Rafa Benitez, Football Manager

"Tactical genius" = mostly assigning your best players to their preferred positions and assigning somebody to kick the shit out of the opposition's creative outlet.

second part redundant when that actually is mascherano's best position tbf

I think the greater part of tactical knowledge is being able to respond to developments in a game in progress and adjust what the team is doing accordingly. Stubborn managers frequently struggle in this respect and infuriate the fans with bizarrely timed substitutions and failure to adjust to glaring on-pitch failings.

what i'll give rafa, for his whole time at liverpool, that was in any way above what you'd expect from anyone in his position;

Dour negativity worked brilliantly in europe

Torres, reina, alonso and mascherano all worked out

Had the perfect publicly contrarian personality to get fanatical scouse support

Making them tough to beat and realising that carragher couldnt get censured in any way in the league was good enough for second in a terrible league that one time.

Stop denigrating Liverpool 2009, they were great (long sequence of uninterested draws in Jan/Feb apart). By all means attack the other five years if you must.

the thread i started about the modern managerial skillset

Did I miss this or am I just forgetting? Would quite like to see it broken down - Redknapp would score highly on man management I feel, and possibly strategy, but not so much on tactics. And he doesn't appear to see allocation of resources as part of his job at all.

i'm sure i did start one, but would struggle to locate it while surfing on the phone tbh.

I think the greater part of tactical knowledge is being able to respond to developments in a game in progress and adjust what the team is doing accordingly. Stubborn managers frequently struggle in this respect and infuriate the fans with bizarrely timed substitutions and failure to adjust to glaring on-pitch failings.

This is why Mourinho wins, basically.

xp could have just been a detour on one of several threads, tho- off season, wc2010, maybe this one.

mourinho's plan a is usually p good, read quotes from fatty lumplard to the effect that each player gets a folder before each game on the opposition.

ismael, you're failing miserably as a biter here btw. I suppose chris, venga and ronan et al will all show when i'm on lunch

Sorry, I am too placid and reasonable to be a good goadee. Also too fickle and unscouse in my affections - Rafa used up my goodwill a long time ago, and I really don't want him back.

course he could end up at spurs pretty easily if capello goes. Him or woy.

Genuinely tough call imo, obv like woy more, and we've always worked better under a man manager than tactician imo.

but it would be nice to see jenas and bentley get rafa'd

Bentley's basically been Rafa'd anyway.

nobody does it better tho

Actually being Harry'd = get dropped for a year and come back twice the player. Being Rafa'd = get dropped and never heard from again.

I hear Aquilani is currently running tings in the Juve midfield though.

all woys fault, that

Would be happy with Rafa going back to Anfield and running a sweepstake on how quickly he can get Liverpool fans to turn against NESV for "not investing seriously".

He'll probably use the same excuse when the Benitez children are vocally disappointed with their Christmas presents.

"I am fully focussed on buying you Kinectimals for the Xbox 360 and the Gossip Girl DVD box set for Christmas"

"i asked for a playstation and i received a game gear. You will need to ask fr christmas why"

Hahaha.

I love Rafa but I don't think I'd want him back. Not yet. The press would make his job impossible, there are still fans who don't like him, and this thread would be unbearable! He needs to take some time out, recharge his batteries, spend time with his family, and stay out of the spotlight for a while. I'd have loved him to have stayed at Inter and won everything, but he did get them playing better football than Mourinho did, and he gained the respect of the fans, who were singing for him to stay after the Club World Cup victory. General concensus is that he was right to challenge Moratti, but it probably wasn't the best time to do so.

I think the greater part of tactical knowledge is being able to respond to developments in a game in progress and adjust what the team is doing accordingly. Stubborn managers frequently struggle in this respect and infuriate the fans with bizarrely timed substitutions and failure to adjust to glaring on-pitch failings.

This is why Mourinho wins, basically.

Jonathan Wilson says much the same about Harry Redknapp, http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/blog/2010/dec/01/the-question-harry-redknapp-tactically

Chris, have you actually watched this Inter side? Because I have 3 times. Once was the 4-3 against Spurs where yes, they played some nice stuff (until he told Coutinho to cut it out). The other two times they looked like a nasty bunch who didn't know what they were doing and were less pleasing on the eye than Mourinho's.

Excellent article on 'Arry and Cloughie, that.

o lol

o holy lol

inter now denying he's been sacked

dude is like football schizophrenia, he makes crazy shit happen wherever

x-posts, yeah, i have been watching inter. fans and players seemed to be happy, eto'o said he prefers benitez's pressing game - it's no coincidence that he's already scored more goals than he managed in the whole of last season.

cant believe he was complimentary about his current manager.

Inter have been a disaster under benitez, so far.

why is it so unbelievable that eto'o would credit benitez for encouraging the team to win the ball higher? given that other teams have strengthened more than inter, and that inter have had bad luck with injuries, i wouldn't say it's been a 'disaster'. unlucky, but far from a disaster. still have 2 games in hand.

all teams have bad luck with injuries. its not a good excuse anymore. last season inter had bigger injury problems imo (curse of their left backs, no stankovic, muntari or zanetti for long periods means at least 2 positions weren't covered for most of the season), didn't stop them then.

muntari is waste tbf

ageing squad, hardly strengthened in the summer. chelsea have had bad injuries and their form's been shocking.

defending benitez at inter is stupid

he's done some interesting stuff tactically but in terms of any aspect of management that involves considering players as ppl, he's an unmitigated disaster

ageing squad, barely strengthened in summer, trouble with injuries.

Guess hodgson is doin pretty well so far all told.

defending benitez at inter is stupid... itt. tough crowd

1x champions league (& runner-up), UEFA cup, UEFA super-cup, world club cup (& runner-up), FA cup, italian super cup and 2x la liga and UEFA manager of the year

nuh bad for a high-functioning buffoon

it's extremely impressive for a high functioning buffoon, in fact. we've not disputed that.

defending benitez at inter is stupid... itt. tough crowd

― abbott & coztello (cozen), Wednesday, 22 December 2010 19:14 (52 minutes ago)

yeah cuz every1 else is totes chill about it

i've enjoyed watching inter this year cuz eto'o has been in form again and it's less dull than mourinho's inter, but taking a treble winning squad to this in under sixth months is srsly shit

then came 'four or five players'

his prior successes have no bearing on what a fucking disaster he's been at inter

sorry guys, i think i may have let my hatred of benitez blind me to the fact that he was good at valencia and won a cup with houllier's liverpool. mea maxima culpa innit

lol settle petal. I don't even have a strong view on it. afaic managing, like networking, is voodoo and the guy has won some in his time

so... if I have it right, houllier's getting some of the credit for rafa's champions league win but rafa's not getting any concession for mourinho's /exhaustion/ of his treble winners? ;)

has he actually been sacked btw? guardian still not updated their earlier report

as opposed to all those barca players exhausted after their (much more recent) world cup win but soldiering on anyway?

it's up in the air, which is magnificent imo, just exceptional fuckery xp

Moratti: "This situation is a bit tricky"
Wednesday, 22 December 2010 16:41:05 [rss full] [rss text] Delicious [permanent link]permalink
[FOTO Wednesday, 22 December 2010 16:41:05]

MILAN - Massimo Moratti gave a brief interview to the journalists that were waiting for him outside the Saras offices in the centre of Milan.

Inter.it brings you the full comments of the Nerazzurri president:

Mr president, we were wondering who you were going to lunch with?

"Don't worry. I'm going home."

Therefore we shouldn't expect Benitez's sacking today?

"Nothing should be expected. I swear to you I have not had the means to speak to anyone."

Is it true Inter are working to rescind Benitez's contract?

"No. We are trying to understand some things. This situation is a bit tricky. What happened was quite surprising. It is clear therefore, that we are looking at it from every angle."

So today, Benitez is still the Inter coach?

"As long as he is there..."

machines don't get tired

ok, houllier gets some credit for assembling a squad that benitez could win a cl with, something benitez never managed to build himself.

mourinho doesn't get any blame for leaving a team of pretty inarguable winners, rly

i dont think that's ridic inconsistent or anything