Rafael Benitez News Archives

An interesting article appeared in the Guardian this morning, featuring soundbites from 9 managers in the Premier League on the chances of Manchester United and Chelsea in winning the Premier League this season.

This was before today’s set of matches, mind you, so it wasn’t as if these managers knew ahead of time that Manchester United were going to derobe West Ham and then whip them into submission (some expressions don’t translate that well, I’m afraid).

The responses were predictable (8 out of 9 backed United, guess who was the odd one out), although it would have been interesting to hear the other 7 managers (keeping Curbs and Keegan out of this since their teams play the league leaders this weekend), I doubt they’d have gone against United, such is the level of expectations surrounding the Manchester club’s final 2 performances.

So what about Rafa?

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Photo Caption: Grant thinks Kenyon was joking when Chelsea picked AG as manager - the ironic bit is, Kenyon might have been.

Both Avram Grant and Rafael Benitez have been locked in various off-pitch wrangles lately. Grant with the press and the fans and if the media is to be believed, players. Benitez with the owners, the board and Neil Warnock.

Both managers recently wrote in to Soccerlens to let off some steam and get some answers to their problems. Here’s how that particular exchange went:

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On Wednesday, 9 April, Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson reached his fifth Champions League semifinal after his club progressed at the expense of AS Roma.

Only Carlo Ancelotti has reached so many semifinals as head coach in this competition. What’s interesting to note here is both Jose Mourinho and Rafael Benitez have made it to 3 semi-finals each, and at their (relatively) young age it’s quite likely that they will get to a few more semi-finals, assuming that they go in the upward trajectory that their career paths have suggested till now.

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Yes, we’re back to that age old rivalry between the Red-Men from Liverpool, and the Blues from London, the Angels of the North against the Arseholes of the South. So here is a very Liverpool view on why we will beat Chelsea, and then see Fergie in the final in Moscow.

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Paul Tomkins has written an interesting article over at liferpoolfc.tv, in which he talks about tonight’s game at Anfield, the falsity of the notion that Liverpool are a 2-man team, and hypocrisy of the media in lauding Arsene Wenger’s transfer record while trashing that of Rafa Benitez.

Here are a few excerpts:

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Rafael Benitez has demonstrated how to best utilise Dirk Kuyt effectively in the last 10 games that Liverpool have played. Whereas before Kuyt was an auxillary striker he now plays out on the right wing.

In the 4-2-1-3 (and NOT 4-2-3-1) formation that the manager employed the team has won nine, drawn one and lost one of the last eleven games in all competitions. With these set of results have come some very impressive perfomances, none more so than the derby win against Everton. Furthermore, Gerrard’s ‘best’ position has also been solved. The understanding between Torres and Gerrard has developed to such a point that they have become one of the most dangerous attacking partnerships not just in England, but in Europe as well.

However the key point of this article is to highlight how the use of Kuyt on the wing has helped the team achieve a better balance. Attacking and defending have been improved upon hitherto slackness. With Babel and Kuyt on the wing Liverpool carry more goal scoring threat in the team. That is the key reason why Jermaine Pennant has been unable to figure in the squad, let alone the first eleven while Benayoun along with the other two aforementioned players have.

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What does being a manager mean? For teams in the Blue Square Premier and the lower reaches of League Two it means a much different thing to being the manager of a top Premiership side.

For those down there in the depths being a manager might mean sweeping out the dressing rooms, ringing players up to make sure they’re available and painting the lines on the pitch. All of that of course is as well as the main job of trying to mould eleven players into a fearsome and formidable unit.

I don’t suppose Messrs Ferguson, Grant, Wenger and Benitez sweep the dressing rooms too often. They can concentrate almost entirely on the job of moulding the team. There are top people employed to do all the periphery jobs that fall to lower league managers.

It is entirely possible that in the lower leagues there are coaches and managers who would be every bit as successful as the top four if they worked in similar circumstances. The difficulty in this age of instant success being demanded is in getting the opportunity to prove that you have the skills before you’re on the dole.

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Despite the 14 point difference between Liverpool and the league leaders Manchester Utd at present, I feel it is only a matter of time before Rafael Benitez achieves success in the Premiership.

This summer will no doubt be more telling than ever, but with his future pretty much reassured (Guillem Balague, the Spanish journalist and close confidant of Rafa Benitez stating as much in ‘The Game Podcast’) whoever owns the club during pre-season, Liverpool will no longer be a ‘team in progress’ but rather a team with all their pieces in the jigsaw complete.

Evidently the wide positions require stronger players and with the likely addition of Rafinha and possibly Quaresma this summer the one glaring weakness of the team would have been rectified. The much talked about ’spine’ of Liverpool is very much on a par with their closest rivals. Players of the calibre such as Reina, Carrager, Agger, Mascherano, Alonso, Gerrard and Torres suggest without any hesitation that this is the case.

However what is in question is the actual strength of Liverpool’s squad which quite clearly has been shown to be lacking, especially in comparison with United and Chelsea. Whether this aspect of the team will be improved upon is harder to ascertain. Instead one feels that essentially the first XI will be strengthened but not the squad as such.

Do you agree? Is Benitez nearer to getting Liverpool back to the top of the league?

A refreshingly candid interview with Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez - Guillem Ballague asks all the right questions.

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To put it delicately, the situation at Liverpool with respect to the current owners is something you wouldn’t wish on your enemies. It is a nightmare come true, except that it is perhaps worse than what you’d imagine a nightmare to be.

However, manager Rafael Benitez has done the right thing by publicly insisting he will not be distracted by the boardroom turmoil engulfing the club as he prepares for a run of four matches that could make or break his season (although they’ve been saying that all season now).

Sunday’s Merseyside derby with Everton is to be followed by the two legs of a Champions League quarter-final against Arsenal either side of a league meeting with the Londoners.

But all the talk at Anfield yesterday was about American co-owner George Gillett’s revelation that his relationship with partner Tom Hicks had broken down beyond repair against a backdrop of alleged death threats from disgruntled fans.

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Former Liverpool boss Gerard Houllier says English footballers are pushed into top management jobs too quickly. He has told the BBC Inside Sport programme that he believes Bryan Robson, Stuart Pearce and Gareth Southgate all took on senior positions far too soon.

“In France, you cannot become a manager when you step out of your career as a player,” he said.

“Would a manager of a big company put somebody without experience into a key position in his company? No, he would not, but they do in football.”

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The Scousers are famed for their sense of humour. Not that there are many Liverpudlians of a red persuasion laughing at the moment after Barnsley’s impudent victory at Anfield last Saturday, a result which has condemned Rafa Benitez’s boys to be the butt of everyone’s jokes for the next few days.

It’s human nature – let alone football etiquette – to revel in the misfortune of the great and mighty. We were all sniggering at Arsenal’s mauling at Old Trafford and if Chelsea had been downed by Huddersfield at Stamford Bridge, we’d be wetting ourselves. The bigger they are, the more humorous the fall.

So what now for Rafa and his players? They’re not the first side to suffer the ignominy of losing to lower league opposition. A morale-boosting win over Inter Milan at Anfield in midweek went a long way to papering over the cracks and a respectable late rally in the Premier League, closing the chasm that currently exists between the top three and the Reds, would certainly not go amiss.

And yet the feeling persists that there are long-term, fundamental problems at the club.

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Our thoughts to go Arsenal’s Eduardo da Silva, a talented young footballer who will miss the rest of the season (and maybe the rest of the year, what with rehabilitation and getting match-fit) and especially Euro 2008. Good luck with your recovery mate, get well soon. Also, props to Wenger for retracting his comments on Matt Taylor.

On to today’s round up of takeovers, turncoats, floatation devices and the maladjusted in our society. Yes, floatation devices.

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While we wait for the least-important-cup-final-for-Premier-League-clubs, let’s look at today’s news (or lack thereof).

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The Champions League finally got back underway on Tuesday night, with the round of 16 kicking off with the first four first-leg ties. Here are the highlights (and lowlights) of last night’s action.

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Liverpool 2, Inter Milan 0.

Before kick-off, that scoreline would been considered unlikely - but as hoped by Liverpool fans, Rafa’s men rose to their next European challenge and produced as good a display as could be hoped for (considering the buildup) to beat 10-man Inter Milan 2-0.

The scoreline hardly tells the whole story though.

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Just when Liverpool fans thought things couldn’t get any worse the side with the worst away record in the Championship arrived at Anfield in the fifth round of the FA Cup. With Liverpool sitting fifth in the Premier League, three points behind their city rivals Everton, and with a particularly tough draw in the Champions League against Inter, currently eleven points clear in Serie A, having not lost a game, this game had the increased significance of representing Liverpool’s best chance of winning something this season.

Although Rafa Benitez continued with his policy of squad rotation and left out Gerrard, Torres and Reina, arguably their three best players, he still selected a side that should have been easily good enough to see off the Barnsley challenge.

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So, where to start?

Do I lead in with Liverpool’s crushing defeat at home, or do I kickoff things with Manchester United’s demolition of Arsenal?

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Update - Second Leg Preview: Internazionale v Liverpool - Reds and Nerazurri prepare to paint San Siro with the colours of Europe.

Update - First Leg Match Reports: ‘Inter have it all to do as Liverpool finally find the killer touch‘ and
‘Liverpool overwhelm Inter with aggression, tactics and simulation‘.

The last few seasons have seen Inter Milan take a stranglehold over the rest of Italian football, as the Nerazzurri have won back to back Scudettos in the last two seasons, along with back to back Coppa Italia trophies in 2004-05 and 2005-06.

This season has been no different, as Inter appear to be well on their way to a third straight championship, and are in the Coppa Italia quarterfinals.

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So the see-saw that is the Premier League lead has swung back the way of Arsenal again after they became the first side this season to leave the City of Manchester Stadium with three league points, whilst their North London neighbours Tottenham apologized for humiliating them in the Carling Cup last month by halting the Manchester Utd Globetrotters with a 1-1 draw at White Hart Lane - although the ungrateful souls among Gunners fans may still manage a grumble about Juande Ramos’ side conceding an equaliser with literally the last kick of the match, via a combination of Carlos Tevez & Michael Dawson.

Behind them, Chelsea lost ground in third place as Jermain Defoe’s debut goal for Portsmouth denied Avram Grant’s side a club-record tenth successive victory after Nicolas Anelka had picked up his first league goal for the Blues.

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“This is our year…”

That’s a common claim made by Liverpool fans such as myself. Every time a new pre-season rolls around, thousands of optimistic Scousers decide that their side has finally managed to assemble a squad that can challenge at the top of the Premier League, that they have the right blend of defensive strength, midfield creativity and firepower up front after years of imbalance, that their new signing is indeed “the final piece of the jigsaw”.

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How things change…

When the Arabs and the Americans were jostling for position to take over Liverpool, the arguments raised against the Arabs were political - could you trust them, was their money legal, how did they treat their women and children, etc etc.

Sure, they looked at the financial aspects - no debts, plenty of money to buy new players, a business philosophy that insisted on creating the best possible team / company / project, and did I mention bags of money that could have helped finance Stanley Park and then some?

But all that got thrown out of the park and Liverpool went with the Yanks.

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According to many observers, Rafael Benitez does not know his best eleven. Well, perhaps we as the Liverpool fans we should put forward our suggestions and see which one is the most popular.

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The transfer window is open, and that means the rumors and news items are going to be flying off the wire with blistering speed for the next month.

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One of the root causes of the minor rift / disagreement between Rafa Benitez and the Liverpool owners was the status of Javier Mascherano.

To make a long story short, Rafa thinks that Liverpool need to pin down their star players as quickly as possible because over the past three years they have lost several prospects to their more illustrious rivals. The owners think it’s OK to wait another 5-6 months and then do the deal and are confident that Mascherano will want to stay.

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If you don’t care for Italian football, scroll far, far down, because there’s a lot of Serie A-based news forthcoming.

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Here are some notable quotes made during the past year. Each was stated by the named individual; however, my responses were created, and are not meant to represent the views of the individuals. Nor libel them in any way. This is both a factual and (hopefully) a light-hearted article.

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Anytime two of England’s biggest clubs face off, it makes for a must-see occasion.

But, today’s match at Anfield between north-west rivals Liverpool and Manchester United isn’t the only big ticket in England this weekend, as on Sunday, London rivals Arsenal and Chelsea battle it out at the Emirates Stadium.

Both clashes shape up to be pivotal in affecting the early-season standings, as the EPL’s ‘Big Four” are currently 1-4 in the current league table.

Arsenal - 37 points
Manchester United - 36 points
Chelsea - 34 points
Liverpool - 30 points

Aside from their excellence domestically, all four sides have qualified for the round of 16 in the Champions League for the third time in four years, with Manchester United and Chelsea topping their respective groups.

First billing goes to the showdown between the Reds and the Red Devils, and so without further ado, let’s kick off the preview of the match.

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It could easily all go horribly horribly wrong. At the start of the season, Liverpool were being touted as the team to win the English Premier League title and also to go on a great run in the UEFA Champions League but as we head into Christmas, things aren’t looking as rosy that they ought to have right now.

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Manchester United, Chelsea and Liverpool all are under foreign ownership but it is Liverpool who are supposed to have made the best deal. While Malcolm Glazier has shoved Man United to a debt of millions and no one is still not certain when Chelsea’s Russian billionaire owner Roman Abramovich would remove his hand of wealth from the club, Liverpool’s long-term future is secure with the takeover of the club in February last year by American tycoons George Gillett and Tom Hicks.

Or is it? Suddenly the club is appearing at a crossroad, once again. Hicks has been reported to be contemplating on selling his stake at the club and Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al-Maktoum is all to eager to have a second bite at the cherry. The Dubai-based Sheikh exhibited his interest in the club before Gillett and Hicks had launched their own bid and no sooner had the rumors surfaced in the football market that Hicks could be pulling himself away from the ownership of one of the most successful clubs in Europe than the Sheikh’s name has been drafted into the hat for another takeover.

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