Benitez, loser!!! He turned Inter Champ to Inter Chump! Hahahahahaha. His only win in Liverpool was because of Milan crumble and luck! Liverpool suffered because of him. I hate Inter but not bad enough to see Inter crumble like this. I don't want to see Inter become the second victim of his stupidity. This year will be Milan year.
So Liverpool just received a bye to the final that year? Odd format that was. Liverpool is just tearing it up this season without him, huh? Inter always suck in the group-stage. Your post is way premature.
He did get to TWO Champions league finals in 3 years. And was 1 point from winning the league 2 years ago. I prefer how Inter play now to Mourinho. Inter pass the ball far better then I ever imagined they could now, and create many chances. They almost look like Barcelona or Arsenal sometimes. Inter were boring with Mourinho. If this was a Spanish team, the fans would be happier with Inters style now. Madrid fans will NOT be happy if Mourinho wins playing like Inter did. At least not in the second year.
The All-Priests Five-a-Side Over-75's Indoor Challenge Football Match is the only thing AC have a chance of winning
Yeah really. A couple of wins against lowly Serie A teams and all-of-a-sudden AC Milan are awesome again? I'm looking forward to Inter Milan destroying them again in a couple of weeks.
Yes, because Liverpool ONLY won that year because of Milan's choke. Rafa wasn't even the reason we got there. The guy who won the Champions League all by himself...well here's one of the many ways how he did it. [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YSwilt4kfFM"]YouTube - Steven Gerrard vs Olympiakos[/ame]
it's true, Milan choked, I am not proud of it, but it's more of Milan choking than Benitez magic. What else have Benitez won beside the CL? A loser is a loser. Tell me, during the reign of Benitez in Liverpool, how many has he won vs the same period in Milan? In a 2nd final rematch, Milan made sure that they won't choke and Milan proved it!! Oh, Gerrard is truly a gifted player, and so does Torres. Nothing against Liverpool, I love them!
The arguments of haters are so easy to pick apart. Benitez proved himself time and time again in Europe. It wasn't just the fluke in Istanbul that he clings to. He had to get them to the final in the first place. Some people refer to that Liverpool team as the weakest ever to win the CL, and yet they returned to the final 2 years later under Rafa proving 2005 was not a once-in-a-lifetime momentum wave that Rafa rode. Then they pissed all over the likes of Inter Milan, Arsenal and Real Madrid in 2008 and 2009. Throw all that onto his accomplishments at Valencia and it proves without a shadow of a doubt that you haven't got the slightest clue what you're talking about.
Well, when Benitez quitted, I am not the only one who said this. If Benitez indeed is a good coach, how can't he emulate Mourinho result with practically the same squad (minus Balotelli, whom Mourinho don't even play him that much)? Yes, Milan has improved, so does Juve, but Milan derby has not played yet. Last year, Inter tore Serie A apart, leading from the first game to finish. Never goes second. It shows that Benitez doesn't know how to manage players, as evident from the article below. Good thing Moratti has common sense, won't just approve any player purchase Article from The Sun LIVERPOOL'S flops have been savaged by a blistering blast from one of the Kop's former coaches. Frenchman Jacques Crevoisier, who spent two years at Anfield under Gerard Houllier, slammed the reign of Rafa Benitez - insisting the Spaniard's signings and policies have brought the club to its knees. If that was not enough, Crevoisier also branded former owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett "a***holes" who treated Liverpool as their own private bank. The educated 62-year-old, a qualified psychologist, now assists Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger with his squad. He has previously worked with Tottenham. In an interview with French football magazine So Foot, Crevoisier said: "Liverpool's current failure is linked to three people - Benitez, Hicks and Gillett. "Benitez is an excellent coach but he recruited over 60 players during his time in charge. And, apart from Fernando Torres, Javier Mascherano and Xabi Alonso, his signings across five years were pitiful. "Benitez brought in a staggering amount of players and at some cost. He is a very good tactician but a very bad recruiter. "His communications were weak and his links with the players did not work. When the team lost it would be the players' fault and, when they won, it would be thanks to him. "People who were at the club at the same time as him told me he was a megalomaniac, with people having to pledge allegiance to his way of doing things. "The three players I've mentioned don't require an army of scouts to tell you they are very good, while all the rest were average. "Sotirios Kyrgiakos, a central defender for Liverpool? That does my head in. "Lucas has been trying to make a name for himself for four years but we know he won't succeed. He is just not good enough, a very average player. "There are too many such players at Liverpool. Ditto for Joe Cole - apart from a bit of technique, he has never been consistent. "Let's not forget he spent most of his time on the bench at Chelsea and is on an enormous salary. POOR COMMUNICATIONS ... former Kop boss Rafa Benitez"It's a similar story for Christian Poulsen. I'm not a fan of his at all. Mascherano has more talent than Poulsen in one of his toes. "Milan Jovanovic is a joke - there should be no place for him at Liverpool - while Philipp Degen and Maxi Rodriguez are rubbish. "Great players don't come to Liverpool these days. Top players don't just join clubs for money, they also join to win trophies. And while some clubs offer both, Liverpool don't any longer. "Steven Gerrard has carried the team for a long time but can't keep on going flat-out all the time. "He and Torres must not be condemned as they have masked the inadequacies of their team-mates with extraordinary displays that they cannot reproduce in the long-term. "Peter Crouch wanted to leave the club because he wanted to play matches. Benitez never changed his system irrespective of the players he had at his disposal. "Crouch had to wait for Torres to break a leg before he got a game and Benitez virtually never picked them in the same team, so Crouch left to get playing time elsewhere." And, ahead of Chelsea's visit to Anfield tomorrow, Crevoisier reckons new Reds boss Roy Hodgson is now paying the price for all of Benitez's errors. He added: "Benitez got rid of Houllier's legacy, then installed Spaniards at all levels of the club and dismissed people who had been there for decades - including some who had played a part in the club's history. "He practised a scorched earth policy towards his predecessors. "Now, if you look at Benitez's legacy, you'll say his scouts were no good. Has he left the club in good health? No. Has he prepared for the future? No. "Benitez is a charmer. He comes on TV with a nice smile but I'm not fooled. "People at Liverpool told me 'Rafa is a lucky b*****d, he got his personal glory from a single half in Istanbul'. Advertisement "Yes, he's a good tactician. When Houllier and I were at Liverpool, we lost twice to his Valencia team. "I also don't forget that he led the team to the Champions League final but people are very disappointed with his way of working. "I'm very sad to see such a great club struggling in the table but I don't think they will go down. They will finish around 10th. "As for Roy Hodgson, I have a lot of respect for him. He knew he was arriving during a transitional period for Liverpool. "He worked miracles at Fulham and will need time at Liverpool - who are a legendary club - but he is the manager they need. "We don't know what the club's new owners will bring but at least they have their own money. "That is unlike Hicks and Gillett, those a***holes who came to make money off the back of football. "Liverpool has human and historic dimensions and you can't consider it like a traditional business. "The former chairman David Moores did not sell the club for financial reasons - and he hoped that the buyers would build a new stadium and invest in strengthening the team. "I met him after the sale to Hicks and Gillett and he was disgusted. He told me, 'They bought the club on borrowed money, they came to make money by putting the club in danger and by using Liverpool's money to finance their own borrowing'. "They almost brought the club down and I'm very happy to see that the courts in London authorised it to be sold. "But, if I was asked to rejoin Liverpool's coaching staff, I would refuse because I want to be able to sleep peacefully at night. "There is no miracle solution at Liverpool and the task is immense. "It involves reorganising the club, restructuring the management team and choosing people of quality and class in key positions. "The new owners must bring back stability and sufficient financial backing. "A new stadium is a priority too and, above all, patience is required."
Moggi said the same thing. Benitez does live on the only 3-3 CL win vs Milan http://www.goal.com/en/news/10/ital...nger-wanted-to-quit-arsenal-inter-should-have
That's not true. Inter struggled in Serie "A" last season and Roma overtook them with about 5 games to go in the season. Inter regained the lead and won but it's not like they blew the league away. They needed outside help to win the league (by 2 points). Plus Inter stunk-out the CL during Mou's first season at Inter. So basically Benitez is emulating Mourinho "success" back in 2008/9. You've lost this argument for now, so best to wait a few more months before bumping this thread again.
Within 1 point? You might want to go and check that. Sure, they challenged, but if you look at their season's result, the biggest change was that they didn't drop 6 pts to United. They lost it on the same thing as ever - dropping points in games against teams of lesser repute. Chelsea also tanked under Scolari that year. I have a theory about Liverpool under Benitez - the first XI were strong, but Rafa isn't a great motivator. When it came to things like FA Cup matches, the Champions League or League games against the bigger names,(basically the clear "do or die" matches) Liverpool were always up for it and played to a higher level. When it came to run-of-the-mill league games against teams like Middlesbrough or Stoke, they tended to play with less fire and let points slip. Outside the more bankable big-money signings, his transfer record was also very poor. It's also worth pointing out that while reaching the Champions League finals were an achievement, both times it happened in seasons where Liverpool were well off the pace in the league. While United and Chelsea were juggling their squads to compete on multiple fronts, Liverpool had the luxury of focussing on Europe.
I agree he sucks in the transfer market but his coaching ability cannot really be questioned. Especially once you factor-in his time at Valencia (i.e. its a lot more than one night in Istanbul). The problem is rating managers is highly subjective and a lot of people just base their opinion on what comes through the media. Combining that with the following facts: a) journalism is so low on quality these days b) the media has a boner the size of the CN tower for Jose Mourinho c) Benitez took-over Jose's club d) It's basically impossible for a club to win back-to-back trebles (or even back-to-back Champions Leagues) means that Rafa will be deemed as complete crap no matter what happens this season with Inter Milan by anyone who can't think for themselves.
He's certainly tactically astute. You can't take his European or Spanish record away from him. I personally do rate Mourinho though. It's nothing to do with media hype. Everywhere he's gone, he has been successful. He's handled big names, prima-donnas and consistently got the best out of teams results-wise. Granted, it was a good point made above about whether Real Madrid fans will tolerate his pragmatic approach. Having said that, I think that says more about Real Madrid fans than Mourinho.
And you should rate Mourinho. My point was that people overrate him because they just listen to extremely biased opinions coming from journalists who have Jose's balls in their mouth 24/7, while Rafa doesn't possess the same flair when talking to the media.
I don't think so.. After Ancelotti he and Mourinho are most coaches who won more Europeans trophies last 10 years
Inter, 9 points off pace of Milan. LOL. Told you so, Benitez is a LOSER!!!! Same squad and can't compete. Lost againts Spurs!! HAHAHAHAHA
Yeah, because it's definitely a complete joke to lose AWAY to a team that features Rafa Van Der Vaart, Gareth Bale, Roman Pavlyuchenko, Peter Crouch, Aaron Lennon, William Gallas, Wilson Palacios, Luka Modric, etc. Like what are you even trying to prove anymore? No one here even likes Inter, and we realize they're struggling...big deal
Lets wait until the end of the season, I don't think the Serie A is handed to which team finishes first in November
Oops! Yeah got that one wrong. Oh well, Inter cruised into the KO phase of the Champions League this week.
Cruised? Perhaps. Inter edged 1-0 the mighty Twente and is still in second place in the group. They qualified easily, but hardly playing anything even close to convincingly. Is it so hard to recognize that Inter have been struggling under Benitez?
They're obviously struggling, I just don't agree with the idea that it has to do with Rafa being incompetent. Look at the 11 players that started against Milan, for instance. They are riddled with injuries. And you might want to look at how Inter did in recent CL group-phases. This is cruising by their standard, and doing so in the toughest group by far.