Rafa interview in FourFourTwo

[chauncey]

As stated, the reason these threads follow the same narrative is whenever criticism/praise is doled out to Benitez your usual band of turboscousers arrive to 'correct the balance'. From what I've read on these boards over the years I'd like to believe these guys are not motivated by ignorance and, dare I say it, xenophobia. Unfortunately I can't.

 

They're a fucking disgrace.

 

But you see, it isn't.

 

If you're spending money on Keane, Riera, Dossena and Aquilani and getting fuck all value from it, you deserve to be held accountable for that.

 

Yes TH and GG where cancers that needed to be cut out, but to completely absolve Benitez of any accountability just didn't make any sense to me.

 

They all needed to be removed, every last one of them. The only thing I regret is that Benitez didn't go after the owners did. Because they all needed to go.

 

Yeah, including Carra. In for a penny, in for a pound.

[chauncey]

"It's about time our own fans started showing Hodgson just some respect, not only has this 'journeyman' convinced SG and FT to stay, he's managed to convince Joe Cole to up sticks and move here. He's also struck up a rapport with Purslow and etc and it seems the players he wants, are the players he gets. He has been able to talk the talk so far, and it remains to be seen if he can walk the walk.

 

But signs are promising, I like Roy Hodgson, I think he's an honest manager and he has integrity. I'm really pleased he's our manager.

 

He's buying safe players for testing times"

 

*wheezes and collapses*

 

*drops to knees*

 

In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Shiiiiiiiiiii-

[goatboy59]

Love Alonso Hyypia Torres Garcia Henchoz Mascherano Kuyt Suarez Arbeloa Agger Reina Riise Smicer Lucas Sissoko Babbel Dudek,

 

Hate Benitez.

[chauncey]

ITT: xenophobes.

[Kevin D]

"In Hodgson I trust"

 

Ahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!

 

You see, Ant, I've never read your blog before, but when I posted the other day that you are "wrong about everything, all of the time" I was actually 100% correct.

 

You are.

 

All of your opinions are now null and void. Any point you try to make will be obfuscated forever by that sentence. Every utterance you make is simply....irrelevant.

 

"In Hodgson I trust"

 

You weapon.

 

If this was boxing, right about here is where a good referee would stop the fight.

[Gym Beglin]

In 2008/09 our typical starting line-up was...

 

Reina (bought by Rafa)

Arbeloa (bought by Rafa)

Carragher

Skrtel (bought by Rafa)

Mascherano (bought by Rafa)

Alonso (bought by Rafa)

Kuyt (bought by Rafa)

Gerrard

Riera (bought by Rafa)

Torres (bought by Rafa)

 

Come on, it's a fucking terrific team, terrific. It's a million times better than the team we currently have.

People who say Dossena and Riera were shit need their heads testing, two cracking players, albeit two players who likely would have been sold on the next year regardless, for various off the field reasons.

 

 

Come 2009/10, it fell apart.

Our starting XI was...

 

Reina

Johnson

Carragher

Agger

Insua

Mascherano

Lucas

Kuyt

Benayoun

Gerrard

Torres

 

Some massive downgrades, from Alonso to Lucas, from Aurelio to Insua, and from Gerrard into the invisible man.

Couldn't replace Aurelio, couldn't afford it.

Couldn't replace Alonso with £14m plus add-ons, which is what Aquilani cost.

Had Gareth Barry signed for us instead of City, none of this would have been as much of an issue and Rafa may well still be here as manager today.

Gerrard had the worst season ever in 2009/10. It really doesn't help, it would have been more helpful if he'd been injured, at least we could have played someone else who may have given a fuck.

 

Summer of 2009 was an absolute shit-house. We had a thin squad as it was, but losing Alonso, Arbeloa, Hyypia all at once was a nightmare. Rafa was to 'blame' in one of those cases, but not the other two. And lest you forget, Rafa begged Xabi to stay that Summer because he knew he needed stability at that point. Losing Hyypia and Arbeloa was massive, Johnson was new but he would need time to bed in, and only £2m to replace Hyypia, it was a wild gamble on Krygiakos but what the fuck else are you going to do with £2m?

 

We did shit in the league, but it was deserved.

But it was the cups that got Rafa the sack. Losing in the third round of the FA Cup to Reading, and out of the Carling Cup in the fourth round to Arsenal, we also spectacularly flopped out of the CL after meeting a randomly good Fiorentina side in the group stages (who later went on to do fuck all, ever) and we succumbed to Atletico Madrid in the Europa League semi's.

 

But along the way, during the season, there were glimmers of hope, some great results...

 

Liverpool 3-0 Lille

Liverpool 4-1 Benfica

Liverpool 2-1 Atletico Madrid

Liverpool 4-0 Stoke

Liverpool 6-1 Hull

Liverpool 2-0 Man United

Everton 0-2 Liverpool

Aston Villa 0-1 Liverpool

Liverpool 2-0 Spurs

Liverpool 1-0 Everton

Liverpool 3-0 Sunderland

Liverpool 3-0 West Ham

Burnley 0-4 Liverpool

 

Our away form was fucking degrading. Borne of many options, but the injuries to Gerrard and Torres were fatal, as was Riera's implosion. We suddenly had fuck all way of finding a way through stubborn teams, allied with a weakened defence, and the loss of Alonso, we were a sitting duck.

[Jairzinho]

You can pick up any post from any person.

 

I hold my hands up to being wrong.

 

But anyway.

 

Hodgson was sound

 

Benitez was a tit.

 

You can't possibly be real.

[moof]

"Hodgson was sound."

 

I can scarcely believe what i'm reading.

[ngogswilly]

Ant, cant tell if your on a wind up or not. But... Hodgson was sound... Rafa was a tit. I don't mind your opinion on rafa. Lord knows he made enough mistakes. But Roy is sound? If you are serious you are the most wrong anyone has ever been on this forum.

[ChrisM]

But it was the cups that got Rafa the sack. Losing in the third round of the FA Cup to Reading, and out of the Carling Cup in the fourth round to Arsenal, we also spectacularly flopped out of the CL after meeting a randomly good Fiorentina side in the group stages (who later went on to do fuck all, ever) and we succumbed to Atletico Madrid in the Europa League semi's.

 

Are you related to Ant?

[ChrisM]

So we finished seventh (7th), missing out on qualifying for the Champions League and all the prestige and money that brings, but Benitez got sacked for losing in the semi-final of the Europa, to the eventual winners.

 

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOkay.

[dirty_sanchez]

Love Alonso Hyypia Torres Garcia Henchoz Mascherano Kuyt Suarez Arbeloa Agger Reina Riise Smicer Lucas Sissoko Babbel Dudek,

 

Hate Benitez.

 

No-one loves Riise, the one footer ginger cunthook.

 

Apart from Norwegians.

[Jairzinho]

What I like about Roy Hodgson is that, along with Sam Allarydce, he's such a ridiculous spastic that he has actually exceeded the levels of cuntishness found in his parodies.

 

"To get a result here – against Everton – would have been Utopia."

 

"I don’t understand questions about Liverpool and Fulham players being different types"

 

You couldn't make it up.

[Scousa Tomo]

In 2008/09 our typical starting line-up was...

 

Reina (bought by Rafa)

Arbeloa (bought by Rafa)

Carragher

Skrtel (bought by Rafa)

Mascherano (bought by Rafa)

Alonso (bought by Rafa)

Kuyt (bought by Rafa)

Gerrard

Riera (bought by Rafa)

Torres (bought by Rafa)

 

Come 2009/10, it fell apart.

Our starting XI was...

 

Reina

Johnson

Carragher

Agger

Insua

Mascherano

Lucas

Kuyt

Benayoun

Gerrard

Torres

 

I think the second team is stronger, it has 11 players in it after all.

 

[moof]

Isn't it funny that you proclaim to be sitting on the fence judging by the style of your posts but you say the people who questioned his motives for certain things into question are the ones with an "agenda" while the people who try and justify EVERY single thing he did are they just misunderstood ickle lambs are they?

 

When people try and justify the signing of Philip fucking Degen for instance earlier in the thread then if you can't say they have an agenda without a straight face then there is nothing more can be said really. Quite clear where your priorities lie isn't it.

 

I think it's pretty clear that you hate the man, you're trying to drag his name through the dirt. I'd call that an agenda.

 

People calling him a con artist, and generally bad mouthing and belittling everything he has done because he sold Xabi Alonso have an agenda.

 

I've not seen anyone here trying to justify everything he did and I certainly am not justifying every single thing he did, what most people here are doing is being subjective.

 

Not every scenario has a "black" and a "white", like when he aligned himself with Tom Hicks. I've already offered my opinion on why he may not have been "wrong" or "right" but simply making do with the hand he was dealt. You implied it was a political manoeuvre for personal gain, again, i'd call that an agenda. Based in nothing but an interpretation of his contractual position and not considering any other facts, i.e Parry was a fucking moron.

 

The Degen signing was an abomination, all i've seen in this thread is people suggesting he may have been a regular at Boroussia Dortmund. Which is perfectly acceptable. 60 odd apps in 2 years before he got injured is regular enough isn't it?

 

You're so polarised in your opinion that it really fucking grates on people who like the man, who thought he was a good manager, who thinks he loves the city and it's people, who believe he always tried to do what's best for the club.

 

Ultimately, under the circumstances, he wasn't good enough. He paid for that with his job, and he'll possibly never recover from that.

 

Oh yeah, and he's gone. Maybe it's time you, me and the rest of the people adding to this pointless debate got over it.

[Gym Beglin]

Nice. Think it was Aurelio, believe it or not, who made the most appearances as left back that season.

 

Still, there's no denying that Rafa suffered one bad season, and was sacked for one bad season. But the reasons behind having a bad season are not as clear cut as "he lost it", or "he bought wank players".

If you buy into those sort of comments then me and you have no further business talking to each other, you're not worthy of serious discussion.

Every manager buys shit players from time to time, it's not a reason to sack someone and it's not a reason why a team underperforms as a whole.

And I haven't even started to mention Carragher and his contract yet.

 

This club will rue the day we got rid of Benitez, he was the best thing to happen to our club for years.

[Scousa Tomo]

As far as Rafa goes no matter what your opinon of him is he deserves respect, if not for the trophies then definately for the things he did for HJC and others. If you dont give him that respect then your a cunt and not a red, probably not a human.

[Bobby Hundreds]

As far as Rafa goes no matter what your opinon of him is he deserves respect, if not for the trophies then definately for the things he did for HJC and others. If you dont give him that respect then your a cunt and not a red, probably not a human.

 

Absolutely, I respect him massively but its this he saved us shit that gets on my tits though. Rafa complained because he wanted the tools to do the job and rightly so, but now its become he fought for us like he's fucking william wallace and then in the end sacrificed himself so we all could live and if it hadn't been for him we would still not notice what hicks and gillet are doing.

 

Rafa is an excellent manager, he had enough flaws that made me want a change but he was very important for the club and I love the guy. At the minute though I'm a bit sick of hearing about him. Im avoiding anything Rafa related for a while.

[Guest TK-421]

Just to clarify, in case anyone thought redknight's earlier comment was attributable to me, i don't feel hate Jamie carrier.

[Guest TK-421]

Carragher .

[Guest TK-421]

That bloke who plays at the back.

[Cardie]

 

Depends how much you want to win.

 

Honestly. Rafa could be an absolute bastard and win the league I wouldn't be arsed. I just want to win.

 

Bollocks and you know it, you wanted him gone the year after the cl win. Ya know, while we were 'winning'

[liverpoolsno9]

Love Alonso Hyypia Torres Garcia Henchoz Mascherano Kuyt Suarez Arbeloa Agger Reina Riise Smicer Lucas Sissoko Babbel Dudek,

 

Hate Benitez.

 

your a massive prick & you sum up exactly what is wrong with our 'support' today. How can you hate a man who stood up for us v the yanks, Slur Alex & brought us some of the greatest moments in our European history.Just missing out on the Prem.We were arguably a Riise own goal away from a 3rd Champs league final. If Kenny achieves half of that you'd want him fuckin knighted. I have nothing but love for Rafa & half of me would have loved Rafa to have had the money Kenny has had, I love Kenny & there's no doubt he was the right man at the right time, but long term, if I'm totally honest with myself,I'm really not so sure. How you can hate a man who achieved what he did is totally beyond me. Hate is a word that should be associated with Woy

[Code]

So you don't think our best season was the one where we only missed out on winning the league by four points?

 

Not at all, that season was made up by our results against the other teams from the top four and it masked what in reality was a an average at best league season, we won more point againt the dross in 05/06 and overall it was a better season for me.

 

Being knocked out of the second round in the Carling Cup to Spurs and the first round of the FA Cup by Everton is not what I would describe as anything remotely close to success, neiter is conceeding 7 goals in the quarter finals of the CL when every other English team in the competition reaches the semi finals.

[Antynwa]

I'm on a wind up because this is a stupid conversation.

 

Rafa Benitez was perfect in every single way.

 

Obvz