22 Feb 2012

Benitez-Hamann: Managerial dream-team on the horizon...?

It's fair to say that Dietmar Hamann's first foray into football management wasn't a great success. The former Liverpool midfielder achieving only three wins in nineteen matches whilst in charge of Stockport County, and after four months in charge, he left the club. Hamann is keen to get back into management at some point in the future, and his dream ticket would be working with Rafa Benitez, who he recently described as a managerial 'genius'.

It is well established that Benitez is not the warmest of managers, but in his recently released autobiography 'The Didi Man: My Love Affair with Liverpool', Hamann delivered a glowing review of Benitez's managerial skills. He enthused:

"Rafael Benitez isn’t big on relationships, but in my mind he is pure managerial genius.

"Rafa had the ability to achieve this rapid transformation from total blankness to incredible insight in just two minutes. He was incisive. He had the mind of a prosecution barrister and the words of a Spanish troubadour".


Hamann has been on the publicity circuit promoting his book over the last couple of months, and he's been talking up Benitez's managerial abilities at every opportunity, and in an interview with Today FM a few days ago, he revealed that he would like to work with Benitez at some point:

"That is something that may happen in the future. At the moment, I'm doing my coaching badges, and then we'll see in the future.

"I've made it clear in the past that I'm a big admirer of how he works and what he does, and if the opportunity was to come along one day, then who knows".


Hamann and Benitez together would perhaps have too much of a defensive philosophy to it, but you never know. If it happened, Benitez would obviously be manager, but where would Didi fit in? Assistant Manager? First Team Coach?

it would definitely be an interesting experiment, and who knows, maybe we'll see the Benitez-Hamann partnership at Liverpool one day?



Jaimie Kanwar


36 comments:

  1. Rafa has been linked with Chelsea in some news paper today.

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  2. If Rafa took the Chelsea job how ironic it would be as he would get 4th place at LFCs expense and all the fans who wanted a great man out would no doubt say its Rafas fault we didnt get 4th place.

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  3. chelsea next season i reckon.

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  4. All this talk of Rafa coming back is undermining Kenny and his staff cut it out.Hopefully he'll get the Chelsea job then we can all forget about him coming back. 

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  5. Iloverafainmyanuus12:08 am, February 23, 2012

    GET RAFA BACK

    kenny can polish his shiny black spanish shoes if he wants, repay some of the money he wasted.

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  6. It would b great if Rafa comes back. Come back Rafa porfavor. YNWA

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  7. That's the most disrespectful post I've seenyet on this site. Go read up on the club's history before posting drivel such as this.
    Idiot!

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  8. Rafa is a genius he won us the champions league,he should come back to win the premeirship.

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  9. Doesnt mean your liverpool legand as player your good manager.
    WE all love king kenny 100%but his win lose record is worse off the hodgson.
    Rafa would be great with these owners for sure.
    And jose has won titles win chelsea inter real, instant sucsess isnt that what we want. a manager that will have long time legacy like ferguson.
    Now if we stay with kenny in out hearts we will always feel sorry that we are not getting premier league isnt that what we all want really.
    So we dont get euro spot or win title because we win carling cup and lose at anfield is that a sucsess.
    seriuosly are the owners going to give us 100 mil again to blow on english players that are not world class.suarez enriqae best signings not english.
    tease torres how bad his going thats because he doesnt have stevie g.
    But stevie g is playing poor with out torres fact. look what rafa family donated to the hillsbourgh fund 96. if we dont get him hes good enough for real. and we really cant go wrong with jose with king kenny we are just being ROMANTIC , romance fades away with no premier league

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  10. we must get mr. r. benitez back for the futures of our great club

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  11. Rafa  himself obviously want to come back. we expecting him to return this summer not with chelsea and forever for liverpool

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  12. black shoes?are y racist anus?ynwa

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  13. Rumours and nothing else but rumours!

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  14. Kenny unfortunately is not good enough - Rafa made us the most feared team in europe for a couple of years until he fell foul of the owners and his spending went a bit awry. if he had had the same money that Kenny did over the summer, he wouldn't have wasted it like KD has.

    If Benitez goes to Chelsea, they WILL win the Champions League and we don't want that

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  15. REDS FOREVER  Cape Town South Africa

    I have a suspicion that KD is acting out the role and the direction as envisaged by Comolli. In this role KD is forced to line up certain players irrespective of who we perceive as our best players and who would perform better in any given situation. I look at the line up against the Mancs recently and seriously question whether that was Dalglish's line up or not.
    So The question is whether Rafa Benitez would be able to function in such conditions where somebody else is calling the shots. Also would he be able to bring in the players he wants and also be continiously mindful of the wage bill. Would he come to back to this kind of restrictive management.
    I'm just wondering.

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  16. Those of you who want Rafa back don't have a clue about football...how boring and frustrating did our football become under Rafa in his later years?! Did you even watch any of the games?

    Rafa went to Inter after Marinio won the title with them, what happened there?  Rafa dragged them down to 7th place in the league and they got rid and rightly so!! He has no man management and most of the players he managers don't like him or his tactics.

    If you want him back your a fool and a loser!!

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  17. History is a burden to Liverpool!

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  18. Kenny deserves more time and I cant believe that people want him gone, we have played really good at times.Lets be honest Rafa left the club in tatters.I still see us finishing 4th this season and then we can attract the big names.
    I think the new players have let Kenny down this season.
    I too agree he overspent on these players but they have not played to their full ability and if they had we would be sitting comfortably in at least 4th spot now.A manager needs at least 2 or 3 seasons to make his mark in a team then can he be judged.
    Ferguson is a perfect example he was awful at first for united.
    We are not Chelsea we dont change our manager every season.
    Get behind Kenny and quit this bullshit.
     

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  19. lol I don't care what Chelsea do.

    I just want to see Liverpool win the Premier League. And Benitez WILL NOT do that for Liverpool.

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  20. The biggest media propelled myth of modern times that Rafa Benitez is a defensive manager.  Absolute tosh.

    Do take time to read up on the system - the much talked about 4-2-3-1, that becomes effectively, a 2-3-5 during attacking moves.  Based on the AC Milan sides of the 1980's, Benitez likes his teams to control games and be organised.  Sometimes, people think that is defensive.

    And he took the team to be top scorers in the premiership as his vision evolved.

    Rafa Benitez defensive?  No chance.

    And just to add, why the hell would Hamann be defensive - because he played as a defensive midfielder?  Do me a favour, with logic like that no wonder we have a clueless tory government in power.

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  21. I think you must be of a young age - it is the only explanation as to why you would think KD would not be in charge of the team.

    Do take time to read up on the man.

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  22. I should have added, more speculation without foundation.  Typical JK article.

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  23. Hello Mark the sky sports viewer.

    In Rafa's penultimate year, we finished second and scored nearly 120 premiership goals.  We had progressed every season until we had to start selling players to pay off debts....... the final season we saw the result of clueless owners.

    Rafa went to inter and won two trophies in the short time he was there.  When he entered the club he was surprised that no player had done any gym work under Maureen - when this was implemented, injuries started which impeded the teams progress.  It is also important to note, Rafa was not given a transfer budget on a par with Maureen.  Perhaps also interesting that Sam Eto, said he loved the way Benitez got the team playing, compared to the more defensive Maureen.

    See, all this information is out there, in the public domain, just that it doesn't fit with the sly sports agenda.

    I hope Rafa does return to LFC one day.  It would be fascinating to see how he would do with proper owners that seem to understand how football works.

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  24. I guess you are young - check KD's record and read up on the guy.  I have no time for people that know nothing about football or KD.

    He IS Liverpool football club.
     

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  25. You think Rafa didn't waste a lot of money?

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  26. Rafa left the club in tatters? Really? you honestly think that? Have you ever hear of Tom Hicks & George Gillett? Those pair of scumbags almost ruined this club. Read Brian Reade's book "44 months with a pair of cowboys" and take your head out of the sand.
    Yes, Rafa did make some dodgy signings but he was trying to bolster the squad to cover for injuries and fixture congestions. He also brought us Pepe, Alonso, Mascherano, Kuyt, Arbeloa and Torres, to name but a few.
    And to say he played boring, defensive football, give us a break, did you see the 4-0 demolishion of Real Madrid at Anfield or the 4-1 humbling on Utd at Old Trafford or were you aware of the fact that it was Liverpool under Benitez who ended Chelsea's unbeaten home record which had stood for a couple of years?

    I loved Rafa at the club and have nothing but respect for him as a man. I also grew up watching Dalglish as a player then manager and have nothing but respect for him too. Remember, it was Rafa who brought Kenny back to the club. If there was a way in which we could have Kenny as director of football (replacing Commolli) and Rafa as manager, the club would be miles better for it!

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  27. Hello TaxDodgeHarry, alias - 'I go to every game number one fan!'

    Let’s take a look at his overall record as boss of Inter Milan, In 25
    games in charge the former Liverpool boss won 12 and lost 7, which is
    pretty appalling when you consider that Maureen's record the previous season involved 57 games during which time they lost just seven games.
    The ‘Special One’ didn’t lose a home game in two seasons, Rafa managed to shatter that record in his sixth San Siro fixture.

    Won 2 cup's, Oh yeah! who did they beat in the 'Club World Cup'  TP Mazembe, who are they? 

    And again, as with our 2005 champion's league win, he won with a team he'd inherited!

    Maureen left Benny with a team that had just won Serie A title, the Italian Cup and the Champions League!

    I think this say's it all...end of.  I love the man for what and who he is, but we would be taking a step back if he was to return to Liverpool.

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  28. How about the Champions League - which is more profitable?

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  29. If Rafa got 100 million to spend in 2 transfer windows, he would not have paid what Kenny did for Henderson, Carrol and Downing.  He would have gotten better talents for less money and then added one or two other players.  

    Rafa with that money could have won Liverpool the title. The one brilliant thing Dalglish has done, is establish Carra as the back up centre back and get Bellamy back into the club - but those moves didn't cost 100 million.  If I were the owners I would be furious. 

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  30. But the best reading of Kenny's record is over 20 years ago.  He's past it and predictable.  Dalglish getting so many draws at Anfield is awful.  I think even Hodgson had a comparable win rate at Anfield - and that is truly pathetic after given money to spend - more money than any other Liverpool manager in history over two transfer windows.

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  31. Sorry to burst your bubble, but under Hodgson Liverpool were appalling. Yes, this season's win rate at home is poor, but the same cannot be said of our away form. In addition, there is a world of difference to the way we play football under Kenny compared to Hodgson. In fact, many of our home draws could have easily ended up as wins were it not for poor finishing. That, I recognise, is certainly a problem that needs rectifying. But at least we look like we can create chances and dominate games (albeit not as often as I would like) - something Hodgson's team could rarely do.

    I agree our transfers have been wasteful, but are you really telling me Morientes, Aquilani, Babel, Riera were well thought out buys for Rafa either? Kenny bought British (rightly or wrongly - wrongly for me) thinking they would adapt quickly and allow us to climb the table quicker, the logic of which is no less valid than buying a young, sought after foreign player (who may fail to adapt e.g. Babel).

    Incidentally, a Benitez with funds existed at Inter and plus he adopted the European Champions. We all know what happened there.

    Another thing, what makes everyone so sure that that talents like Mata etc (the types of players we wish Liverpool had signed) would have come had we gone public with our interest? May be we did express an interest and the player rejected us in private (allowing us to sae face)?

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  32. Are you sure we nearly scored 120 premier league goals under Benitez in his penultimate year?

    Please don't try and re-write history. The only reason we sold Alonso - easily our most important midfielder - is because Rafa tried to sell him the season before to make room for none other than ...Gareth Barry! Rafa wasnt forced to sell Alonso because the owners made him.

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  33. He was a good player for LFC ! That's about 'IT'

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  34. inter milan were PLAGUED with injuries, rafa was told he had no money whatsoever to spend.

    he was working with a serverly light squad that wasn't his own and had no opportunity to bring anyone in.

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  35. And as soon as he got sacked and replaced Inter climbed up the table with the same squad...funny that!

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