The Benitez Blueprint

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Early season optimism from positive signings within the transfer window, a new manager with a gentleman’s demeanour reminiscing the past Legends, and potential takeover has lifted somewhat the dark cloud looming over Anfield. However after 4 competitive games, it is clear Benitez’s influence is still being felt. After all, right or wrong, Rafa wanted and gained control on many aspects of the club.
He was fundamental in convincing Gerrard to resist Chelsea and stay. He transformed Carra into one of the top centre backs in Europe. He juggled transfer budgets and brought silverware back to the country’s most successful club. Strain began to show with the Gareth Barry and Robbie Keane saga, and we all know about last season. He changed the structure of the Academy. His grip on the way we play is still evident. Hodgson is aware of this: I need time to get to know the squad, know the players, strengths and weaknesses. So what did Rafa leave behind?

Formation:
4-5-1 or 4-2-3-1, whatever you want to call it. Two games, two different Liverpool’s. Arsenal at home; fighting spirited display which we should have won, for only a red card and a rare Pepe mistake. For one reason or another Roy picked this usual formation. Personally, he was aware of the passing threat Arsenal posed. This is the way we Rafa has developed our play. Man City away, the 4-4-2 absolutely killed us, no pressure on the ball, out passed, out processed. Would we of lost that much by playing 4-5-1? Refreshing that we had a go (somewhat) but Rafa knew what he had to play with. It is going to take time to bring back some adaptability in our play.

Players:
We have seen players leave Liverpool, who maybe did not excel, but no one wanted them to leave as they had quality. Crouch, Keane, Bellamy, Alonso and so. All top players. Rafa used the money to the best of his ability to try and develop a winning XI. No one in the stands has had much confidence in the squad over the years. So what has happened to the developing players?

Academy:
The 90’s brought some of the greatest players in Liverpool’s history; Gerrard, Carra, Fowler, McMannaman, Owen. The Legends of Daglish, Souness, Keegan, all brought into the club. The previously successful conveyor belt of Academy Players ceased under Rafa. Where are the new stars of the club? Cries from the Kop for Pacehco, Kelly, Spearing have rung out for years now. Where would we be now if these players developed into established first teamers? Indications show Roy is looking to change this. Investment into youngsters has worked previously; Hodgson needs to re-ignite this flame.

Legacy:
Success in cup competitions and Europe; falling short on the national front. Can Hodgson bring back those days back? It remains to be seen. Rafa will always be remembered for Istanbul, and Cardiff, folklore stories for the remainder of time.

So what blueprint has Rafa left the club? A tactically inspired, rigid one dimensional team, 4-5-1, solid enough to win tight and tense European and Cup games. A collapsed development system which has seen the likes of Stephen Warnock, Danny Guthrie and Adam Hammill move on, the system which threatens the like of Spearing, Pacheco and Kelly becoming top players. Roy, will have his work cut out to change not only the fortunes, but DNA of the club…
YNWA

20 Comments

  1. I think it is a bit harsh… Rafa did build a a very attacking team but they went off the boil last season and i think the poor signing with no money did not help so to speak. Everyone slags off RB but he did bring in some solid player XA, garcia(got vital goals) PR. At youth level anything can happen, injury etc I think we saw some players break in and not really been up to the task. Under Houllier We saw Vignal, wright, ostenbor(i think thats how you spell it ) made it to the first team and was not up for the task and was sold. I dont think they went on to be world class players.

    All in all I think the problem sterms deeper at liverpool. We need an over haul and need to be looking forward not to the past. We have to have players that are hunrgy and will fight every single game. Right now we dont have that and we need a structure where that is installed in every part of the club

  2. I fear relegation this season. We now have a clueless manager who’s lost the plot, a captain who looks like he’s got a bad case of jet lag, a centre forward who’s been out of sorts for 12 months, no left back, a right back who can’t defend and a holding midfielder who’s gone on strike.

    Add that to the fact we’ve no money and bankrupt owners, need I say more?

  3. “The previously successful conveyor belt of Academy Players ceased under Rafa.”

    Ceased under Houllier more like! And arguably even before then. Rafa had to battle for years to try and revamp the youth setup, eventually bringing in world class youth coaches from Barcalona and an influx of promising youngsters along the way. Warnock, Guthrie, Hammill not good enough for Liverpool, where are they now? Should we be trying to sign them back because we missed their potential last time round? No. For youth players to make it into the first team so young they need to be of Gerrards or Owens standards.

    No doubt when Pacheco, Suso, Dalle Valle et all do make it you’ll be praising Roy no end. Forgetting who brought them here in the first place.

    YNWA – yeah until you’ve left the club and then we’ll stick the knife in. Rafa wasn’t without faults but this article is sh!te mate.

  4. And a legacy of letting players go too soon (we have never been a club that does this!!). It hurt to see Crouch get a hat trick tonight. Hyppia, Riise, Bellamy, Sissoko and others all let go too soon. Add to that Heighway, Miller and Aysterian. To alienate Alonso and chase the shite Gareth Barry for a year beggers belief. History will show how average and flawed Rafa was…

  5. Crouch, Bellamy and Keane were OK, no more, and nobody I sit next to wanted them to stay that much. Alonso was different of course. “Previously successfull conveyor belt of Acadamy players ceased.” A bit over the top. List the huge number of ‘conveyor belt’ acadamy graduates. Now we have the benefits of Rafa’s reconstruction of the Academy: Insua, Kelly, Pacheco, Gulasci, Ayala, Ince, Ammo and Eccleston, never mind the fantastic Suso.
    Warnock is still no England starter but doing OK at Villa, Guthrie and Hammill aren’t pulling up any trees are they?
    You eem to be seeing Rafa’s reign from a rather negative perspective.

  6. @Pete Jones

    Keane was and still is rubbish.

    Bellamy attacked Riise with a golf club.

    Sissoko was sold to fund new players, and at the time was our weakest centre mid, when we still had Gerrard, Alonso, Masch.

    Crouch wanted to leave. He wasn’t going to get in ahead of Torres. What should we have done? Play 442 to accommodate him? Yet notice how 442 is now a thing of the past. Top teams play 1 upfront, its the future (for the time being at least)! Barce, Real, ManU, Chelsea, et all. How would Crouch fit in there. I agree Crouch was class for us but it was his choice.

    We had one bad season FFS, season before we had our record points haul. Agree about the Alonso/Barry saga tho.

  7. I think you should look into some of Paul Tomkins pieces on these very subjects. His entry from yesterday on Tomkins Times was free. Check it out.

  8. The idea that the academy crumbled under Rafa is idiotic.

    The academy stopped working under Houlier, with Rafa taking a number of steps over his time here to bring it back to his former glory.

    The re-structuring of an academy takes time and it was never going to happen in the time Rafa was here.

    This article is incredibly harsh and, for the most part, completely false.

  9. I think starting last season our Liverpool play totally go down.
    When they got the ball on the field, they afraid to go forward.

    When opponent try to get close to them, they tend to past the ball behind rather than forward. There are only few players were brave enough to dribble and get past the opponent by themselves..

    We do not see creative play anymore..

  10. I wouldn’t mind seeing Kelly play right back with glen johnson
    on front of him as he is good going forward but suspect defensively in my opinion..worth a try?especially with jcole
    suspended

  11. im not to sure on the whole rafa thing..istanbul and cardiff were amazing and im grateful for them memories, but i think RB was more worried about what the opposition could do rather than what we could do..
    the way he fell out with players and ignored them, never complimented them, no wonder they fell out and played crap. Gotta give RH time, don’t matter who the manager is he will need time.there is no quick fix to it all…as for people still going on about the yanks and blaming them, well yes of course they lied, but they dont pick the starting 11 and they certainly didnt pick what players RB could have..some really awful players came here, josemi, kromkamp,pellegrino,insua,dossena,nunez, paletta,plessis, voronin…even the lads who were coming through the reserves must of known they would never get a game…YNWA

  12. @petejones

    Rafa didn’t let Hyypia go; he left as Rafa couldn’t guarantee him a start if Carragher and Agger were fit.

    Rafa also offered Crouch a new contract but again couldn’t guarantee him starts if Torres and Gerrard were fit.

    Bellamy was sold to generate money for Torres…..which one do you prefer?

    Sissoko was sold so we could fund the transfer of Mascherano…..again which one would you have preferred for the last 3 years?

    Heighway and Miller went in his restructuring of the Youth system…..they may have been at the club for a long time but they were the ones in charge of youth scouting and the setup of the academy during the last decade that has seem so many quality youngsters come through (thats irony btw).

    Alonso may have had an awesome last season at Anfield but he was below average in his previous 2 campaigns hense why we struggled to give him away for 15million to fund the move for Barry, the season before we sold him for 30-35million. Maybe it was this kick up the ass that made Xavi come out and play that well in his final season.

    I believe history will show how Rafa turned this club from perennial contenders for the quarter finals of the UEFA cup into the big draw in the champions league, a team that only failed to reach the quarter finals twice and reached the semi’s 3 times in 6 seasons.

    The only thing about your small statement that I agree with is the fact that Riise maybe went to early, but then maybe am saying that on memories of his first 3 years at LFC rather than his last 2 seasons.

    Gavin

  13. Rafa didn’t let Hyypia go, but his actions of not playing indicated he wanted him to go.

    The same case can be said for the Crouch case because of the negative Rafa used.

    As for Bellamy, I agreed he was sold to generate fund, but because because Bellamy is not effective under Rafa. This also indicated because Rafa don’t know how to utilised palyers. See how good he good become in Man City.

    As for Sissoko, I would prefer him to remain in Liverpool. He is a better DM than Macherano, as he passed better than Macherano and willing to forward. Look how that B****** of Macherano treated us. I think that Sissoko would would treated us like that. The releasing of such young talented youngster is ill-judgement of Rafa in transfer market.

    The letting of Alonso go is worst thing that Rafa did, and its replacement of RM20 mil of Aqua is a usual bad judgements of Rafa transfer dealing.

    As for the Academy, it is because no money then Rafa forced to buy the young players, but he really do not trust them. For the releasing of Sissoko, you can tell.

    I believe history will show how Rafa turned this club from good club (top 4) in england into mid table club as his signings sucks. The players now worst off from Rafa inherited. We do not improved at all from 6 years ago.

    Don’t tell no fund available, it is because he wasted so many of it, but expensively, tehn sell sel them cheaply. As in the case of Keane, we buy Keane for 20mil, but then him 12mil half year latter. we lose about 10mil inclusive his salary in about 6 months time. you don’t call a good business. It is a another indicated at Rafa weakness in the transfer market. His signing that is awful and wasted money like josemi,kromkamp,pellegrino,insua,dossena,nunez, paletta ,plessis , voronin , keane, aurelio, aqualani,babel. But let go better player like Alonso, Sissoko, Warnork, Risse, Hyypia, Bellamy, Crouch. All these players have become forst teams player at thier respective clubs. All these don’t sounds to me that he is good in transfer dealing.

    Don’t forget he win the CL from a squad inherited from Gerard Houllier and we win the CL at the expense of finished 5th in the EPL. Luckily we are able to get into the CL the next season with a sudden change of rule.

    So, the failing of Liverpool fall on the hand of Rafa. Rafa should take the ultimate blame, off course the onwers should share the blame also, but the ultimately is Rafa’s fault ultimately for the Fall of Liverpool.

  14. I really hate to see fans blasting their past managers or players it only make us sound like “another team”. Liverpool fans will always support the history of the club!

    Ron

  15. The influx of players came through in a decent era for the reds. Why I say ceased under rafa because under houlier, gerrard became a club captain and on his way to legend status, whilst being a product of youth, he was allowed to develop. I would agree rafa obviously tried to re build the academy, but again how much of this was growth and guidance rather than purchase. Prime example the brazilan forward by the name of Flora purchased for 1 mill, what happened to him? Are you telling me merseyside has stopped producing hungry, quality footballers? Or is this something across every club?

    Personally I wouldn’t mind having the likes of warnock at left back now. I would of liked to of seen more confidence in our youth like they show at Arsenal in particular and Utd. I have seen the reserve games, but they have never been brought through. I think Pacehco will come good, however who gets credit?Rafa for bringing him in or Roy for letting the kid play?

  16. Sorry but this is an awful post. The negative comments about rafa and the academy are almost impossible to believe. Rafa inherited an academy that excluding warnock, and perhaps guthrie had produced nothing for 10 years. The scouting network for youngsters was also awful. Everton got all the decent local youngsters. Rafa battled to take control of the academy as he knew it was the future, he overhauled the scouting network worldwide and locally, and within the next 12 months we will see the benefits; gulacsi, Kelly, Wilson, Ayala, Robinson, ince, spearing, shelvey, amoo, pacheco, suso, eccleston, dalla Valle, coady, wisdom, n’goo and mavinga is fantastic potential, and this list excludes the three 21yr olds: insua, n’gog and darby. That is rafa’s legacy, and Roy is a lucky lad to have such quality coming through.

  17. **Early season optimism from positive signings within the transfer window**

    Shelvey, Wilson, Jovanovic – all brought in by Benitez.

    Joe Cole, decent signing and Roy did well in convincing him to join the club.

    Poulsen – a 30 year old over the hill defensive midfielder who looks to be our new Mascherano. Yet to see if he is a “positive” signing in many aspects.

    ** a new manager with a gentleman’s demeanour**

    Some of the players will no doubt be happy about the warm arm round the shoulder when they realise the club is going backwards on the pitch.

    **and potential takeover has lifted somewhat the dark cloud looming over Anfield.**

    Really? Im not looking forward to the potential of two possible suitors very closely tied to the current owners, with Haung’s concrete offer being forced to one side because of the lack of profit it would have given the owners.

    Happy days.

    **After all, right or wrong, Rafa wanted and gained control on many aspects of the club.**

    Unlike some who are not willing to do a bit of research and instead get their information from the newspapers. Rafa was whole heartedlly right to want to gain control over aspects of the club.

    A chairmen who lost Rafa players such as Pato, Wiltshire, Walcott, Silva, Villa, Alves. A chairmen who drags his feet with contract negotiations that cost the club millions when Owen left, the Gerrard saga, not to mention the massive failure at the productivity of the club in regards to marketing and income. Something which we can actually thank the current owners for.

    A youth system that has produced nothing of serious quality since the days of Gerrard and co. An ancient youth policy and scouting system that has limited our reach to the local and wider youth community, and tactics that meant no chance for the few decent youth players to actually have a shot at making it in to the first team. How can Rafa play decent young local players if we dont have any?

    We now have one of the best youth set ups and best quality coaches from barcelona because of the manager that was only put in place last year. Hardly fair to criticise benitez on a system and youth set up he had no control over until just before he was forced out the door, is it?

    **He was fundamental in convincing Gerrard to resist Chelsea and stay. He transformed Carra into one of the top centre backs in Europe.**

    Is that all he did with the playing staff? No mention of turning Torres in to one of the worlds most prolific strikers? Turning crouch in to an international, top quality goal scorer? Revitalising Mascherano? Making Alonso the player he is today? not to mention the many more players that developed in to internationals under Benitez.

    **Strain began to show with the Gareth Barry and Robbie Keane saga,**

    Rafa wanted to sell an under performing Alonso and bring in a very consistant and productive Gareth Barry (man of the match against LFC on monday) more versatile in position (required when you dont have millions to spend in the transfer market) and provided more assists, and more suited to the Premier League.

    He wanted to change the shape of the team slightly and that meant briging in Barry and Keane.

    Parry said no to Benitez’ FIRST choice signing that summer because Oniel is inflated the transfer fee because of boasting owners promising the world.

    However, Benitez ONLY wanted Keane if barry came to the side, without Barry Keane had to be fitted the old system. Rafa certainly did NOT want to shell out £20million for a player he deemed as a squad member only and worth no more than £12millon.

    But thanks to our chairmen’s amazing ability in negotiating transfers and believing he knew football players better than Rafa, we ended up with an over hyped, over expensive player that did not fit the system who now had extra pressure as the missing piece to win the league.

    Its no wonder rafa got shot of him, as his many many disappointing performances proved, and Liverpool went on to show that they did not miss Keane what so ever.

    So yes, Rafa was very stressed with the situation. A meddling Chairmen who refuses to sign players Rafa identifys as number one targets (pato, silva, alves, Barry etc) before they become worth three times the price, over spends on players 3rd or 4th on the list (pennant, when he wanted david silva)and everyone points the finger at the spaniard.

    Anyone would be f***ed off in the situation Benitez was in. Anyone.

    **and we all know about last season.**

    Some of us more than others it would seem.

    As to your formations. I cant even be bothered explaing the intricacies of how football tactics work and that all formations are fluid depending on the situation on the field at the time.

    If a team is defending it dont matter if its 4231, 451, or 433. There is a bank of four and a bank of five in front of them.

    To criticise a formation suggest its defensive and lacks adaptability and that surprisingly some of the most attacking teams in the world utilise is both naive and ridiculous.

    two holding midfielders are there to provide MORE attacking threat with two attacking fullbacks (glen johnson- clear attacking abilities, Insue who was one of the most productive fullbacks in the league with leading assists going in to Feb)adding MORE width and more numbers going forward.

    two holding midfielders does NOT mean it is a defensive formation. People need to Stop reading the tabloids and listening to andy gray.

    as someone else already pointed out. Crouch left because gerrard and torres where our FIRST choice attacking pair. are you honestly suggesting that was a msitake on Rafas part? No.

    Crouch was offered a new contract with more money. Credit to him he wanted regular football, we could not give it. Move on.

    Keane did not fit the sytem and simply could not hack the pressure that came with the over inflated price tag and ludicrous pressure from pathetic fans.

    Belamy was sold to fund Torres, if you want to maon at someone about us buying Torres instead of keeping bellamy, go and have a word with the owners.

    Sissoko did well and was a good signing who came to the club very cheaply (again noone bothers to remember it was Rafa who identified him in the first place) and when the club started adding to the quality of the squad we brought in mascherano to add competitio to the holding midfield position alongside Alonso.

    something all the big clubs do, two quality players fighting for places. Again who would you rather have? Sissoko or Masch? like most young quality players momo wanted regular football, he moved, we made a profit (again) from his sale, get over it.

    **The previously successful conveyor belt of Academy Players ceased under Rafa.**

    To me this says alot. You either know fuck all about this club, or you are purposely choosing to lie and propagate the truth in order to sully the name of man who has done more for this club, the local area, and the city of Liverpool than alot of people give him credit for.

    Where is your qualifications for developing youth players? Where is your credentials for knwoing when to bring a young player in to the first team? how many days a week did you work with and witness players such as Kelly (who played well under rafa before Hodgson played him) pacheco, and spearing?

    I would rather take the word of a seasoned experienced manager who has qualifications, trophies, and experience working with youth teams since he was in his 30’s over the biased opinions of a jumped up greasy pundit or a few thousand fickle supporters who read the newspapers in order to gain “knowledge”.

    Who would you rather fly your plane? The passengers? The stewardess? or the pilot?

    I am sick of these pathetic articles that lack the BASIC understandings of both football and the REALITY of what is happening at this club.

    The lies and bulls**t that is printed about benitez not only after he has gone, but over the last 6 years makes me question humanity, let alone if I really want to associate myself with this sport anymore.

    YNWA my arse.

  18. Jamie, spot on mate. I restricted my observations to the most ridiculous part of the article, because I did not have time to pull the rest apart. Could not agree more with your thoughts. Some people eh! Thank god most don’t goto the match, coz I never hear rubbish like this in the pubs and ground.

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