Next Manager

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Rafa is an awful manager. Not up for debate. Liverpool fans think hes the messiah so ignore their views on Rafa.
 
Time to stop considering Rafael Benitez as just a big spender and who is obsessive about small details

There will be cynicism, because there always is, for the proposal that Rafael Benitez would be a good man for Chelsea. Those who look out for alliances will point out that he was a columnist for this newspaper during the European championships.

But try out Champions League Dreams, the book Benitez has written with Times journalist Rory Smith, formerly of this parish, for a sense of the man, and for something which deconstructs that rather facile notion that he is a big spender and obsessive to the point of irritation about small details. Take the front fly-leaf for starters - because that reminds us that the Liverpool team which overcame AC Milan in the Istanbul Champions League final seven years ago included Djimi Traore, Milan Baros and Harry Kewell to Champions League glory. The years dim the memory of quite what an incredible accomplishment that was.

And since it is Juventus who have finally done for Roberto Di Matteo, consider Benitez’s account of how he took his Liverpool team – as much in transition then as Chelsea are now – to face a stronger side in the Stadio delle Alpi than the one Antonio Conte fielded on Tuesday, and saw them come through. Di Matteo’s decision to drop Fernando Torres was taken at 48 hours’ notice at best. Contrast the way that Benitez placed Xabi Alonso, who was less than fully fit but required in Steven Gerrard’s absence, on a specialist training regime for days ahead of the Turin match, preparing him for his role in 3-5-1-1 system which was built around him. And how, instead of the team lining up like that, they played the first two minutes in Turin as the 4-2-3-1 which manager Fabio Capello would have been expecting, before morphing to the three-man defence. Capello didn’t appear to notice.

“The management of 180 minutes, the tactical preparation needed to overcome opponents expected to beat us,” is how Benitez described his early feats in Europe – and though the words which dominate the new book are ‘narrow,’ ‘tight’ and ‘compact’, there is a vision as well as a pragmatism about his football. The Spaniard’s own great hero is Arrigo Sacchi, whose coaching style set aside the Italian defensive style, and what Benitez seeks to build out of the narrow base of his sides is a relentless, sometimes ruthless, energy. It’s not a prettified type of football - not Barcelona’s death by a thousand cuts - but certainly death by a rapier blow, at times. Witness the night Real Madrid were ripped to shreds, 4-0, at Anfield in March 2008.

What everyone wants to know is whether can he restore Fernando Torres - and it certainly says a lot that the two are in touch. “You can say to yourself 'he wants to improve me' or 'he wants to kill me,' but I can tell you, he does want the best for every single player," Torres has said.

History seems also to have airbrushed out the fact that Benitez, just like Andre Villas-Boas, imbued a side that seemed to have no right to European silverware, Valencia, with the ability to win a Uefa Cup and a domestic title. Perhaps it is the anti-intellectual strain in British football which explains why Benitez’s forensic nature is still used to beat him with. "I would need to read more of Freud before I could understand all that went on in his head," Sir Alex Ferguson once said of him. The next day, Benitez won 4-1 at Old Trafford, with Torres operating at heights he has arguably never scaled since. "I read about Freud when I was at school and university," Benitez replied.
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http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/...is-obsessive-about-small-details-8340533.html
 
UnitedinRed mkII said:
Rafa is an awful manager. Not up for debate. Liverpool fans think hes the messiah so ignore their views on Rafa.
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Please explain logically you utter wumming fool how a Manager who as won 2 league titles against Real Madrid and Barcelona and a Champions League with the worst squad ever to win it can be bad at his job?

Explain how that Manager can take a **** squad and within 5 seasons have them ranked the best team in Europe officially?

How is that done if said Manager isn't supremely good at what he does?

If you had a brain you would realsie that it is a physical IMPOSSIBILITY for am man to achieve these CONTINUED levels of success and win all those trophies with Valencia and Liverpool if he is bad at his job.

I know for a fact you won't of watched his Valencia team of 2002-04 that he assmbled with no money. They played us twice at Anfield and once in Spain and it was the best football we'd seen since us in the 70/80s. OIt would give Barca a run for their money such was the effectiveness, beauty and perfection of it.

To say he is not a good Manager is to be wilfully ignorant and ignore all the stuff he has won and achieved.

There are few Managers currently in the game who are as good as him and have achieved and won what he has won.

If he goes to Chelsea, and he gets the back room he wants, they will be the European Champions and one of the best teams in Europe inside 3 years.

FACT as Rafa would say.

I'd love to see the the Scotch whiskeyfaced ****s kipper rightnow. He'll be gutted he's coming back as he well and truly has Fergies number.

4-1 and then he told every team in the league in his post press conference how to defeat Utd which almost won him another league title.
 
Chelsea fans dont want Rafa....And i am perfectly happy with that.....

if they want Zola or harry, lets hope that RA gives them what they want.

If Rafa goes to Chelsea, it will upset both Pool fans (long term) and Chelsea fans (short term.)

Dont do it Rafa!!
 
Toela65 said:
Please explain logically you utter wumming fool how a Manager who as won 2 league titles against Real Madrid and Barcelona and a Champions League with the worst squad ever to win it can be bad at his job?

Explain how that Manager can take a **** squad and within 5 seasons have them ranked the best team in Europe officially?

How is that done if said Manager isn't supremely good at what he does?

If you had a brain you would realsie that it is a physical IMPOSSIBILITY for am man to achieve these CONTINUED levels of success and win all those trophies with Valencia and Liverpool if he is bad at his job.

I know for a fact you won't of watched his Valencia team of 2002-04 that he assmbled with no money. They played us twice at Anfield and once in Spain and it was the best football we'd seen since us in the 70/80s. OIt would give Barca a run for their money such was the effectiveness, beauty and perfection of it.

To say he is not a good Manager is to be wilfully ignorant and ignore all the stuff he has won and achieved.

There are few Managers currently in the game who are as good as him and have achieved and won what he has won.

If he goes to Chelsea, and he gets the back room he wants, they will be the European Champions and one of the best teams in Europe inside 3 years.

FACT as Rafa would say.

I'd love to see the the Scotch whiskeyfaced ****s kipper rightnow. He'll be gutted he's coming back as he well and truly has Fergies number.

4-1 and then he told every team in the league in his post press conference how to defeat Utd which almost won him another league title.
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Quite easily. Hes spent 100s of millions and went backwards with Liverpool. A side he won the Champions League with using a squad he didnt build. He also finished 5th that season and all bar 1 season showed in the league he was incapable of success.

He won the CL in 2005 and the FA Cup in 2006 ( not the greatest FA Cup final ever ) and nothing since. Not a thing. He was famed for his tactical prowess but this has eluded him for 6 years now ( I wouldnt call relying on a Steven Gerrard special tactical prowess personally but apparently it was <ok> ).

His biggest achievement since 2006 was winning 4-1 at Old Trafford. Roberto Mancini, another manager I dont rate highly doesnt even remember winning 6-1 at Old Trafford because at least he was celebrating the league title at the end of that season. Rafa just had that win, thats all he has now.

As for his time at Valencia..... Deportivo La Caruna were finishing above the likes of Real and Barcelona back then. Barcelona were a poor side and Madrid were all over the place. They were like Chelsea are now.
 
Rafa wasn't the best, but he remains a very good manager. You can't dispute that. He has won much more than most ever will. He will forget more about football than any of us will ever know <ok>
 
seanDCFC said:
People just dislike Rafa as a person, it's got nothing to do with his management skill.
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No its certainly his managerial skills. Guys quite a decent chap outside of football. Does a lot of good work.

In football though hes too big for his boots. He will likely have a rant about Roman and Terry and have a power struggle with Chelseas board. Its how he rolls.
 
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