Rafael Benitez: Life must go on for Liverpool

It was nothing short of a total disaster and humiliation for Liverpool football club as in front of their home crowd, they lost to Reading by 1-2. As a result, Liverpool is now out of FA Cup this season. The fans are very unhappy and naturally there is a lot of pressure on Rafael Benitez to quit. They are already out of every major competition and even there is no hope of having anything in premier league. But very few people are optimistic now of their qualifying for Champions League next season.

Rafael Benitez has called on all the players to forget the past and try for the next match.

"Everybody has been talking about me but I'll keep working hard with my team.

From the beginning of the season we have been a little bit frustrated but we have to carry on. When you are in the race you need to keep going.

We are not in the competition any more. If the critics are fair, then it's OK but it's been the same for three months," said Rafael Benitez to the official website of Liverpool Club. 

Arsene Wenger Backs Liverpool Manager Rafael Benitez

Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez has been under huge pressure as his side has got off to a poor start to the premier league this season. The Reds have already lost 4 games and are currently in the 9^th position of the league standing. Naturally, many people are criticizing Benitez for Liverpool’s poor form and it seems that the Spaniard could even lose the job too.

However, Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has recently said that his Liverpool counterpart deserves some respect for what he achieved with Liverpool, who won the Champions League in 2005 and then reached the final two years later. Wenger believes that all the criticisms hurled at Benitez have been excessive. He has also added that big club managers always face this kind of criticism whenever their sides go through a bad patch.

Related article:

ESPN Soccernet

Rafael Benitez Finds Positives in Chelsea Defeat

Liverpool suffered the third defeat of the season in premier league on Sunday at the hands of leader Chelsea. With third defeats in 8 games, Liverpool is not left in the sixth place of the league standing and it is pretty much clear that they are gradually going far from the title race.

Despite the defeat, manager Rafael Benitez seems to be positive and confident going into the international break. He believes that his players did not play bad against Chelsea and he is happy that Liverpool controlled the match in the lat 20 minutes. Moreover, he has also backed his defense line up, despite the consistent poor show by the back line. Benitez thinks that his defenders showed improvement in the game. Specially, he is impressed with the performance of Skrtel and Carragher.

Rafael Benitez has also said that it was not an easy affair with Chelsea. Though he has admitted that his players made a mistake that resulted into the second goal, the Spaniard is still confident that Liverpool would bounce back in the upcoming matches.

Well, there is no doubt, Liverpool has been underperformed so far this season and I do not see any mistake in Benitez’s comment on the Red’s recent performance because he is the manager and he always needs to support his players and remain optimistic.

Related article:

Goal.com

Rafael Benitez Staying or Leaving Liverpool?

(This entry was originally posted on Sunday, February 22nd, 2009)

The current friction between Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez and Liverpool club chief executive Rick Parry over the contract extension of Benitez has been consistently getting media attention over the past few weeks. The Spaniard has already made it clear that he would not put pen on paper unless Liverpool owners George Gillett and Tom Hicks and chief executive Rick Parry accept his demands. Benitez often makes the insight of the negotiations public and there are many who blame Benitez for using media to get the best out of negotiations.

Well, I do not know why Benitez so often appears in front of media with his contract problem, but one thing is for sure that a huge number of Liverpool fans are behind him and they do not want to see Benitez depart Anfield. I think, Benitez is an excellent coach who is guiding the team successfully. You can not just blame him for Liverpool not getting a premier league title for such a long time. At this moment, Liverpool is in the second place in league table with 5 points adrift of leader Manchester United. Now, I would like to request you to look at the squads of Liverpool and Manchester United and ask yourself if you find the justification of United’s 5-point lead at the top. I do believe you will find the justification, having seen the depth of the two squads.

Please, do not think that I am looking down upon the stars like Steven Gerrard or Fernando Torres, rather I would like to say that Gerrard as a player and a captain goes through more pressure than any individual player at Manchester United. What I want to indicate is the depth of the squad of Liverpool. Liverpool needs to increase the depth of the squad to some extent, if they want to win the league consistently.

However, one thing I do not like about Rafael Benitez is his appearance before English media so often with the insight talks over his contract. I think, this could be a distraction for Liverpool in their pursuit to win their first league title since 1990. I believe that a club should hand the full control of the squad to the manager and so should go to Benitez too when it comes to Liverpool. However, I think, Benitez should not talk about the insight negotiations of his contract in front of media because it could only cost Liverpool the premier league title as the players might feel the uncertainty over the future of the club manager. So, I think, he should stop talking about his contract in front of media and should give more focus on Liverpool’s title pursuit, because media can not do what a premier league title can do for him when it comes to getting all of his demands accepted by the club.

Rafael Benitez Staying or Leaving Liverpool?

The current friction between Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez and Liverpool club chief executive Rick Parry over the contract extension of Benitez has been consistently getting media attention over the past few weeks. The Spaniard has already made it clear that he would not put pen on paper unless Liverpool owners George Gillett and Tom Hicks and chief executive Rick Parry accept his demands. Benitez often makes the insight of the negotiations public and there are many who blame Benitez for using media to get the best out of negotiations.

Well, I do not know why Benitez so often appears in front of media with his contract problem, but one thing is for sure that a huge number of Liverpool fans are behind him and they do not want to see Benitez depart Anfield. I think, Benitez is an excellent coach who is guiding the team successfully. You can not just blame him for Liverpool not getting a premier league title for such a long time. At this moment, Liverpool is in the second place in league table with 5 points adrift of leader Manchester United. Now, I would like to request you to look at the squads of Liverpool and Manchester United and ask yourself if you find the justification of United’s 5-point lead at the top. I do believe you will find the justification, having seen the depth of the two squads.

Please, do not think that I am looking down upon the stars like Steven Gerrard or Fernando Torres, rather I would like to say that Gerrard as a player and a captain goes through more pressure than any individual player at Manchester United. What I want to indicate is the depth of the squad of Liverpool. Liverpool needs to increase the depth of the squad to some extent, if they want to win the league consistently.

However, one thing I do not like about Rafael Benitez is his appearance before English media so often with the insight talks over his contract. I think, this could be a distraction for Liverpool in their pursuit to win their first league title since 1990. I believe that a club should hand the full control of the squad to the manager and so should go to Benitez too when it comes to Liverpool. However, I think, Benitez should not talk about the insight negotiations of his contract in front of media because it could only cost Liverpool the premier league title as the players might feel the uncertainty over the future of the club manager. So, I think, he should stop talking about his contract in front of media and should give more focus on Liverpool’s title pursuit, because media can not do what a premier league title can do for him when it comes to getting all of his demands accepted by the club.

(This entry was originally published in this blog on February 2009 but then for technical problem, it got deleted. The entry is based on the context of that time and period.)

Fernando Torres to be Handed a New Contract with Increased Salary at Liverpool

This is the second season for Spanish striker Fernando Torres in English Premier League. He starred at Anfield in his debut season and the momentum still continues with Torres scoring for the Reds pretty regularly. Torres already has contract with Liverpool until 2013, but News of the World reported that he might be offered a new deal with a much-improved paycheck and under the new contract he would stay at Liverpool until 2014.

Fernando Torres, Spain’s Euro 2008 winning striker, is currently earning in the range of £70,000 which could well be improved by 20 % to £90,000 in the new contract. Liverpool is actually trying to ensure that Torres would not leave the club in the near future.

I am guessing another thing here, though I could be wrong. Giving an improved deal to Torres, Liverpool officials are perhaps trying to ensure that the Spaniard stays at the club, even if manager Rafael Benitez, who is now in conflict with Liverpool authority over his contract extension, leaves the club at the end of this season. Both Torres and Benitez hail from Madrid, Spain and Liverpool might fear that Benitez would tempt Torres to leave the club if Liverpool does not extend Benitez’s contract.

Related article:

Goal.com