KopTalk.com Forums Football Liverpool FC Forum Liverpool FC now reaping rewards of Benitez's real

Should we be giving credit to Barcelona too? :P

let's stop this and be forward looking. I for one am happy we have them now and in the future with these two coachs and KD, some of them might add to our first team.

Don't know why, but as the distance grows from his departure I can't help empathising more with those who post statements such as:

RAFFA BENITEZ LEGEND.

If the OP is correct in his analysis of the youth set up another doth of the cap to Raffa with what he did under probably the most difficult tenure and structure in the club's history.

Great under Kenny and all that but there is some enigma about the man that is difficult to pin point, mistakes or not.

Rubbish. Too many Rafa haters (roy lovers, where are they now ?)who haven't got the balls to say 'Yes Rafa did that'. He wrestled for the control of the youth set up and nearly lost his job for it. Now we can see why. Well played Rafa it will be some achievement.

I will thank rafa( if you think he is the man responsible for our good youth system) when our youth start playing in the first team and playing like barca's youth who are dominating every competition. The young lads haven't even showwed us what they could do beside Kelly which is looking lively. Apart from that, until I see them on competitive game and not some lousy reserve game then we can thank rafa. People are jumping their guns here when we haven't even seen any. A lot of people mention Pachecho or suso as great players well if they are so great why are they not in the first team yet? Players who are 16 years old break into the first teams of other clubs, but I haven't seen that in ages in liverpool. I won't thank rafa just yet.

Which is a long-winded way of saying you won't thank Rafa. There will be someone else to thank (Borrell, for eg) when these guys make their break-through. The point of the argument is that without Rafa's initiative we would still have zero players threatening to break into the first team, particularly since Kelly is not technically a product of the Academy. I accept the point that until these guys are actually first team regulars the Academy has not "arrived", but you have to start somewhere and Rafa was the man who did that, and in particular with his appointment of Dalglish, Borrell, Segura, or whoever else you might want to say have been more influential on the Academy's development up to the present. Is it really too hard to give credit where it's due?

And my point is simply that the list of those who look good at youth level during Houllier's days was not exactly long, and while it may have been a few years you seem to struggle to recall the names of those on said list. Right now though I reckon you could provide a lot more than just the names of at least half a dozen players in the academy who appear to be the real deal. If it takes 10 youth guys who look good before we find one who actually makes the grade, then I would say that among those we've sold in the past year and the current crop, one of them has to come good, surely?

The point ultimately is that while the Academy is not on the same level as Barcelona or even Arsenal, there is no reason to not feel that it has taken giant strides forward from where it was in 2004.

And all before nesv. Seems like someone was ahead of the game. This young lad , in particular , will quadruple his value in less than a year

Thats not true thundyr, I always liked him and liked what he did for the club but all I'm saying is I won't be hyping up our youngsters just yet. I want to see them in competitive matches with the first team before we can say welldone Rafa, He truly did a great job.

Yet you miss my point. I don't want to get into an argument about it, but the truth is that regardless of whether any of the current crop really makes it (and by that I mean the players Rafa personally drafted in, eg Suso), the start we have made in suddenly having a whole group of young players on the fringes of the first team (where before there were only ones and twos, none of whom ultimately made the step up) is Rafa's fault.

The foundation we have can now go from strength to strength, but those steps will not be taken by Rafa; his influence is already gone. So if the next batch of coaches and managers mess up with the Academy in terms of training, preparation, purchases, or whatever, then by your reasoning Rafa can't be thanked for at least trying to get something going? That "something" at least looks like it has a chance at becoming successful if nurtured, and we would not have this without his influence. By failing to recognize this, you fail to appreciate what Rafa actually achieved with the Academy, and any success you choose to attribute to him later on will most likely be due to the success of someone not named Rafa Benitez, at which time you will be labelled a "Rafa lover" and no one will listen to you.

thundyr I think your stretching this way too much. Lets leave it at that.