Benitez .... prick

[boltonboris]

Benitez's main fault is his buying which at times has been poor. I also think he lacks proper understanding of everything that goes on during games in this league.

However, he has improved Liverpool but whether he can win the title is another matter!

I think his buying's largely been good. Not saying he's not made mistakes, but then which manager hasn't? He's shipped off players who haven't fitted in, and is usually good at not having players outstay their welcome.

My main criticism of him is his control-freak nature. It leads to too timid an approach at times, especially in home games, which has proved costly. He can throw caution to the wind when there's 10 mins left, or when we're 1-0 down, but not enough from the off/when it's 0-0. On a couple of occasions he's made comments about games being 'too open', as if there is a fear of opening up a more attacking style of play that would give up some of our defensive solidity. I know it's a tough balance to find, and that's his job, but that's how it appears to me. If we'd opened up in the 7 draws at home, and ended up say winning two and losing two of them, we'd be better 2 points better off overall.

To be fair, he's getting a huge amount of stick for a manager whose side are second in the league and have lost only one game in the league all season. Should we be closer to United/above them? Quite probably, but the level of abuse directed at him seems just barmy to me. United are two time defending champions, with a larger budget and a more established squad, so it's a tough ask to better them.

I'd rather be in our position than Arsenal's, but how much flak is Wenger taking for Arsenal going backwards and not having won anything for years? Nowhere near the same amount. But then they play 'lavvly football', don't they, and they're ever so nice to watch... even if they are 6 points off 4th place and looking like seriously struggling at getting in the Champions League next year.

Depends what your perspective is. I mean signing Keane for big money then 6 months later getting shot doesn't suggest an astute buyer to me.

He's bought a lot of players that haven't made the grade and whilst every manager makes mistakes Benitez seems to sign more players not good enough for a club in Liverpools position than most!

What would have been said though, if he'd kept him for 3 years without him being happy and effective, selling him on for 7 Million? It was a bad buy, but he saw this quick style and made the moves for his exit.... Could have done much worse

[BWFC_Insane]

Benitez's main fault is his buying which at times has been poor. I also think he lacks proper understanding of everything that goes on during games in this league.

However, he has improved Liverpool but whether he can win the title is another matter!

I think his buying's largely been good. Not saying he's not made mistakes, but then which manager hasn't? He's shipped off players who haven't fitted in, and is usually good at not having players outstay their welcome.

My main criticism of him is his control-freak nature. It leads to too timid an approach at times, especially in home games, which has proved costly. He can throw caution to the wind when there's 10 mins left, or when we're 1-0 down, but not enough from the off/when it's 0-0. On a couple of occasions he's made comments about games being 'too open', as if there is a fear of opening up a more attacking style of play that would give up some of our defensive solidity. I know it's a tough balance to find, and that's his job, but that's how it appears to me. If we'd opened up in the 7 draws at home, and ended up say winning two and losing two of them, we'd be better 2 points better off overall.

To be fair, he's getting a huge amount of stick for a manager whose side are second in the league and have lost only one game in the league all season. Should we be closer to United/above them? Quite probably, but the level of abuse directed at him seems just barmy to me. United are two time defending champions, with a larger budget and a more established squad, so it's a tough ask to better them.

I'd rather be in our position than Arsenal's, but how much flak is Wenger taking for Arsenal going backwards and not having won anything for years? Nowhere near the same amount. But then they play 'lavvly football', don't they, and they're ever so nice to watch... even if they are 6 points off 4th place and looking like seriously struggling at getting in the Champions League next year.

Depends what your perspective is. I mean signing Keane for big money then 6 months later getting shot doesn't suggest an astute buyer to me.

He's bought a lot of players that haven't made the grade and whilst every manager makes mistakes Benitez seems to sign more players not good enough for a club in Liverpools position than most!

What would have been said though, if he'd kept him for 3 years without him being happy and effective, selling him on for 7 Million? It was a bad buy, but he saw this quick style and made the moves for his exit.... Could have done much worse

Aye but they've made a loss on a major signing. Most people could see that Keane wasn't the right player.

Why couldn't Benitez?

I've more sympathy when your budget is much smaller but when you are spending 20M on a player I think you should be able to do better than that!

[boltonboris]

Benitez's main fault is his buying which at times has been poor. I also think he lacks proper understanding of everything that goes on during games in this league.

However, he has improved Liverpool but whether he can win the title is another matter!

I think his buying's largely been good. Not saying he's not made mistakes, but then which manager hasn't? He's shipped off players who haven't fitted in, and is usually good at not having players outstay their welcome.

My main criticism of him is his control-freak nature. It leads to too timid an approach at times, especially in home games, which has proved costly. He can throw caution to the wind when there's 10 mins left, or when we're 1-0 down, but not enough from the off/when it's 0-0. On a couple of occasions he's made comments about games being 'too open', as if there is a fear of opening up a more attacking style of play that would give up some of our defensive solidity. I know it's a tough balance to find, and that's his job, but that's how it appears to me. If we'd opened up in the 7 draws at home, and ended up say winning two and losing two of them, we'd be better 2 points better off overall.

To be fair, he's getting a huge amount of stick for a manager whose side are second in the league and have lost only one game in the league all season. Should we be closer to United/above them? Quite probably, but the level of abuse directed at him seems just barmy to me. United are two time defending champions, with a larger budget and a more established squad, so it's a tough ask to better them.

I'd rather be in our position than Arsenal's, but how much flak is Wenger taking for Arsenal going backwards and not having won anything for years? Nowhere near the same amount. But then they play 'lavvly football', don't they, and they're ever so nice to watch... even if they are 6 points off 4th place and looking like seriously struggling at getting in the Champions League next year.

Depends what your perspective is. I mean signing Keane for big money then 6 months later getting shot doesn't suggest an astute buyer to me.

He's bought a lot of players that haven't made the grade and whilst every manager makes mistakes Benitez seems to sign more players not good enough for a club in Liverpools position than most!

What would have been said though, if he'd kept him for 3 years without him being happy and effective, selling him on for 7 Million? It was a bad buy, but he saw this quick style and made the moves for his exit.... Could have done much worse

Aye but they've made a loss on a major signing. Most people could see that Keane wasn't the right player.

Why couldn't Benitez?

I've more sympathy when your budget is much smaller but when you are spending 20M on a player I think you should be able to do better than that!

I tend to agree, but my point is Ferguson's signing of Veron... His worst mistake about that was not cashing in on him when he saw it wasn't working. He left for £16 million less than he was bought for and that's only because Chelsea were buying anything with two legs at daft prices.

[blurred]

When he's spent reasonable money, I'd say Benitez has got it right more often than not. Looking at his £5M+ buys, he's made a profit/broken even on ones that he's subsequently shipped out (Sissoko, Crouch, Bellamy), and of the top half-dozen or so of his buys (Torres, Keane, Babel, Alonso, Kuyt and Riera) only one of those has proven to be a mistake, and depending on what you read, he wasn't necessarily a Rafa signing. Either way, he cut his losses very early, and didn't lose a huge amount on him given the circumstances.

[boltonboris]

When he's spent reasonable money, I'd say Benitez has got it right more often than not. Looking at his £5M+ buys, he's made a profit/broken even on ones that he's subsequently shipped out (Sissoko, Crouch, Bellamy), and of the top half-dozen or so of his buys (Torres, Keane, Babel, Alonso, Kuyt and Riera) only one of those has proven to be a mistake, and depending on what you read, he wasn't necessarily a Rafa signing. Either way, he cut his losses very early, and didn't lose a huge amount on him given the circumstances.

Which was my point above regarding the Veron issue

[BWFC_Insane]

When he's spent reasonable money, I'd say Benitez has got it right more often than not. Looking at his £5M+ buys, he's made a profit/broken even on ones that he's subsequently shipped out (Sissoko, Crouch, Bellamy), and of the top half-dozen or so of his buys (Torres, Keane, Babel, Alonso, Kuyt and Riera) only one of those has proven to be a mistake, and depending on what you read, he wasn't necessarily a Rafa signing. Either way, he cut his losses very early, and didn't lose a huge amount on him given the circumstances.

Babel a good buy? Hmmm.

Would you not be better off with Crouch now? Kept him instead of Keane you'd have more options now.

[Prufrock]

When he's spent reasonable money, I'd say Benitez has got it right more often than not. Looking at his £5M+ buys, he's made a profit/broken even on ones that he's subsequently shipped out (Sissoko, Crouch, Bellamy), and of the top half-dozen or so of his buys (Torres, Keane, Babel, Alonso, Kuyt and Riera) only one of those has proven to be a mistake, and depending on what you read, he wasn't necessarily a Rafa signing. Either way, he cut his losses very early, and didn't lose a huge amount on him given the circumstances.

Babel a good buy? Hmmm.

Would you not be better off with Crouch now? Kept him instead of Keane you'd have more options now.

Not what he said though is it? He said the only one not 'a mistake'. Regardless of your view on Babel, he is still only just 22, and they would be almost certain to make most of that £11.5 million back at the very least. I also think he could turn out to be a top player, if he gets his head right, he has all the attributes, yet doesn't look like he knows it.

[blurred]

Babel a good buy? Hmmm.

Would you not be better off with Crouch now? Kept him instead of Keane you'd have more options now.

You can debate the merits of any given player. Is the £12m or so we laid out for Babel (not all of which has been paid yet, due to clauses) any more or less of a mistake than the £17m for Anderson or nearly £15m for Nani? That's a matter of opinion. Man United, though, could go out and buy two players 'for the future' in excess of £15m - Liverpool have bought two players in their history for more than that. Give Babel another year and will he be at the same level as Anderson/Nani in terms of performance and importance to the side? Yeah, probably. Benitez'll still get slagged about it, though.

As for Crouch, I always liked him. He did what he did very well, seemed a decent enough bloke, but I just don't think he could put up with only playing half our games. He wanted regular footie, so we sold him on in order for him to get that. I'm pretty sure Rafa would've liked to have kept him, but it just didn't work out that way.

[BWFC_Insane]

Babel a good buy? Hmmm.

Would you not be better off with Crouch now? Kept him instead of Keane you'd have more options now.

You can debate the merits of any given player. Is the £12m or so we laid out for Babel (not all of which has been paid yet, due to clauses) any more or less of a mistake than the £17m for Anderson or nearly £15m for Nani? That's a matter of opinion. Man United, though, could go out and buy two players 'for the future' in excess of £15m - Liverpool have bought two players in their history for more than that. Give Babel another year and will he be at the same level as Anderson/Nani in terms of performance and importance to the side? Yeah, probably. Benitez'll still get slagged about it, though.

As for Crouch, I always liked him. He did what he did very well, seemed a decent enough bloke, but I just don't think he could put up with only playing half our games. He wanted regular footie, so we sold him on in order for him to get that. I'm pretty sure Rafa would've liked to have kept him, but it just didn't work out that way.

Re. Crouch, fair do's!

As for Babel, thing is he's not playing regular football and he's not getting much match time compared to Anderson and Nani.

If you don't have the "big budget" to spend a lot on "potentials" then surely the 12M could have been used to buy a first team player to improve you?

I think that buys such as Ashley Young show that with the money Liverpool have the players are out there who could be pretty good squad players for you at least within your budget and perhaps O'Neill for example is stronger in the transfer market (with a not too dissimilar budget) to Benitez.

Thats my opinion at least.

[InsaneApache]

This thread is in danger of becoming de-railed.

So, in the spirit of the OP.....

Is Benny a prick?

Yes!

[Prufrock]

This thread is in danger of becoming de-railed.

So, in the spirit of the OP.....

Is Benny a prick?

Yes!

Was just about to post that I am getting sick and tired of defending Benitez the manager, it distracts me from the key theme, his prickishness!

[Prufrock]

Although back to Babel for one shecond. Even for a Dutchman he doesh have a wonderfully lucshuriant acshent.

[bobo the clown]

This thread is in danger of becoming de-railed.

So, in the spirit of the OP.....

Is Benny a prick?

Yes!

Ah, at last ... Insane ... "the Voice of Reason".

Benitez' politicing is catching up with him again & he thinks he has a shot at getting the Citeh job (which he hasn't, as Scolari's lined up for that), so he keeps stalling on the new contract.

He's a prick.

[H. Pedersen]

Looking at his £5M+ buys, he's made a profit/broken even on ones that he's subsequently shipped out (Sissoko, Crouch, Bellamy) . . . Either way, he cut his losses very early, and didn't lose a huge amount on him given the circumstances.

Yes, but my criticism is that you're never going to win the title with Crouch or Bellamy. Fine, you made a few bucks on them (though not really when you consider the wages) but the club did not progress at all with them.

[Bruce Rioja]

Well I don't know if any of you heard Jamie Redknapp's half-time comments tonight, but I expect him to be posting in this very thread sooner rather than later. What he basically said was that if you spend £190m and you, even then, don't have players to be able to play a balanced side (Masquerado at R-B e.g.) and you can't possibly balance the side up with what you have on the bench, then you are, to all intents and purposes.......... a prick!

[hisroyalgingerness]

I can't watch jamie redknapp, he always talks over his fellow pundits, not giving a rats arse what they're saying, and to top it off talks utter garbage

[blurred]

Well I don't know if any of you heard Jamie Redknapp's half-time comments tonight, but I expect him to be posting in this very thread sooner rather than later. What he basically said was that if you spend £190m and you, even then, don't have players to be able to play a balanced side (Masquerado at R-B e.g.) and you can't possibly balance the side up with what you have on the bench, then you are, to all intents and purposes.......... a prick!

He does have the player(s), only my sources tell me that a certain defender is refusing to play at right back. I only heard half of what he was saying (was in the pub last night rather than travelling back home), and in a roundabout way he does have a point. I'm not worried about the depth of the squad point about playing Mascherano at right back; there's far more worrying sides to it than that.

[Verbal]

Well I don't know if any of you heard Jamie Redknapp's half-time comments tonight, but I expect him to be posting in this very thread sooner rather than later. What he basically said was that if you spend £190m and you, even then, don't have players to be able to play a balanced side (Masquerado at R-B e.g.) and you can't possibly balance the side up with what you have on the bench, then you are, to all intents and purposes.......... a prick!

He does have the player(s), only my sources tell me that a certain defender is refusing to play at right back. I only heard half of what he was saying (was in the pub last night rather than travelling back home), and in a roundabout way he does have a point. I'm not worried about the depth of the squad point about playing Mascherano at right back; there's far more worrying sides to it than that.

Is said player's refusal to play at full back the reason Skertel, one of the best centre halfs in the prem, had to scoot over there against Boro, and subsequently get torn a new one by Stewart Downing?

If true, it is quite worrying that there are internal squabbles when you were a) in such a strong position originally and b) now chasing for the title with a big game against the rags next week.

[boltonboris]

It has to be Carragher.... He's also a prick, who thinks he's massive-time

[blurred]

When BBC Five Live reporter Ian Dennis inquired, quite reasonably, as to just why Benitez had elected to play Javier Mascherano at right back instead of Jamie Carragher, as he had been doing for the last few games, the newshound found Benitez in typically intransigent form:

Benitez: “Mascherano had to play there so we needed to do it in this way.”

Dennis: “Jamie [Carragher] has played there before so why didn’t you use him?”

Benitez: “Mascherano had to play there.”

Dennis: “But why?”

Benitez: “Because Mascherano had to play there.”

Dennis: “Was it a tactical decision?”

Benitez: “No. He had to play there.”

Dennis: “OK. Any news on your contract?”

Benitez: “No news. We have to enjoy our victory tonight.”

Dennis: “You’re not helping me much, Rafa! Come on! No clues?”

Benitez: “As I said, the best thing to do is enjoy the victory. I think everyone will be happy tonight.”

Dennis: “Enjoy your evening.”

So that's clear, then.