Ten Ways Rafa Benitez Can Save His Liverpool Job
by YNWA on November 4th, 2009 296 words | 57 commentsThe Clock Is Ticking on Rafa’s Reign, here are ten ways he can buy himself more time.
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1. – Put Yossi Benayoun in First Team Sheet EVEN if we have no injury problems!
2. – Do not take off potential match winners UNLESS we are winning by at least two goals!
3. – Do not always make excuses for defeats that are based on refereeing error or injury problems (sometimes we are just the second best team or sometimes you have actually made a mistake).
4. – Bring Kristian Nemeth back from AEK Athens…NOW!
5. – Try to get the lads to perform with as much intensity and passion regardless of the opposition. I.e. don’t lose at Fulham days after winning against Man United.
6.- Continue to trust in youth, it has been far too long since good players have come through. The talents of the likes of Spearing, Kelly, Ayala and Darby must be nourished.
7. – Make it perfectly clear to the under performing players (they know who they are) that they will be offloaded and not allowed to just keep letting the side down. There are far too many average players in our squad, do something about it!
8. – Think long and hard about tactical ‘masterplans’ that could in fact seriously backfire in crucial matches. Sometimes there is no need to reinvent the wheel.
9. – The full support you have from a great majority of fans (me included) is by no means unconditional and is not absolute. Successes are noted but continual failures take their toll on supporters.
10. – Find some incriminating evidence involving Tom Hicks, George Gillett and any Farmyard animal in a compromising situation. Therefore ridding the club of the comedy duo.
YNWA
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anonymous - November 4th, 2009 at 4:10 pm
Hilarious and spot on
anonymous - November 4th, 2009 at 4:11 pm
Couldn’t agree more. Also I know where we can find a willing sheep!
anonymous - November 4th, 2009 at 4:25 pm
gonna print this and send it to anfield special delivery
anonymous - November 4th, 2009 at 4:27 pm
Quite Funny.. i like Rafa but i think we need Special one Jose..
Im not calling for Rafa’s head.. i thought in foot you play your players in their best positions.. even i know that much..
Also i feel Liverpool is full of lot of “maybe” owners people, players decisions, we need someone who is not afraid to say yes or no.
No decision is better than indecision.
Hope we win tonight !
dinks
Mark G. - November 4th, 2009 at 4:33 pm
Point 10. Great idea, the rest of it is a patronizing drivel, from a simple man that never managed a professional caught in an injury and a financial crisis.
anonymous - November 4th, 2009 at 4:33 pm
Damn funny and says a lot of what I have been thinking these past few months
anonymous - November 4th, 2009 at 4:47 pm
MARTIN O’NEILL!!!!NOW!!!!
John - November 4th, 2009 at 4:59 pm
and u rele think mouriniho would manage a club with a 20mil transfer budget? no chance. he only goes to clubs with high budgets, even i could do better than benitez if i had 100 million to spend in one season.
John - November 4th, 2009 at 5:00 pm
but yeah in rafa we trust. 10 injuries at once is more than unfortunate so judge him when we have only 2 or 3 like most clubs
anonymous - November 4th, 2009 at 5:04 pm
this is wrong because we should belive in him and he needs more players but we have no money owners fault. and owners are behind him so they wont fire him and he wont quit.
anonymous - November 4th, 2009 at 5:04 pm
What a pathetic excuse for an article. This would have its place as a new topic on a Liverpool forum but this is not something anyone who honestly thinks they are a journalist should be writing and posting as an article. Point 9 isn’t even a way to save Rafa’s job, its just a statement. The entire thing is also just opinion after opinion so maybe you should have given it the title ‘My Opinion on Rafa’, ‘Why I Think I Would Make a Better Manager Than Rafa’ or ‘What I Think Rafa Should Do’. I wouldn’t even say that Rafa is nearing the sack, I honestly think (and this is my opinion) that we can’t afford to sack him and if we did, couldn’t afford a better manager (which there aren’t many of) so would end up taking an even bigger step backwards.
Rafa will try to turn things round in his own way, and I’m confident that he will.
Retryboy - November 4th, 2009 at 5:11 pm
All the points spot on! These are the real criticisms and issues with rafa not the tripe that new writer cited. Suggest 2 seperate pound coin trails out of the executive baths to lure hicks and gillett into the nearest sheep filled barn then all you have to do is film the naked fight over the last coin.
Donavan Ried - November 4th, 2009 at 5:11 pm
A fine article Mr YNWA ……
Glad to see some people that are realizing that Rafa is a ordinary men and not so great noble icon, and that maybe you don’t Trust in him no more, but you still believe in him, that i can not agrue with, and that i can understand ….. Maybe not agree with, but understand . …
of the ten points mention it is this one that gets me the most with Rafa, and the one that i find hardest to understand him doing ……
“2. – Do not take off potential match winners UNLESS we are winning by at least two goals!”
Seen him do this many times ….. Drives me crazy
anonymous - November 4th, 2009 at 5:24 pm
Time for Jose !
Donavan Ried - November 4th, 2009 at 5:25 pm
anonymous – November 4th, 2009 at 5:04 pm ……… There are better Managers out there than Rafa who do not get the chance to prove it …… Lokk at it these two ways :- It’s not what you know, but rather who you know ( Rafa get the job at Valencia because of knowing the right people and not because he was the best man for the job) …… Rafa maybe a good manager managing a great team …. Who’s to say another manager may come in and do a better job
The other way that i see it is that :- It is like some kids that might be have really great potental yet never acives it because his perants could only send him to a state school ( A managger never getting to show how good he is because he only ever managing a division 2 side ……
there bare still some great managers out threre ….
Hoogleboogybugleboy - November 4th, 2009 at 5:25 pm
anonymous – November 4th, 2009 at 5:04 pm
Well said that man.
Benitez has been told by the medical staff that he must not push Torres too hard. This means that it isn’t possible for him to play a full ninety minutes without doing more damage to his groin injury. If Torres only plays 60 minutes tonight and is taken off in order that he can play maybe 70 minutes against Birmingham, that in my opinion is good management. Rather that than play 90 minutes tonight and then not be able to play at all at the weekend. What is so hard to understand with this concept?
anonymous - November 4th, 2009 at 5:34 pm
I agree we need to the special one
...samlfc.... - November 4th, 2009 at 5:35 pm
Hoogleboogybugleboy – November 4th, 2009 at 5:25 pm
anonymous – November 4th, 2009 at 5:04 pm
Both of you done a fantastic post there and like Hoogleboogybugleboy said i would prefer Torres playing 60 mins if it means him playing the majority of the Birmingham game in the weekend
You could also ay YNWA that the game againsy Lyon is a life or death situation and a win is the only thing we need to get out of this game! but i agrre with some points but also disagree on some aswell
anonymous - November 4th, 2009 at 5:35 pm
anonymous – November 4th, 2009 at 5:04 pm – Spot on!
Why doesn’t YNWA be a real columnist and maybe write an article on the new deal with 188bet and how it will benefit the club commercially and financially or even an article about the decision not to overturn Degan’s red card.
anonymous - November 4th, 2009 at 5:48 pm
I agree with dinks
its time for Jose the special one
He has proved at Porto he doesnt need the millions.. but with cash he is SPECIAL
Aquaman - November 4th, 2009 at 5:56 pm
Great Article YNWA.
Good concise collection of the real issues that people have with Rafa. I don;t think all of them are fair, but this is not a criticism of you just of the general mindset. Keep it up!
1: Fully Agree
2: Fair enough. The current screaming and shouting about taking Torres off is ridiculous. If Rafa had said before the game that he wasn’t fit, then no one would have had a problem. The fact that he played at all was a gamble that deserves praise, but instead people berate him for not risking absolutely everything. How is this far? Sorry, rant over now.
3: Fully Agree
4: Fair point, but I feel that this is just people making an issue for the sake of it. Yes he shouldn’t have gone out but its not as big of an issue as people are making it. He’s just a youngster. He’s not likely to save us by himself.
Also I wish people would at least think about the fact that since he’s there, he;s not coming back until next season. Deal with it. He was used in the deal to get the barbarian so we can’t bring him back (breach of contract).
5: Hmm. Rafa’s fault or the players? 50/50 to my mind. You could also say “Make sure that we never lose again.” Same thing.
6: Now that we have youth worth trying, Rafa is doing so.
7: Fully Agree
8: I think Rafa already does too much thinking and planning. But I agree.
9: A good point (if not something Rafa can do…). I do still warn against knee jerk reactions though. Our form is unacceptable, yes, but Rafa has done so much other good in the club that I think he deserves at least the whole season before we start abandoning him.
10: Ha ha. Brilliant.
Aquaman - November 4th, 2009 at 5:57 pm
My point on 2 isn;t very clear. I meant that no one would have had a problem if Rafa hadn’t played Torres at all.
Retryboy - November 4th, 2009 at 6:07 pm
Hoogleboy benayoun and kuyt weren’t carrying any injuries when taken off and the most likely on the pitch to get you a goal or create. we didn’t have 10 players missing at spurs, villa, fiorentina, debrecen, lyon, chelsea, west ham (all inept performances except chelsea) he isn’t saying rafa can’t turn things around or shouldn’t be given the chance. Just the mistakes that have to be rectified.
anonymous - November 4th, 2009 at 6:08 pm
Time for Jose Morenio
anonymous - November 4th, 2009 at 6:15 pm
yes dinks you are right LIVERPOOL are turning in to maybes and losing respect
Jose would be ruthless and move the team forward
YNWA
Retryboy - November 4th, 2009 at 6:31 pm
Aquaman having a player of nemeth’s quality available would make the loss of torres or gerrard a 100 times less of an issue as he could do the lone striker or 2nd striker role. a loan can be cancelled at any time by the parent club have known loads of instances over the years where players have been recalled in fact we are threatening to recall Mikel san jose from athletic bilbao because of a lack of first team action. Fact is he wouldn’t have been available for october because of the under 20 world cup where he has just starred(6 games 3 goals not including 1 in a penalty shootout) and he needed to be playing games every week up till then to cement his place so agree on the loan being the best thing at the time. Now i think we need him especially if torres does need a hernia the guy is going to be a liverpool legend!
anonymous - November 4th, 2009 at 6:36 pm
How do you think Rafa would have faired if he didnt have Steve Gerrard in the side from the moment he had arrived at Anfield ? Do ou think he would have any success ?
Regards
Drew
anonymous - November 4th, 2009 at 6:43 pm
It is sad times when liverpool fans start to turn their backs on a manager that has done so much for the team and has improved the core to such an extent that we demand his head when things dont go right. It is in my humble opinion the players fault that we are under performing yes i agree that the manager must provide confidence and encourgement however it is the players that are on the field that are performing and you cannot say that the players doing what they did last year have all of a sudden suffered from a case of football insomnia and forgotten how to show any passion when it comes to playing the game. Rafas problem is that he defends these bastards way to much and if it was me i would come out and slaughter the fuckers to the press embarrass them into performing however i’m no manager and ofcourse as a fan that would be my option but taking into consideration rafas position it would be detrimental to their already bollocks out confidence……..
anonymous - November 4th, 2009 at 6:51 pm
Anon 6.43
Its because its a buisness and the players are a value to sell on, years ago that tact would have worked Buts its best t ship them out the door for a nuch value as possible.
Take PONY TAIL VORNION he wont go of his own accord because he gets paid too much money at liverpool if he was on a play for pay he would have something to say or he wouldnt be there,
Drew
Hoogleboogybugleboy - November 4th, 2009 at 7:24 pm
Bad performances on the pitch are not always the fault of the manager. We have lost games this season because we have not played well. It’s that simple. I agree that the manager has to take some responsibility but no one can disagree that certain players have not played well this season. It cannot also be denied that injuries are costing us too. Put this together with all the press nonsense and negativity surrounding the club and you have a recipe for disaster and that is what we currently have. It is easy to shout for the manager to be sacked but in my opinion this is not the answer. People saying it’s time for Maureen etc. Nonsense. Maureen will not come to Liverpool and anyone who is looking forward to his appointment are going to be disappointed. The only way out of this slump is to support the team and the manager. We have a massive game tonight and negativity is not good for anyone. YNWA.
anonymous - November 4th, 2009 at 7:24 pm
All fans who think they know better than Rafa should spend a week shadowing him and Sammy. Read the Tomkins article and understand that you have absolutely no idea how to run a football club. Have any of you been anywhere near even managing a company? What do you do with your day?
dave - November 4th, 2009 at 7:26 pm
shit article it is obvious ynwa is a teenage boy who doesnt know what he is talking about
dave - November 4th, 2009 at 7:29 pm
anonymous above my last post,you made some excellent points,tomkins is without a doubt the best writer regarding liverpool fc at the moment.
Hoogleboogybugleboy - November 4th, 2009 at 7:31 pm
Somebody actually said above that there are some great managers in the lower leagues that could do a good job at Liverpool or words to that effect. The reason that these managers are in the lower leagues is because they are not good enough yet to be anywhere else. Even Darren Fergusson, who many believe to be the next “big” thing is facing the sack if he doesn’t turn it around soon so that tells me that even being born into football management royalty, as it were, so that tells you how hard a job it is. Benitez is getting the flack that is normally only reserved for England managers.
dave - November 4th, 2009 at 7:33 pm
anyone care to come and join the live chat at gamebetting .co.uk ,during the liverpool page u can use your caught offside names and chat about team selections and tactics throughout,it’s on the football streaming page
dave - November 4th, 2009 at 7:34 pm
sorry liverpool game
Stillontheperch - November 4th, 2009 at 7:34 pm
The question should be why are the owners allowing the press and bloggers etc to whip up the hysteria to the point where Benitez appears on the brink.?They should issue an unequivocal statement that he is here to stay this season no matter what.
The Liverpool way is not to sack managers part way through the campaign, I don’t want him to stay if the current form continues. (It won’t incidentally.)
The minimum I would expect from any season is
Top four finish
Knockout stages of the Champions League
Decent cup run in either English comp.
Any of the above not achieved then I feel it fair he should go at the end of the season..
No one man is bigger than Liverpool and I think Rafa is a man of honour.
(Good shout from Wenger by the way. He is a cut above in every respect.)
Hoogleboogybugleboy - November 4th, 2009 at 7:38 pm
Stillontheperch. Good post mate. I’d have to agree with you on all of the points you made. What did Wenger say by the way?
anonymous - November 4th, 2009 at 7:39 pm
tomkins has his tongue a little too far up rafa s arsehole for my liking. however he is right about knee jerk reactions , we have a lot of injuries aquilani is yet to start playing fully, i d give him a chance til xmas say and if he isnt pulling it around by then i d sign mourinho, love him hate him , he gets results
Hoogleboogybugleboy - November 4th, 2009 at 7:48 pm
It’s all very well saying “sack benitez at Xmas if he hasn’t turned it around and get Maureenio”. There is t small matter of maybe Inter don’t want him to leave at xmas or any other time and maybe, just maybe, Maureenio doesn’t want to join Liverpool. It won’t be a cheap transaction either “20 million to get rid of Benitez, another 10 million to hire Maureen plus God knows how many million in transfer money? One thing that Liverpool don’t have to burn at the moment is money.
Retryboy - November 4th, 2009 at 7:51 pm
Still on the perch great post… Would swap the youngsters progressing and some breaking through for a fa cup run myself but spot on. Wenger called rafa a super-manager and was very supportive of him.
John Conor - November 4th, 2009 at 7:57 pm
Have to agree with you on both points tonight here Retryboy. Torres coming off on Sat i could understand but what the f*ck was he playin at takin off Yossi and Kuyt, seriously what was he thinkin!
And as you said, why the hell is Nemeth in Athens?! Surely we would be much better served with him as back up, he would certainly beat the hell out of Voronin!
That said i still stand by the fact that we need to be behind the manager, there’s enough people on his back at the minute!
John Conor - November 4th, 2009 at 8:01 pm
And well said Stillonthepirch, hit the nail on the head!
anonymous - November 4th, 2009 at 9:44 pm
Mourinho is a great manager but has said it would be impossible to be Liverpool boss because of history. We need to get Martin O’Neill: a no nonsense, passionate boss who would find more great young talent like Young, Milner, Delph etc.!!!
Stillontheperch - November 4th, 2009 at 11:22 pm
I like the self proclaimed special one, but for the wrong reasons. He everything Rafa isn’t. Humility is one of the things that make our club what it is and despite Jose’s unquestionable record and superior man management skills being humble is not part of his DNA. Call me naive but I want Liverpool not win the league and not Mourinho.
Didn’t like Torres body language tonight.
Stillontheperch - November 4th, 2009 at 11:23 pm
I like the self proclaimed special one, but for the wrong reasons. He everything Rafa isn’t. Humility is one of the things that make our club what it is and despite Jose’s unquestionable record and superior man management skills being humble is not part of his DNA. Call me naive but I want Liverpool to win the league and not Mourinho.
Didn’t like Torres body language tonight
anonymous - November 4th, 2009 at 11:39 pm
dont agree benitez should go now he is responsable for team selection………………………………reina…………………………………………………………………………………carragher…………….agger…………….skrtel………………..insua/aurelio……………………………jonshon………….gerrard………….aqulani…………..benayoun………………………………………………………………….torres……………….babel………………………….
anonymous - November 5th, 2009 at 12:01 pm
Liverpool just lack of such a creative midfielder when they lost the games .It was ordinary play from the midfielder..Liverpool needs more creative midfielder like Alonso and Gerrad..It was all about lack of good midfielder
Retryboy - November 5th, 2009 at 2:36 pm
If rafa was to go would prefer mancini but still think rafa has earnt the full season to turn things around.
anonymous - November 6th, 2009 at 2:02 am
interesting analysis for those who complain about rafas shoestring budget…
transferleague dot co dot uk
anonymous - November 6th, 2009 at 10:40 am
I love to see Rafa bring glory to Liverpool but I think for since he took charge of the club, we are not seeing a player from a Youth team. Most of great managers come with a good youth system. Even Man U have Johny Evans when Vidic is injured, having Marcheda when C.Ronaldo not playing.
Compare to Liverpool, Ngog for Torres? Ayala (who?) for Carra.
I’m really upset with how we didnt get the best of Bellamy, Crouch and Keane. This man have already proved their abilities with other teams!
MAYBE ITS TIME TO LET RAFA GO OR WE WILL SEE GERRARD AND CARRA END UP WITH NO PREMIERSHIP MEDALS
Donavan Ried - November 6th, 2009 at 1:05 pm
anonymous – November 6th, 2009 at 2:02 am
“interesting analysis for those who complain about rafas shoestring budget…”
transferleague dot co dot uk
Thank You anonymous …..
Liverpool fc net transfer spending was as follows:-
04/05 season :- £25,300m
05/06 ” :- £25.640m
06/07 ” :-£15.660m
07/08 ” :- £39.850m
08/09 ” :-£6.250m
09/10 So Far :-£950,000
Toal net spend £113,650m
transferleague.co.uk
anonymous - November 6th, 2009 at 1:10 pm
What is bringing back nemeth going to do?
how do we know what hes going to be like in the prem
answer is you dont he could flop and the people saying bring him back now would turn so quickly that nemeth would be dumped out
Retryboy - November 6th, 2009 at 5:21 pm
The figures all vary massively from £83m to £130m net spend have seen articles as well stating that voronin and other ‘free’ players have got £2m signing on fees and kromkamp far from being a swap with josemi cost us £4.5m doesn’t matter to me whatever we have made back £239million in five years is enough so rafa should be judged on this squad sink or swim its down to him. Anon we are playing players that have proven they aren’t good enough nemeth will be a legend he has just been the star at the under 20 world cup, scored goals for fun at every opportunity any other manager we would have already seen him playing every week.
Donavan Ried - November 6th, 2009 at 5:29 pm
typo should read ……Total net spend
Donavan Ried - November 6th, 2009 at 6:01 pm
the total net spend means very little to me the fact that he has brought in players and sold players is what counts …. he should have gotten rid of the wasters and brought in quality ….
saying that he as only spend ££££ net means little …. he as spend on avarage £22m plus ever year only needed to buy one quality player a year, there rest could have come from the players sold and replace ……
Rafa has brought in some 53 players and gotten rid of 56, some of the player brought in has since departed he has spent in total £247.730m
As i said before the fact that he as spent only £113,650m is irrelevant …… 56 players out and 53 players in is enough to change any team …..
The fact that he as spent £247.730m and made back £140.330 means nothing … it is the players in and out that really matter
anonymous - November 19th, 2009 at 5:56 pm
Benayoun looks like a rat in that photo