out he’s moved on, and not very often has he made a financial loss on them.
The squad is now worth a hell of a lot more than the one he inherited, and that £83m net spend over 5 years is easily offset by the increased value of the squad. He’d recoup nearly all of that through the sale of Torres alone!
He’s worked absolute wonders with the money he’s had to spend. Then take into account the massive amounts of money he’s self generated by reaching the latter stages of the CL every season. Two final appearances, one win. That £83m he’s spent he’s earned the right to spend.
And when comparing it to what United have spent in the same period is flawed, as they already had a title winning squad and all the foundations in place. They weren’t rebuilding from scratch like we were. It also doesn’t take into account their massive wage bill.
When comparing to Chelsea, they spent all their money before Rafa came to the club and just topping up an already established squad.
Man City have spent more than double in the past 12 months than Rafa Benitez has in his 5 year reign.
Do some people still want to get rid of him? If so, you’ve been listening to Andy Gray and Richard Keys for too much and unable to look at the facts yourself to form an opinion.
Every manager makes tactical mistakes. Every manager makes mistakes in the transfer market. Despite what the press seem to think; Rafael Benitez appears to make less mistakes than most.
We’re expected to win the league and European Cup on a budget and wage bill that is entitled to finish 4th or 5th in the league. We’ve been overachieving under Rafael Benitez, not underachieving.
I’m not even going to mention the environment he’s working in under them two clowns.
You’ll only miss him when he’s gone….
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