Is Rafael Benitez incredibly smart or incredibly stupid?

Question

Most people do not understand the reason behind his tactics. One, he could be a genius to think of tactics in a way that the ordinary man can't perceive. Either that or his tactics is bizarre and ought to be condemned.

Benitez is a man who like to make alot of changes, is this due to his attention to details that he makes a mountain out of a molehill, as he tries to control the game... but is the opposition and the game itself that predictable?

He has made many changes to his tactics and the squad along with many failing purchases like Sissoko, why isn't he taken to task?

Finally, due to his reticent nature, he hardly elucidates his tactics to the angst of the fans. Is this being fair to the fans?

As the good players in liverpool age as the seasons pass by, the team becomes less likely to win a throphy. Is Benitez occupying a postion that someone could fulfill with better results? I certainly hope the directors of the club will monitor the situation more closely, and dismiss any more excuses from him. Then the fans will be happy.

Answer 1

I don't think his clever. His quite stupid as his spent over 200million building up his team and all liverpool do is stay 4th and never win any cups.

Chelsea may have spent much more but at least they have 1 some cups.

Btw , liverpool played rubbish against aston villa yesterday. You didn't have 1 shot on target and now Torres is injured.

I don't think keane was worth all that money anyway.

Answer 2

I'm sorry but Liverpool were really poor and negative on the pitch yesterday. I expected them to give a real game for Villa, but how poor they played. Robbie Keane they big name £20 million signing on the left side, Babel, Benayoun all on the bench. Team was not balanced, they didn't fight for a win just sat back for a draw, and they got it. very very poor performances so far this season, Boro, Standerd Liege(home and away), Aston Villa, etc

I expect Rafa to be sacked when Man Utd beat them in 2 weeks time.  

Answer 3

useless bum.

Answer 4

Benitez is a good manager but i just don't think he is of a premiership quality but he has brought someone in who is indeed very young. Fernando Torres and once he settles in he should be one of the gr8 strikers.

Answer 5

His tactics are rubbish, his team selection is rubbish and half the signings he makes are rubbish...but he does bring in really good players as well like Reina, Agger, Skrtel, Alonso, Mascherano, Babel, Torres and Keane. But then he doesn't use them right!

I think he's very clever, but it's just not quite working like it did for Valencia...maybe he's getting everything right but it's just not being executed correctly at the moment. I give him to the end of the season, and if there hasn't been an improvement he HAS to go.

Answer 6

What makes me laugh about the guy is that he has spents over £100 million on new players in 3 years (some of whom have made little or no impact) and he still complains that the reason he is not succeeding is that the board are not giving him enough money ! lol

Answer 7

Im a loyal supporter of Liverpool, He's won us the CL and got us in 2 finals of the CL, Etc. He signed Fernando Torres, But if he leads us to a season like the last.. We wont be keeping Torres. Rafa needs to go..

Answer 8

I could go for days about this, but what it come down to is that Rafa just over analyzes, over thinks, and over manipulates his squad.  His lineup changes rarely work.  This is a man, who if he had his way, would have Stevie G playing on the right side for the rest of his life.

For the last couple of years, most of the Reds PL games consist of them holding Rafa's compact shape, stifling in midfield, and then opening up and trying to win the game with a barrage of attacking in the final 12 minutes.  He acquires talent and then chains them to a system that strangles their creativity.  Why bring in Babel and Benayoun if you aren't going to let them do what they do best?  Look what happened when they were forced to open up against Besiktas last year.

And this year, all of their goals have come in the last 10 minutes of the game.  Maybe Rafa should just stand all eleven players right across the goal net and wait until the end of the game to let them play.  This year is it for him, no trophies, he has to go, I don't care if they do like Chelsea last year and make three finals, losing them all.  No trophies, c ya.

http://premierpitch.blogspot.com

Answer 9

Half of the time he makes stupid decisions. Half of the time he makes great decisions! Half of the time I love Rafa, and half of the time I just HATE HIM!!!

I am die-hard Liverpool fan. I LOVE Liverpool FC and I have since I even knew football existed. I have been waiting for an end to our title (EPL) drought.....And this season, I feel is our season. It will be an extreme challenge but I feel that we can win it this year. Just seeing newspaper headlines "19th title in 19 years".....I pray for this.

We won ugly in our first 2 games of the season, scoring in the final minutes. And we know that we didn't play well. But we still had the winning attitude. If at our worst, we won...........how would we actually do when we DO play well??? We can play well, but because of Rafa's tactics......God, it seems impossible to improve! He keeps playing this 4-4-2 formation and playing all the players in their wrong positions! I mean.....Kuyt as a RM in a 4-4-2 formation?? Jesus! And he substituted 2 of our most hardworking players in the game against Aston Villa.....and didn't bring Babel on, either! I just can't wait for Riera to come. I'm hoping Rafa chooses this set-up if he does insist on keeping the 4-4-2 formation.

Torres - ST

Keane - ST

Riera - LW

Alonso - LM

Gerrard - RM

Babel - RW

Dossena - LB

Carragher - CB

Skrtel/Agger - CB

Arbeloa - RB

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Dossena and Arbeloa could go forward a little, .... Dossena's crosses are really good. Arbeloa kinda stinks at crossing but maybe a neat pass to Babel .... and Babel pacing forward and crossing? :) His crossing helped us earn our qualification in the Champions League!

Keane could be between Gerrard and Torres.....Keane's passing is really creative (glimpses of his creative passes in the Aston Villa game) ..... and Torres up front. :) Alonso could be playing a little defensive...

Also, Mascherano could switch with Alonso at times, if we need more pace in certain games. Alonso is quite slow in the EPL.

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Anyway, back to Rafa. Throughout pre-season he kept saying on how he wants the team to be playing in an attacking way in games.....but, our team isn't doing that. Especially against Villa, geez! I think we just had ONE shot on target! We had such few attempts because we weren't going forward ALL the way. We kept attempting to go forward but halfway through we'd pass the ball back to the defenders. There were many times where, if we had went on continuosly in attack, we could've scored. Or at least create chances. Last season we created chances....just that we didn't score. Well, we only did mostly with the help of Gerrard and Torres... Now THIS season....we aren't even creating chances?!

Anyhow, this is just the 3rd game so....I am slightly worried but we will see if the team improves on the way. If they don't, our chances of going for the title would slim greatly.

Answer 10

Incredibly fat.

Answer 11

Incredibly stupid... he spent all summer chasing that average Gareth Barry and failed to strengthen the left and right wings

what a Dunder Head

Answer 12

smart or not,his tactics are certainly not working

he has to prepare his squad for every match that they play but as we have seen in each of their matches,it looks like his squad are not poised to challenge a team.they have to give their best,not just be an average team cause thats not enough to keep them on the move

Answer 13

The mans an idiot.