Benitez: Nice Guys Finish Last?

By: ed | September 25th, 2007

Over on the always excellent This is Anfield, Neale Graham has a really long, very thoughtful post on Benitez’s potential legacy, should he leave today.

Neale says that Benitez is a good manager who’s career is being undermined by two factors:

1. His love of rotation
2. He’s too nice a guy

Please take five minutes to check out his post. I’ll wait.

Unfortunately, he’s full of it.

Former Offside blogger, Brian (also known as “Steven Gerrard’s smarter older brother) has a post that nicely debunks Rafa’s Rotational Rot and reminds us of an excellent Paul Tomkins article on The Official Site. So rotation is not the issue - having your 2nd and 4th choice strikers fire blanks against Birmingham (incidentally one of only two teams Rafa hasn’t beaten in the Premiership - the other being the hated Manure) is the main issue.

As for Rafa being “too nice”, that’s bullshit. Rafa, from what I’ve heard and what I’ve read, Rafa is anything but nice. He’s very cold, very Machiavellian and very distant to the players - does anyone remember Steven Gerrard saying that he’s never heard Rafa say “good job” to him?

For my money, I see Rafa as the anti-Sven-Goran Eriksson. Sven is charismatic, a people person, looks like a Caucasian version of my dad and, above all, is a lucky manager. Eriksson has seemingly swanned through life, living for the most part off the largesse of a chairman with very deep pockets and, as we saw from his time as England manager, getting good results exactly when he needed them.

On the other hand, Rafa has worked hard, worked his way through the system to become one of the most successful coaches in his homeland. Now he’s won one of Europe’s top jobs and hasn’t had the same sort of success in England as he did at home. But you could expect to do a little better than have two of your top four strikers, and ultimately all of your strikers, firing blanks against an unimaginative Birmingham side. Rafa’s stuck to his guns, stuck to what he knows and has been largely unlucky in the results. Hopefully he can find his four-leaf clover in the Madejski Stadium tonight. And quick.

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Category: Rafa Benitez

Tags: discussion, liverpool banter, manager, Rafa Benitez, Sven-Göran Eriksson

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Comments  

• Svenalike.co.uk |  September 25th, 2007 at 9:05 am

  
  
  

  I agree with much that you say but you imply that Sven’s long history of amazing success in club football followed by the unmatched record of losing only five competitive games during his five and a half years with England is more through “luck” than anything else which surprises me a little? I wish I was so “lucky” and could “swan through life” my friend.
  I find however that (like Sven?) I need to fully use all my talent and the harder (and smarter) I work, the “luckier” I get!
  Nice Blogs….

  Posted from United States

  

• Brian |  September 25th, 2007 at 10:21 am

  
  
  

  I agree, Benitez is far from nice and I personally prefer him that way. He is their manager, not their friend. If he cared a rat’s ass about hurting his players feelings, wouldn’t Crouch play more often?

  He treats Gerrard especially harsh because he knows that Stevie-G is capable of being even better and doesn’t want him to become complacent with everyone worshiping him like a God.

  I attest most people who criticize Benitez to either being envious of his success in Europe or journalists/bloggers who are just trying to jump on the bandwagon. I wish football/soccer was as uncomplicated as they make it out to be.

  Posted from United States

  

• Is this betting |  September 26th, 2007 at 4:32 am

  
  
  

  Benitez gambled by not playing Torres against Birmingham but I think there was method behind his apparent madness. I imagine he thought it was the ideal time to play Kuyt/Voronin in partnership against weaker opposition. This pairing may find themselves together in a much more important match in the future due to injuries and suspensions.

  They have to be allowed to play together and this was, in my opinion, a good time to do it.

  The gamble failed but that’s life.

  Posted from Germany

  

• Larry Carlton |  October 31st, 2007 at 6:23 am

  
  
  

  I look at Rafa’s man management skills & how players like Alonso & Kuyt are mere shadows of the players who arrived, for big money, at Anfield. Other players are off-form, & if you can find one person who supports rotation then I’ll be surprised. Rafa has squandered our good start this season, & our form & football is pretty poor for the great team he has on paper.
  Lets look impartially at his record:
  2004 - 2005. Terrible injury crisis. Very poor League record. Incredible Champions Lge success, very much down to Rafa.
  2005 - 2006. Slow start. Fine run in League. Won FA Cup. Easily the 2nd best team in England. Missed out on 2nd by 1 point, itself traced to Cisse’s amazing Old Trafford miss.
  2006 - 2007. Useless in League. Obviously the fault of rotation, & not picking strongest team consistently. Great Champs Lge run.
  2007 -2008. Disappointing start after expensive signings in summer. Team not playing well. Players disappointing. Has to be the manager’s fault. Shouldnt we expect better?

  Posted from United States

  

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