So although I have given away the ending. Part two of the blame game continues here.
The original blame game article can be found HERE
Part one of the blame game decisions (the owners) can be found HERE
This post is so much more difficult for me and maybe a bit out of my comfort zone. With the owners I conducted research on balance sheets, P&L's and the financial backers. Facts and data were easy to come by. I do this kind of thing for a living and am on the third year of my masters degree studying pretty much the same things. Business and the realities of business decision in the post credit crunch era come easy to me.
I looked for Rafa's balance sheet and his P&L but alas nothing. So I'll start with my thoughts before these postings. Rafa in my opinion is one of the best managers in Europe, or indeed the world. It amazes me that even though Real Madrid are reportedly lining up their third/fourth attempt to lure him away from Anfield and taking his impressive record to date in Spain and with Liverpool there are some who think his time should be up.
Now I have been accused of suggesting that he should be beyond reproach and not held accountable for our current run. This is not my opinion. In football, as in business, you work your way to the top. In most cases it's not about money or material things but a desire to succeed and some part of you (as mad as it sounds) wants the pressure. That is certainly, at this moment in time, what he has... pressure. He is the man in charge of our football club on the pitch and for a multitude of reasons the team is not delivering on a consistent basis. Having visited forums aplenty, depressing me with every mouse click, there appear to be common complaints about Rafa:
The team are not playing to their potential and we're losing
Well the team is injury riddled and other players have hit bad form at exactly the wrong time. We have a team which can beat any other team in the world - when all players are playing to their full capabilities. But then look at what I consider our starting XI and mark off where injuries or bad form have occured.
Reina - Good form and no injuries
Johnson - Injured
Carragher - Poor form at start of season
Agger - Injured
Aurelio - Injured
Kuyt - Fair form and no injuries
Mascherano - Poor form at start of season
Aquilani - Injured
Riera - Injured
Gerrard - Injured
Torres - Injured
Only two players out of eleven have been able to compete fully all season so far (and we're only 12 games in). Let's be honest if United turned up at Anfield without Rooney and Ferdinand, or, Chelsea without Lampard and Drogba we'd be rubbing our hands and banking the three points in our mind. What is more devastating is that the blame for our key injuries don't lie anywhere near Anfield. International injuries, long term problems and a freak accident at home accounting for most!
The only blame that lies at Rafa's door is Aquilani. Now he may turn into an Anfield legend and everyone will forget about these early days. At the moment though a fit creative midfielder may have made the difference to our early season run. This, he has to accept responsibility for. That said everyone was probably relatively comfortable when he first arrived. No one expected the injuries to hit us like they have.
He has blundered his way through the transfer market
Sorry! He has what? Ok, let me be honest about this. I too at one point questioned his transfer dealings. The problem being that you tend to focus in on the 'bad buys' without giving full consideration to the whole picture.
In the big buys section Rafa has performed exceptionally well. Players like Torres, Mascherano, Alonso, Kuyt and Johnson have all been successful while a brief view of Aquilani looks promising. We don't have the cash reserves to always buy big so Rafa has had to delve into the bargain basement to mid-range quite often. Here is where you end up with more of a mixed bag but there have been impressive signings such as Reina, Agger, Skrtel, Benayoun, Crouch, Luis Garcia and Riera. Other signings in this range have not really worked out, but all have provided varying degrees of contribution. Players like Morientes, Bellamy, Pennant and Gonzales seemed to struggle for one reason or another. The freebies to date haven't really worked out (apart from Aurelio), but they were free. From a business perspective players have generally been moved on for a profit under Benitez.
However... the clangers! Ryan Babel was not only courted by Liverpool Football Club, indeed I'm sure we had to fight to sign him. The guy quite clearly has the raw materials and it scares me to death that he will be an instant success elsewhere. On his day he is a formidable player, it's just that in a red shirt those days are few and far between, so far. To date though this signing has been a failure when you consider who could have been bought with the money, hindsight!
Lucas Leiva is possibly a warning shot about the dangers of letting Babel go. At the end of last season Lucas was considered by some as inconsistent and needing to be pushed through the door. During our injury spell this season though I believe he has been a silver lining. Against United, in my opinion, he was MOTM and he has put in other good performances since. He's not first team but he is a good squad player with potential for the future. That said we can't wait for Babel to shine forever.
Robbie Keane, well I'm still a bit bamboozled by it all to be honest. Did he not fit the system? Were there personality problems? God knows, but he was sold back at break-even subject to contractual conditions. There was obviously some underlying problem, although boy could we have done with him this season.
Significantly more success than failure though, with a squad which needed overhauling from day one. All of this achieved with an c.£80m net spend. When you consider the whole picture it would, in my opinion, be unfair to criticise Rafa's transfer dealings, unless you're looking for perfection but I'm not sure who has a perfect transfer record.
Mr. Motivator?
This, I believe, is one of Rafa's weaknesses. We all have them and we're, none of us, perfect. I actually suspect that as a manager he is quite introvert, very much like yours truly. There would appear to be a weight of evidence (player comments etc.) which would substantiate this.
Now let me go back to my business roots and out of football for a minute. Remember that while football is not the same as business in many ways, core management theories remain the same throughout all organisations (football clubs included).
With annual revenues of c.£60bn and an operating income of c.£3bn Tesco is the modern day story of success. Having successfully secured the majority of the UK market it is now extending its global reach. The man at the top? Unfortunately an Evertonian but Sir Terry Leahy has a self confessed introverted management style. Despite this he was instrumental in Tesco's UK dominance and it's ongoing globalisation plan. How? Well part of being a successful man at the top is in creating a team around you which compensates for your own weaknesses.
Back in LFC world I do not believe the return of Sammy Lee following the departure of Pako Ayestaran is coincidence. I also don't believe Rafa is in denial about his weaknesses. His ego not being as big as portrayed in the media. He is doing what any good Manager would do by building a management team with different skills and strengths as one complete unit around him.
He doesn't bring through players like Arsene Wenger
We are probably, in my opinion, about 40% of the way through a strategic plan to bring long term success to the club. It is true that success in bringing through players has been limited in recent years. However, it is only very recently that Rafa has had control over the youth set up. Since he's had control he has appointed new key men at the helm of the youth/academy set up and updated how things are done to be more in line with continental thinking.
It is simply unfair to even try and judge Rafa at this juncture in relation to bringing through players. He has not had chance to bed in his new ideas and we will need to come back to this one in the future.
What is it with crazy tactics and substitutions?
On this one I'm 50/50. There is no denying that Rafa has made some genius critical decisions which have turned games around. But then at the same time there are substitutions or players played out of position which leave me bamboozled.
However, we always have to accept that Rafa and his team have much more information pitch side than we ever have. We don't usually know if a player has a niggling injury or has been under the weather or even just looks tired. Also, most of the decision have little affect, some have a positive one while others (in the minority I suspect) have a negative outcome. Which ones do we generally remember most?
Dirk Kuyt should be dropped and others given a chance
I have seen people suggesting that Babel should be given a run in Kuyt's place. Now Dirk Kuyt to me is not scintillating and, in my opinion, has a lack of pace to be a fully effective out and out winger. But, and it's a big but... he is consistent and provides more defensive cover for Johnson allowing for him to be more effective. As a partnership on the right I believe it has the correct balance.
He also features regularly in the top 10 of the Actim index both generally and in an attacking sense. I'm not sure what people want, other than maybe a scapegoat?
Some have suggested moving Johnson up to right midfield with Kelly coming in at right back. Now is not the time to be trying things out. Especially at a time when we need stability and consistency. I do not believe he should be dropped; but he should not be beyond dropping. I really don't see a better alternative within our squad at the moment.
Didn't even mention his work-rate!
Summary
Rafa Benitez is not beyond reproach and should we continue to lose without good reason (of which there are plenty at the moment) then, and only then, should he be asked to step down. Those calling for his head now are, in my opinion, looking only at the short term situation rather than the long term plan. A plan which I believe at the end of this 5 year contract will have delivered dividends.
Expectations have played a key role. After last season we came into this expecting to be in contention from the start to end of the season. There are lots of reasons why it hasn't panned out that way and the fans feel let down. The results this season have been disappointing to date and we now have to painfully re-assess our expectations. No one likes lowering them, but this is a dip and not, in my opinion the end. I am confident that Rafael Benitez is the right man to take us to the end game... we just need some patience.
Longer term he needs time for the academy set up to be overhauled so we can judge him on bringing through players and shorter term he needs a fully fit team to be out there so we can start winning again. We have a team which can compete for the title, I don't believe we have enough quality throughout the squad and therefore injuries tend to hit us harder. There is no getting away from the factual information available about our injury crisis.
I will be interested to re-assess this blog entry at the end of the season!
Note: I may edit this post after. I'm in a rush (Sarah is nagging me) and I wanted to get this post out before our game today. Come on LFC..... YNWA!
