To be fair to him though, the likes of Alves weren't 'top end' at the time. Nor was Xabi when he came. He also looked at Javi Martinez, and we nearly signed Vidic under him. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/l/liverpool/5078450.stm 8 million! I'm not saying Rafa was perfect by any stretch. I'm just annoyed he was never given the backing. Still delighted that kenny is here now though.
Yeah but a thousand managers could say if only I'd signed such and such or if only I'd had the cash to spend etc etc. Don't forget he wasted a shed load of cash as well and ultimately he may have been tactically great in Europe but he never truly got his head around the domestic game. Anyway it's water under the bridge now and I think things have worked out best in the long run
Which bit exactly? In fairness he did waste plenty of cash as many managers do (Josemi, Nunez, Carson, Kromkamp, Pennant, Leto, Babel, Dossena, Cavalieri, Ngog, Keane, Riera, Aquilani) and he didn't win the league and only one domestic cup in 6 years suggests to me he didn't get his head round our domestic game (especially how to break down teams from the bottom half of the table at Anfield). I know that isn't rubbish because I spent many an hour and a half watching us utterly fail to break down teams who put 10 men behind the ball....this isn't an anti Rafa rant but I feel all the praise heaped on him in some of the above posts didn't reflect the utter frustrations I felt with Benitez at times. I still loved the guy and am playing devils advocate to a certain extent but the argument that had Benitez had a mountain of cash he would have swept all before him just doesn't stand up to scrutiny IMO.
