The Benitez Thread

[Sheva. 5,373]

It's not all assumptions. It's very widely known what Roman wants in a broad sense. There are enough leaks out of Chelsea that have all said the same thing. (In fact, one person in the know at Chelsea was clarifying it earlier this year in an article I read. He said something like "people say Roman wants to play a certain style of attacking football, but he really just wants someone to develop their own attacking style and to take it to the other clubs" (rough paraphrasing.) As for Oscar, I don't know. I really don't want him to be micromanaging at all. As is the key with all management. You hire the person you think is best for the job and you let them do the job. Roman's "visits" to training are not helpful IMO.

It's not all assumptions, but what you said about Oscar is. I don't believe RDM was forced into starting anyone, he made the decision himself and couldn't see or stop the problems that came along with that.

[bluesman2610 1,417]

I don't actually mind what Rafa has done to the side. I have a feeling that his starting XI would be similar to the one I'd prefer (and I was certainly never liking either starting Hazard , Mata, and Oscar up front together nor the atrocious and childish nickname given to them as a result and thankfully that's been mostly stopped by Rafa.) I just don't think we can give credit to Rafa for winning the exact sort of games RDM was winning. (and part of me thinks that RDM was sacked because there was window of opportunity. Chelsea had a game no one would blame them for losing coming up followed by an exceptionally easy schedule. Chelsea could still have qualified for the CL as well. If they did and if Chelsea rebounded which was almost a certainty given the competition, then Roman wouldn't have been able to fire RDM. He saw his window and he took it.)

ok so we are not so different in our views i admitted to that the schedule that RB had did lean in his favour and i also agree rdm could have won these games as well if using similair tactics but that would be assuming he would or wouldn't,

all the extreme hate for rafa and the extreme love is way over board i think as supporters of our beloved club we need to take it a game at a time and when the season is over we then can give a proper assesment of his abilities as the manager of Chelsea Football Club!

[Kojo 4,676]

One huge benefit about Rafa Benitez, he seems to be obsessed in buying defensive midfielders, well at Liverpool anyway, maybe that means he's going to invest in strenght down the middle, which is exactly what we need.

[Bosnian Blue 2,471]

We have to support him.

No.

[Tomo 21,751]

We will sack him, appoint some one not as good after failing to get Mourinho or Pep.

It's obvious already.

[rafafan 10]

Hello everyone, Liverpool fan here following the career of a hero , been following this forum since rafa got the job. and had to register to make the following point regarding Benitez and Mourinho.

Who is the first manager out of Benitez, Mourinho, Ferguson, Wenger, Mancini, to reach 2 Champions League finals ? answer ; Rafa

(Guardiola started in 08/09 but he achieved 2 finals in 3 seasons with his Mega Team but your interim also did the same before without xavi, inietsa, messi, villa)

Which Manager has the highest win ratio in the Champions League ? answer rafa

If comparisons are to be made between Mourinho and rafa then look at there tenure in english football at the same time as each other, Mourinho 3 seasons and a half, 2 League titles, 2 League cups, 1 Fa Cup, 1 charity shield, spending Romans millions .

Rafa in the same time as jose, 1 european Cup, 1 fa Cup, 1 uefa Super cup, 1 charity Shield, 1 Europen cup final runner up, 1 Worlc Club Cup Final Runner up, and 1 League Cup final Runner up, spending 70% less than mourinho, and inheriting, quality such as Djimi traore, Milan baros, Igor biscan, and not Drogba, Lampard, duff, robben , terry etc.

Between 07/08-.08/09 , Liverpool lost only 6 Premier league Matches ( 3 in injury time.) out of 76 Premier league matches, which is comparable with Mourinho's first 2 seasons, the only difference being you had a quality squad, and we only had a quality first team, we had 1 striker in toress , otherwise we would have won the league, in those 2 seasons.

(Ancelloti won the league with less points in 09/10 and more defeats)

That was achieved under the ownership of Hicks and gillett, you know the guys who were bankrupting us, and not bankrolling like roman is, 2 different conditions of work for both managers.

Inter Milan, 2 trophies were won, and he only took charge of 12 games in the league, with the first 8 games being unbeaten in the league and top of the table, and quicker qualification for CL second round then Jose achieved in his 2 seasons. but then injuries took their toll on an overaged and overused squad from Jose ( 15 players above 30.) and Rafa decided to take on morrati and sound him out over no investment into the team where previously Jose spent over 90 Million pounds.

There are reasons as to why Inter was bad, but not as bad as the haters from Media will have you believing, Rafa wanted fresh legs, and his point has proven since since he left them,

Jose has all the Medals, he goes to the richest and biggest clubs, name me a club that he has not gone to that is not the richest or powerful enough to not compete? e.g Valecia, Liverpool ...

Also Jose has also been sacked from jobs, its not just rafa, Benfica, and Chelsea, and possibly Madrid maybe , Mutual consent is a sacking ???

They are 2 fantastic managers, but 1 is a builder of Teams (Jose) who only cares about today, and other who builds clubs ( rafa) who cares about tommorow, ask Liverpool fans about the academy. ( Jose makes decisions with head, Rafa with the Heart, truth be told he should have left Liverpool after Hicks and Gillett entered but he fell in love with the club and sacrificed his career to make us League champions, and he almost did on peanut budget.

Another comparison to make between both managers will be transfer records and signings, name me a single player signed by mourinho at Chelsea, inter Milan, and at real Madrid , that will leave for more money than originally bought, and also a single youth player that he has developed ? Rafa wins this hands down no contest.

The media love mourinho, and hate Rafa, thats why opinions of football fans are indiferent towards him because we are influenced by newspaers, talk shit sport and sky sports, the love rafa bashing.

I understand yours because of the comments, but he is one of the worlds elite coaches, and in the top 5 of coaches.

some1 posted earlier saying he is not world class, well mate thats just bullshit, apart from mourinho no other coach chelsea has had is better than Rafa including ancelloti and Hiddink. ( Hiddink has 1 fa cup win outside holland in 35 years of management.)

You will begin to see why Liiverpool fans think he is special, he has resources now, and can buy anybody he wants, at liverpool, we could have had alves, villa, simoa, hazard, jovetic, vidic,evra before they were stars, but from david moores to hicks and gillett we was skint ( imagine Chelsea before Roman.),

He needed to buy, to develop the player and sell for more money to get an upgrade, but at Chelsea its different now, and he will deliver the trophies and the football that Chelsea want, the seasons is going to be interesting.

[Rmpr 8,977]

@rafafan, your name gives it all...

You seem a Benitez fan, not a Loserpool fan!

[rafafan 10]

Also chaps you guys talk about the "ghost goal in the first CL semi Final" but you never mention that if the goal was not given, then it would have been a penalty, peter cech sent off, and you would have played with 10 men, and the result would have been more likely 2-3 Nil rather than 1.

You also mention penalties for the second Semi final , but you never mention the perfectly good goal from Kuyt in extra time that was wrongly chalked off for offside when he was clearly onside by 2 yards, it would not have gone to penalties at 2-0 !!!

You also never mention the " ghost penalty" at anfield in the 07/08 campaign when malouda jumps onto finnan and fouls finnan but wins a penalty for you to draw the game 1-1.!!!

how about the Volleyball handball from Tiago in the CL group game at the bridge, in which he fisted the ball off crouches head blatantly but Referee does not give a penalty ? the game ended 0-0 at the bridge.

How about 07/08 CL semi (3rd one) extra time Hypia hacked down in the box, referee about to blow for penalty then does not give it with the game at 2-1 extra time under avram grant !!!

Memories hey chaps !!!

there is enough evidence in these incidents above to realise what a job he did at Liverpool, and what he can do at your club .

[rafafan 10]

Hello everyone, Liverpool fan here following the career of a hero , been following this forum since rafa got the job. and had to register to make the following point regarding Benitez and Mourinho.

Who is the first manager out of Benitez, Mourinho, Ferguson, Wenger, Mancini, to reach 2 Champions League finals ? answer ; Rafa

(Guardiola started in 08/09 but he achieved 2 finals in 3 seasons with his Mega Team but your interim also did the same before without xavi, inietsa, messi, villa)

Which Manager has the highest win ratio in the Champions League ? answer rafa

If comparisons are to be made between Mourinho and rafa then look at there tenure in english football at the same time as each other, Mourinho 3 seasons and a half, 2 League titles, 2 League cups, 1 Fa Cup, 1 charity shield, spending Romans millions .

Rafa in the same time as jose, 1 european Cup, 1 fa Cup, 1 uefa Super cup, 1 charity Shield, 1 Europen cup final runner up, 1 Worlc Club Cup Final Runner up, and 1 League Cup final Runner up, spending 70% less than mourinho, and inheriting, quality such as Djimi traore, Milan baros, Igor biscan, and not Drogba, Lampard, duff, robben , terry etc.

Between 07/08-.08/09 , Liverpool lost only 6 Premier league Matches ( 3 in injury time.) out of 76 Premier league matches, which is comparable with Mourinho's first 2 seasons, the only difference being you had a quality squad, and we only had a quality first team, we had 1 striker in toress , otherwise we would have won the league, in those 2 seasons.

(Ancelloti won the league with less points in 09/10 and more defeats)

That was achieved under the ownership of Hicks and gillett, you know the guys who were bankrupting us, and not bankrolling like roman is, 2 different conditions of work for both managers.

Inter Milan, 2 trophies were won, and he only took charge of 12 games in the league, with the first 8 games being unbeaten in the league and top of the table, and quicker qualification for CL second round then Jose achieved in his 2 seasons. but then injuries took their toll on an overaged and overused squad from Jose ( 15 players above 30.) and Rafa decided to take on morrati and sound him out over no investment into the team where previously Jose spent over 90 Million pounds.

There are reasons as to why Inter was bad, but not as bad as the haters from Media will have you believing, Rafa wanted fresh legs, and his point has proven since since he left them,

Jose has all the Medals, he goes to the richest and biggest clubs, name me a club that he has not gone to that is not the richest or powerful enough to not compete? e.g Valecia, Liverpool ...

Also Jose has also been sacked from jobs, its not just rafa, Benfica, and Chelsea, and possibly Madrid maybe , Mutual consent is a sacking ???

They are 2 fantastic managers, but 1 is a builder of Teams (Jose) who only cares about today, and other who builds clubs ( rafa) who cares about tommorow, ask Liverpool fans about the academy. ( Jose makes decisions with head, Rafa with the Heart, truth be told he should have left Liverpool after Hicks and Gillett entered but he fell in love with the club and sacrificed his career to make us League champions, and he almost did on peanut budget.

Another comparison to make between both managers will be transfer records and signings, name me a single player signed by mourinho at Chelsea, inter Milan, and at real Madrid , that will leave for more money than originally bought, and also a single youth player that he has developed ? Rafa wins this hands down no contest.

The media love mourinho, and hate Rafa, thats why opinions of football fans are indiferent towards him because we are influenced by newspaers, talk shit sport and sky sports, the love rafa bashing.

I understand yours because of the comments, but he is one of the worlds elite coaches, and in the top 5 of coaches.

some1 posted earlier saying he is not world class, well mate thats just bullshit, apart from mourinho no other coach chelsea has had is better than Rafa including ancelloti and Hiddink. ( Hiddink has 1 fa cup win outside holland in 35 years of management.)

You will begin to see why Liiverpool fans think he is special, he has resources now, and can buy anybody he wants, at liverpool, we could have had alves, villa, simoa, hazard, jovetic, vidic,evra before they were stars, but from david moores to hicks and gillett we was skint ( imagine Chelsea before Roman.),

He needed to buy, to develop the player and sell for more money to get an upgrade, but at Chelsea its different now, and he will deliver the trophies and the football that Chelsea want, the seasons is going to be interesting.

i am a fan of rafa like you are of Mourinho no difference.

[Sheva. 5,373]

@rafafan, your name gives it all...

You seem a Benitez fan, not a Loserpool fan!

Surely he can be both lol.

[Kojo 4,676]

Also chaps you guys talk about the "ghost goal in the first CL semi Final" but you never mention that if the goal was not given, then it would have been a penalty, peter cech sent off, and you would have played with 10 men, and the result would have been more likely 2-3 Nil rather than 1.

You also mention penalties for the second Semi final , but you never mention the perfectly good goal from Kuyt in extra time that was wrongly chalked off for offside when he was clearly onside by 2 yards, it would not have gone to penalties at 2-0 !!!

You also never mention the " ghost penalty" at anfield in the 07/08 campaign when malouda jumps onto finnan and fouls finnan but wins a penalty for you to draw the game 1-1.!!!

how about the Volleyball handball from Tiago in the CL group game at the bridge, in which he fisted the ball off crouches head blatantly but Referee does not give a penalty ? the game ended 0-0 at the bridge.

How about 07/08 CL semi (3rd one) extra time Hypia hacked down in the box, referee about to blow for penalty then does not give it with the game at 2-1 extra time under avram grant !!!

Memories hey chaps !!!

there is enough evidence in these incidents above to realise what a job he did at Liverpool, and what he can do at your club .

You clearly never watched us last season in the CL did you?, even by your CL campaign you should know anythings possible.

Messi never misses penalties, he missed it against us when he could've put us to sleep, Arjen Robben penalty extra time, he scores that we are more than likely out, but what happens?.

Exactly, it's only a denial way to base that you still would've won as a fact. Why are you on here anyway?, instead of looking to argue like most of you scummy fans do go post some delusional crap on RAWK or something.

[Blue Armour 4,436]

We will sack him, appoint some one not as good after failing to get Mourinho or Pep.

It's obvious already.

Just a question, if given some control during the transfer window..do you trust Rafa to make good additions to the squad?

[Tomo 21,751]

Just a question, if given some control during the transfer window..do you trust Rafa to make good additions to the squad?

Hopefully he and the board can work together with signing's. Together i reckon they can find some good players. Giving Rafa full control im not too sure about, especially if it comes to eyeing a bargain, the last thing we need is the next N Gog.

[rafafan 10]

Hopefully he and the board can work together with signing's. Together i reckon they can find some good players. Giving Rafa full control im not too sure about, especially if it comes to eyeing a bargain, the last thing we need is the next N Gog.

How about Alonso, toress,mascherano,reina,agger,skrtel,leiva,johnson,suso,sterling,sisoko,crouch, Garcia, just to name few, they all have been bought and sold for very high prices to keep team competitive, also NGOG was bought for £1 million at 19 for the future not for the present, sold for over £5 million, is that something something really really bad, can a manger not have the odd bad signing for a million when you are operating at Primark and not selfridges. , look at malouda, bosingwa, thiago, kalou,, veron, just to name a few.

He bought some great players in and also some bad signings, but they were free transfers, Aquilani was injured in rafa last season, and managers after him never played him and loaned him out afterwards , but when he did play he was quality.

robbie keane was a good player at spurs so it was natural signing, but he became a trouble maker in the dressing room so got rid and recouped most of the money.

Its a media myth regarding rafa, he has a higher success rate of signings then most media would like to give him credit for its all part of the Anti Rafa agenda, AVB gets similar treatment but Rafa has it all the time.

He has an eye for good players, but let him prove that, so your in good hands, but I think piazon could save you some money !!

[Tomo 21,751]

@rafafan,

He has made some great signing's i would not worry about expensive flops but if we plan on bringing in some cheap players i still worry we might end up with a Degan.

Back to some of the things you said previously i do agree with you and i am starting to think he might be the right man for the next 2-3 years, although im not sure he is better than Ancelotti and Hiddink.