How good a manager is Benitez really ?

Benitez record was excellent before he went to Liverpool, and has been very good since he arrived there. I don't beleive he is the master tactician that lots seem to think he is.
But, if Liverpool wish to return to offering a real challenge for the championship, I think that time is running out for Benitez. It's difficult to see anyone to replace him, and do a better job.

9-for winning the all the Cup Competition that he has.

7 in the league because he won his two liga championship win Barca were crap and Real were on their way down and now that he is in a league where he has some real challengers for the title he has been crap.

First season we had countless injuries and finished 5th. Granted, that's poor.

Last year we got the most points we've ever acheived in the premiership and finished a solitary point behind the mancs. Even this year we're in 3rd...

I love the convenient "Real were on their way down" excuse aswell Messiah considering in the first 2 seasons Rafa was incharge of Valencia they won a Champions League and a La Liga.

8

Obispo wrote:First season we had countless injuries and finished 5th. Granted, that's poor.

Last year we got the most points we've ever acheived in the premiership and finished a solitary point behind the mancs. Even this year we're in 3rd...

I love the convenient "Real were on their way down" excuse aswell Messiah considering in the first 2 seasons Rafa was incharge of Valencia they won a Champions League and a La Liga.

Rafa won the champions league with valencia?

L r d wrote:

Obispo wrote:First season we had countless injuries and finished 5th. Granted, that's poor.

Last year we got the most points we've ever acheived in the premiership and finished a solitary point behind the mancs. Even this year we're in 3rd...

I love the convenient "Real were on their way down" excuse aswell Messiah considering in the first 2 seasons Rafa was incharge of Valencia they won a Champions League and a La Liga.

Rafa won the champions league with valencia?

Read it again Lrd

No, no. Real won the Champions League when Rafa was in charge of Valencia. Messiah was trying to make out like they were shit at the time.

COTR wrote:

L r d wrote:

Obispo wrote:First season we had countless injuries and finished 5th. Granted, that's poor.

Last year we got the most points we've ever acheived in the premiership and finished a solitary point behind the mancs. Even this year we're in 3rd...

I love the convenient "Real were on their way down" excuse aswell Messiah considering in the first 2 seasons Rafa was incharge of Valencia they won a Champions League and a La Liga.

Rafa won the champions league with valencia?

Read it again Lrd

ah yes i see. But valencia were hardly doing poor when he took over. record points total for liverpool, whoop de do, no surprise with the previous managers liverpool have had. still 3rd and well away from the team who finished 1st. Don't see why somebody is trying to twist the truth, you could easily do it the other way.

L r d wrote:

COTR wrote:

L r d wrote:

Obispo wrote:First season we had countless injuries and finished 5th. Granted, that's poor.

Last year we got the most points we've ever acheived in the premiership and finished a solitary point behind the mancs. Even this year we're in 3rd...

I love the convenient "Real were on their way down" excuse aswell Messiah considering in the first 2 seasons Rafa was incharge of Valencia they won a Champions League and a La Liga.

Rafa won the champions league with valencia?

Read it again Lrd

ah yes i see. But valencia were hardly doing poor when he took over. record points total for liverpool, whoop de do, no surprise with the previous managers liverpool have had. still 3rd and well away from the team who finished 1st. Don't see why somebody is trying to twist the truth, you could easily do it the other way.

do you think this current liverpool squad is far away from being a championship winning one Lrd ???

9.. tactically superb, but not perfect at transfers and the rotation is at times a bit stupid.

8/10 - He inherited a good squad at Valencia and fine-tuned it to play sweet, interlocking football...

On the one-off game he's still a match for any coach around. Can set-up up a team to play great "chess" footie, and is very flexible with his formations.

He had to get rid of quite a bit of Houllier dross, but the spine of the side is now there. what is needed is some injection of real pace, because I believe what worked in La Liga, won't work here. The EPL relies on athleticism far more.

Haven't really seen any great or bad examples of man-management...

Its very simple, Managers are judged on trophies. Nothing more, nothing less, the process of obtaining those trophies, injuries,players,tactics,signings.... is all open for debate but all of that is irrelevant when determining whether a Manager is successful, trophies are the only gauge.

I dont use his record at Valencia because quite frankly i couldn't give a shit what he did there, im a Liverpool fan and hes our manager now.

Hes won us a Champions League trophy we now are privilidged to keep, and an FA cup. So hes thus far proven to be a relative success. HOWEVER, Rafa was brought to Liverpool to bring the club back where every Liverpool fan believes we belong, top of the league, we are not there and looks unlikely this season we will be there. His cup achievements will prolong his stay (providing he wants too) but dont be under any illusions, if Rafa cannot bring us a League title over the next couple/few years he wont be allowed to hang around.

I've given him 8.

I don't think there will ever be a 10 but he could be a 9.5 if he ever wins the Prem.

Did a great job in Spain - seems very clear about what he wants and thorough in his preparation.

I only give him 8 because his team is not athletic enough - Only Momo, Gerrard and Bellamy are really good athletes at Liverpool.

You need more than that in the Prem.

I think he has assembled a team as good as Man U and possibly as good as Arsenal even though Wenger and Fergie have been at their clubs implementing their ideas/laying foundations for 10 and 20 years respectively - Benitez has only been here 2.5 years !

Give him 10 years at Liverpool and he'll achieve more than Wenger has at Arsenal - give him 20 and he could out do Fergie.

* Before people cane me for saying they are as good as Man U and Arsenal - you have to judge the big sides nowadays on a combination of domestic and CL performances.

Liverpool look very comfortable at CL level.

I never accepted that Juve were better than Milan between 2003-06 even though Juve had the better of it domestically - Milan looked very good at both levels.

I won't accept that Man U are superior to Liverpool for the same reason.

Rafa is class - we need people like him over here

I hope he gets the biggest drubbing of his career on Saturday.

Paisley was a 10 surely?

4

If it wasn't for that flukey CL win, the Liverpool fans would be screaming for him to be fired. Also shit in the transfer market and far too much rotation.

8

Solid teams but not charismatic

Murray wrote:4

If it wasn't for that flukey CL win, the Liverpool fans would be screaming for him to be fired. Also shit in the transfer market and far too much rotation.

Stupid cuntface.

8

Inherited a poor side from Houllier, and won a champions league, an FA cup, a super cup, a charity shield and reached a league cup final with it. Bought Alonso, who is one of the best midfielders in the premiership. Sissoko and Agger are brilliant prospects, Garcia is a fantastic impact player, and Reina is not half as bad as people say he is - Our best keeper for years. We've seen improvement over his seasons as manager, with our first home loss in ages happening on Saturday.

We badly lost 2 matches, get over it. Rafa rocks.

9
he did get a great job valencia team but they were never going to win the league with hector cuper imo. if you looked at their team compared to ours at the time its amazing because they had only ayala who was a world class player and that is it.if you have to take anything from his valencia time it is that he was only able to win la liga when Real threw it away as we were leading for most part of the season in both times he won before we lost out( esp in 04).that is the only big question that hangs around him. for liverpool he has had to clean up alot with big money and he is doing a fine job. next season liverpool will have more of a underdog role like man utd have had this season in the start and that will give them a big chance.

8; can't win everything with the monkeys that make up the Liverpool squad.

hairy ingenuity™ wrote:

Murray wrote:4

If it wasn't for that flukey CL win, the Liverpool fans would be screaming for him to be fired. Also shit in the transfer market and far too much rotation.

Stupid cuntface.

Calm down, calm down.

I'd give him a 7
Hes a good manager and seems tactically astute. His weakness, apart from in the transfer market, is his nicety. IMO he seems too nice (maybe that explains his continual rotation?). However, his record doesnt lie and lucky or not he still won the CL and the FA cup

In my humble opinion, i think he is worthy of an 8.

Whilst his transfer market deals have sometimes not been perfect, it is possible to explain them away due to the pool board or the personal situation at the time, or a fucking big suprise. For example, Pennant was his thrid choice right winger, Nunez was the only option and who saw Morientes being shit?

Tactically hes very good or although Liverpool strength in depth in some positions means he is in a no win situation...

Good manager

Tweedle wrote:Paisley was a 10 surely?

12.

Keano Is God wrote:I'd give him a 7
Hes a good manager and seems tactically astute. His weakness, apart from in the transfer market, is his nicety. IMO he seems too nice (maybe that explains his continual rotation?). However, his record doesnt lie and lucky or not he still won the CL and the FA cup

Don't think I've heard that one before. Most people think he's too distant with his players. Particularly Gerrard when he first arrived.

The Argies at Valencia didn't like him much as a person either. I don't think 'nice' is a way to describe him. I think it's because doesn't run around jumping like Mourinho or Ferguson (or Wenger nowadays). Reminds me more of Wenger when he first arrived.

I think he means Benitez isn't as aggressive in demeanour as most other managers. On the surface he appears quite docile.

Anyway, 8/10 from me.

kas wrote:I think he means Benitez isn't as aggressive as some other managers. On the surface he appears quite docile.

Anyway, 8/10 from me.

Aye, that's what I thougth he meant aswell. I still don't think he could be described as "too nice" though. Maybe neutrals would like to see a bit more passion from him.

I went for a 5.

Sure, he's won the CL and the FA Cup, but in doing so, he's had to come from behind in both games (with a lot of luck imo - even if it was no fluke reaching the final).

I still maintain the fact that Milan lost that final more than Liverpool won it, and as for the FA Cup final, I think Gerrard could hit 100 more like that and only find that spot once or twice.

If it wasn't for those 2 'miraculous' comebacks, they'd have won nothing under Rafa (well, OK, they'd have won the Community Shield).

As much as you can go on about Chelsea's wealth, finishing 5th and 3rd is not something I'd be proud of if I was a Liverpool supporter (especially ending the season 37 points behind the champions).

Excellent manager at Valencia, but I think his achievements at Liverpool are slightly debatable. Give him time though. After all, it took Fergie 7 years to win something.

Mourinho is a 2

Obispo wrote:Mourinho is a 2

And yet he's won more than Rafa in a similar period.

1 Champions League
1 UEFA Cup
2 Portugese titles
1 Cup of Portugal
1 SuperCup Candido de Oliveira

2 Premiership titles
1 Football League Cup
1 FA Community Shield

10 trophies inside 3.5 years