Rafael Benitez or Roy Hodgson: Who to blame for Liverpool's crisis form?
It would surely be unfair to compare the reigns of the two managers for Liverpool Football Club as Rafael Benitez was at the helm for 6 seasons whereas Roy Hodgson is only 16 games old. But, there is something common that has brought up this discussion amongst
Liverpool fans all over the globe. It’s that which of the two should burden majority of the blame for crisis that is Liverpool FC in today.
Rafa had arrived at Anfield with a big reputation; he already had bagged 2 La Liga titles and UEFA Cup with Valencia in just three seasons. He was competing against the likes of Barcelona and the Galacticos of Real Madrid. In contrast, Roy had arrived after
his former team finished 12th in the league with a total of 39 points. However, he too like Rafa took his team to the final of UEFA Cup but unlike him, lost it.
This brings up question marks over the decision to appoint Roy Hodgson at the first place. At 63 and over 35 years of managerial experience, one would expect a lot more than just 2 years of experience at a big club (Inter Milan), which came back between
1995 and 1997. However, he was named Manager of the Year in the Premier League last season.
Rafa has been blamed for poor signings but the reality is that his net spending over 6 years was less than 10m pounds per season and he still managed to buy players of the pedigree of Fernando Torres, Javier Macherano, Pepe Riena, Daniel Agger, Xabi Alonso
and many more. The only major buys which failed to impress include Robbie Keane, Alberto Aquilani and Ryan Babel- he can still prove himself. Remember the squad he inherited hardly had players worth 10m pounds.
The fact that he had failed to win a trophy in his last three years, resulted in all types of criticism being thrown at him. This period also coincides with the tenure of the American owners, Hicks and Gillet, who clearly failed to back Rafa with the investment
in the transfer market. The money earned from sales was then used on buying new players.
Liverpool’s last season’s performances were dismal and on the back of those performances and results, the departure of Rafa Benitez was inevitable. He had lost the support amongst Liverpool’s faithful. His tactics and man management had let down the players.
Alonso left before the start of the season and Benayoun was also a victim of Rafa’s poor man management during the last transfer window.
Roy, on the other hand, was never going to bring back the days of attacking football at Anfield but the board decided it was time for someone who could boast the morale of the team and give the whole club a lift. Well, they managed to do that but at the
expense of respectable managerial skills, which have been exposed time and time again since the start of the campaign. Eyebrows have been raised over his coaching ability since then.
However, there are also some interesting facts and similarities to note between the two managers. Rafa got slated for starting with two defensive midfielders, the only difference now is that neither of them are Alonso or Mascherano. He was accused of not
utilising Aquilani enough whereas Roy allowed him to leave on loan. Rafa was also accused of playing players out of position; Meilreles has mostly been deployed on the right hand side of the midfield by Roy.
Rafa used to make substitutions around the hour mark whereas Roy delays them until the 70th minute mark, even when losing. Rafa was blamed for being too cautious; Roy’s men have failed to impress because of the fact that they play unbelievably
deep. Finally, Rafa got slated for not bringing on youth; Shelvey and Pacheco are currently being kept out of the team by players who are completely out of sorts.
This by no means proves that Rafa was any better at the job than Roy; it rather proves that Roy is doing a worse job than Rafa. The shambles that Liverpool find themselves in can be attributed to the previous owners and to an extent to Rafa but majority
of the blame should fall on the shoulders of Roy Hodgson whose team has failed extraordinarily to put up a half decent performance in any of the matches this season.
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