What Benitez must now achieve

[Guest red_in_my_veins]

Let me start by saying I think Benitez has done a fantastic job. I really couldn't wish for a different manager. Rick Parry doesn't come in for much praise these days but I do congratulate him for recruiting Benitez.

 

Now I came across this article which I thought was a well written article coming from a neutral fan. Of everything he says I only think that he is a bit harsh on Pennant as I think he may develop more but at least he should remain as a valuable squad member.

 

http://www.goal.com/en/articolo.aspx?contenutoid=303580

[Gunga Din]

he's been here 3 years. we are a far stronger team than we were 3 years ago. we are moving in the right direction. our campaigns in teh last 2 years have been crushed by poor starts. if we sort that out next season and hit the ground running then we will be there or thereabouts.

he has been competing against Chelseas millions and Uniteds team that has been built by Ginsoak over a 20 year period. he has achieved far more than i expected he would in his first 3 seasons. i wonder what the same "Neutral fan" would have been writing in 1990 at the end of Ginsoaks 4th season, when United avoided relegation by 5 points

[Guest red_in_my_veins]

i wonder what the same "Neutral fan" would have been writing in 1990 at the end of Ginsoaks 4th season, when United avoided relegation by 5 points

 

Wayne I agree with everything you say. Just confused by this comment. Are you saying that the writers style shows a bias against us? If you are I can't see it.

[Gunga Din]

Wayne I agree with everything you say. Just confused by this comment. Are you saying that the writers style shows a bias against us? If you are I can't see it.

 

no, i'm saying these things take time

[Magic8Ball]

no, i'm saying these things take time

or a multi Billionaire bankrolling you

[shaq]

We want to win the league, we have to take the same attitude that we have in Europe, into every game that we play in the League. If we had the same will to win against Newcastle, Blackburn and Sheffield United as we did against Barcelona and Chelsea in the European Cup, then we would have been genuinely challenging for the league.

 

I'm not suggesting that the players are big game Charlies, it's not easy to carry on that same determination throughout a 38 game league season. But winning the league isn't easy - Man U won 13 of their 19 away games, and Chelsea won 12. Man U only dropped points in 8 games before they won the league. That's the sort of consistency that's required to win the league.

 

If anyone can get us there though, it's Rafa.

[Flight]

he's been here 3 years. we are a far stronger team than we were 3 years ago. we are moving in the right direction. our campaigns in teh last 2 years have been crushed by poor starts. if we sort that out next season and hit the ground running then we will be there or thereabouts.

he has been competing against Chelseas millions and Uniteds team that has been built by Ginsoak over a 20 year period. he has achieved far more than i expected he would in his first 3 seasons. i wonder what the same "Neutral fan" would have been writing in 1990 at the end of Ginsoaks 4th season, when United avoided relegation by 5 points

 

 

Well said Wayne.

 

 

 

Quote from that article : 'Purchases such as Gonzalez, Bellamy and Aurelio have left the Reds in danger of falling further behind the top two.' Absolute tosh; barring injury Aurelio would have been up there with our best signings. Bellamy has been, at the least, good value for money. The bloke has picked a couple of stats and written a poor article around them.

[Guest neverwalkalone]

I totally agree with the man (even though I agree with you that he's being hard on Pennant, but he do have a point. £6,7m is a lot, and Pennant will never be a regular in the starting lineup). Especially the bit about García is important: Why don't have any spectacular players than can win the game for us. And Gonzalez (one of many examples) is not good enough, and he has played quite a lot for us this season (36 games for us in total!). Don't blame the lack of funds, we have spent around £25-30m every summer since Rafa came. We should be getting closer to the top by now, not further away.

[Falconhoof]

The problem with the neutral observer is that invariably he hasn't looked at the club in enough detail. Rafa and the players are the best judge of how well they are doing, then the fans, then the journalists and pundits.

 

Don't blame the lack of funds, we have spent around £25-30m every summer since Rafa came. We should be getting closer to the top by now, not further away.

 

If the two clubs above us have spent double and 3 times as much over the last few years then how can your £25 million be expected to get us closer ?

[johngibo YPC]

And Gonzalez (one of many examples) is not good enough,

 

who are the other examples then?

[Guest neverwalkalone]

Quote from that article : 'Purchases such as Gonzalez, Bellamy and Aurelio have left the Reds in danger of falling further behind the top two.' Absolute tosh; barring injury Aurelio would have been up there with our best signings. Bellamy has been, at the least, good value for money. The bloke has picked a couple of stats and written a poor article around them.

 

 

We don't know if Aurélio would have played well or not. He had two good games before getting injured, the other games he played were absolutely horrible. Bellamy has been a huge disappointment. He's whining and he hasn't done well when getting his chances. He is also missing too many obvious chances. And the golf-episode should be more than enough to throw him out. I hope Craig leaves in the summer.

[Lee W]

I totally agree with the man (even though I agree with you that he's being hard on Pennant, but he do have a point. £6,7m is a lot, and Pennant will never be a regular in the starting lineup). Especially the bit about García is important: Why don't have any spectacular players than can win the game for us. And Gonzalez (one of many examples) is not good enough, and he has played quite a lot for us this season (36 games for us in total!). Don't blame the lack of funds, we have spent around £25-30m every summer since Rafa came. We should be getting closer to the top by now, not further away.

 

It takes time to rebuild a squad and we were never going to challenge in his first couple of seasons....

 

Reina has been amazing.

 

The defence is spot on - Agger and Arbeloa are very good buys and Carra has improved immensely.

 

Central midfield is sorted (fingers crossed for Xabi) and right-side. Left-side needs some work but fingers crossed Kewell will pull through else I think he'll strengthen it.

 

Forwards - probably just need a world-class poacher and we're there.

 

Next season is a big acid test, especially if the war-chest is unleashed.

Edited May 15, 2007 by Lee W

[Flight]

We don't know if Aurélio would have played well or not. He had two good games before getting injured, the other games he played were absolutely horrible. Bellamy has been a huge disappointment. He's whining and he hasn't done well when getting his chances. He is also missing too many obvious chances. And the golf-episode should be more than enough to throw him out. I hope Craig leaves in the summer.

 

 

Who would you have bought instead of Bellamy for £7mill ? He's terrific when we play to his strengths, granted he could have scored more but he is always looking for other players and creating chances for himself and others. Like I said he has been value for money.

 

We obviously disagree about Aurelio.

[Guest Steve]

What a big pile of poo.

 

Rafa has done a fantastic job on a limited budget for a club that is expected to challenge the likes of Chelsea and Man Utd. I doubt any other manager in world football could have done the same, aswell as winning the odd European and FA Cup along the way.

 

We just need a little bit of fine tuning and consistency over a long season.

 

I was amazed to hear one pundit the other day remark that Spurs have had a great season, even though they've won nothing and spent a fortune over the past few years. While Rafa has been criticised all season by the experts for not challenging for the league on a similar budget.

 

Just shows that there's a different set of rules for each club.

Edited May 15, 2007 by Steve

[Rich Gobey]

We don't know if Aurélio would have played well or not. He had two good games before getting injured, the other games he played were absolutely horrible. Bellamy has been a huge disappointment. He's whining and he hasn't done well when getting his chances. He is also missing too many obvious chances. And the golf-episode should be more than enough to throw him out. I hope Craig leaves in the summer.

 

No, sorry, wrong.

[Alonso]

The £25-30m Rafa has had each season has been essentially to build the squad that he wants. Now the squad Rafa wants is pretty much in place we can expect 1 or 2 players near that price to add that real quality to the first team especially now we have Gillett and Hicks. This is similar to what Utd and Chelsea have been doing and we can now start pushing on. If that happens then next season is gonna be the real test as to how we do over the 38 games and we should be judged then, not now whilst we have essentially been squad building and on a limited budget.

[Guest neverwalkalone]

who are the other examples then?

 

 

Pellegrino, Josemi, Nuñez, Kromkamp were never good enough.

 

Zenden has made an impact, but has shown several times that he's mediocre. Bodewijn has 46 matches for Liverpool, he was a player that could help raising the team.

 

Bellamy had reputation and has lived up to it. I can't really blame Rafael for this one. Bellamy was fairly cheap (£6m is not much for a Welsh (almost English) that has impressed). Bellamy has been bad, both as a person and as a player for Liverpool.

 

£6.3m for the classy Morientes that had impressed in Champions League seemed like a bargain. But he wasn't good at all, he wasn't used to play like Liverpool played, and we didn't know how use him. He has great aerial abilities but we hadn't wingers like Rothen and Giuly that could feed him with balls. And look at him this season in Valencia, blossoming like ever before.

 

Pennant and Crouch were both way too expensive. That is not only Rafa's fault. I mean: £6,7m for a player in a relegated club that wants to join us? £7m for Crouch is also extremely much. Some might say that he was worth but that is not the point: He didn't have to cost so much.

[Guest Steve]

Pellegrino, Josemi, Nuñez, Kromkamp were never good enough.

 

Zenden has made an impact, but has shown several times that he's mediocre. Bodewijn has 46 matches for Liverpool, he was a player that could help raising the team.

 

Bellamy had reputation and has lived up to it. I can't really blame Rafael for this one. Bellamy was fairly cheap (£6m is not much for a Welsh (almost English) that has impressed). Bellamy has been bad, both as a person and as a player for Liverpool.

 

£6.3m for the classy Morientes that had impressed in Champions League seemed like a bargain. But he wasn't good at all, he wasn't used to play like Liverpool played, and we didn't know how use him. He has great aerial abilities but we hadn't wingers like Rothen and Giuly that could feed him with balls. And look at him this season in Valencia, blossoming like ever before.

 

Pennant and Crouch were both way too expensive. That is not only Rafa's fault. I mean: £6,7m for a player in a relegated club that wants to join us? £7m for Crouch is also extremely much. Some might say that he was worth but that is not the point: He didn't have to cost so much.

 

You live in a football manager dreamworld, son.

[Guest neverwalkalone]

No, sorry, wrong.

 

Ok, Nostradamus: What would happen?

[Lee W]

Houston we have a problem.

[Guest neverwalkalone]

You live in a football manager dreamworld, son.

 

Not at all. Is acceptable to spend so much money and to throw them out the window?

[Ramón Benítez Hernández]

We should have drugs tests for posters on here.

[Guest Steve]

Not at all. Is acceptable to spend so much money and to throw them out the window?

 

Yes.

[Guest neverwalkalone]

Houston we have a problem.

 

Obviously. Don't you know what was happened in the Premiership the last years? 5th place in 2004-05. 3rd in 2005-2006 - a realy good season, 81 points, but still 10 points behind Chelsea. 3rd in 2006/2007 (bearly). And this season: 68 points. Man United had 89, Chelsea 83. That is not progression, that is not developing.

 

Yes.

 

Do you seriously mean that?

[Guest Steve]

I smell manc.