THE Rafa Benitez fan club, an increasingly diminishing band of
brothers, maintain the Liverpool boss requires more time and
money.
Well, he has had quite enough of both. On the financial side,
Benitez has now overtaken the £125million spent by Gerard
Houllier.
The result? Liverpool are six points worse off than they were at
the same stage the season before last.
As for time, he has now been in the job for three and a half
seasons.
In that same spell, Arsene Wenger has built a new side that leads
Liverpool by 12 points in the Premier League.
And hes done it for peanuts. The Arsenal team that started the 2-0
win over West Ham on Tuesday cost around the £21.5m that Benitez
forked out for striker Fernando Torres.
In the same spell, Alex Ferguson has created another
championship-winning team for no more than Benitez has squandered.
And yet the Liverpool boss says he needs even more dosh.
During his famous fall-out with American owners Tom Hicks and
George Gillett, Benitez claimed they didnt understand the transfer
market. You now have to ask whether the Spaniard does.
Apart from Torres, his attempts at finding goalscorers have been,
if anything, comical.
It all started with the calamitous buy of Fernando Morientes, a
player who never settled before returning to Spain for £3.3m less
than he cost.
Craig Bellamy came and went, while £9m Dirk Kuyt has managed 11
goals in his last 40 games and Andrei Voronin one in 16.
When Peter Crouch proved he COULD score, Benitez decided he wasnt
good enough. And what of the other signings?
What ever happened to Luis Garcia, Mark Gonzalez, Bolo Zenden,
Gabriel Paletta, Jan Kromkamp, Josemi, Antonio Nunez, Mauricio
Pellegrino etc, etc? Yes, there have been successes like Jose
Reina, Danny Agger and Xabi Alonso, while Jermaine Pennant and Mo
Sissoko have had their moments.
But too many have been purchased on what appears to be little more
than the hope they will fit in somewhere.
Then, of course, there is the famous rotation policy which does
nothing for player confidence. Now its happening with Ryan Babel
and Yossi Benayoun. And Harry Kewell still gets in the team!
Meanwhile, Liverpool lag further behind Arsenal, Man Utd and
Chelsea.
The difference is these clubs still win when they are playing badly
Liverpool cant even do that when they play well.
Twelve points adrift and Benitez maintains they are in the title
race. Same old words, same old tactics, same old results.
And yet the fan club still say: Give him a chance, he inherited
rubbish, Chelsea and United spend more, its a long building
process, hes won the big cups... The record is wearing a little
thin.
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sport/sunsport_columnists/article647482.ece
