He's OBVIOUSLY a terrible man manager. You can see it in the way the players played when they were given a chance. When fringe players get their chance to play in the first team at Man United they seize the opportuntity and really go for it - they're not getting a game but they're still motivated.
When Rieira got back in the team last season he looked like a player with no confidence. And Rieira and Benayoun are certainly not any worse than, say, Park Ji-Sung or Darron Gibson.
― Matt DC, Sunday, 11 July 2010 13:51 (thirteen years ago) link
he's OBVIOUSLY a terrible man manager because when ryan babel had a moan on twitter (twitter ffs), he supported him and got him playing out of his skin for the 2nd half of the season.
he's OBVIOUSLY a terrible man manager because he stuck by lucas when he was getting pelted by the press and the fans and then publically praised the lad for his hard work and effort and for proving people wrong.
he's OBVIOUSLY a terrible man manager because torres, reina and mascherano have thanked him publically for turning them into the world class players they've become.
said it a million times, riera's attitude stank/stunk/stinks. that's not rafa's fault, that's just how albert is. simples.
can't be bothered with this any more. have fun!
― The referee was perfect (Chris), Sunday, 11 July 2010 14:03 (thirteen years ago) link
Chris: Fucking hell. This is not Carlos (supreme dickhead by all accounts) and Beckham (wanted out, under performing in the eyes of everyone, thought he was bigger than the manager). Benny Noon never spoke out in the press and was treated like shit for what was seen by everyone bar Benitez as good performances.
Babel playing out of skin? You the only person to notice this?
Umm... also didn't Torres head the Gerrard/TORRES/Carragher player movement to get Benitez out and has obviously been mystified by his actions for his career, especially this season?
Also quoting a meerkat is hella lame.
― fuque santa cruz (a hoy hoy), Sunday, 11 July 2010 16:28 (thirteen years ago) link
lol was wondering how the benayoun interview would play out.
chris, he is, obviously, a terrible man manager. come on.
― Everytime I hit 'submit post' the internet gets dumber (darraghmac), Tuesday, 13 July 2010 11:32 (thirteen years ago) link
Torres and Mascherano were world class players before they went to Liverpool. Think Reina would have made it at most clubs as well, it's not like there was some magical stardust that Rafa sprinkled over them. It's his failure to get the best out of less talented members of the squad that was the problem.
― Matt DC, Tuesday, 13 July 2010 11:53 (thirteen years ago) link
There will be dispute over whether west ham's mascherano and perennial failure at atletico torres were world class before they went to benitez.
the dispute will be incorrect, but it will exist nonetheless.
― Everytime I hit 'submit post' the internet gets dumber (darraghmac), Tuesday, 13 July 2010 12:01 (thirteen years ago) link
perennial failure at atletico
How so?
― R. Stornoway (Tom D.), Tuesday, 13 July 2010 12:02 (thirteen years ago) link
six goals a season etc etc
― Everytime I hit 'submit post' the internet gets dumber (darraghmac), Tuesday, 13 July 2010 12:04 (thirteen years ago) link
(not my line, just to be clear- but i've heard it offered along with gerrard's goal rate and mascherano coming from hammers bench as examples that benitez develops players/his man management is up to standard)
― Everytime I hit 'submit post' the internet gets dumber (darraghmac), Tuesday, 13 July 2010 12:05 (thirteen years ago) link
82 goals in 214 games? Club captain at 19?
― R. Stornoway (Tom D.), Tuesday, 13 July 2010 12:06 (thirteen years ago) link
lol rafa develops players.
― fuque santa cruz (a hoy hoy), Tuesday, 13 July 2010 12:07 (thirteen years ago) link
jeez tom i'm tellin you it's not my ridiculous point, mayne!
― Everytime I hit 'submit post' the internet gets dumber (darraghmac), Tuesday, 13 July 2010 12:20 (thirteen years ago) link
You come out with so many it's hard to tell sometimes
― R. Stornoway (Tom D.), Tuesday, 13 July 2010 12:27 (thirteen years ago) link
weak zing imo
― Everytime I hit 'submit post' the internet gets dumber (darraghmac), Tuesday, 13 July 2010 12:59 (thirteen years ago) link
*holds hand up*
― R. Stornoway (Tom D.), Tuesday, 13 July 2010 13:01 (thirteen years ago) link
Pfft every time a manager's team beats another manager's team they're smarter now? Rafa's always managed his fair share of one-off wins- cup manager imo.
Not exactly what I said, but he is hardly a one-off in CL. Wouldn't surprise me if he won it again with Inter (or got close but still beat Mourinho along the way).
― xyzzzz__, Tuesday, 13 July 2010 15:38 (thirteen years ago) link
yeah i'd give him a year or two winning things with mourinho's team alright
― Everytime I hit 'submit post' the internet gets dumber (darraghmac), Tuesday, 13 July 2010 15:39 (thirteen years ago) link
Earth-shattering LOLs at the gullible press-believing football "fans" on this thread.
Yeah, Rafa's an evil machinating cold-eyed dictator who's not even fit to breathe the same air as the "arm round the shoulder" man management genii of the Premier League like "Big" "Sam", 'Appy 'Arry and Taggart Ferguson.
Chris has played a blinder on here.
― Venga, Tuesday, 13 July 2010 15:55 (thirteen years ago) link
yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaawwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn
― Everytime I hit 'submit post' the internet gets dumber (darraghmac), Tuesday, 13 July 2010 15:56 (thirteen years ago) link
Sure that's what Mourinho would say, d.
― xyzzzz__, Tuesday, 13 July 2010 15:56 (thirteen years ago) link
heh well it's true mourinho is a cert to throw a similar type-jab back behind him over the next while. no love lost between those two.
― Everytime I hit 'submit post' the internet gets dumber (darraghmac), Tuesday, 13 July 2010 15:57 (thirteen years ago) link
darragh u are such a troll itt i fuckin <3 u
― 156, Tuesday, 13 July 2010 19:02 (thirteen years ago) link
ha seriously i can't help it, i just hate benitez so much. i blame my lfc supporting mates, who have broken my heart on emails this past 4 years.
but it's all love, guys. just a fun debate imo.
― Everytime I hit 'submit post' the internet gets dumber (darraghmac), Wednesday, 14 July 2010 12:14 (thirteen years ago) link
Can I say how much I fucking hate this 'if you say something the press also happen to say you must have no opinions of your own' bullshit. How about that they may have actually been correct once in a while?
― one man meme-denier (a hoy hoy), Friday, 16 July 2010 14:12 (thirteen years ago) link
well yeah i've called that a few times. how bout we all accept we're arguing our own opinions, and not that of the sun on one side or the LFC propaganda office on the other.
― Everytime I hit 'submit post' the internet gets dumber (darraghmac), Friday, 16 July 2010 14:20 (thirteen years ago) link
Get a life the lot of you :)
― I see what this is (Local Garda), Friday, 16 July 2010 15:33 (thirteen years ago) link
ha you read it all and you know you did
― Everytime I hit 'submit post' the internet gets dumber (darraghmac), Friday, 16 July 2010 15:34 (thirteen years ago) link
didn't at all...posted the above while i was waiting for a file to digitise...as opposed to eg ripping a fingernail off or making faces at my colleague through the blinds of the edit suite.
― I see what this is (Local Garda), Friday, 16 July 2010 21:26 (thirteen years ago) link
Has anyone ever thought of Rafa as an international manager? It seems like the major failings he's accused of - bad transfers, poor player development - wouldn't be factors, while his great strengths would be?
― Gravel Puzzleworth, Thursday, 5 August 2010 15:55 (thirteen years ago) link
The delays/limited time to work on tactics would eliminate maybe his greatest strength though?
― "It's far from 'lol' you were reared, boy" (darraghmac), Thursday, 5 August 2010 15:56 (thirteen years ago) link
i'm sure he'll eventually end up Spain manager but they usually wait to hire someone 70+
― a hoy hoy, Thursday, 5 August 2010 16:33 (thirteen years ago) link
"It's a real challenge," said Benitez in a press conference at the Pizza Hut Park in Texas
― nakhchivan, Saturday, 7 August 2010 02:43 (thirteen years ago) link
On the state he left Liverpool in, Benitez said: "We left a good team, a very good team. A lot of people are talking about the legacy but the legacy is fantastic.
"When I left the club, (Javier) Mascherano, (Yossi) Benayoun and (Albert) Riera were there."
what a horrible little snake of a man.
― i dont love everything, i love football (darraghmac), Monday, 4 October 2010 12:31 (thirteen years ago) link
i still love him.
― The referee was perfect (Chris), Monday, 4 October 2010 12:54 (thirteen years ago) link
love's like that i suppose
― i dont love everything, i love football (darraghmac), Monday, 4 October 2010 13:00 (thirteen years ago) link
i love that he says that when HE was the one who fucking never played riera/yossi. wtf would have been wrong with yossi on the right and riera on the left. oh i know, TACKLING BACK AND BEING A CARTHORSE are the only qualities that matter to rafa.
― I see what this is (Local Garda), Monday, 4 October 2010 13:14 (thirteen years ago) link
srsly why hate benitez, he's less of a shit than most high-level managers, even if he is amusingly intransigent and strange
his inter team are playing better football than mourinho's lot last year, despite losing one of their most entertaining players over the summer
― journey to the end of nyt (nakhchivan), Wednesday, 6 October 2010 00:55 (thirteen years ago) link
The whining, the blame-shifting lies, the football, the rubbish decisions for no reason, and where mourinho's steez is trolling that makes me lol, rafa's steez makes my teeth grind.
all high level managers are shits, fine- i just have a personal favourite.
― i dont love everything, i love football (darraghmac), Wednesday, 6 October 2010 09:09 (thirteen years ago) link
hey remember when he generously gave sami hyypia a whole eight minutes at the end of a meaningless home fixture for his final appearance? great guy, good times.
― r|t|c, Thursday, 7 October 2010 20:40 (thirteen years ago) link
they'd still be in the CL if they kept hyypia
― I see what this is (Local Garda), Friday, 8 October 2010 12:59 (thirteen years ago) link
yeah i watched a leverkusen game last year and he could certainly still cut it. dunno about now but in any case that's the kind of guy you keep around the club, or so you would think.
― r|t|c, Friday, 8 October 2010 15:13 (thirteen years ago) link
Roy Hodgson said he wanted to bring him back.
― san te cross (onimo), Friday, 8 October 2010 15:14 (thirteen years ago) link
he was offered a contract with a coaching role at the end of it but he wouldn't have been guaranteed a game every week. great player.
― The referee was perfect (Chris), Friday, 8 October 2010 15:19 (thirteen years ago) link
he's less of a shit than most high-level managers
he's dangled the carrot and i've had a big wet bite. go on then nakh, like who? if people are going to be cunts then being upfront about it should count for something i feel.
― r|t|c, Friday, 8 October 2010 15:20 (thirteen years ago) link
Giving you a good honest bollocking >>>>> passive aggression and silent treatment.
― Matt DC, Friday, 8 October 2010 15:22 (thirteen years ago) link
zactly
― r|t|c, Friday, 8 October 2010 15:25 (thirteen years ago) link
I mean, you KNOW Fergie will be a complete cunt to you if you're not playing well but at the same time how often do you hear players whingeing about having to play for him? Same with Mourinho.
― Matt DC, Friday, 8 October 2010 15:29 (thirteen years ago) link
i would agree except it'd make me a massive hypocrite. give 'em a hell they can barely notice Raf!
― sock lobster (blueski), Friday, 8 October 2010 15:31 (thirteen years ago) link
josé mourinho is a complete cunt, remember his comments re ronaldo circa 2007 about his lack of class and education (like....almost all footballers from poor backrgrounds ie 90% of them)
ferguson by all accounts is extremely unpleasant
mancini is similar
advocaat / spalletti are happy to work for zenit who refuse to sign black players
lippi tried to force players to sign for his son's agency
― journey to the end of nyt (nakhchivan), Friday, 8 October 2010 16:19 (thirteen years ago) link
mircea lucescu burns down orphanages
manuel pellegrini denies the armenian genocide, just for the lulz
― journey to the end of nyt (nakhchivan), Friday, 8 October 2010 16:22 (thirteen years ago) link