Was there more to Rafa's rant ?

zocoss SG

Rafa Benitez

Rafa: was his rant expertly timed to take away the spotlight off himself?

Liverpool fans, you have fallen into your manager's trap, agreeing with him instead of seeing the real picture and asking questions. Benitez knew this was his big chance at the title and as the season has drawn on he's realized that he's blown it, so, to cover up he's made constant idiotic comments to the press about luck, injuries, and money, hoping the fans would agree, and incredibly you have!

The finance issue. A quick look at most football websites will allow you to work out the size and cost of the top 4 squads. They are as follows:

Arsenal. 30 players at a cost of 80 million (approx)
Chelsea. 28 players at a cost of 226 million.
Liverpool. 24 players at a cost of 146 million.
Man Utd. 30 players at a cost of 200 million.

Thats 2.6 mil per player at Arsenal, 6.08 at 'Pool, 6.67 at United, and 8.07 at Chelsea. So whilst United have a bigger squad to choose from, the average cost of a player is less than 600,000 each, hardly a fortune. And United's squad is bigger as it's packed with far more academy players than Liverpool's (Nev, Evans, Brown, Gibson, Giggs, Fletcher, Scholes, Wellbeck, O'Shea).

So that's down to good long term planning which admittedly Benitez hasn't had long enough to do, it was after all about 7 years after taking the job that we saw the fruits of Fergie's youth team starting to come through.

He's also brought up injuries to Torres and Gerrard. I mean come on scousers, even you must start to think if he's just having a giggle now? United and Arsenal have had 2 of the worse injury crisis' for a long time. We started this season with Nev, Hargreaves, Anderson, and Ronaldo injured. Then Carrick, Brown and Scholes joined them. When they were back Rooney, Rio, and Evra got ruled out, with Brown joining Hargreaves in being out for the season. And even now at the end Foster has joined those 2 on the sidelines, 3 players who be at least on the bench in Rome.

And Chelsea have missed 3 key players in Cole, Essien, and Drogba. Liverpool have had the BEST season of the top 4 in terms of injuries, so to blame them really is bordering on the insane. Chelsea have also had a season where they sacked their, still new, manager half way through the season. United's fixture list has been mammoth as well, meaning they really were strained to the limit to get through the games.

All in, Benitez has seen this as the best possible chance to take advantage of Chelsea's troubles, Arsenal's injuries, and United's injuries and fixtures, was top at Christmas, and blew it.

He clearly believes that old saying "If you keep saying something often enough, it come's true", so just repeats the financial thing over and over and over hoping Liverpool fans will ignore the plain truth in front of your eyes that HE HAS SPENT AS MUCH AS FERGUSON and believe him that he can't compete on such limited resource's, like he's Oliver Twist, grovelling cap in hand to Gillette and Hicks begging for more money, whilst Ferguson, Bill Gates, and the Sultan of Brunei sit around burning wads of cash in front of orphans.

limpper SG

i think rafa should seriously consider getting a life

sg_forum SG

i think rafa should seriously consider getting a life

So you want him to be sacked and replaced by whoever making the above comment? LOL

Just look at how Shearer commented on other teams and players when he was a TV pundit? And look at his performance as a manager? Easier said than done...

emman-7- SG

i think the point here is that benitez is just simply put, a very misguided, foolish man who really does NOT realise that it is his, and liverpool's incompetence to win the league that led to them not winning the league, and he blames it on all kinds of reasons other than themselves not being the best team. to be honest i wouldn't blame in on liverpool. after all they didnt do anything. but benitez, in terms of financial management, is crap. (and of course he just thinks united have more money, although he has spent more)

may i quote MORE statistics:

from the year 2004-2009:

net amount spent by liverpool: ~110mil

net amount spent by manchester united: ~95mil

where benitez is complaining that united has more spending power, the stats show that liverpool is spending more.

if you want a bit more specific numbers on MAJOR (i'll list 5mil and above) sales and buys:

liverpool: keane(20), dossena(7), riera(8), mascherano(17), skrtel(6), babel(11), benayoun(5), torres(25 or so), lucas(6), kuyt(9), pennant(7), bellamy(6), agger(6), crouch(7), sissoko(6), gonzalez(5), reina(6), morientes(6), cisse(14)

liverpool sold: keane(15), crouch(10), sissoko(8), bellamy(8), cisse(6), baros(6) and owen (8)

manchester: berbatov(30), serbian pair(15), tevez(10), anderson+nani(30), hargreaves(17), carrick(18), evra(6), vidic(7), rooney(27)

manchester sold: pique(6), heinze(8), smith(6), rossi(7), richardson(6), van nistelrooy(10), obi mikel(12)

you notice that ferguson makes better buys. though they may cost more, he uses them well. look at the liverpool list. skrtel, babel, benayoun, lucas, pennant, keane, bellamy, rouch, sissoko, gonzalez, morientes and cisse. all can't hold down spots in the team. whereas for united most of these players have huge contributions. berbatov, tevez, rooney, carrick, evra and vidic are regular players with STANDARD.

and for the record: shearer didn't have the same sucky attitude, + he's doing quite well given that newcastle is kinda full of out of form players.

sg_forum SG

may i quote MORE statistics:

from the year 2004-2009:

net amount spent by liverpool: ~110mil

net amount spent by manchester united: ~95mil

where benitez is complaining that united has more spending power, the stats show that liverpool is spending more.

if you want a bit more specific numbers on MAJOR (i'll list 5mil and above) sales and buys:

liverpool sold: keane(15), crouch(10), sissoko(8), bellamy(8), cisse(6), baros(6) and owen (8)

manchester: berbatov(30), serbian pair(15), tevez(10), anderson+nani(30), hargreaves(17), carrick(18), evra(6), vidic(7), rooney(27)

manchester sold: pique(6), heinze(8), smith(6), rossi(7), richardson(6), van nistelrooy(10), obi mikel(12)

and for the record: shearer didn't have the same sucky attitude, + he's doing quite well given that newcastle is kinda full of out of form players.

Rafa is not the best manager and his signings were shits sometimes. I totally agree with that. But is there any other managers around that better than him, that Liverpool can afford and want to come to Anfield? If mourinho wants to, I will strongly support that. But the problem is, will he? There were no point saying that he is sucks or whatever shit without giving the solution (from the perspective of Liverpool fans, some other fans will not give a damn anyway, they just want to bombard him only)? You can go on whine and whine but at the end of the day, he is still the manager, what can we do about it but to support him? He close to winning the title in his 5th year...I think SAF took 7 years to win his first title?
he's doing quite well given that newcastle is kinda full of out of form players. <---- same as Rafa has doing very well given the players were inconsistent? too many draws? you can say that Rafa tactics cause the draw but if you look at how many shots on goal, you will change your mind. Please don't think that I support Rafa because I am a Liverpool fans...to be honest, he is quite shit sometimes especially that match agaisnt 10 men Arsenal...I am not a delusion fans who put my faith blindly...yes, i did sign a petition the other day to keep him...that was because he deserved a chance and he has been doing quite well since. If we finished 3rd next season, then he has to go...providing someone like Mourinho, hiddink or capello replace him. other than that, the only way for Liverpool to head after that is just 1 way, down!

youaremybitch SG

im dumb

Poolman SG

why is Liverpool's thread created in EPL forum ?

Answer : It will be deleted !!!! LOL ...Sure it does , that side practise communism , lol .

emman-7- SG

well, ask why nobody wants to go to anfield. i have no idea. there are many other well respected managers in the game, just that benitez is taking up the spot. no, i do not argue that he should be sacked, by the way. i argue that he should keep his mouth shut unless he has something of substance to say. his words are just an indication of how much ego he has and how lowly he thinks of others, yet showing his own ignorance. agreeably, ferguson took 7 years. however, ferguson also built the team from scratch, as compared to liverpool, which at that time, were NOT to say good, yet you can't say they were crappy either. player's inconsistancy has to do with benitez as well, in the fact that he has signed the wrong players/bad training even perhaps? you note from the list of 5m+ signings i gave above. how many are still around? how many hold a regular first team place or is a fantastic player waiting on the bench? similarly, look at the players that he has bought yet either do nothing or have been sold off? i have nothing against crappy managers. but i do have a problem with a manager who just can't shut up and instead blames it all on things OTHER than himself and his team. notice shearer hasnt complained that the league is unfair. according to reports he's even okay with man utd playing a weakened team against hull. (we'll have to see about that though, and tbh i hope ferguson plays a proper team that will win to avoid complaints) whereas benitez is complaining about trivial things like man utd playing the day before liverpool? he just needs to keep quiet when he should.

sg_forum SG

Yes, agree that he has talked too much lately, not his usual. He was normally calm and quiet. But that's part of the mind game?

I guess SAF complained more than Rafa?

1. complained the dressing room of Everton, Portsmouth & Fulham are too small.

2. complained about the timing of his game against Boro, playing the early kick-off following a Wednesday night Champions League semi-final.

3. accused Rafael Benitez of being “disturbed”

4. complained the way that the Barclays Premier League fixtures are drawn up and openly questioned whether the system was designed to handicap Manchester United.

5. calls for all referee to go back to school after Arsenal defeat

6. making abusive gesture towards reading fans last season

7. Drag Allardyce into the row by acussing Rafa made unrespectful gesture

8. Claimed his team was the better team after Liverpool defeat and refuse to be interviewed after that

9. called arsene wenger a disgrace

and many more....but I personally never think that he should shut his mouth up. It is part of the game, a mind game. Isn't it better to have this kind of exchanges? History shown that this kind of mind games really important...Just look at the rivalry between him and Wenger? I believe he will turn his attention to Wenger if arsenal become his main rival next year, no doubt about that...it's part of the game.