Rafael Benitez Is the Right Man For Liverpool

(Photo by Mark Thompson/Getty Images)

So, it’s summer again, and as I write this I have sunburn. The redness on my arms is a sure sign that it’s time to evaluate Liverpool’s season once again.

My team finished second, narrowly missing out on their first league success since 1990. They have the best striker in the world in the shape of Fernando Torres, and the undisputed best midfielder in the form of Steven Gerrard. Everyone has new contracts, including the manager, and the talk is of moving on again, to the next step.

Everything is going well.

And yet, despite all this, I still hear people, including a very small minority of Liverpool supporters, saying that Rafa isn’t the right man for the job.

I’m about to make a very bold claim, and some of you may doubt me on it. Some of you reading this will think I’m suffering with sunstroke, but bear with me and give the following statement a chance:

When Rafael Benitez took over at Anfield, the Liverpool squad he inherited was on a similar level to the Newcastle United team that has just been relegated from the Premier League.

Bold, I know, and even I thought I was thinking silly before I looked again. But I think it holds up.

The good quality team of 2001, when Liverpool won their famous treble (technically a quintuple, as they competed in the Charity Shield and European Super Cup as a result of their actions, and won them both), had been mostly broken up by the 2004/2005 season.

Heroes like Gary McAllister, Sander Westerveld, Jari Litmanen, Nick Barmby, Robbie Fowler, Markus Babbel and Patrick Berger were all long gone, and the only major squad members brought it to replace them had been John Arne Riise, Steve Finnan, Harry Kewell and Jerzy Dudek.

Just before Gerard Houllier left Liverpool, he had agreed to sell Emile Heskey to Birmingham City, while he'd spend a large amount of money on what would turn out to be the last of his French struggles, Djibril Cisse.

And then, just after Benitez took Houllier’s place, Michael Owen decided that he didn’t want to suffer another period of transition, and left for Madrid for a very small fee, which Liverpool had negotiated fully aware of Owen’s failure to sign another few years to his dwindling contract.

So, this is the team that Benitez inherited when he joined in 2004, adjusted for Owen’s inevitable leaving, since he’d decided by that point that he was going:

Jerzy Dudek, Chris Kirkland, Patrice Luzi.

James Carragher, Stephen Finnan, Stéphane Henchoz, Sami Hyypiä, John Arne Riise, Djimi Traoré, Zak Whitbread, Stephen Warnock.

Igor Biscan, Bruno Cheyrou, Salif Alassane Diao, Steven Gerrard, Dietmar Hamann, Harry Kewell, Anthony Le Tallec, Danny Murphy, Ritchie Partridge, Darren Potter, Vladimir Smicer, John Welsh.

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