All this about Rafa needing to completely re-build after Houllier doesnt stand for me.
You're all talking as if under Houllier Liverpool were a mid table side, correct me if I'm wrong but ONE finish outside the top 4 in his 5 full seasons.
Yes we were hanging on to 4th, because 5th,6th, 7th were shitter. What matters is the quality of the squad, look at every player of the Houllier era that has been cleared and where he has gone. And do the same fucking thing with the present squad, and where these players will go if every player is cleared.
I'll agree that shooting out stuff like "Rafas spent 250 million" doesn't tell the whole story at all, but he's not completely innocent. He's made a lot of errors in the transfer market and it doesnt seem he ever wants to accept that.
The constant bleating on about "other" clubs is just petty, you dont see Wenger do it and he arguably gets less to spend than Rafa.
He hasnt made a lot of errors, he has made very few errors, but ofcourse made some. Wenger has spent a tad bit less, look at the current Arsenal squad, Arshavin, Van Persie, Nasri, Rosicky, Walcott, Eduardo, Vermaleen, Sagna, Gallas, form the core of the team and are all big monet buys. Players like Fabregas, Song, Clichy Diaby are there own, and therefore Wenger has special respect from everyone. But despite that, Arsenal have won NOTHING in the last 5 years, we have finished ahead of them every year except one, and Rafa in the last 5 years has been far more successful than Wenger. Squad shows the truth.
It was Rafa's choice to completely change the squad, he continues to slowly but surely do it as the years progress.
I dont think he has much patience with players either, how many players he bought and then sold within two years (for whatever reasons)?
Because they were GASH. Look up who the players were, where they are and what have they done. And look at the players now. There is a massive difference in quality, and it tells in Europe where Liverpool were the best team in the world last year according to UEFA ratings.
The reason is simple too, you cant change all at once coz you dont have money. We missed out on Villa for a couple of million, on Alves for a couple of million, on Vidic for a couple of million. We had to buy likes of Bellamy, then sell him for a profit and buy Crouch. Then sell him to buy Torres. That is the reason. A manc can never see it coz they have a built squad, and you can splash 20 million on 1 player. We cant. We have just started to do that now, because our sales are now very high quality and give us that ability.
Liverpool need to limit their number of signings a season as well, its too much, every year its 10 in 10 out.
This NEVER happens at United and Chelsea and Arsenal tend to not have as many changes either.
Because Arsenal and United have had squads for ages. They have to replace one or two ageing players. Thats it. Their squads have been built for ages. Chelsea spent billions in one year to buy all the quality players, that time the outlay was more than 10. Now all they need is tweaking, eg add a winger maybe.
Liverpool on the other hand, have to sell players for small profits and buy slightly better ones. We have always wanted to buy Silva, but we didnt have the money. Maybe once we sell Babel and Dossena, we can raise money to buy him.
Another flaw in his transfer policy is with younger players, are they just not good enough or are they not getting the chance?
Barragan, Roque, Paletta, Ajdarevic, Leto to name a few they just came and went.
Look up the spending on youth policy. It has been the lowest among all the teams. He did a complete overhaul. And we have players coming in now. Insua is one. Eccelston played the other day. Pacheco and Nemeth are the most promising, Pacheco is away for some national team. Nemeth is on loan.
