Support for Benitez

[Huyton_Red]

I was talking to my dad (who is a blue) about this yesterday eating my sunday dinner

 

Nearly everyone I speak to is unhappy with benitez at the moment....

 

The rotating the team, playing one up front against sh'te teams etc argument I hear from nearly everyone I speak to.

 

And yet at the match he gets fantastic support, its weird.

 

In the alehouses around the ground loads are moaning, when they get into work loads are moaning, on the web forums more moaning.

 

Its not even as if you could say match going reds are fully supportive of him because thats b'ollocks, there are four of us that go, three are having severe doubts about him but still sing his name at the game and give the impression of unwavering support for him and then on the way home from games moan like f'ck all the way home

 

I cant fathom this, when it started going banjo for houllier it turned in the ground more or less the same time it turned in the ale houses and web forums etc but for benitez it seems that all this rubbish with the owners have sort of protected him from any backlash from the fans, they have sort of closed ranks and offered a public display of support for him even though there is an ever increasing section of the fans that are starting to have doubts abouts him.

 

My dad, who is a blue and very bitter reckons he is the luckiest manager alive, quotes pens etc etc etc and says something always happens to deflect attention from him.

 

I am just going on the people I know and it would be interesting to see if your mates etc are the same, do you hear more and more people moaning about him and having doubts in work in the pub etc ?

 

There seems to be a public display of support while behind the scenes loads are starting to lose faith

[Hieronymus Bosch]

Sack Rafa, keep G&H?

[sean]

He's a good manager, I suppose deep down we all know this but some of his methods defy logic. I don't think rotation would be a problem if we had more gamebreakers apartb from the 2/3 we currently have, so if he's backed I think he'll do well. Alternatively, if Mourinho's the only viable option I'd keep singing his name.

[Rimbeux]

It just might be possible to be unhappy with results and performances and still want him in the job, have you thought of that? Or does being unhappy with results and performances have to be followed with a call for a sacking?

[usualsuspect]

  sean said:

He's a good manager, I suppose deep down we all know this but some of his methods defy logic. I don't think rotation would be a problem if we had more gamebreakers apartb from the 2/3 we currently have, so if he's backed I think he'll do well. Alternatively, if Mourinho's the only viable option I'd keep singing his name.

That is my problem with him to be honest. I cant undertsand why such an intelligent man won't tweak his approach a little so he can work with what he has. Of course he should be backed but noone is going to throw 100m in his face in one season as it will take time. Also the small matter of seemingly going defensive and ultra tactical vs "smaller" teams does me in. I only wish he revisits these two areas.

[Hassony]

If we haven't had the off the field issues we have had this season I think mroe people would have started questioning Rafa, but at the moment I see him as one of the best managers in the world and someone who cares a lot about liverpool FC and about winning

 

I struggle to think of any other manager who would have won us the league in the time that Rafa has been at the club considering the amount of money chelsea and united have spent

 

Rafa has out performed wenger over the past 3 seasons, and might still do this season, we have a great chance of winning another european cup with him (and anyone who says that these don't matter is an idiot)

 

of course I was hoping to be closer to winnig the title (especially with chelsea having sacked Mourinho)

[honourablegeorge]

There's plenty of discontent with things on the pitch, Huyton, of course there is.

 

But I don't know of anyone who thinks Rafa deserves the sack, nor the treatment he's had from the owners. Next season's going to be a pressure one for him, mind.

[Huyton_Red]

  Rimbeux said:

It just might be possible to be unhappy with results and performances and still want him in the job, have you thought of that? Or does being unhappy with results and performances have to be followed with a call for a sacking?

 

Nah its deeper than that, there are loads now who dont think he is the right man for the job

 

We have a curry night in our family for european games, we never go the european games instead we all visit each others house and watch it on telly with the host cooking a curry.

 

Me, my two cousins and my uncle. My uncle thinks he should be sacked and has completely lost faith in him, one of my cousins thinks he is the best thing since sliced bread and should be given a five year contract with me and the other cousin sat on the fence wanting to see what happens at the end this season and next season.

 

Amongst the lads I go the match with the split is about the same, if not more towards him going at the end of this season dependent on league position

 

But at the actual game he gots almost total backing

[Falconhoof]

The problems Rafa has had this season make the question moot. Who knows what he could have achieved with a stable set of coaches behind him or a stable boardroom. The influence of both Pako and Hicks in different ways on the players will have been huge. The atmosphere at the club is foul and there is no confidante at the training ground for the players to be reassured by.

Against that background, all of my doubts about certain aspects of Rafa's recruitment, team selection and tactics fall away and I back him 100% to win his battle with Hicks.

I should say that I do have a moan about some of Rafa's decisions but I keep that to the pub or on here and I moderate it because of the other unusual pressures that have been put on him.

Edited January 28, 2008 by Graham

[Hassony]

  Huyton_Red said:

Nah its deeper than that, there are loads now who dont think he is the right man for the job

 

We have a curry night in our family for european games, we never go the european games instead we all visit each others house and watch it on telly with the host cooking a curry.

 

Me, my two cousins and my uncle. My uncle thinks he should be sacked and has completely lost faith in him, one of my cousins thinks he is the best thing since sliced bread and should be given a five year contract with me and the other cousin sat on the fence wanting to see what happens at the end this season and next season.

 

Amongst the lads I go the match with the split is about the same, if not more towards him going at the end of this season dependent on league position

 

But at the actual game he gots almost total backing

so who do you want to replace him with? and do you think the rebuilding process, the possible exit of few players will harm us even further?

 

btw, its funny how you ignore a poll of 3000+ liverpool fans, yet you are happy to use your family as a guide for all liverpool fans!

[Gomez]

Rotation up front is not an issue. We have done it for years and do it no more than the rest of the big four. It is wheeled out by rent-a-gobs in the press because they are too thick to have an original thought. Unfortunately, some people believe them.

 

Rotation in defence is an issue, however we have no choice. Agger's injury is causing it, Sami cannot play 2 games a week as we have seen, this means Hobbs, Arbeloa etc have had a go, and now we have to break in Skrtel. Arbeloa, Finnan and Aurelio's injuries have not helped either.

 

Rafa is the best manager we've had since Kenny, he is one of the best in Europe and I doubt we could replace him with anyone better. Anyone who thinks Mourinho is either suitable for this club, or capable of competing with man u and chelski with Rafa's budget need to stop reading / listening to the popular press.

[Rich Gobey]

  Hassony said:

so who do you want to replace him with? and do you think the rebuilding process, the possible exit of few players will harm us even further?

 

btw, its funny how you ignore a poll of 3000+ liverpool fans, yet you are happy to use your family as a guide for all liverpool fans!

 

And quote an Evertonian who claims Benitez is 'lucky'!

 

If you believe in 'luck' you might as well believe in fairies.

[John am Rhein]

Being 'lucky' is a good thing for a football manager. The luckier he is, the better.

[Rich Gobey]

  John am Rhein said:

Being 'lucky' is a good thing for a football manager. The luckier he is, the better.

 

Exactly.

 

Crediting 'luck' for anything is the stock in trade of the bitter.

 

How apt.

[Guz]

People always moan and if we're not winning will moan about rotation, team selection, transfers etc.

 

Wanting him sacked at a time when the owners also want him sacked is not the same as just moaning in the pubs.

 

There are people who have lost faith, I just don't think it's as many as you make out to be. Yet.

[Huyton_Red]

  Gomez said:

Rotation up front is not an issue. We have done it for years and do it no more than the rest of the big four. It is wheeled out by rent-a-gobs in the press because they are too thick to have an original thought. Unfortunately, some people believe them.

 

Rotation in defence is an issue, however we have no choice. Agger's injury is causing it, Sami cannot play 2 games a week as we have seen, this means Hobbs, Arbeloa etc have had a go, and now we have to break in Skrtel. Arbeloa, Finnan and Aurelio's injuries have not helped either.

 

Rafa is the best manager we've had since Kenny, he is one of the best in Europe and I doubt we could replace him with anyone better. Anyone who thinks Mourinho is either suitable for this club, or capable of competing with man u and chelski with Rafa's budget need to stop reading / listening to the popular press.

 

Rafa is the best manager we've has since kenny, thats a bold statement.

 

Roy Evans always gets treated unfairly when talking about past Liverpool managers in my opinion. We played great football under evans and he had a better league record than benitez to be fair - he didnt get a chance to play in the champions league and no one is saying he would have won it but to simply dimiss his reign is wrong

 

If he had been given the financial backing that houllier and benitez where I wonder sometimes what he could have done, have you read fowlers book ? He speaks about this very issue and talks about the players Evans was blocked from signing by the board.

 

In terms of the league, rafa's record is not even as good as houlliers is it, never mind evans

[Superjay]

FFS I dispair at this club.... I am honestly sick to death of supporting it right now. And this fickle, childish, spoilt and iknowitallcausei'vegotaseasonticket fanbase is to blame. I'm sick of having to defend rafa to our own fans. Some of these grown kids need to have a long hard look at themselves. If rafa gets us to anthor final this year you won't hear a peep out of these idiots. Behave yerselves FFS.

[sned]

  Huyton_Red said:

...it seems that all this rubbish with the owners have sort of protected him from any backlash from the fans...

Personally I think that's exactly what has happened.

 

We can all see things on the pitch are deteriorating, and are all looking for a reason to either justify why it's happening, or to give us something to blame it all on.

 

The s**** with G&H and all the media hysteria associated with it is giving us exactly that. We can vent our frustrations at the most obvious and easiest target, and bang, G&H get it with both barrels.

[Stevie H]

we're playing with absolutely zero confidence and look like a bunch of strangers. the manager has been prevented from carrying out his job properly due to off the field distractions for several months of the season, by the new owners undermining him. yes he makes some poor decisions regarding the team, but to sack a manager based on a season when he's been totally unable to do his job to the best of his ability due to being undermined and distracted would be f***ing insanity.

[Hassony]

  Huyton_Red said:

In terms of the league, rafa's record is not even as good as houlliers is it, never mind evans

 

when did we finish 3rd in two seasons in a row under evans or GH, Evans couldn't win the uefa cup, do you really think he could have won the CL, I really hate how people dismiss that achivment of rafa, to win the CL and then get to the final again 2 years later shows what a great manager he is, Evans is closer to sam allerdyce than he is to rafa in term of management quality

[Huyton_Red]

  Superjay said:

FFS I dispair at this club.... I am honestly sick to death of supporting it right now. And this fickle, childish, spoilt and iknowitallcausei'vegotaseasonticket fanbase is to blame. I'm sick of having to defend rafa to our own fans. Some of these grown kids need to have a long hard look at themselves. If rafa gets us to anthor final this year you won't hear a peep out of these idiots. Behave yerselves FFS.

 

And your point is ?

 

Are you on the right thread ?

[John am Rhein]

  Huyton_Red said:

Rafa is the best manager we've has since kenny, thats a bold statement.

 

Roy Evans always gets treated unfairly when talking about past Liverpool managers in my opinion. We played great football under evans and he had a better league record than benitez to be fair - he didnt get a chance to play in the champions league and no one is saying he would have won it but to simply dimiss his reign is wrong

 

If he had been given the financial backing that houllier and benitez where I wonder sometimes what he could have done, have you read fowlers book ? He speaks about this very issue and talks about the players Evans was blocked from signing by the board.

 

In terms of the league, rafa's record is not even as good as houlliers is it, never mind evans

 

Both Houllier and Benitez are better than Evans, who, in turn, was better than Souness.

 

So yes, Benitez is the best manager Liverpool's had since Kenny Dalglish - and he may yet surpass him too.

[beejay]

To my mind, Rafa Benitez has kept this club together this season and deserves our support. He's the only stabilising factor we have and has had to put up with an incredible amount of backstabbing both behind the scenes and in the full glare of the media machine.

 

What he has had to deal with is unfair and the supporters know he has not been given any backing. We also know he has our interests at heart, far more than our owners.

 

While we all moan about some of the performances, most fair-minded match-going fans are prepared to give him the benefit of the doubt because we might be far worse off if he had thrown his hands up and walked away from the club. Rafa is our sticking plaster and we need him to hang around.

[Rimbeux]

  Huyton_Red said:

Nah its deeper than that, there are loads now who dont think he is the right man for the job

 

We have a curry night in our family for european games, we never go the european games instead we all visit each others house and watch it on telly with the host cooking a curry.

 

Me, my two cousins and my uncle. My uncle thinks he should be sacked and has completely lost faith in him, one of my cousins thinks he is the best thing since sliced bread and should be given a five year contract with me and the other cousin sat on the fence wanting to see what happens at the end this season and next season.

 

Amongst the lads I go the match with the split is about the same, if not more towards him going at the end of this season dependent on league position

 

But at the actual game he gots almost total backing

 

So your contention is that had we not been in the biggest turmoil for nearly 20 years, with him amongst some of it, he'd be facing open hostility or indifference in the ground as well as the pub, homes etc?

 

All I can say it involves an idea that two or three months of average form cant be recovered from and is the way of things to come from now on. Then there's another view that here's clearly a good manager with a lot of good players, not playing well, drawing too many games, but hardly if ever being bettered on the pitch, rarely if ever sitting back under any sustained pressure, and very capable of getting back on stride.

 

Personally I'd be worrying a lot more if we were sitting back deep, hanging on in games, getting beat and battered, rather than generally not playing brilliant, but not playing really poorly, taking deserved leads, not building on them and conceding sloppy late goals.

[sned]

  beejay said:

What he has had to deal with is unfair and the supporters know he has not been given any backing. We also know he has our interests at heart, far more than our owners.

He is making mistakes though, and they've cost us points. Some would even question whether he's too stubborn to learn from them.

 

Rafa is as good a manager as there is right now, even more so bearing in mind the circumstances he's having to work in, but he's got to learn particularly with regards to the PL. His understanding of European football is excellent, which shows by reaching two CL finals in 3 years, and also the KO stages again this year.

 

If he can reproduce that success domestically...