Rafa Benitez's worst-ever XI

[n/a]

Benetiz hasnt brought through not one player.

this is along with the money spent is why i cant rate himfor a club like liverpool to produce little to none players is a disgracelook at arsenal man u and the talent thats been in there reserves/ youth over last 4 yearsthen look at liverpool

[MetaFives]

Insua's coming through?Swear you bought him a couple of years ago from Boca Juniors

[Doug]

Insua's coming through?Swear you bought him a couple of years ago from Boca Juniors

wut i was thinking

[Flojo]

Benetiz hasnt brought through not one player.

this is along with the money spent is why i cant rate himfor a club like liverpool to produce little to none players is a disgracelook at arsenal man u and the talent thats been in there reserves/ youth over last 4 yearsthen look at liverpool

How many players did Wenger bring through the youth system in his first 4 years at Arsenal?Ryan scratch Insua off cool. He was 17 when he arrived with no appearances at club level, but I'm sure if I was to say to you Wenger didn't bring Clichy, Senderos , Song or Bendtner through you'd have a problem with that.

[Kompressor]

Benetiz hasnt brought through not one player.

this is along with the money spent is why i cant rate himfor a club like liverpool to produce little to none players is a disgracelook at arsenal man u and the talent thats been in there reserves/ youth over last 4 yearsthen look at liverpool

How many players did Wenger bring through the youth system in his first 4 years at Arsenal?Ryan scratch Insua off cool. He was 17 when he arrived with no appearances at club level, but I'm sure if I was to say to you Wenger didn't bring Clichy, Senderos , Song or Bendtner through you'd have a problem with that.

Very Valid points

[TF S4DK]

Benetiz hasnt brought through not one player.

this is along with the money spent is why i cant rate himfor a club like liverpool to produce little to none players is a disgracelook at arsenal man u and the talent thats been in there reserves/ youth over last 4 yearsthen look at liverpool

How many players did Wenger bring through the youth system in his first 4 years at Arsenal?Ryan scratch Insua off cool. He was 17 when he arrived with no appearances at club level, but I'm sure if I was to say to you Wenger didn't bring Clichy, Senderos , Song or Bendtner through you'd have a problem with that.

Based on the Insua criteria...Upson, Boa Morte and I could argue Anelka & Manninger and thats in his first 2 years. Plus dont forget Wenger played players that while he didnt give them their debuts, Wenger was the one that played them regularly.

[MetaFives]

Ashley ColeJermaine Pennant (alright we bought him)Both made their debuts under Wenger in 99.

[n/a]

Benetiz hasnt brought through not one player.

this is along with the money spent is why i cant rate himfor a club like liverpool to produce little to none players is a disgracelook at arsenal man u and the talent thats been in there reserves/ youth over last 4 yearsthen look at liverpool

How many players did Wenger bring through the youth system in his first 4 years at Arsenal?Ryan scratch Insua off cool. He was 17 when he arrived with no appearances at club level, but I'm sure if I was to say to you Wenger didn't bring Clichy, Senderos , Song or Bendtner through you'd have a problem with that.

how mmany players has wenger brought through?? aint even gonna list them we all know these days its not necessarily about nurturing a player from 13 its more about buyuing top talent at 16/17 nd gettin them in the 1st teamrafa has signed 76+ players in 4 years lol that is a record in itselfnd alot of them have been youngersnd what have u got to show for it

[Flojo]

Ashley ColeJermaine Pennant (alright we bought him)Both made their debuts under Wenger in 99.

So basically 1. Kelly made his debut in the CL in the other day and Spearing has also played a few games, both have come through the academy.

Benetiz hasnt brought through not one player.

this is along with the money spent is why i cant rate himfor a club like liverpool to produce little to none players is a disgracelook at arsenal man u and the talent thats been in there reserves/ youth over last 4 yearsthen look at liverpool

How many players did Wenger bring through the youth system in his first 4 years at Arsenal?Ryan scratch Insua off cool. He was 17 when he arrived with no appearances at club level, but I'm sure if I was to say to you Wenger didn't bring Clichy, Senderos , Song or Bendtner through you'd have a problem with that.

how mmany players has wenger brought through?? aint even gonna list them we all know these days its not necessarily about nurturing a player from 13 its more about buyuing top talent at 16/17 nd gettin them in the 1st teamrafa has signed 76+ players in 4 years lol that is a record in itselfnd alot of them have been youngersnd what have u got to show for it

As for the youth team, its common sense that it takes a few years for you to put your stamp on the club and youth system before you start producing quality players regularly. He sacked a lot of the youth team staff over the summer and brought in a whole new back room team. Wenger didn't even bring through many youth players in his first few seasons.Even still you're starting to see a few coming through like Insua, Kelly and Spearing.

&Theirs no denying that 76 players is a lot and in some cases I think he should have held on to players for longer but he has completely changed the squad and had to wheel and deal to do so. The only remaining members of the Houllier squad (which on the whole was a crock of sh*t) are Gerrard & Carragher.

[Roscoe]

lol still remember that prick lahi hyping up hammill from a couple of seasons ago.just checked now he's playing for barnsley

[The Infamous]

Hammill is sick thoughRafa shows no faith to our young players every liverpool fan knows this

[Doug]

smh at the gass in this thread

[TF S4DK]

13 baffling Beni blundersRAFA BENITEZ has made a career of hauling himself - and Liverpool - back from the brink.There have been epic moments in his Anfield reign when he pulled off masterstrokes that had the Kop believing they were in the presence of greatness.They stood in awe of Rafa the Legend.That faith and trust looked mis-placed in Lyon on Wednesday when Liverpool failed to clinch the win they so badly needed in the Champions League.But it is not all about that single failure.A closer glance at the facts exposes a few home truths which are painful to contemplate.The harsh reality suggests the Kop may have been idolising someone who does not quite merit legendary status. Someone more like Rafa the Myth, than Rafa the Legend.All his touches of genius have to be tempered by 13 BAFFLING DECISIONS which led to more head-scratching than a visit from the nit-nurse.We all know Spaniard Benitez has a notoriously stubborn streak.A single-minded approach from which there is rarely any swaying.But there are times when anyone has to listen to a voice of reason - and that brings us to one of Rafa's most calamitous blunders.When Paco Ayesteran was working alongside Benitez, he had someone whose opinion was not simply down to blind faith, but what he himself believed in.Ayesteran - a man who helped establish them as the Spanish Brian Clough and Peter Taylor - left Anfield a little over two years ago.The reason: A petty disagreement which could so easily have been rectified rather than be an irreparable rift.Many Reds believe the day Paco headed back to his homeland was the day the cracks began to appear.A lack of trophies since does little to shatter the suggestion.Then comes Rafa's bewildering treatment of key players.Like, for example, the handling of Peter Crouch and Robbie Keane.And Xabi Alonso, possibly more than anyone else.Crouch, should anyone forget, hit 22 Premier League goals in his time at Liverpool. In the Euro campaign of three years ago his seven goals did as much as anyone to book another Champions League final.His reward? A place on the bench for all but the final 12 minutes of a game when Liverpool desperately needed another outlet, a man to unsettle a Milan backline lapping up all thrown at them.Alongside Crouch on the bench was Craig Bellamy, a man terrorising defences again, now at Manchester City. Both have now gone but Crouch's sale must go down as a monumental error.Yet if Crouch felt hard done-by, that is nothing compared to the treatment fellow striker Keane received.A man who would have crawled over broken glass to play for his boyhood heroes, yet would have only used it to slash his wrists by the time he left.One glaring example of that came at Wigan, at the end of last January, when he sat on the bench as Liverpool toiled. Keane was thrown on only for the last six minutes after the Latics equalised.Too little, too late.And talking of hitmen left kicking their heels, even superstar Fernando Torres has not escaped.Like at Stoke, two weeks earlier, when he was thrown on only for 30 minutes of a deadlocked game.By then, Stoke's belief grew in equal measure to Liverpool's panic and two more points were eventually dropped.A game which, incidentally, came 24 hours after the memorable 'Raf rant' - another of his blunders.Even if you accept Rafa was right to question Manchester United boss Alex Ferguson's influence on the game, the timing could not have been worse - heaping immediate pressure on his men to get a win at Stoke.Had the Wigan and Stoke games ended in victories, the four extra points would have brought an end to a two-decade title drought.Then there's the second striker issue. Ryan Babel, David Ngog, Andriy Voronin. Men capable in flashes, yet nowhere near consistent enough.We saw all that is frustrating about Voronin in Wednesday night's draw in Lyon. OK, Babel scored a cracker that night, but how often have we been able to say that?Jamie Carragher and Steven Gerrard both went public in their desire to see Michael Owen brought back - for nothing - in the summer.Yet Benitez, 49, still harbours simmering anger at the way he believes Owen left Liverpool in the lurch when he joined Real Madrid.End of interest. Even though he is not the player he once was, does anyone genuinely believe he would not have given the Liverpool side a more potent alternative to those now available? And what of Rafa's suffocatingly cautious approach to the game?AdvertisementSo many defensive line-ups, substitutions, one-player-up-front moments make Rafa's mantra crystal clear: It's far more important not to lose a game, than it is to win it.Bringing Yossi Benayoun off when his team were level with Lyon only to lose the Champions League home tie, was met by boos from the fans.Yes, there have been plenty of success stories.Martin Skrtel, for one, was a man largely unknown on these shores, but a tough, rugged centre-back entirely at home in the Premier League.So why, at Middlesbrough last term, was he used as a right-back, spending the afternoon being run ragged as Liverpool crashed.Beyond all of these aberrations, there is one dark shadow that looms larger than any other at Anfield right now.Xabi Alonso.Selling Alonso, following his most impressive season at the club, was not in itself the crime, however.That came the minute the midfielder found himself as a pawn to try and tempt Gareth Barry to Merseyside.From then on, no counsellor could repair the relationship between the two Spaniards. That was not down to ill fortune, but pure and simple rank bad man-management by Benitez.Only this week Gerrard admitted he remains "devastated" by the loss of Alonso. And when your best player is saying that, then things really are bad, Rafa.Thirteen is unlucky for most. For Benitez, it may be the number that exposes the myth behind the legend.The 13 massive blunders1. PLAYING centre-half Martin Skrtel as right-back at Boro last term - he was run ragged.2. THE failure to keep Xabi Alonso, who finally quit for Real Madrid after a feud with Benitez.3. BENITEZ'S refusal to bring back goalscoring legend Michael Owen. He's now with despised rivals Manchester United.4. SELLING Peter Crouch to Pompey last year. The England hitman had a decent strike record - 54 goals in 132 appearances.5. SELECTING Andriy Voronin at Lyon on Wednesday. He was an embarrassment.6. THE failure to buy a proven second striker. Ryan Babel and Co aren't up to it.7. LIVERPOOL seem more worried about losing than winning - like last weekend's 3-1 defeat at Fulham.8. LOSING No 2 Paco Ayesteran after a petty row.9. BUYING Robbie Keane for £20m from Spurs, showing little faith before selling him back for an £8m loss.10. LEAVING strike star Torres on the bench for 60 minutes in the stalemate at Stoke last season.11. WHEN goals were needed in the 2007 Euro final he had Crouch and Craig Bellamy on the bench.12. THAT Fergie rant. Rafa was right to question the United boss' influence last season but the timing could not have been worse.13. TAKING off Yossi Benayoun in the home clash against Lyon. Even the loyal Kop booed.Read more: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sport...l#ixzz0W50iedEJ

[Captain Planet]

lolsun going in

[Mr Q]

Most of those points could easily be retorted, shoddy journalism to fill up column inches, no surprise when you see the paper that has printed it.

[HangTheDJ]

That 'article' is jokes.

[TF S4DK]

THE SUN ARE ON THIS TING. CANT STOP SENDING.

[n/a]

THE SUN>_BEEN ENDING LIVERPOOL SINCE THE 80'S

[Zachary Foxx]

Why sign one great player for 15 million when you can sign 8 utter sh*t ones for 2m each? That's been the Benitez policy for most of his tenure.

[Doom]

THE SUN ARE ON THIS TING. CANT STOP SENDING.

:lol: :lol:

[Guest R9]

His worst 11?

VoroninVoronin - Voronin - Voronin - VoroninVoronin - Voronin - Voronin - Voronin Voronin - Voronin

[HangTheDJ]

Why sign one great player for 15 million when you can sign 8 utter sh*t ones for 2m each? That's been the Benitez policy for most of his tenure.

C/SBut it was all Parry, otherwise they'd have Dani Alves, David Silva, Simao, David Villa and every above average player in Spain signed for half of their current market value.

[Mr Q]

Why sign one great player for 15 million when you can sign 8 utter sh*t ones for 2m each? That's been the Benitez policy for most of his tenure.

C/SBut it was all Parry, otherwise they'd have Dani Alves, David Silva, Simao, David Villa and every above average player in Spain signed for half of their current market value.

Spot on.

[n/a]

Why sign one great player for 15 million when you can sign 8 utter sh*t ones for 2m each? That's been the Benitez policy for most of his tenure.

C/SBut it was all Parry, otherwise they'd have Dani Alves, David Silva, Simao, David Villa and every above average player in Spain signed for half of their current market value.

Spot on.

+ aguero as well i think

[TF S4DK]

Well they coming for your manager JJ if they sack Rafa.