KopTalk.com Forums Football Liverpool FC Forum SOS STATEMENT: An American History

The manager has not been given serious funds and time by the owners.

Now, next subject.

The evidence says otherwise. He's been given as long as any other manager we have had and more money than any other manager we have had.

Make sweeping statements and present them as fact if you must but please try to evidence them otherwise you will just look like you have no idea what you are talking about

Ricardo, Rafa has had 5 years to rebuild almost a complete squad plus restructure the Club, its youth set up, scouts, training methods etc.
He has had to do this on limited funds when you look at what is available to our main rivals, something that is always conveniently overlooked by his critics! After negociations, resales etc. £110m is what Rafa has currently spent over 5 years. A lot of money for a mid-table side perhaps but when the mancs and chavs can splash out £30m plus on ONE player it seems quite paltry!

Wenger and ferguscum have had far longer to produce the results plus with less competition. When Rafa took charge, not only was he up against the mancs and le ar$e with their experienced, settled squads and league domination, he also timed it perfectly to take on the chav's russian refit as well!

You make it sound like the whole club was in complete disarray when Benitez arrived. Well guess what, it really wasn't.
His 1st 2 years at the club he still had a lot of those players, and we won 2 trophies. How many since?

And do you really want to compare his record to that of Wenger??????

Comparing his first few years with that of Fergies and he has done better.
He is one of the best tactical managers around and has made Liverpool a force in Europe again.

I am not comparing Rafa to Wenger - I said quote:

Wenger and ferguscum have had far longer to produce the results plus with less competition. When Rafa took charge, not only was he up against the mancs and le ar$e with their experienced, settled squads and league domination, he also timed it perfectly to take on the chav's russian refit as well!

I do think that Liverpool have made great and positive strides under Rafa. When Rafa took over 5 years ago LFC was an average side, struggling in Europe (UEFA not Champions) and only once did we come 2nd in days when the chavs weren't a massive threat.

As for comparing managers, if you look at Wenger's early career at arsenal he won the league in his first season with a pretty decent set of established players (something Rafa didn't have the luxury of). Wenger then had to do a bit of rebuilding and then took 3 years to win it - not bad I grant you but would he have done that in today's football climate where massive sums are needed and rival competition is fiercer than the 90's? Wenger is a brilliant manager, excellent in the transfer market and gets the team playing lovely football but how long have they been without a trophy? And this is the mighty Wenger, he who walks on water, the man who's got great backing and years of experience in English football. Yet Benítez gets flack for not winning anything last year even though we have had our best league performance since 1989 with the best goal difference and most goals scored, best record against the so called top 4 etc etc!

PS Ferguscum took 6 seasons to win a bean!

Summer 08, winter 09 and summer 09
In: Keane 20m, N'gog 1,5m, Dossena 7m, Riera 8m, Johnson 17m, Aquilani 16m
Out: Riise 4m, Crouch 10m, Keane 15m, Arbeloa 3,5m, Alonso 30m


Total in: 69,5m Total out: 62,5m

Then we have also sold Anderson, Hammill and Hobbs for a couple of mill...

Some of you may call that backing Rafa, personally i call it a f'cking joke!

So you prove you are not comparing Benitez to Wenger by, er, then comparing Benitez to Wenger. Very good.

I'm not really in the business of defending Arsene Wenger and Arsenal but I do think you are undermining his achievements somewhat.
When he took over Arsenal, the previou seasons they had finished 5th, and the year before that they had finished 12th. He instantly brought in the players who would become the key men in his title team - the likes of Vieira, Overmars. Petit and Anelka and clearly got the best out of the players he inherited.

When Benitez took over Liverpool we had just finished 4th and qualified for the Champions League (like you say, 4th was surely more difficult to achieve with better competition than 5th was in 1996? Not bad for an 'average' side).
Benitez then bought a couple of players and also managed to get the best out of the squad he inherited and won the CL and the FA Cup. So is it fair to suggest that he did not have the 'luxury' of a decent set of established players??

Its true to say that Arsenal have not won anything in recent years, but its also true to say that they haven't spent a huge amount either. I suspect that they are holding their position while paying off their stadium and will come out the other end with a great stadium and no debt, then they can start spending. Would you take a few years of no trophies for that? Or would you rather have a few years of no trophies, mounting debts and failed big money signings (but at least we get the money back so that's alright)?

Oh and one more thing. You talk about Arsenal's record since Chelsea have been a threat - well how about when they won the league without losing a single game?

P.S. Yeah I think Ferguson's record since then has pretty much made up for that

And you KNOW that Benitez has asked for money and not got it do you? You KNOW that money is not available if he wants it?

Oh that's right, no. You don't.

I don't know any more than you do and i dont claim to do either...
But to answer your questions im pretty sure that Rafa wants to spend more and im also pretty sure that he would if he could... But maybe you're one of those who believes in "stuey" and thinks that Ribery or someone else will sign this week?

As rafa would have said, it's a fact! (reffering to the ins and outs i presented)