Search the Community

The greatest.

TEACHER OF THE GAME The minority wanted him out of Anfield, but the majority will never forget him. "Veikkaaja" met with Rafael Benitez - a Liverpool legend with a burning desire to teach football. Q) You have not coached since December 2010. How have you spent your time since you left Inter? "I have a website, we wrote a book called 'Champions League Dreams' and created 'Global Coach', a program for football coaches. They can use it to prepare training sessions and to analyze games. I am also involved in my wife's foundation which helps local charities on Merseyside." Q) Does your move to Inter feel, now, like a mistake? "Maybe, if I had known then everything that I know about Inter know. I had to make a decision in that moment. Before we moved I talked with several Inter players about the way we can improve. It was perhaps the first time Inter did not sign any players during the summer for the coach. Why? Financial Fair Play - but they didn't say it to me beforehand. I was promised three players. Everything was agreed, but we didn't sign these players." Q) When you won FIFA Club World Cup, your second trophy with Inter, you criticised the management of the club. Did you want to get sacked? "If you promise something, you have to do it. It was very simple." Q) You also had some difficult times with management of Liverpool. Did your dream job ever make you unhappy? "I didn't have time to suffer or be unhappy because I was trying to fight for trophies and win. And at the same time we tried to defend the club. It was the main thing when the Americans put the dept on the Club. They then appointed a new Managing Director who was a... businessman." Q) Liverpool won amazing Champions League Final in Istanbul in 2005. How did Liverpool come back from 3-0 down against AC Milan? "We started with four at the back, so we were playing two against two in our defence as Milan played with a diamond formation. Our idea was to be better than them in the wide areas, have control in the middle and defend close. Plan was not working because Kaká was doing a great job. After half time we moved to a back three and put Dietmar Hamann on. From then on we were playing three against two in our defence and we controlled Kaká by playing Xabi Alonso and Hamann in front of our defence. We moved Steven Gerrard and Luis Garcia to play on both sides of Andrea Pirlo. In possession our centre backs had to be wide, and we got space in wide areas by switching the ball quickly." Q) How would you describe your football philosophy? "I like to play good football, but the problem is what people consider as good football! The answer is passing game of Barcelona and Spain. My team has always passed the ball and played short passes, but if there is space behind defender, you have to make a long pass. I like my team to play with high intensity, to press the opponent and to keep ball on the floor. Team has to be organized, but at the same time players need to be given freedom within the system." Q) How important is possession of the ball? "You have to have possession of the ball in the right places. And you need to do the right things with the ball with the right tempo. You can pass the ball and have a 85 percentage passing accuracy, but it doesn't matter. You need to have the ball in the final third." Q) Which is more important for you, winning or the process in itself? "You cannot say that winning is not the most important thing. Still, its also important how you approach the upcoming challenge and the game. And also how you approach the style you want your team to play. Balance is the key. You have to find a way to win, you need to find a way. You have to have a plan A, B and C." Q) You got more goals and assists out of Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres than any other coach. Why? "I'm coming from the Academy of Real Madrid, I have a degree in Physical Education, I am a teacher. I coached them in a way I wanted and expected them to play in games." Q) How important are the automatization and the patters of attacking play? "As a coach your job is to prepare the training sessions that give players the answers they will need during a game. You have to give them patterns of play, solutions, ways to attack. I want to teach my players, but the player must also understand why he is being asked to do something. Asking questions is the right way to learn." Q) Your coaching colleague and countryman Juanma Lillo has said that "importance of the coach is limited". Do you agree? "If a player has talent, he will find a way - but not all the players have that kind of talent. These are the players that need to be conducted. Its the coaches job: You have to have answers when your players have questions. If you have the right answers, players will trust their coach and do things in a way he wants. Then you can change things during games. Its important to be close to the game and the players, but yet remain on the outside." Q) Are you misunderstood in England? "I think majority of the people understand now that we were trying to compete in Liverpool in difficult circumstances against top sides - with a smaller budget than they had. They know now - after having watched Liverpool during these past two seasons - how difficult it was to keep the team in Champions League every year. Maybe we even overachieved." Q) Does your former protege Sami Hyypia have the potential to develop into a top-class coach or manager? "He is very clever and a very good professional who is good at analyzing the game. Sami has all the potential to become a good coach. I offered to extend his contract for a year and a place in my backroom staff." Q) Did you consider selecting Hyypia to your starting eleven in his farewell game as a Liverpool player? "I think I put him on at the end of the game, no? I tried to give him a tribute from the fans at the end of the game, but the main thing was trying to win the game. I had to think about what was our best team for that game. If I can help somebody after that, I will do it." Q) What are the most important things for you when deciding your next project? "Ambition. Challenge. As you can now see face to face - I like to win. I want to go to a place were I can improve things and challenge." Q) You have said that being a coach is your life, your identity. What makes you happy? "Before I just wanted to be good at my job but now I'm spending more time with my daughters. I enjoy when they are doing well and my wife achieves something. You need to have a balance in life. I was just coming with the family London, but I still watched a game on our way back."

That makes one person in the entire world, Claudio. A comedy Italian journeyman taking Dalglish's job? I wonder how many hopeless chancers will instruct their agents to leak that they are 'believed to be on the Reds' owners' shortlist" before the position is filled? Football | Ranieri open to Liverpool move | ESPNSTAR.com

Dear Sirs It is with great regret on my part, that I now wish to tender my resignation from the role of manager. If I am totally honest, I have bitten off far more than I could possibly wish to chew, and have come to realise that I am doing more harm than good, to what should have been a dream move for myself. When I was offered the job, I thought "at last, I can now manage the greatest club in the country, and show people what I can do, when faced with a club this size", sadly, I now realise that I am just a mediocre manager, who has been very lucky in my line of work. My tactics and style have suited me well over the years, but I just cannot cut the mustard here, I really dont have a clue what more I could do to improve our position. I compare myself now, along the lines of a child with a hose pipe, I know I shouldnt point it at my face to drink from it, but I cant stop myself doing so. I now wish to take myself back down south, where the people are stupid enough to think im better than I am, and maybe get back into managing another mid table team, and leave the big teams to decent managers who can cope. So on that note, please accept this letter as my resignation and allow me to slip away before I make even more of a hash of things than the wyanks. Yours Woy I was all for giving him time, but the last few games have really got on my tits, so Roy, if your reading this, either do the above, or sort your fucking arse out and start managing us like the club we are and not some southern mid table bunch of fuckalls. PS. get rid of Lucas.