Friday, November 06, 2009
Actually to be honest, I don't really blame Rafa so much for this rot that Liverpool are in. It's really the owners fault, putting the club in so much debt. If they didn't have the financial muscle to buy and maintain the great ambitions of Liverpool, they shouldn't have bought Liverpool in the first place.
Ok to show Rafa's weaknesses. True, he has bought players like Josemi, Jan Kromkamp, Antonio Nunez (part of the Owen deal), Jermaine Pennant, Andrea Dossena, Sebastian Leto, Craig Bellamy, Robbie Keane, Fernando Morientes, Gabriel Paletta, Peter Crouch and Mark Gonzalez, for quite a lot of money. And all of them have flopped, not justifying their price tags, and just not good enough for Liverpool. But these are just a few, and look at Keane, he's still flourishing at old club Spurs, and Bellamy is doing well at Man City.
Then there are those like Mohammed Sissoko, Jack Hobbs, Scott Carson and Alvaro Arbeloa that has came in with relatively small fees, and left to other clubs as first team regulars for larger fees, giving Liverpool profits.
A lot of youngsters have been signed by Rafa. But doesn't Chelsea, Man Utd, and Arsenal do the same? With youngsters, you can never judge whether a 15- or 16-year old can make it, you take a risk and use their then-current potential to judge. All these can change with injuries and bad luck. But there are still the likes of Krisztian Nemeth, Dani Pacheco, Lauri Dalle Valle, Damien Plessis and Gerardo Bruna that can make it if they stay injury-less and has a bit of luck. Just look at Emiliano Insua, he was bought as a reserve team player for a small fee, and just look how good he is now, even at his young age. Most of Rafa's youngsters that have been sold was sold for a profit and they have been regulars at their respective teams now, albeit lower down in the divisions. Even David Ngog has looked decent, having a very very good scoring rate per games played.
Then now look at Rafa's success stories. Fernando Torres, Xabi Alonso, Javier Mascherano and Jose Reina. Formed much of the backbone last year, but sadly Alonso left. But what could Rafa do? The owners needed cash, so he had to sell. But look at Torres and his goals, Mascherano and his consistent performances, and wow.. Jose Reina, just magnificent.
Ok, the good players like Daniel Agger, Martin Skrtel, Albert Riera, Dirk Kuyt, Yossi Benayoun, Luis Garcia and Fabio Aurelio. They have all been decent players, and only Kuyt is a double figure million pound signing. Lucas is just starting out, so he needs time.
It's unfair to keep judging Rafa on his signings. He has his fair share of poor ones, but he still does sell them off for a profit, helping Liverpool financially. And those that has been a success are not mentioned often. Even the good players, on their off day, are heavily criticized as poor signings. But just look at the work rate of Kuyt, the creativity of Benayoun, the steel Skrtel brings, and the ball-playing style Agger has. All magnificent.
Now looking at the likes of Philipp Degen, Andriy Voronin and Sotiris Kyrgiakos. What do they have in common besides being absolutely rubbish? They cost less than a million, with the former two FREE transfers. What can you expect from free transfers? Nothing much, they are just there to fill up the numbers and hopefully make an impact.
You can't have a team of superstars, the only problem is Rafa's bench. But what can he do? He had to sell only, and how could he push on from last season if the twenty million pounds he was promised on top of the sales of stars like Alonso for another thirty million pounds was not delivered by the stupid American 'Yankee' owners?
Sir Alex Ferguson has also flopped with the likes of thirty million pound signing Juan Veron, David Bellion, Eric Djemba-Djemba and Kleberson a few years ago. Jose Mourinho also had his fair share of flops. Only when you sign twenty million pound valued players like Michael Essien, Ruud van Nistelrooy, Didier Drogba then you can have results.
Rafa doesn't have that financial muscles. So he has no choice but to look to seven to ten million pound players. And they don't always work out.
So its not really Rafa's fault. Yank those Americans out!
Bye.
my thoughts at 10:53 pm