Former Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez had a difficult time at Inter Milan, and after six months in the job, he signed a 'mutually satisfactory agreement' to leave the club. Since then, Benitez has maintained that the underwhelming performance of his team was down to a lack of support from the Inter Board, and his recent comments suggest he still harbours major frustration over this.
In an interview with El Grafico, Benitez was asked whether it was 'difficult to take over a team left by Mourinho physically and mentally drained?' He responded:
"No, no. The problem we had at Inter was lack of resources.
"Despite promises, they didn’t sign one player and there were 15 over the age of 30. In spite of this we won 2 trophies.
"It was difficult, practically impossible, to win more without some support from above"
Benitez said basically the same thing a couple of months in an interview with Tuttomercatoweb.com:
"Inter was a great opportunity. They promised us new players who would have improved the squad, but this never happened."
"We worked hard and I think that if the club had spent money and if we had never had any injuries, then we would have won".
Benitez has been out of work for over a year now, which is shame given his managerial qualities. Could it be that clubs are avoiding him as a result of his history of boardroom battles, stretching all the way back to Osasuna and Extremdura?
Benitez has left his last three clubs under a cloud of internal conflict, so it's definitely a possibility.
Here's hoping he finds a new club soon.
Jaimie Kanwar
In an interview with El Grafico, Benitez was asked whether it was 'difficult to take over a team left by Mourinho physically and mentally drained?' He responded:
"No, no. The problem we had at Inter was lack of resources.
"Despite promises, they didn’t sign one player and there were 15 over the age of 30. In spite of this we won 2 trophies.
"It was difficult, practically impossible, to win more without some support from above"
Benitez said basically the same thing a couple of months in an interview with Tuttomercatoweb.com:
"Inter was a great opportunity. They promised us new players who would have improved the squad, but this never happened."
"We worked hard and I think that if the club had spent money and if we had never had any injuries, then we would have won".
Benitez has been out of work for over a year now, which is shame given his managerial qualities. Could it be that clubs are avoiding him as a result of his history of boardroom battles, stretching all the way back to Osasuna and Extremdura?
Benitez has left his last three clubs under a cloud of internal conflict, so it's definitely a possibility.
Here's hoping he finds a new club soon.
Jaimie Kanwar
Yes, the squad isn't exactly young but it is still a very good squad, especially considering the competition in Serie A. So Rafa should have done much better than he did in Serie A, as he had a very good squad to work with. Just goes to show his man management of a 'squad' isn't that great yet again.
ReplyDeleteHe failed.
He's a very good manager. Not enough creative play in his teams but brilliant organisation. In Europe especially he was excellent, even if the style wasn't free flowing.
ReplyDeleteGood luck to him in his next job.
Someone else brainwashed by the media.Rafas was let down by false promises again,his Inter team was injury plagued and nobody since has done anything either.I suppose Dalglish has great man management skills breaking the British transfer record on Carroll then alienating him from the first team,he also alienated Cole,Aquilani and Meireles and replaced them with expensive flops.The one shining light was Suarez and Dalglish has made a right mess of his handling of this situation causing LFCs standing in the game to be at an all time low.Rafa created the wealth at LFC with his fantastic success and was given crumbs to perform miracles but the players he brought for peanuts are the ones Dalglish is relying on the defence the keeper and Lucas,Maxi,all the other players Dalglish has bought have scored less goals than the bottom 2 clubs in the epl.Rafa is a living legend who brought the success back to LFC and those days are gone forever.No champs league football again even though Dalglish has been given a fortune on a plate.
ReplyDeleteI think he has been hanging on in the belief that Kenny doesn't have the tactical nous to make Liverpool champions of England or Europe so he may be in with a shout of being the new manager. He doesn't need the money and I assume he still lives on Merseyside so maybe he doesn't want to disrupt his family and his kids schooling.
ReplyDeletehe's turned down a few jobs though, reckon he was hoping kenny would make a hash of things and get asked back. id have him back in a flash. we were the top side in europe for 5 seasons, now were not even a top 5 club in the EPL. it was sad rafa never got the big spend as kenny has, i really believe he would have singed better players like javi martinez etc.
ReplyDeleteKenny's blackburn circa 1995 impression is a lame duck imo
There's only one person who's been brainwashed, and it's not Rawk.
ReplyDeleteBrainwashed how? Yes, he didn't get to buy the players he wanted but that doesn't mean he didn't have a good squad already at Inter. Did I say he did get the choice buy his own players? No.
ReplyDeleteYes, they had injuries but they had a big squad. Rafa has never been one to get the best out of a makeshift XI, when he can't field his first XI because of his injuries. He is great with a first XI but beyond that, he is very questionable. Illustrated by the fact that he rarely got us genuinely competing in most competitions in one season, as it was most of time either the CL or PL (as illustrated by how many points we finished behind league winners in the seasons we reached/won the CL final under him), rather than going all out for both. You need to be able to man manage the whole squad to compete in all competitions, instead of just the first XI, hence why we rarely 'looked like' genuine contenders for more then one big competition per season. That is where he fell short.So I don't know why you are getting your knickers in a twist and nor did I mention Dalglish, so not sure why you think Dalglish is my benchmark for my Rafa-focused point. Odd. Its like you read my point but (not sure how one could, as its in English) somehow interpreted it to be something totally different. If I were to mention Dalglish's second spell at Pool, it wouldn't be a really positive comment either. Which makes your riposte even more baffling.
Agreed. Many people have criticised decisions by Benitez but I'd argue that his worst decision was to take that role at Inter. Granted, it was a wonderful CV piece but he was never going to be able to even equal what Mourinho had achieved with Mourinho's players. And even to me it seemed apparent that Moratti wasn't going to give Rafa an immediate influx of cash with which to overhaul the squad - especially during the recession. Benitez was onto a loser from the start there and as he says, 2 trophies was a decent return, all things considered.
ReplyDeleteI'd argue though that the players were only arsed winning those trophies as part of the previous season's ego-trip as opposed to any sense of camaraderie instilled by Rafa, sadly.
There is a reason Mourinho left that team when he did, and he knew that the team has reached it peak. Benetiz inherited an aged team, and with the number of injuries that they had at the beginning of the season, it was no wonder they struggled. I remember him playing 3 youth team kids in a CL game. But of course, the media circus made it seem like it was Rafa's fault, but the team wasnt performing to the new system and had loads of injuries. Despite what many may think, Rafa is an excellent manager which loads of team would like to have. He will get back into management in due time even if not at LFC, but right now its all about getting his girls through school without distruption.
ReplyDeleteInter were Italian and European Champions with Mourinho. I am sure JM also had injury problems before Rafa arrived in the Inter hot seat. Dalglish took over from Roy and things were obviously in a complete mess at the time but the season before we finished 7th and were knocked out the group stage of the CL. Our worst season in many years.
ReplyDeleteTime and time again, too many excuses get made for Rafa. Jaimie has a point and I have mentioned it before too, Rafa always managed to involve himself in things he should have stepped back from when it comes to the owners of the clubs he has been with. Back me or sack me six months into a job is not the way you want to prove yourself to be worthy of and hold Inter ransom at the same time? If Rafa just kept quiet and got on with what he had then maybe he would have still been at Inter. Sometimes you need to swallow your pride and unfortunately for Rafa he never believes that he is wrong and always has had the idea that everyone is against him. He always makes himself out to be the victim and in return wants people to feel sorry for him.
Will he get another job soon, only time will tell. Good luck to him though, keep it simple Rafa and stay away from the internal politics and that might make you last longer in your next job.
Imo Benitez is far more up to date than Dalglish.Im not very happy with Dalglish results knowing his spending power.Benitez would win the league with the financial power we now have.I will always respect Dalglish for the future,a true legend,but i dont believe he is the right man for the future.Benitez is!Bring him back after the season
ReplyDelete'
ReplyDelete80 percent of those injured had the same or similar injuries in the previous two years'
That is what Rafa said about the two years prior to his period at Inter compared to his time at Inter. Mourinho seemed to do alright at Inter, despite those injuries at the club.
Respect him for his past of course,spelling mistake,sorry
ReplyDeleteAre you hoping he gets a job somewhere else before KK jumps ship Jamie? ;)
ReplyDeleteI don't know what you mean ;-)
ReplyDeleteIt is very unlikely that he will get the job at LFC again. In fact, Rafa is still rubbing the Inter owners face into the ground.
ReplyDeleteOne thing is for sure, when you go for a job interview, never run down your previous employer no matter how much you hate them. You will be shown the door immidiately. The way Rafa is still having a dig at Inter is not doing his chances of a job anywhere any good. His history of having fights with owners is something that will effect him in the future. Do you think FSG are going to take orders? Let me answer, a plain and simple no...
We can all remember the criticism Lucas got when Rafa was at the club. Seems to be doing alright these days, post-Rafa. To a certain extent, the same with Maxi. Rafa may have bought them but they didn't exactly get many admirers with their performances under Rafa.
ReplyDeleteLike I said in other posts, Rafa and squad players aren't a great mix sometimes.
Lucas did well in Rafas last season which justified Rafas faith in him when everyone else was ganging up on him.Also Spanish clubs were bidding for him under Rafa.At least you agree Rafa should get all the credit for the 05 champs league as he got the best out of the rubbish he inherited to produce the miracle of all time,this followed by the fa cup then another CL final then 2nd in the prem on 86pts also having LFC ranked no1 team in europe for 2.5 years not bad considering he was never backed by H and G for the last 2 years were he raised more in transfers than he spent so how could he compete with europes elite when he wasnt allowed to build a squad with quality.
ReplyDeleteRafa is a man of integrity and when he agrees on something with the owners he expects them not to go back on promises or how can you have respect for people you dont trust.Rafa wasnt allowed to sign anyone for Inter after being promised he could,no wonder he wanted out. Rafa wants a job but it must be with someone who has a project and who can be competitive and compete to get in the champions league,he will wait for the right job even if it takes another year for him to get another chance.
ReplyDeleteThe rubbish he inherited from Houllier to produce the miricale of all time?
ReplyDeleteWhat did he manage to achieve in the 2007 final against the same team we beat in the 2005 final?
Shoots itself.
I think you are missing the point. Rafa and FSG would be a match made in heaven. They both like long-term projects with sound foundations - and they like to win. We are lucky enough to have a leader of the qualities of Kenny Dalglish at Liverpool today, however when he retires FSG would be hard-pressed to find a better manager in line with their vision for Liverpool than Rafa Benitez.
ReplyDeleteThe Milan side of 05 and 07 was one of the best club sides ever,Rafa also beat Englands best Spains best and Italys best in reaching these finals.Put it this way I bet all LFC fans wished we could just make the CL knockout stages this year which is a big comedown from regualrly competing in semi finals and finals under Rafa in the CL.When Rafa got us to the 05 final it had been 20 years since our last final in the main european competition and he got us there again 2 years later then people started expecting miracles,Rafa was a victim of his own success.
ReplyDeleteSorry Red4life, but how can you criticise Rafa for losing the 2007 CL Final (and incidentally leading LFC to the top of the European rankings) when we are now fighting to even qualify for the CL?!
ReplyDeleteWhere is the proof that Inter promised Rafa money for players?
ReplyDeleteSo first the team Rafa inherited is rubbish and now the Milan team from 2007 was one of the best.
ReplyDeleteWhat else did Milan win in 2007 to make them one of the best club sides ever?
When was the last time Milan won a trophy prior to the 2007 CL win?
on Rafas latest blog on his website he says on the last day of the transfer window out of the blue he was told they were now going to follow the financial fair play initiative,but Rafa being Rafa says he will leave it there and not go into more details so obviously hed been promised money to strengthen then on the last day of the transfer window they changed their mind.
ReplyDeleteThe season is not over yet and Kenny has not completed a full season yet either since his return.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately for Kenny, he did not have the privilege of inheriting a team that had finished in the top 4 unlike what Rafa had when he took over.
You need to compare apples with apples.
But their are no quotes from anyone at Inter suggesting that they promised Rafa money for players.
ReplyDeleteHearsay?
And I have to disagree with you 100%.
ReplyDeleteRafa wants the power and at Liverpool he will always need to work under someone like Comolli while FSG are around.
That will not leave Rafa with the power so FSG and Rafa will be like taking cold water and pouring it into a pot of boiling oil.
That = yet another disaster.
Dalglish has been given more than enough money to strengthen the team
ReplyDeleteRafa lives in Liverpool and obviously loves the city, still supplies this website with plenty of talking points
ReplyDeleteHe has millions in the bank, so employment not a priority
He will have a role to play with Liverpool FC again at some stage, I know it
YNWA Rafa
Mate you are so right Rafael benitez is useless. if he was still manager in UK, he wouldn't have signed great goal scorer Andy Carroll instead he would have signed David Ngog.
ReplyDeleteI'm not going to get into this pointless KK or RB debate. Kenny did wonders first time around and Rafa did when he was here. Rafa is not with the club now, so why keep discussing him?
ReplyDeleteThe real question is just what is going on at Liverpool now? Who is really making the transfer decisions? The decision to spend £35m on Carroll, £20m on Downing and £8m on Adam is, quite frankly, astonishing. Henderson might make it, so reserve judgement there. Yes, Suarez was a brilliant buy, but this does not excuse the other donkeys that the club bought. Someone's head should roll for these buys. It is either Comolli or KK, or both.
I know I said the Rafar thing should be laid to rest, but I cannot believe that if he'd ever had decent transfer funds, then these players would be at Anfield. I fully believe Aguero would be.
You know your football. Dalglish took over with crappp from Roy and signed world class players at a bargain price.
ReplyDeleteCharlie Adam wouldn't look out of place in a division 1 side and we are privileged to see him take corners for us.
Under Daglish we are going to win the league. all he has to do is find another 7 players like Carroll and Adam
Just admit it Dalglish is not very good and will be sacked
ReplyDeleteYou are right about comparing apples with apples
ReplyDeleteRoy hodgson and Dalglish are on the same level
Dalglish doesn't have the technical know how...it is going to be his down fall.
ReplyDeleteHe was up and down in that season, its only in the last two seasons that he has gotten to a level of good consistency. That may well be down to age and development but also to do with manager.
ReplyDeleteRafa hasn't got a great record when getting the best out of squad players, including the ones he buys.
Yes, he did well in competitions but give me one season under Rafa where he genuinely got us competing like we would genuinely would be taken seriously in all the big competitions in one season. Because we always ended up sacrificing one of PL or CL early. That is not a sign of a great club, a great manager or a great squad. Its a sign of a manager picking and choosing his battles because he hasn't got skills to balance all the big competitions at once. If football management was about managing the first choice XI only, Rafa would do pretty well but it isn't, because of the amount of games in a season in all competitions, its about managing a squad and he rarely does that well.
ReplyDeleteYou can see Rafa was talking sense (easy in hindsight) since in the transfer window after he left, they went out and got £20 odd mil of players and the striker he wanted. He did have bad injuries too.
ReplyDeleteHe wasn't a complete failure, you only have to look at Inter in the first half of this season to see where a club heads when they rest on their laurels, as Rafa warned against, but I still think he could have done better in his time. The mitigating factors don't completely absolve him.
Well put
ReplyDeleteI have said it before, I wish Rafa was not as stubborn as he is ... he had a fantastic winning relationship with Paco Ayestrayan (titles, CL, domestic cups) and since that has broken down so to has his career.
ReplyDeleteTo be honest I still believe we let the right man go, however, he is gone and now Kenny should be given time to prove what he can do in order for us to make post Rafa LFC manager comparisons.
I admit I am sceptical, I really do not believe we will achieve the heights of 2005 - 2010 again for a while - as a fan I saw us play 4 European semi finals, win the CL and play in another final to win it again, beat Europe's top teams installing a real fear that LFC are back amongst the elite, and enjoyed a season where we played amazing football as top goal scorers and stayed in the title race untill the end - not so sure this will happen again anytime soon given the current state of the competition we face for the league title and European qualification year in and year out.
Good luck to Rafa, I do not support the man but support the club, however I will say this, I became disillusioned with our own fan base as to the way he was treated at the end of his tenure and still maintain that in a few years a lot of people will reflect on his days with us with a bit more appreciation than is currently being shown.
Rafa's biggest mistake was to let Alonso go and replaced with the injured Aqualani which gave him the opportunity to play Lucas. That signalled his downfall. Other than that he's OK.
ReplyDeleteWell spinned
ReplyDeleteI'm sure most of his tenure at Liverpool was spent rotating the squad to keep it fresh, resulting in 4th, 3rd, and second places in the league. I'd say that was a great achievement with the resources we had at our disposal under him, and with constant rotation. We made an error in sacking him after one bad season. It will be interesting what the board do if Kenny finishes 7th this season. After all, he has had a substantially greater amount of money to play with than what Benitez ever had.
ReplyDeleteHey red maybe thats the problem right there maybe the manager should be in charge and have the last say on who is in and who is out, maybe we should take a leaf out of man u, do think Fergi lets anyone tell him who to buy.
ReplyDeleteWe had loads of injuries the season we finished second so to say that Rafa is only a best eleven manager is rubbish. Gerrard and Torres was out a long time that season. Johnson was out several months, Agger out several months, Skrtel out several months, Benayoun out several months, Riera out several months......
ReplyDeleteThe list could be made much longer and it proves that Rafa is much more than a best eleven manager. He is excellent getting the best out of players and to fit them into his system.
All bullshit aside Rafa has achieved more as a manager than KK so lets not bag the guy, i personally would sign Morinho (sorry for the spelling).
ReplyDeleteWhen it comes down to boardroom battles he never did it just for the fun of it. He always did it because he had to do it.
ReplyDeleteHe also needed funds at Inter to be able to change the system. It would be impossible to press the opposition all over the pitch with a squad that contained 15 30+ year old players.
He plays a totally different system than Mourinho who played a system that only pressed the opposition in his own half. You can get away with having a lot of older players that way.
I will never understand why Moratti signed up Rafa and then didn't gave him the funds to change the system. If they didn't had any plans to spend any money then they should have signed up a manager that play a Mourinho system.
Then you can also look at the boardroom battles Mourinho had at Chelsea and Real.
He would have managed a squad well if he got a complete quality squad in the first place you dufus !!!!!! Replacing Gerrard with El Zhar !! Replacing Torres with Ngog !!!! Where was the squad you are talking about ????? And let me remind you that we had 6 different people getting to double figures (goals) in one season - and that is not getting value out of your squad ???? Some of the arguments here like that of beating the milan of 2005 and not the milan of 2007 are simply ludicrous ........ it is not maths people , there are not less than or greater than signs in football ........ to all who think Rafa is a living legend : Let us just hope that he returns to Spain one day to break the RM-FCB domination with Valencia again ...... and we proud Liverpudlians are left to rue that fact !!!! ....... The best thing for Rafa would have been if he had not won the 2005 CL, then Gerrard would have been off to Chelski and would not be the hero he is (which for most things Rafa got out of him) and he never would have played a role in getting Rafa the sack and getting uncle Woy here .... we would have had 30-35 million to spend on our squad and there would never have been unrealistic expectations ..... How many managers have got Gerrard to score 10 let alone 20 in one season ?? How many have got Torres to score 20+ in a season ?? Who made JC into a CB ?? I know people will not agree ......... so - we agree to disagree ....... YNWA
ReplyDeleteJohnson being out that season was never our problem, Portsmouth had to deal with it! Agger did not play virtually the entire season, but Gerrard and Torres were not out a long time till the next season, same with Benayoun! You must be referring to the 09-10 season where we finished 7th due to injuries.
ReplyDeleteRafa simply didn't have the know-how to adapt his philosophy to the players he had or at least tried to get the best out of players he had but no, instead, he made excuses.
ReplyDeleteHe likes to play the blame game and deflect the spotlight from himself, when things aren't going right.
Seems like you got your seasons very mixed up
ReplyDeleteer Bebe?
ReplyDeleteShubbankar
ReplyDeleteRafa bought in a load of squad players of his own and most of them, failed to perform under his reign.
Whose fault is that?
Rafa
Or are you going to say there was a gun put to his head and that he didn't want to sign those players?
----
Dufus? I find it funny there are still people around that still say such a insult.
Top Flight trophies:
ReplyDelete3 division one + 1 premier league title vs 2 la ligas
3 FA cups vs 1
4 Charity shields vs 1
Scottish league cup vs Supercoppa Italia
O non-domestic trophies vs 4
Kenny: 12 (9 for LFC)
Rafa: 9 (4 for LFC)
I'm a big Rafa fan, but KK has achieved more.
spot on ... bring back Rafa.
ReplyDeleteKD is a legend but i'm afraid he has been found out and needs to step aside at the end of the season. He has been quite irresponsible with the money given to him and he has placed us into mediocrity.
It is not like Comolli has all the say over what players Dalglish wants. Comolli is the one who needs to report to FSG, he for instance holds the key to convincing FSG that Kenny needs to improve the squad. Hence him having the status of Director of Football at LFC. Every player that signed was what Dalglish wanted and Comolli needed to do his own homework on the players Kenny wanted and then had to convince FSG to sign the players. I am sure there were instances where Comolli turned down some of the signings Kenny wanted to make. It is very important that Comolli and Dalglish are on the same level and thankfully they have been. Rafa cannot work in a system like this, he wants to be the chief and with FSG he will not be allowed the freedom he wants. Plain and simple.
ReplyDeletewe are 3 points away from a cl place....to all the moaners go away and support somebody else...we don t want y and don t need y....ynwa
ReplyDeletedo people realise that rafa spent over 200 million on the liverpool squad over the 5 years, give kenny a chance, we are playing better football now compared to any team rafa put out. If rafa wasn't up his own hole and kept faith in alonso rather than try his best to get rid and subsequently kept him we would be still in the champions league and he may still have his job here with new owner with a lot more money to play with.
ReplyDeleteBenitez actually spent 300m, and the club accounts confirm this.
ReplyDeleterafa won the champs league with gerrard houllier's squad so how do you say hes a living legend yes he was a good manager im not disputing that but he was a bit of an idiot himself wanting to sell alonso for barry???? wat was that all about and give carrol time listen to kenny if you know football you will know he dominated the league when he rained back in the day and we could of dominated the champs but we was banned from it so before you give stick about kenny give him time i would pick keeny anyday over any manager in the world and do you know why because he puts every bit of energy and all his love in the world into our club
ReplyDeleteYou can argue the toss 'til the cows come home about whether Benitez has a clue, but the "FACT" is, he will NEVER be employed by Liverpool FC while J.W. is at the helm - and he has said as much, live on LFC TV about twelve months ago, whilst explaining about how unimpressed he had been by the money that had been wasted on substandard players transfer fees and wages since 2005.
ReplyDeletewell wrote!!
ReplyDeleteJamesdaglish - are you seriously going there? I don't recall David Ngog costing 35 million pounds...
ReplyDeleteWhy would he lie about something like that? I somehow doubt Rafa would agree to take over a squad that is not allowed to add A SINGLE PLAYER to. Inter f*cked him over big time and he's, if anything, being polite about the whole debacle.
ReplyDeleteHow does it show that 'yet again'? He won La Liga 2x with Valencia, and took a 5th place Liverpool to the CL Final and WON IT. Then he did it again 2 years later and narrowly lost. Then he proceeded to turn Fernando Torres, Javier Mascherano, Pepe Reina in to players who are talked of now as THE BEST PLAYERS IN THE WORLD in those positions, and take Liverpool within fractions of toppling Man U. 86 points to not win the title? Unheard of.
ReplyDeleteAt Inter he didn't get to buy a single player before the new season, not one. Rafa is a manager who likes to buy, we all know this. He buys bulk, sells the riff raff quickly. Sometimes he hits a real star for cheap, ala Lucas, who cost Liverpool 5m. He goes on to win 2 trophies for Inter but can't bolster an ageing squad and so they languish in 6th or something, still only like 7 points back 1/4 into the season. He says "back me or boot me" because he knew that unless he could be a real manager it was never going to work. It looked to him like they just wanted a stopgap and it turned out his intuition was right.
You failed.