Rafa Benitez's time is over

Today I woke up to see the sunshine through my window and the promise of Rafa Benitez’s head finally falling in the basket at the bottom of the management guillotine. The afternoon rolled on and finally here we are - Benitez is gone from our wonderful Premier League.

Liverpool’s season began poorly; in just the opening 11 games they lost more games than they did in the whole of last season. This is more alarming when you consider that last season they weren’t even real contenders for the title, despite finishing second.

Rafa Benitez has been at the helm for a long time now and I’ll be honest, I’m not a fan of him. He has failed to bring real quality to Anfield through the years but thanks to winning the Champions League in Istanbul in 2005 he seems untouchable in his position. This was a great achievement but you can’t help but feel Steven Gerrard was the real reason for the 2005 victory.

Gerrard, much as he does now, runs that team and regularly pulls them out of the fire in the last minute. The only other world class player at Liverpool is arguably Fernando Torres, and certainly in my eyes, the best striker in the league. This wasn’t a great find from Benitez though, he cost £20 million and was well established as a world class player. There was a gamble as to whether he could adapt, but he has come on strong since his arrival. However, when these two don’t play, Liverpool lack both ideas and the ability to score.

Liverpool rarely keep a clean sheet anyway, but with Torres and Gerrard it usually becomes a case of "we can score more than you". If you look at the rest of the squad it really does lack anything with any class. Benayoun had a great season and Kuyt grafts but he can’t finish. Carragher this season looks past his best and the big money buys of Babel and Riera just don’t look up to the quality they so desperately need on the wing.

Rafa has had the money to spend, even this summer where he harped on about a lack of transfer funds he still managed to spend a massive £18 million on Glen Johnson and £20 million on Aquilani from Roma. Glen Johnson’s price tag was way over the top really, even with English players' prices being the way they are. Benitez showed his lack of quality last year when Alex Ferguson drew him into mind games, causing Benitez to fly into several media rants about United and Ferguson.

Too many times Benitez takes off Gerrard or Torres in games, thinking that someone else out there can produce a piece of magic. His biggest mistake surely must have been the decision this summer to sell Xabi Alonso and not replace him with Gareth Barry as he looked so certain to. Barry would have worked well in the middle for Liverpool, providing those crucial through balls while holding the ball up for Gerrard and Torres to fly forward. Benitez however trusted the gap to Lucas, who looks utterly lost in the Premiership. Lucas’ balls forward are poor, and him and Mascherano generally look untidy and fail to stop goals or thread the ball to the forward players. This formation of Benitez’s where he needs two defensive midfielders in front of his defence is strange considering the size of Liverpool; they really shouldn’t have to have that much protection in front of their own goal, especially when it comes to playing the likes of Fulham.

Overall it's Benitez ability to get the best out of the players in Europe that has kept him in the job, despite having squandered huge sums on some really average players. Liverpool will never be a challenger for the title with Benitez in charge, but despite this he still seems to have the halo of Istanbul over his head. It’s now time for a change. Liverpool have not moved forward under his management and have been overtaken this season by the likes of Arsenal, Tottenham, Manchester City and to my delight, Aston Villa, who have all spent money well. In short, Mr Benitez, your time was over a long time ago.

Add Comment

You must log in to submit a comment.