Spanish_fan
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Everything posted by Spanish_fan
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Best manager in the world for teams that only care about the result. If you want enterteinment too then look elsewhere.
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Florentino, Valdano, Xabi Alonso and Cristiano Ronaldo. No way Benitez would ever be wanted at Real Madrid with this lot over there. Can you imagine Real Madrid going to the Camp Nou and Benitez leaving on the bench CR9, preferring the industrious Arbeloa as a "winger" to double mark Messi :whatever: Florentino likes attacking football, so does Valdano and anyway he is in shit on a stick terms with Benitez . Benitez was made for Juve. That if they accept him, which I am not sure cause he may be too defensive even for them.
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They are both about the same. Garcia scores more goals and Benayoun keeps the ball better. None of them are good enough to be the creative talent of a top team, but Benitez knew this beforehand, the idea being that he could/can play his workers instead in difficult matches and not many people would complain seeing those two on the bench. That's the reason why he never signs a top creative player.
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Xabi was Liverpool best and most important player, although others were grabbing the headlines. Even when he was not at his best Liverpool dominated games in midfield against almost anyone. Now that edge is gone and you can see for yourselves the consequences. The last player Benitez needed to sell was Xabi and I don't think he got rid of Alonso for footballing reasons. Where was he going to find a defensively sound DM who can pass the ball like Alonso. There isn't anyone in world football today. It was Alonso who made it all possible, not fucking Dirk Kuyt.
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Messi at the age of ten playing for Newells in Peru. At the end of the video he notices an opponent crying and goes to console him. [YOUTUBE]SNGKkRmWQxI[/YOUTUBE]
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Benitez doesn't play Aquilani because he doesn't believe he is defensively sound. Imagine Guti then.
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2-1 to Hamburg. 4-2 on aggregate so far.
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The others scores so far Wolfsburg 0 Fulham 1 Standard 1 Hamburg 2 Atletico 0 Valencia 0
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Lucas doing a Gremio.
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From a corner kick? :wow:
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Why was it dissallowed in the first place?
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What is Benfica's net spend? Benayoun kicking the ball just inside Liverpool's penalty box in open play. That's what is fundamentally wrong with Benitez the cautious. On the other hand I like what I see from this Benfica side, pressing high up the pitch and playing possesion football. Maybe the Special Two would be an interesting choice.
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Liverpool should always be first. Besides, sooner or later United will surpass Liverpool in League titles, unless a sugar daddy buys the club soon and Benitez is sacked. And to attract potential investors it is always better to finish in CH L positions.
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Scholes "can't tackle" . He certainly can, the dirty fucker. He gets away with murder. Watch him everytime his team goes behind. Invariably he lashes onto an opposition player.
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Of course not. Do you think playing Kuyt and Maxi on the wings is a positive move? They are in the line-up because of their defensive work, not because they are great at creating or getting past defenders. Mascherano and Lucas plays so close to each other and the centerbacks that they all could be handcuffed to each other and still do their jobs. United may have not been great, but at least they tried and showed attacking intent and that is what normally takes them 10 points or more ahead of Liverpool at the end of every season. With Benitez´s mentality it will be a miracle that Liverpool will ever win the league. And that almost happened last season....
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Signing better players (and playing them)? Playing a more enterprising and entertaining type of football? I don´t buy the funds or net spend excuse. I agree it is a factor, but United are miles in front of Liverpool with only two players who may be considered unreacheable with Liverpool´s financial muscle, Rooney and Ferdinand. Yet they play a much more entertaining and effective brand of football. Today´s Benitez starting midfield was Kuyt, Maxi, Mascherano, Leiva and Gerrard, with the only idea of stopping United and to try to catch them on the break. That should be unacceptable for a club that wants to compete at the top, but that is the only way Benitez knows.
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Don't know if it has been mentioned but good composure by Rodriguez but you have to give credit to the early ball by Lucas that set Torres away in the first instance. Torres has put the shits up that defence good and proper.
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I meant with this season squad. Obviously Kuyt would be the number one target for the following season and it is likely that Benitez would upgrade the Silvinho position with a better defensive left winger which at the moment City do not have. With the net spend of City he may even be able to clone Kuyt for that left side spot.
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Given Richards Toure Lescott Bridge Zabaleta Barry De Jong Silvinho Ireland Tevez Something like that.
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At Gremio he had total freedom to join the attack. I am not saying that Lucas is good enough for a top side, but he is certainly playing a much more defensive role than he was doing in Brazil. Four defensive midfielders across the pitch (that is how I se Maxi and Kuyt) fullbacks overlapping very little. Centerbacks never joining the attack. Remember Agger during his first games at Liverpool? Only Torres and Gerrard to a certain extent are freed to attack without watching their backs. No wonder Liverpool look so turgid. The problem is that Benitez doesn't know any better. He will never sign an Aimar type of player no matter how much net spend he is allowed to have. Just think how he spent his 28 million two summers ago. Roy Keane, a back-up striker or God knows what, and Riera who is not even a winger but a wing back (the cheeaper Malouda). But of course, Benitez knosw what he is doing, filling the pitch with his defensive workers and buying cheap creative players like Luis Garcia or Benayoun so that he can bench them in the tougher games against the Stokes and Boltons of the league.
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Perhaps having Kuyt and what he does as a very important cog in Liverpool's machinery is one of the reasons why Liverpool are not quite up there.
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Xabi Alonso was far more important for Liverpool's ability to create than anything Benitez can write on his notebook. With Lucas and Mascherano as holding midfielders plus the ability to pass the ball of the back four and the quality of Liverpool wingers don't expect major improvements. Even with Alonso was not enough. Only a poor start by United, a very poor season by Chelsea and Liverpool scoring goals in the final minutes of the game (which is not a frequent ocurrence under Benitez) and getting people sent off in so many games gave the reds the chance to challenge. But playing such toothless football and expecting to challenge every year is not realistic. Aquilani seems to me like the only CM that can spark a little bit of creativity in midfield (Gerrard is too erratic for my taste), but Benitez does not rate his defensive ability. So he will only play in home games against weaker teams and thus making it difficult for the Italian to adapt. This is not surprise to anyone who has closely followed Liverpool during the Benitez reign. No Alonso in the team and the (not very high) standards of attacking play would drop dramatically.
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You are right. They were a defensive team like Liverpool are now. The difference was that they had more technical ability and could keep the ball better, especially when Aimar was playing. But they were never daring, playing a lot of long balls for Spanish standards and but the odd game they were never consider entertaining, but rather pragmatic and defensively very sound. In away games most of their attacking came from winning the ball back in advances areas and attacking very directly. Those tactics were succesful because if you give the initiative to almost any team in Spain they will take it and will try to build their attacks from the back. In England the long ball sort of destroys many of the defensive traps Benitez sets. Also his Valencia's team was probably the most physical of the Spanish League, thing that it is not ture with his Liverpool side in England.
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And boy, didn't he deliver! He started with only two full backs and didn't bring any as a sub. Maxi, Torres, Babel, Benayoun, Kuyt, Gerrad, and Aquilani all played. Took his beloved defensive right winger off for the last 10 minutes of the game. What a risk! The last 5 minutes of the game pushed his defensive line up and even one of his full backs made a run deep into enemy's territory. It is true that Liverpool only managed one lame goal attempt during the whole game, but with such small net spending there are obvious limitations of what you can do attack wise.
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With the difference that Maxi was first choice at Atletico Madrid for a few years and now is clearly on his way down. That's why Liverpool didn't have to pay even a fee to get him. It is not that the wide positions are filled with world class talent at Liverpool (they will never be under Benitez), but please, Riera at this moment in time is a much better player than Maxi. Probably something wrong is going on between Benitez and Riera.