Rafa interview in FourFourTwo

[Jairzinho]

A player like Masch would not get into one of Liverpool's title winning teams because of his lack of ability on the ball and limited passing ability.

 

 

Barcelona signed him off us.

[brucespanner]

Does anyone know if Alonso played against the mancs in 09? Anyone?

 

Wasn't that when his wife was giving birth? So unfuckingprofessional of him.

[Kevin D]

He didn't admit to all of them though, the interview only lasted 6 hours.

 

Haha. Quality.

[Jairzinho]

He didn't admit to all of them though, the interview only lasted 6 hours.

 

[Scottish Steve]

Wasn't that when his wife was giving birth? So unfuckingprofessional of him.

 

Na, it was inter Milan away when his wife gave birth. Lucas stepped in at the 11th hour and did alright. Think he was injured for the game at OT

[brucespanner]

Na, it was inter Milan away when his wife gave birth. Lucas stepped in at the 11th hour and did alright. Think he was injured for the game at OT

 

Don't talk facts! it'll cause a whole load of trouble.

[Gym Beglin]

Is this turning into a Xabi Alonso thread?

 

£30m was more than enough for him, he's terribly one-dimensional.

People assert that Rafa never replaced him, but many of these same people laud the virtues of Lucas as the 'deep lying playmaker'.

Can't have it both ways, either Lucas is good enough to replace Xabi or he isn't, which is it?

[silverlining]

Is this turning into a Xabi Alonso thread?

 

£30m was more than enough for him, he's terribly one-dimensional.

People assert that Rafa never replaced him, but many of these same people laud the virtues of Lucas as the 'deep lying playmaker'.

Can't have it both ways, either Lucas is good enough to replace Xabi or he isn't, which is it?

 

Nobody thinks Lucas is good enough to replace Xabi, and nobody has ever described Lucas as a "deep lying playmaker" either, because he isn't one.

[ChrisM]

People assert that Rafa never replaced him, but many of these same people laud the virtues of Lucas as the 'deep lying playmaker'.

 

Really?

[Gym Beglin]

Alonso was horribly overrated, and still is.

Great player mind, but not irreplaceable, and plenty of holes in his game for a central midfielder.

Pace, height, goals, strength. Any of these would have been useful.

Busquets ticks a few of them boxes. As does Yaya Toure, Schweinsteiger, Martinez, Modric, Mascherano, just off the top of my head.

Alex Song and Essien would also be ahead of Xabi normally, but have really dipped in the last 12 months.

Sandro looked to be going that way, seems to have dropped off the radar at Spurs, injured?

[ChrisM]

Alonso was horribly overrated, and still is.

Great player mind, but not irreplaceable, and plenty of holes in his game for a central midfielder.

Pace, height, goals, strength. Any of these would have been useful.

Busquets ticks a few of them boxes. As does Yaya Toure, Schweinsteiger, Martinez, Modric, Mascherano, just off the top of my head.

Alex Song and Essien would also be ahead of Xabi normally, but have really dipped in the last 12 months.

Sandro looked to be going that way, seems to have dropped off the radar at Spurs, injured?

 

You're really shit at this WUM stuff.

[Gym Beglin]

Oh go on.

No, seriously, I don't rate Xabi anywhere near as highly as other people.

About as highly as Rafa rated him when trying to get Gareth Barry in, that's how poor Xabi is capable of being.

In a great team, he's great.

He can be dominated physically, that's my problem with him in the Premiership.

[Jonny83]

I think Rafa was a good manager, but I always thought his attempted sale of Xabi was a mistake.

 

Attempted sale, because he didn't want to 12 months later, Xabi handed in a transfer request.

 

But had Xabi stayed, would any of our other assets have been stripped by our esteemed former owners instead?

[Gym Beglin]

But Xabi needed that kick up the arse, we would never had had such a good season unless Rafa had shocked him like that.

Summer 2008 was massive for Xabi, not that he'd ever admit it. He was dropped from the Spanish national team for Euro 2008, and then Rafa tried to sell him. He then realised how he'd been slipping and he put more effort in. Lo and behold, he was loved by Rafa once more.

Nothing wrong with that. I'd have been more disappointed with Rafa had he ignored Xabi's last two seasons, which were average compared to the his season in England. And that suggests that it was his attitude rather than his ability. He already proved in his first season that he had the ability, so to go on and post two inferior seasons, it was a bit of a piss take to be honest, especially when compared to his final season.

 

Rafa got two things wrong, two main things anyway, and that was the purchases of Aquilani and Keane.

However, without wishing to sound biased, there were mitigating factors as to how we ended up with those two.

 

Rafa thought we had Barry. He believed it, he had worked on the deal for a long while and when push came to shove, he chose City. We were left high and dry and only had £20m of the £30m to reinvest in Xabi's replacement.

Problem being that Xabi left us on 7th August. In the scheme of things, it was quite late, clubs don't fancy losing their top stars so close to the start of a new season.

Aquilani was available, and Rafa took a punt on him.

And he's a top, top player. One need only look at the clubs who have taken him on, Juventus and AC Milan, to see that he's still highly thought of. In fact, already at AC Milan he's scored a goal and made two assists, in two league games.

So I don't hold it against Rafa that we bought him as a Xabi replacement, it just never worked out. Same with Veron at United, or Crespo at Chelsea, it just wasn't right for the player or the club, but it was very hard to know that until you tried it.

 

As for Robbie Keane. Again, I liked him. Liked him, not loved him, but saw that he had something about him which would have helped up win tight games.

What then happened to him, I have no fucking idea. Let's be honest, I'm looking forward to his, or rafa's, autobiographies.

To sell him so soon...it was madness. But Rafa is not mad, not like that, there was definitely something more to it.

[N'Gog I Trust]

It would be awesome if Rafa came back to us as head coach. Kenny to handle the man management/ motivation side, and Rafa handling the tactics, match prep etc, we would be unstoppable.

[Gym Beglin]

I think you've got to learn to be more diplomatic about how you say something like that.

 

I don't want Kenny gone, he's brilliant for this club now, and I mean now, not just based on him being a legend. His media control is amazing.

However, I don't hide the fact I didn't want Kenny to come back to the job.

The main reason being that the modern pressures are so intense, and modern fans so fickle, so that I thought he was above it, that he should stay in the background and let someone else take the shit that flies at you.

Kenny retired with a pretty amazing record, both as a player and a manager, and I never wanted to see him step back into the club as manager while the likes of United and City were around, it was never going to end well. And, of course, the more he spends, the more pressure is heaped on him by both the media, the club owners, and the fans.

 

Rafa was perfect because he could take the pressure, he didn't care about mistakes, he just got on with it, just turned the page. I kind of liked us being hated as well, it meant we were going places, I don't like cosying up to these wanker media outlets. Not that Kenny does it on purpose, but they all like us again now Kenny is back and doing his thing.

 

I think, also, that they as a double act were very good. Kenny in the background and chatting up targets, while Rafa coached the team. If you added Comolli in, then it would be brilliant. Comolli identifying targets, Kenny working on them, and working on the youngsters, and Rafa dealing with the first team.

 

But, people are going to take that as meaning that Kenny isn't a good manager. That's not my point at all. My point is that Rafa was the sacrificial lamb when this club was on it's knees, and there was no way he deserved that, and I've been disgusted by the attitude towards Rafa from fans. It's not that they've been nasty, but more that they've been so dismissive of his contribution, and the way he was bundled out of the door.

 

At the same time, I'm realistic, and too much water has now passed under the bridge. The owners will be very aware of Rafa, and will have had theirs ears bent by people within the club who didn't like him. The old 'too many overpaid, understrength' players will point back to him, despite only a couple of the 'shite' players being from his tenure (Degen, El Zhar, Aquilani).

There's no way he would get offered back, unless, and it's a huge unless, someone like Kenny asked the owners himself.

But judging by Kenny's comments about Rafa after he left ("his time had come to an end"...or something along those lines), then I very much doubt that.

[Brownie]

This place is crazy.

[Bobby Hundreds]

The sacrificial lamb!

[Gym Beglin]

Yes, the sacrificial lamb to appease the baying crowd.

Nevermind that Torres was injured, or Gerrard had a fucking stinking season, or that Carragher was playing games behind his back, it was obviously all Rafa's fault because he was 'too cold'.

I'm looking forward to seeing Kenny try to 'man-manage' Gerrard's groin, or Carragher's lack of pace.

[silverlining]

It would be awesome if Rafa came back to us as head coach. Kenny to handle the man management/ motivation side' date=' and Rafa handling the tactics, match prep etc, we would be unstoppable.[/quote']

 

If the internet was scratch and sniff, your post would smell like lunacy.

[Bobby Hundreds]

Edit: me wants no part of this actually.

[Gym Beglin]

No, once you're in, you're in.

Bobby Hundreds was here.

 

You can edit your own posts, but you can't edit mine.

[mypost]

As for Robbie Keane. Again, I liked him. Liked him, not loved him, but saw that he had something about him which would have helped up win tight games.

What then happened to him, I have no fucking idea.

To sell him so soon...it was madness.

 

He was dropped, then sold after scoring 3 in 2 games.

 

I'm not going to contest the Alonso quotes. We know what happened, and we know Rafa was wrong. Unfortunately for the rest of us, he only realised that 12 months later.

[Liverpool lad]

I want him to return and we can change the club's name to Rafa Benitez FC

 

He has gone, get over it

[stringvest]

It would be awesome if Rafa came back to us as head coach. Kenny to handle the man management/ motivation side' date=' and Rafa handling the tactics, match prep etc, we would be unstoppable.[/quote']

 

That statement is so dense it's got it's own gravitational pull.