rgk_lfc

I am looking at your club from an outsider perspective, so forgive me if I am making incorrect assumptions. I admit I do not have detailed knowledge about your club, players, and performance. My concern though is the loss of momentum. In January, you were the hottest club in the Championship. There was no doubt you were going to come up. If I was a player, with your fanbase, manager, form, I would have picked you over a bottom 10 premiership club. The same happened after your win in May. There was a huge positive vibe and feeling of optimism and progress associated with Newcastle. You should have cashed in on that to get the players. Ashley has blown that also. As time passes, it is going to get more and more difficult to convince players that the owners are serious about Newcastle staying in the premiership. Don't get me wrong, you are Newcastle and you will always attract players. If I was a young upcoming player choosing between Newcastle and West Ham, I would have gone for Newcastle in January and May. In August, seeing how much you have invested, I would have my doubts. I have no doubt you will do fine in the long run with Rafa. Once you go below 10, the premiership is dogshit. But the more time you spend on not buying anyone, you have missed the opportunity to ride the optimism wave and jump up a couple of levels quickly.

There was an article a year or two ago about manager reputation and their choice of clubs. They analyzed the trajectory of several managers and said that most managers after their initial success tend to pick clubs where the chances of success are high, odds are in their favor. The two managers who went against that trend was Rafa and Klopp. At three points in his career - his first league win at Valencia, league/europa double at Valencia, Istanbul - Rafa could have walked away, taken up a cushy job at Bayern or similar club, added more cups to his resume and still remained a legend among LFC and Valencia fans. I think he genuinely likes the challenge and makes decisions accordingly. After Istanbul, every club in Europe (with the exception of Man Utd and Chelsea) would have fired their manager and quadrupled his salary for him. While I understand the frustration and nervousness, I think he will walk away only when he absolutely thinks there is no hope. He is a fighter and will keep pushing till that happens.

I can understand your worries and frustration but I think some of you need to calm down a wee bit. I wouldn't say Rafa is 100% happy but currently I would say your situation is DEFCON 4. When it hits DEFCON 2, you will know - Articles will come from at least 6-12 journos from England and Spain including the national ones with the same message. When the situation is DEFCON 1, you will truly know. That is the time to truly panic. Rafa is no coward. When he is genuinely unhappy, he comes out swinging at the owners. He made the following statement to the press against Moratti "There are three possibilities for the club. One, 100% support for the coach and buy four or five players to build a stronger team with competition among the players to be able to carry on winning matches and trophies. Two, carry on like this without a project, without planning, and go ahead with one person to blame, for the whole season. The third," he added, "is to speak to my agent to reach an agreement if there is not this support. Simple." Against his Valencia bosses "I was hoping for a sofa and they've brought me a lamp." He has made similar statements against LFC bosses. Do you think he will have any qualms about openly attacking Ashley? When he is unhappy to the point of being ready to walk away, there wont be any ambiguity in the message. Until that happens, no point worrying and perusing each statement in local journos articles.

Ibe went for 15 million last season. This season has gone more crazy. Siggurdson will go for 25 million comfortably.

Dirk Kuyt captained Feyenoord to their first league title in 18 years and announced his retirement. I can see him joining your coaching team sometime in the future. Rafa loves him.

Off the top of my head, imo it was a combination of the following: Gayle's injury, Mitrovic being unable to score, Gayle's injury making Shelvey far less effective, Hayden being injured meaning that Colback got game time, Having no really effective number 10, Clark being injured, Lascelles underperforming, or being kind to him having a double hernia. Player under-performing and/or simply not being good enough. For the most part Perez, Mitrovic, Diame, and Atsu all performed below the level we thought they would. And yes, sometimes conservative tactics and poor player choices/substitutions. All compounded by not signing anyone in January, really. It really can't be emphasised enough just how much Matt Ritchie dragged us through some of those games towards the end. Cheers and Congratulations !!!!

The only thing which caught me off guard was your performance in the second half of the season. Rafa's team usually pick up steam in the second half. Considering your position in November, I thought winning the Championship was a foregone conclusion. The dip in the second half surprised me. Maybe it was the injuries to key players?

I posted this on page 111 of this thread. Now that you have had a year of Rafa, I wonder how many of you agree with my assessment of him. Are there parts which you disagree? Also unless Ashley does something major to piss Rafa off, I absolutely do not see him moving to West Ham. You all can relax about that. I also think because his family is settled in England, he will not move to another European club unless he is approached by a club of the stature of Bayern.

That was my point - Rafa doesn't tolerate players not doing exactly what he wants them to do. There's no wiggle room with regards to "he thought the short pass was a good option there". And the fact is that Rafa blames Mbemba for the midfield giving the ball away in that game, because even though his passes went to feet, they went to players who then turned it over and, in Rafa's plan, they should never have had it in the first place. This was reported a few weeks ago, pretty sure in The Chronicle. It fits with what we know about Rafa, it fits with what we saw in that game. Rafa had a plan, Mbemba didn't follow it, we lost, Mbemba doesn't play again. There's just no way in hell a manager that successful sees the game like that. It's a game of decisions based on the model you've been taught. Based being the key word. Fair enough if you ignore the plan for large periods of the game and don't make the pass when its there but to say there's no wiggle room is crazy. Don't ex-players all say similar as well - it's a very strict and disciplined approach from rafa and he's not afraid to drop someone who takes liberties. Saying there's absolutely no wiggle room though is probably a bit far but there's no question the margins are very fine with what he'll tolerate. Bellamy on Rafa: I did my medical stuff and then I went upstairs to see Rafa Benitez in his office. I sat down. He was business-like. He produced a cutting from a newspaper. The page was dominated by a picture of me with a snarl on my face. Most of the time back then I’d have a snarl on my face. It was nothing unusual. “Why are you looking like this?” he said. I told him I couldn’t remember. “You can’t play like this,” he said. “This kind of aggression is not what you need as a player.” I told him I understood. The memory of the game where the incident had happened started to come back to me. It was a match against Sunderland the previous season. Sunderland’s goalkeeper, Kelvin Davis, had shoved me in the back. I had a bad back anyway at that time. I didn’t take too kindly to being shoved in it. I didn’t mention any of that to Rafa. I could sense it probably wasn’t the right time. Then he got a board out and started quizzing me about footballing systems. What did I think about this formation or that formation, the positives, the negatives, the benefits of playing between the lines. Where would I run if a teammate had the ball in a certain position. He asked me about every scenario under the sun. And every answer I gave, even if it was correct, was twisted into another answer. “When you play up top,” he said, “if this player has it, where would you go?” It was like a multiple choice test. “I’d run to the left,” I said. “Yeah, but run right first, then go left,” he said. The other players told me later that was just typical Rafa. I was a bit taken aback by his attitude. It was like being in the presence of an unsmiling headmaster. The next day, I met Pako Ayestaran, Rafa’s assistant and the fitness coach. The fitness routines were not that imaginative. It was army style, really. Long, plodding runs mainly. It was very professional with heart monitors and fitness belts but there was no camaraderie while they took place. It was all double sessions, tactical work, standing in position, walk-throughs of tactical play. Rafa oversaw it all. A lot of Rafa’s tactical work was very, very good. He was impressively astute and I learned a lot from him in that area. But he could not come to terms with the idea that some players need an element of freedom and that we express ourselves on the pitch in different ways. He was very rigid.He worked on specific moves over and over again. It was a bit like American Football in that respect. Rafa wanted people running designated routes when the ball was in a certain place, just as he had been explaining the first time I spoke to him in his office. The winger comes inside, the full-back overlaps, the forward has to run near post every time. There was no allowance for the fact that your marker might have worked out what you are doing after a few attempts. You had to keep doing it because it might make space for someone else. I felt like a decoy runner half the time. But I did learn a lot. Defensively, Rafa was exceptional. He was very good on the opposition and how to nullify their threat and stifle their forward players.

He's fine. Said we'll be the worst team to ever win the championship if we win it which for him is quite upbeat. I was shitting it in the last 20 or so then it cut to a shot of Rafa giving instructions to Yedlin (i think) when he was coming on and the guy just looked like calmness personified. No panic, just an arm round the shoulder calmly telling him what he wants like everything happening on the pitch was going just the way he planned. Saved me a pants change anyway, f***ing love the bloke. This. Each time they cut to him on the sidelines I feel like pinching myself, he oozes calm, experience, intelligence. 2007 CL semifinal penalty shootout against Chelsea. Everyone is going crazy and mad with tension. Our manager: http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/multimedia/archive/00405/126223843_football_405759c.jpg

Klopp's sides are cracking to watch, but porous at the back compared to Rafa's. Rafa is a better bet for European competition, but I think Klopp will do better in the EPL. I actually think Rafa will win you more trophies and be more of a long-term success in that regard, but Klopp could do something amazing like win the PL with Liverpool against the odds if you like. Maybe a one off, but special all the same. Plus his football is far more entertaining. Again he is very much like KK with his philosophy, the way he engages fans and the way he talks and sees the game. I really do like Klopp. I fact if I could cherry pick any one manager for my club right now it would be him. With Rafa, if we go up, I think we will probably have the 2nd best all-round manager/coach/tactician in the league behind Guardiola who despite going where success is almost assured, he is for me the Messi of management. The absolute best basically. His ideas, his philosophies are something else. Wenger I love, he's great, but he is massively limited and is at the perfect club for him. Would he do what he has done at Arsenal with say NUFC or Liverpool? I don't think he would. Mourinho is so scared of losing and so paranoid about his image and persona, he has become a shadow of himself. He's a bit like one of his players at the moment, Rooney. Was great, but isn't and is past his best. Can he recover? I think Mourinho needs to take a year out and then go and manage a club that doesn't have the best players or top players with the most money. He's a great coach, a great manager, arguably the best in general outside of Pep, but he's broken at the moment. The latter days of Real and then Chelsea have broken him for me. Its actually quite sad looking in from the outside if you like. He will always win trophies, but cups and such. He's better than that. But he needs to rethink his entire outlook. For me, in the PL if we go up in terms of all-round ability etc... Pep Rafa Klopp Pochettino Wenger Mourinho Pochettino's achievements are impressive but I think he needs to win a few shiny cups before he can place himself at Rafa's level. Rafa has several important shiny cups which have come against all odds at the highest level. One thing which is missing from Rafa's resume which prevents him from reaching the true elite level of coaches is league wins or challenges in recent years. But in Europe his achievements are stunningly good. I think in 12 seasons where he competed in European competitions and was allowed to complete the season he reached the semi finals something like 8 times. He also reached the finals 4 times. All stunning achievements.

Given his touchline antics of the past, including going to shake the opposition managers hand two minutes before the final whistle, he has no right to comment on others.

What a man! Asked on Monday whether he missed the bright lights of the Champions League or Premier League, he looked back almost confused. “I am concentrating on games and that’s it. I decided to stay for the fans and the club, to stay in England and manage a team in the way you want to manage,” he said. “I’m not thinking about what isn’t here. It’s a sunny day outside, I’m coaching a team the way I want to coach it. That’s it. In the end, it’s XI versus XI and we’ve got 52,000 fans coming to our games - it’s not bad.” That is a genuinely brilliant quote which deserves more love in the media and the football public. In this era of rampant commercialism in football, where every player every manager wants to jump to the next step - higher wages at the first available opportunity - that quote is a throwback to the simpler times, reminding us all why we love this game and our respective clubs. By the way Rafa's teams really click into fifth gear and go on full on crushing machine mode in the second half of the season.

It is very difficult to rate a Rafa transfer window as he is the ultimate believer in "system above individual talent". His style of football is demanding - physically and mentally - and it requires a reasonable squad size. Rafa also prefers players who follow instructions to the last detail over maverick individual talent. That is his biggest strength and to a certain extent weakness. Strength because he is very good at creating teams which are greater than the sum of the parts. I agree with you that it might be better for Newcastle if Rafa for example had coaxed Sissoko, Tiote, Cisse to perform in the championship. I maybe wrong here but I think Sir Bobby was that type of a manager, who at times could coax performance out of bad apples too. Unfortunately Rafa is not like that. He believes that players should be 110% committed to the cause naturally and any player who does not have that mentality is shipped out pronto. In the short term it hurts. But in the longer term you will have a more professional outfit with everyone committed to the cause.

Daniel Agger about Hodgson just to show the difference in class between the two managers. Roy Hodgson “I completely lost my desire to come to work because his training sessions were really hard to get through. Not physically but mentally. It was the same and the same and the same. Day in and day out. “Often we had eight forwards playing against me and Martin Skrtel [apparently to let Fernando Torres score to regain his confidence]. Skrtel and I had a really hard training session as we were defending against eight with two but the eight players attacking were just faffing around. They had hardly run a kilometre and it was so uninspiring.”

Hodgson is a talentless hack. I am stunned he remained in the job for so long. LFC fans saw throw him in his first two months itself. Just going through some of the posts about Pardew, it reminds me of the parallels between Hodgson and LFC. Every journo in the country was criticizing LFC fans for giving Hodgson a hard time. Every journo in the country was chiding us for expecting too much when we were taking a rapid descent down the table. Here are some of his quotes: http://www.lfchistory.net/Articles/Article/3279 Lot of people still tell LFC fans that Hodgson was not given a fair share due to Dalglish. No Hodgson was not given time at LFC by the fans because he was a dire shit manager with no sense of tactics and who tried to blame each and everyone other than him. He even peddled lies about other people in the press. One of the favorite moments of Hodgson reign was when he insinuated that Rafa had banned Dalglish from Melwood training ground when Rafa was the person who actually got Dalglish involved. Rafa's response was brilliant: "I think that Mr. Hodgson, he doesn't understand," Benitez said. "Every single press conference is even worse than the last one. He's talking about things that he doesn't know. "And some people cannot see a priest on a mountain of sugar. "Maybe he hasn't been in Liverpool too long. We gave the fans their pride - again. We fought for the fans, we fought for the club and we fought for our players. "So maybe he cannot understand this." He added: "I brought back Kenny Dalglish to do a role in the club and Christian Purslow gave him another role. "He (Hodgson) doesn't know but I will explain it to him. "So, instead of talking about the flips or the flops, he has to concentrate on his players, try to do his best. "He has a good job to do." Benitez also defended his own record in the transfer market while in charge of Liverpool adding: "They've signed nine players. "With £10million net spending, I left that squad with £300million value, 13 internationals. So, instead of talking about flips and flops, he has to concentrate on his job, try to do his best and not talk about the level of his players or the new players." "Concentrate, try to do your best because it will be the best for the club and it will be the best for the fans."

Based on form Henderson and Wilshere shouldnt be in the final list. Given the fact that there is only one defensive midfielder, Dier, who could be used as a central defender also, Drinkwater should have been on the list. Townsend should have gone. Especially since when England are chasing the game against good opposition, their best strategy has been taking long distance shots. He also is a great weapon against tired legs. I saw some reservations against Milner but he is a great asset to have in the squad. Easily one of our best players in the second half of the season especially in the Europa cup run. Doesnt do anything flashy but provides assists when played wide. Also a great utility player - can play both full backs, wide attacking midfielder, and a central midfield player to a reasonable level.

He is going to stay. The delay is probably because Rafa is an incredibly detail oriented manager. There are rumors among the LFC media that Frank McParland and some of the other youth coaches he trusts are about to move to Newcastle. Most likely he has identified the nutritionist for the Newcastle U11 squad and has asked Ashley and Charnley's lawyer for a cast iron legal commitment to hiring that person built into his contract. He is a very smart and sharp person who is not afraid to walk away. If he had the slightest inclination that Ashley and Charnley are not 100% serious in their commitment towards him, he would have walked away by now.

Anfield HQ ✔ ‎@AnfieldHQ The Benitez family are once again stumping up around £12,000 to send 39 disadvantaged children to Disneyland Paris this autumn. #lfc Anfield HQ ✔ ‎@AnfieldHQ @AnfieldHQ Montse Benitez has also pledged to repeat the gesture every 12 months having been buoyed by its success.

No f******* way. If you are impressed with how Rafa has performed with your players in the premier league, wait till you get to Europe. He is the maestro there. 8 semi finals in 11 attempts.

He does things like that. Make substitutions or start players which make fans like us scratch our head wondering why. But after a few games, you notice it gets result. There is a reason why he is a world class manager. He sees things most of us dont. And it is all about the system for him, how the different pieces fit together. Glad to see him getting so much love at Newcastle. I have always wondered he was particularly targeted when he was LFC manager by fans of other clubs. Outside of his managerial acumen, he is a perfectly decent bloke, does a lot of work for charity and is wonderful with the fans. I think the decision for him to stay or leave will be in the hands of Ashley and Charnley. Given him the resources and show him they are as committed as him and he will stay and build your club. And it is not like Rafa expects 100 million war chest every season. His demands will be reasonable and achievable with the Newcastle budget. As long as Ashley and others give him the impression that they are as committed to the project, he will stay, no doubt about it.

Which one are you referrng to, Klaus

I have posted this earlier - If Rafa stays at Newcastle for 3-5 years you will win trophies. No doubt about it. If Ashley and Charnley wants him to stay, is willing to provide him with the resources he needs to build Newcastle - he will stay at Newcastle whether it is in the premier league or in the Championship. The money is important but I dont think Rafa is 100% about the money. After Istanbul he was the hottest manager in Europe. He could have left us and gone to far more easier jobs in the continent where he would have earned twice the money. The project is as important to him as the salary he earns. He will build your footballing infrastructure - youth team coaching, scouting, diet, physical fitness. For the first time since Sir Bobby Robson - you will have serious technical footballing people (Borrell, Segura) handling all aspects of your club. It will rival or be on par with any other team you see on the continent. Not past players coaching based on reputation and all. He gives 200% and the big question is are the owners willing to match his intensity and passion.

“Rafa will be welcomed back with open arms and rightly so,” said Dalglish. “It isn’t just about the trophies that Rafa won as Liverpool manager, although they are testament enough to the service he provided to the club, it is also about his legacy and we’re still reaping the rewards of that today,” added the Scot. “I was fortunate enough that Rafa invited me to help out at the academy in whatever way I could and I will always be eternally grateful for that. “The benefits of the changes he put in place at that time are still being seen, you only have to look at some of the players in the first team squad to recognise that. “Sheyi Ojo, Jordon Ibe and Jerome Sinclair were both brought in at that time while others including Jon Flanagan, Connor Randall, Ryan Kent, Cameron Brannagan, Ryan Kent and Jordan Rossiter had the benefit of working with the staff that Rafa put in place. “All of those players have played for Liverpool’s first team this season having been given opportunities by Jurgen Klopp and I am sure that Jurgen will appreciate the contribution that Rafa made in that respect. “The staff that Rafa brought into the Academy, especially Frank McParland, Rodolfo Borrell and Pep Segura, all made a positive difference and the work that they put in is bearing fruit and I’m sure it will continue to do so. “So Rafa can rightly be proud of his contribution to Liverpool and I’ve no doubt he will be given the kind of welcome he deserves tomorrow.” I am happy to see Kenny Dalglish acknowledge Rafa's contribution. In 2004, when he joined the LFC academy and youth team was not at all good. Loads of money was being spent on players who couldnt even have a career in the championship. Rafa completely restructured the academy, got in people like Borrell who was from the Barcelona youth team, appointed high quality technical coaches at the youth level, changed the emphasis from winning youth FA cups to producing players for the first team and we are starting to see the benefits of them. I mean we have not yet produced a class of 92 but there are plenty of decent players now coming through who are good enough to have a career in the premiership and play an important squad role.

He has won tactical battles with an inferior team against Del Bosque, Capello, Ancelotti at Madrid, San Siro, Nou Camp. Broke the Madrid Barca hold on the La liga not once, but twice. Only Simeone has come close to matching that achievement and he has not won it twice yet. I think you have go all the way up to Ferguson at Aberdeen to see such an achievement. There is also a stat along the lines of - whenever his team qualified for Europe they reached the semifinals 8 out of 12 attempts. Two CL finals, Two UEFA cup finals within a space of 10 years. It could have been two more UEFA cup finals if not for a last minute goal by A. Madrid against us and if Higain had his shooting boots in the semi final and not squandered chance after chance. He is considered damaged goods by the media but if it works out, the potential for Newcastle is limitless.