Well, It’s Not Quite a Vote of Confidence, But It’s Close

Prepare your farewells for Rafa Benitez: the owners have revealed he will undergo an end-of-season review. Considering that at least two high-profile managers have signaled their intent/desire to return to the EPL, if I were the Spaniard I’d be a touch concerned. As a die-hard fan, I’m delighted. To go from signing a long-term contract extension to sitting through a review doesn’t exactly bode well, and when Hicks mentioned the other day about the summer being a big transfer window, you can bet that money won’t be in Rafa’s hands to spend.

I shall now mentally prepare myself for Guus Hiddink at Anfield.

What’s That Smell? Time’s Up Is What

Past 'sell by' date?

The thing about football managers is this, you can win everything but if the dry spell is long enough you have to go. Every manager has an expiration date and very few stay 20 years like Alex Ferguson.

Managers do well, then fail. Its football and happens at every club, in every country, across every division.  Ferguson is the exception in the sense that his name can sit next to maybe 4 or 5 others in history only. Just like real folk, managers change and their ideas, methods, relationships with people, attitudes and philosophies change too.

Eventually they just peak and there is no going back. Nigel Worthington took Norwich to a play off final, a title and a year in the Premier Legaue. Awesome times, but when we went back down, we believed he could bring us back. Nope, he had peaked with promotion and then began the slide back. Two years later and Norwich we were a mid-table Championship team again.

It’s like kicking a ball up a hill, eventually it stops and returns to where it came from. You have to recognize that point and kick the ball on again. In fact, managers are just like fruit, they peak and then expire, allowed to rot to the point where they look and smell so bad, people forget how good they once were.

READ MORE

Rafa’s Latest Challenge: Figuring Out How Loans Work

Benitez in a familiar pose

Rafa Benitez is a man easily upset these days. If it’s not beach balls, it’s referees not awarding penalties, or some other gameday irritation. However, his biggest career gripe has always been transfer funds, notably the lack of them.

Since joining Liverpool, owners have given him a decent amount of cash to splash when the windows are open, until last summer, when he was afforded barely enough cash to purchase Sotiros Kyrgiakos, a hackneyed, clearly bemused central defender from AEK Athens. His other signings, Alberto Aquilani and Glen Johnson, were paid for by the sale of Xabi Alonso, and it looks like this January, Rafa’s forced to sing off the same song sheet: loans, loans, loans, and maybe a couple of million to pick up a player out of favor elsewhere.

To further exacerbate his malaise, he’s not even been promised any money raised through sales. Imagine that! As if the task of getting back amid the Big 4 weren’t already challenging enough.

I can’t wait for his comments to the press about how the lack of transfer funds is dooming his squad, but more than that, I await the fallout.

Wild conspiracy time!

READ MORE

Rafa Unwittingly Reveals a Painless Way to Remove Him from His Job

Rafa and Nando: star-crossed, fates intertwin'd

Are you paying attention, Messrs. Hicks and Gillett? Your beleaguered, under-fire manager, Rafael Benitez, has shown you the blueprints to ousting him from his job without too much drama or blood on your hands. It’s quite simple: sell Torres, and Rafa will leave. “I’m confident it will never happen. If it did, I’d resign,” were his official words… no need to translate what he’s saying there, really.

Talk about killing two birds with one stone: a nice chunk of money towards debt payments, and a nice open manager’s chair for you to fill with whomever you please.

Of course, there’s a third bird lying dead in that exchange: something to do with the hopes and dreams of your club’s rabid fanbase, but we all know that the pains of the scarf-waving proletariat are far removed from the list of things you actually care about. READ MORE

Red And Buried?

Lose Torres for a month and Liverpool are done.

Liverpool currently have no less than TWELVE players sidelined through injury. Some may make it back by tomorrow night for the crucial Champions League tie with Lyon, but still, the treatment room is full and Liverpool’s lack of depth may see the results continue to aid an early end to another lost Liverpool title chase. Thanks Rafa, those of us who did NOT want to see Manchester Arabia in the top four are not at all pleased with you pal!

Fernando Torres has a hernia issue that may require surgery after tomorrows game and others on the injury list include Gerrard, Aquilani, Aurelio, Ngog, Skrtel, Cavalieri, Glen Johnson, Agger, Riera, Kelly and Phillip Degen.

Not looking good is it? Liverpool lose tomorrow night and they will be a likely early exit from the competition. Defeat would be their 7th in their last 8 outings and on the back of last weekend’s embarrassing defeat to Fulham to boot. Other notable losses recently include Fiorentina, Lyon, Sunderland (I know, I know) and Chelsea. How long does Rafa actually have? While he cannot be blamed for the injuries, he blew his entire summer budget on 2 players, one of which (Aquilani) arrived crocked and has not made any appearance worth mentioning.

Lose Torres to a hernia operation and at least a month (or two) on the sidelines and Liverpool can kiss any slim hope of recovering for a title challenge or progressing in Europe goodbye. Their lack of depth at key positions has been their achillies heel this year, highlighted by the injuries to key players such as Gerrard, Torres, Riera and Skrtel. The recent crisis has also shown exactly how important to Liverpool Gerrard and Torres actually are.

Currently Liverpool are 9 points away from Premiership leaders Chelsea, out of the League cup, and 3rd in their Champions League group, 6 points from leaders Lyon. 

Never mind Rafa, there’s always the FA Cup eh?  Liverpool seem to be good in that one, winning the worlds most famous domestic cup competition a whopping 7 times.

The Pundit: Liverpool learning to live without Xabi

Torres wasn't the only LFC player to struggle vs. Spurs

In a new weekly feature I hope to maintain every Monday, I’ll be taking a look at a game or two and the tactical nuances that serve as the difference between a win, loss or draw. After all, in a game of 90 minutes, it’s the little things that speak loudest.

ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE
Tottenham 2, Liverpool 1
The title-hopefuls from Anfield kicked off the season with a turgid, uninspired performance that rightly doomed them to defeat (though I swear that BAE shove was a penalty… but I digress. We didn’t deserve points). Spurs were superior for most of the game, controlling the pace and looking remarkably comfortable at the back for a team missing so many central defenders (a problem that Liverpool are now sure to face).

All summer we fretted and wondered about possibly losing Xabi Alonso, and once it finally happened, it became the biggest talking point. How can LFC thrive without his presence in the middle? Surely one player isn’t going to make or break a season (though, funnily enough, we’ve all been looking at Manchester United sans Ronaldo and wondering the same thing), is he?

Well, after our first real look at Rafa’s plans for this post-Alonso world, the writing on the wall isn’t particularly inspiring. READ MORE

Rafa Rants (again)

Make no mistake, I’m a homer.

As a Liverpool fan, I see the world through red-tinted shades. I regularly sip the cherry Kool-Aid. Without many exceptions, my rear end can be found parked squarely behind LFC whenever an issue that requires side-taking is raised.

That isn’t to say, however, that I possess an utterly blind faith, lack reason or operate within a reality-distortion sphere. I enjoy thinking for myself and am rather capable of it, thank you very much.

Now, I genuinely like Rafa Benitez. I fully trust in his ability to lead Liverpool and shape its future for the better. I also believe he can and will lead us to the Premier League title. Yet, when Rafa Benitez starts sounding off, I have to take whatever words come out of his mouth with a sizable pinch of salt.

His out-of-the-blue (but ultimately, dead-on) attack on Sir Alex Ferguson this past winter is well documented. There have also been more than a few dust-ups with Gillett and Hicks. If you’ve ever listened to a Rafa Benitez press conference, its obvious he’s not afraid to make his feelings known, although often in a passive-aggressive manner.

Like an uncle you know is going to get drunk and take his pants off at any given family event, I’ve come to expect this petulant behavior from Rafa. While I won’t make excuses for it, I’m not embarrassed — it’s just part and parcel, a small price to pay for the greater good.

One of my favorite Rafa Benetiz press conference ‘moves’ comes when a reporter asks a question Rafa doesn’t want to answer; He’ll just answer with a non-sequitar.

“Rafa, what do have you say about Manager X’s comments about your possible pursuit of Player Y?”

“Yes, I am very happy with the way the team is training. We look forward to the opportunity to get three points tomorrow.”

So, it’s not shocking that Rafa has struck out once again, this time focusing on a former transfer target, Gareth Barry. (seriously, we all thought that story was done and buried…. please?)

Like a lover still scorned, Rafa hit out at the England international for choosing Man City over Liverpool this summer:

At this level everyone earns big money. The question is do you make the right decisions and do what is best for your career? If it’s just for money sometimes you will make mistakes and I’ve been surprised by some decisions this summer – like Barry. I won’t say too much but it was clearly 100% for money. The most important thing for me, though, is the passion of the players.

MEEEEE-OW.

Then, in practically the same breath, Rafa does his best Clint Eastwood Squint of Warning towards the summer’s most coveted central midfield pair, Xabi Alonso and Javier Mascherano:

Don’t forget we signed Alonso from Real Sociedad when nobody knew about him and we renewed his contract two years ago, so he was happy then, and you know what happened with Mascherano at West Ham before we brought him here. Both players owe a lot to Liverpool. They owe Liverpool some loyalty and they both know that.

Sounds a lot like “I took you into this world, I sure as hell can take you out!” Thanks, Mom.

There are those who will say Rafa’s propensity for foaming at the mouth hurts his team, but I’m not buying. While the recent spat with SAF coincided nicely with Liverpool’s surrender at the summit, the mental make-up of a top-notch professional squad has to be stronger than that. Especially when they should be used to hearing this song & dance by now.

Quite honestly, I’d like to see Rafa press conferences expanded to include topics completely unrelated to the footballing world.

“Rafa, do you think about the global attention devoted to the death of Michael Jackson?”

“For me, the most important thing is having a well-rounded breakfast. You cannot find success throughout the day if you do not start that day off correctly, no?”

“Rafa, your thoughts on the recent elections and unrest in Iran?

“In my home, we have the satelitte television. I am very happy with the package we have subscribed to. It gives us options, which is good. Maybe too many options?”

And the wind cries… Rafa

Well, that’s that. Something about how all the jacks are in their boxes, whether the wind will ever remember the names it has blown in the past, oh, and brooms drearily sweeping the remnants of yesterday’s life.

The EPL was decided in that most thrilling of fashions, a 0-0 draw that United really could/should have lost, and we must all drag our attention to August, where the excitement and optimism of new signings still makes us all thing our teams are going to win the league. This is the year, this is it, I can feel it… etc etc ad nauseam.

And in a bid to keep the journos busy over the summer, Rafa Benitez couldn’t resist another jab or two. Which is weird, as I always thought it was the winners that got to do this kind of thing.

So what did he do exactly? Something very becoming of a high-schooler, or maybe even Tracey Flick. He refused to congratulate Alex Ferguson! He wouldn’t give him credit! He was smug! Et cetera!

Asked whether he would congratulate Ferguson in the wake of their 18th League title, Benítez, who had gone public with his grievances with the United manager in January with his infamous list of “facts”, replied: “I will say congratulations to Manchester United.” Not Sir Alex? “Ah, done well,” said the Spaniard begrudgingly, “but I prefer to say congratulations to Manchester United; good club, big club.”

It is protocol for the manager that finishes runners-up to send a letter of congratulations to his triumphant counterpart but Benítez gave little indication he will have a pen in his hand over the next few days when he was asked if he would write to Ferguson. “I have had normally to be polite and to respect the other manager at the end of the season. He has said a lot of things that I didn’t like. I say congratulations to Man United because they have won and that’s it.”

(When added to his refusal to admit United are that much better, it makes for hilarious reading)

At least the Spaniard is consistent. I mean, does SAF really give a toss? He’s sitting home with his silver polish while Senor Benitez is gorging on paella and figuring out which left-back to purchase in the summer.

Don’t get me wrong here; I love Rafa, in large part because this season, despite ending trophyless again, has been the closest to something resembling progress during his tenure. Trending up, they call it, and no, I’m not delusional. Though we crashed and burned in domestic cups early, we’re on course to finish second, something I don’t think we’ve managed this century.

There’s all the statistical rubbish about finishing within 10 points of the champs for the first time in ages, as well as the wonderful record against United, Arsenal and Chelsea (4 wins, 2 draws, having beaten none of ‘em since the Benitez era began).

Still, we finished second, we faltered in February with that agonizing run of draws, and if ever there was a time to be contrite and quiet, it might be that first presser after those c*nts at Old Trafford hoisted the title. I give him mild credit for trying to maintain some drama in the league.

Which brings me to that nagging question: when is Jose Mourinho coming back to the EPL?

Breaking: Rafa Signs New 4 Year Deal

The Red Scouse long nightmare is finally over. Rafa has signed a new four year deal, keeping at Anfield for at least another 5 years, theoretically.

“My heart is with Liverpool Football Club, so I’m delighted to sign this new deal,” said Rafa. “I love the club, the fans and the city and with a club like this and supporters like this, I could never say no to staying. I always made clear I wanted to be here for a long time and when I complete my new contract it will mean I have spent over a decade in Liverpool.

Big giant hattip to ONTD Football for the info.

UF Quick Throw: Rafa Out at Anfield?

At least one bookie thinks so:

William Hill has suspended betting on Liverpool manager Rafael Benítez leaving the club before the weekend. A spokesman for the bookmakers said they were told by a source that the deadline for the Spaniard to sign his new contract had passed and that he would therefore be gone by the weekend.

“There were too many calls for it to be just a rumour,” said the spokesman, but sources in Spain claimed that they did not believe the Liverpool manager would be leaving his position any time soon.

Oh wait, that’s two bookies. SkyBet isn’t taking any more action on it either.

Some Liverpool Fans Need A Slap Of Reality.

So Liverpool are starting to choke. Recent draws with Stoke, Evrton and Wigan have seen the club’s attempt at the EPL title start to slip away. Many Liverpool fans are calling for Rafa Benitez’s head.

Those people are ungrateful gobshites. Do Liverpool have a divine right to top the table?

When I was listening to the superb 606 podcast on Thursday morning from Wednesday night’s show with Tim Lovejoy, the overwhelming amount of callers demanding Rafa’s immediate dismissal made me spit out my coffee. Could the fans of Liverfourth really be unhappy with the prospect of coming second or third this year? Could they really want Rafa out? The venom and rage turned my ears red… I thought I’d share a few with you.

“I’m absolutely flabbergasted today, Benitez does not have a clue, we are not gonna win the title until this man gets out of the club. Robbie Keane, he spends 20 million on him and he sits him on the bench today. That man hasn’t got a clue. I’m so frustrated. Robbie Keane is a striker who’ll get you goals. Lucas should not be wearing a Liverpool shirt. We are playing negative.”- Tim from Liverpool.

Basically, it’s time for Rafa Benitez to go. He’s dropped so many points, I agree with Tim, Lucas is a waste of space and the manager hasn’t got a clue at all. Basically the sooner he goes the better.- Colin, Liverpool fan.

“Where do you find these callers Tim. Sack Benitez? You gotta be kidding. He has put Liverpool on the map. We are all disappointed, we might have blown it, who knows. But you cant sack the manager for that.”- Stuart, Liverpool fan.

“I tell you what Tim, I’ve been a Liverpool fan my whole life and the feeling I’m getting with Rafa Benitez is the same feeling I had when Gerard Houllier started losing the plot. The decisions he is making, he has destroyed the teams confidence. How must Ryan Babel feel, yeah? When he watches a player called Dirk Kuyt picked in front of him on the pitch.” – Tim, Liverpool fan from London.

“When it comes to the Premiership the man hasn’t got a clue. It’s an absolute disgrace what he’s done to Keane” -Patrick, Ireland.

Don’t get me wrong, I think Rafa has a few screws loose, and blew this season’s title hopes when he spent 24 hours researching Alex Ferguson’s history with referees a day before playing Stoke.

I also think he takes tinkering to a new level: Liverpool rotate their players more often than Walmart rotates the milk. But neither of these deficiencies deserve the man the sack.

Many of the complainers say Keane should be playing, but he has only scored 5 goals this season after costing 20 million. So Rafa should start a player who is under-performing? How does that help you win the Premier league?

Answer me this Liverpool fans: where were you in 2005? Fifth.

Benitez has delivered two third places and one fourth place finish in the last four years and currently has Liverpool in joint second place. He has taken you to the Champions League final TWICE, winning Europe’s greatest prize AND he has won the FA Cup. All while the club deals with take-overs and an unknown, unstable future at the hands of a pair of twits from Texas.

A second- or third-placed finish this year is progress for a man who has to compete with the riches of Chelsea and United, two teams that can splash 30 million pounds on a single player.

You ungrateful scouse bastards, you! Most fans would herald such progress with hurrahs and praise! But no, you inhaled the fresh air at the top of the mountain and now you have the divine right to win the league.

No manager is perfect, all of them do one thing well and an other badly. Some are just plain crap and others learn and grow in the job, slowly building. Rafa fits in with the latter description. Rafa has taken you from a sleeping side to a European heavyweight and Premiership contender, but still you are not happy Liverpool fans. Winning the title this year is clearly a step too soon for you and this squad, but actually competeing for it is progress for sure. Another step to really challenging United and replacing Chelsea as the country’s second-best team.

Sacking Benitez would be a disaster. The progress is clear for all to see, except for Liverpool fans. Shame on you Liverpudlians. What happened to the realistic, loyal red army that treated success with a grateful humility? Appreciation for success? The Rafa banners? You have become Chelsea fans overnight, expecting a title and place in the CL final. Demanding success.

If I’d offered you second place at this stage of the season back in August, you’d have bitten my arm off. Instead you choose to bite the arm of the hand that feeds you. Fickle feckers.

Wonder if you will change your tune with a win over Chelsea this Sunday?

-Bigus.

Rafa Benitez stands his ground!

As if the Gerrard incident wasn’t enough of a distraction (according to the media, anyway), more clouds are looming at Anfield as Rafa decided this morning to reject his contract extension, presenting a neat prepared statement explaining his decision (unlike his scrappy, scribbled tirade against Fergie last week).

This will be cleared up soon, I hope, but it doesn’t change the fact that we could be in for another long standoff between manager and owner, the likes of which finished off Jose Mourinho, a superb manager, at Stamford Bridge.

Let’s hear it from Rafa first, shall we?

“The owners feel that the manager’s decisions need to be subject to the chief executive but I know that I am subject to results and to our fans and they are the best judges I will ever have. I have a lot of experience in football at different clubs and if you do not have a technical director and you are the manager you have to have control of the football decisions. But always within the confines of a budget which is controlled by the owners and the club.

In this scenario the manager knows the amount of money he has available to him and can decide how much he should spend on each player according to the needs of the team. The only person who can decide the value of a player to his squad is the manager because he knows what elements are needed to improve the squad.

My relationship with the owners is better than people think. I have regular contact with them and especially with Tom Hicks who has always been very supportive. The talks between my agent and the advisers of the owners have been very positive and friendly and our differences are about my responsibilities.”

What he’s asking for isn’t much, but conversely, it’s a lot to ask for within the context of the modern-day EPL. He wants more control, something I think he’s earned over the course of his time there (contrast his power struggle against the relative ease with which ‘Arry Redknapp, the game’s flightiest manager in history, grabbed full control of Tottenham Hotspur), and the owners are reluctant to give it out.

As American sports owners, the GM/Coach system makes sense to them. It’s one they inherited when taking over the club, and it’s one they aim to maintain. In that system, they’re insulated from shouldering the brunt of the blame, as they can fire the coach and let the GM take the full force of media scrutiny. Shit, it’s not like they’re in charge of anything at the very top. That’s why they hire their GM to do it all for them!

So they’re covered on the bad side, and if they are successful, all the praise is shared around, and they seek kudos for their foresight in hiring a wonderful GM who then hired a wonderful manager, something they knew their GM would do, and thus everyone’s a winner.

Thank god this system is finally being resisted, although at what cost? Hicks and Gillett remain in charge while we stumble aimlessly with a scorned manager? You’d think that a half-season at the top of the league might grease their wheels a little.

(It’s worth pointing out that this system, once used all over Europe, is being dismantled virtually everywhere. Spurs don’t do the Director of Football bollocks any more, and big La Liga clubs are realizing it doesn’t work also.)

While Lerner and the Glazers let their managers control everything, definitely an honor Ferguson and O’Neill have earned as a result of long and successful careers, Rafa Benitez is once again forced to beg for his supper. They made him beg for Torres, they made him beg time and again for Barry, and now, he has a chance to stand up for himself.

If managers are to be crucified for their failures (see: Keane, Keegan, Ince, Curbishley), then they should be beatified for their successes. Rafa’s turned the perennial 4th place team into something different this season, perhaps even a second- or third-placed team, but he’s still begging and pleading with the middleman and his overlords like he’s a relegation-threatened manager looking for a life raft.

The need for a mandate at a club like Liverpool is essential; you can’t be left to manage the club when you’re cut off from decision-making at every important junction. The Glazers have the sense to leave SAF to it, as do owners at virtually every other major club, so why are Hicks and Gillett being so different? OH, right, it’s because they like to swing their dicks around whenever the mood suits them, just to remind everyone who’s really in charge. Meanwhile, they make the transatlantic flight once every 6 weeks to see a game, and are virtually absent the rest of the time.

It’s a sad state of affairs, and one that I hope is rectified soon. He’s not asking for much. Benitez wants to manage there well into the next decade and try to build the club back up into being a consistent force at the top of the league.

However, he can’t do that with one hand tied behind his back while a middleman holds the rope.

[Apparently Hicks is singing the right tune today as well, but there's still a ways to go. I get the feeling Rafa won't sign unless he gets what he's looking for.]

Head Games

Very few things in life are certain. After death & taxes, the list of certainties (like my patience for C Ronaldo) is short. But, among those gleaming truths is the fact that Alex Ferguson will attempt to play mind games with his opponents. And over the past few weeks, in between whines about United’s schedule, he’s doled out some well-measured dollops of psychological poison by suggesting Liverpool don’t have the bottle to win the Premier League.

Love him or hate him, the man knows what he’s doing. (see Keegan, Kevin)

For too long, SAF has acted like the schoolyard bully, roughing up whomever he wishes for their lunch money. Unfortunately, save a few top men (see Mourinho, Jose), very few seem eager to go toe-to-toe with the boot-kicker.

Yet, today that may have changed.

Ahead of his team’s meeting with Stoke, Rafa Benitez fired off a volley towards to the red-nosed Scot during his pre-match press conference on Friday. When asked about SAF’s comments on a possible Liverpool choke, the Spaniard ratcheted up his rhetoric towards his rival manager.

Within seconds of the posed question, Rafa pulled out a sheet of paper and rattled off a number of ‘facts’ about Sir Alex’s behavior towards the referees and his whinging about the schedule. While reaction to Rafa’s ‘tirade’ has been predictably mixed, it certainly was amusing.

Watch Benitez’s diatribe here.
Or, if you live like a savage and can’t watch video, here’s the text.

My personal favorite excerpt, on SAF’s unhappiness with the schedule:

“Or there is another option. That Mr Ferguson organises the fixtures in his office and sends it to us and everyone will know and cannot complain. That is simple.”

Now, as a Liverpool fan, I’m eating this up. It’s like watching the bully demand milk money for the hundredth time, but this time his target reaches into his pocket and responds with a punch in the nose. Others think this is exactly what SAF wants and that Rafa blew his lid. (hardly)

Nonetheless, it’s fun to watch and should give the title run-in just that much more juice. It’ll be interested to see how the crusty old manager responds.

UF Quick Throw: Let the mindgames begin!

Normally Fergie is first to open his mouth (normally only long enough to take breaths in-between swigging from the whisky bottle), but Rafa’s trying his hand at this psycho-babble, and early too! (Though if Jose were still in the league, he’d have started back in September).

So Rafa thinks his side need a miracle to win the EPL. Brutal, shocking honesty? Headgames with his rivals? Attempts to temper expectations ahead of the xmas break? You decide.

[Guardian UK]