Originally Posted by Coach791 Originally Posted by

No his feats at Valencia were incredible. He inherited almost all of that squad from Hector Cuper and triumphed. The same way he arrived here on a high and with Houllier's squad won the Champions League.



Rafa has a terrific ability to take over squads and elevate their level. Hard work, discipline, strong mentality, hard to beat he's a master at it. His teams are set up to level the playing field against stronger opposition.



That's exactly how he sets out all his sides. Defend first and then exploit any spaces. He takes into account that when competing against stronger sides they will come onto you and he balances that out with a little bit of individual genius in the final third to hopefully pick off weaker sides.



Nobody can complain about his achievements and results. Many thought Italy would be perfect for him but it wasn't. Why? Every side defends and suddenly Rafa's facing teams who deploy similar tactics and he's forced to rethink his strategy and he doesn't have an effective other strategy.



That's not a criticism but he's built for the underdog club. The one not the best, the one willing to defend and work hard and find another way to win. Valencia and Liverpool embraced this mentality, this work ethic and with rewards to boot. However if you embrace that mentality long enough as a big club like we were were you cease to be a big club. You become a smaller club, an underdog club and that's what we became.



Through the reign of Houller and then Benitez we fell behind in terms of quality, flair, imagination and the game was going in a different direction. Pace, possession, technical excellence were becoming increasing more valuable and fluidity and invention growing.



We stopped playing like a 'big club' under Houllier and Benitez and we started playing like a small club, accepting they cannot compete in a game of football with other teams and sought to address this by defending in numbers and then counter attacking in big matches. It worked it got results but over time it chips away at your image, your philosophy and you end up as a club with no identity and when Rafa left that was it.



The club was an absolute shambles and not just financially. He's a great manager at getting results playing this way. For me this wasn't a healthy route for us to take long term. We had for decades prided ourselves on being technically the best, the most glamorous, the most attacking and people talked about the Liverpool Way. The Liverpool Way died under Houllier and Benitez. It's not their fault and they gave us some wonderful moments, some of the best nights of our lives but I love LFC, I grew up with a very different LFc and when I see everything this club stood for be destroyed by us ditching what made us great in search of a trophy or two then I have every right to look back some disappointment.



I stood on the Kop, I sang 'ATTACK!ATTACK!ATTACK!ATTACK!ATTACK!' and I used to talk to opposition fans and do you know what the most common thing they said was before the game? I hope we don't score too early. They feared scoring early because they knew what LFC were all about. We were a machine built on technical excellence and attacking football.



We'd make them chase the ball all game long and if they dared score we'd go for them. Then I look at the utter garbage left by Rafa, I never enjoyed our playing style even when he was doing well but you enjoy the good times. However the Liverpool I knew was dead and buried by the time Rafa's final year came.



In times past I wasn't just proud of the trophies we won, I was proud of what we stood for as a club. I was proud we tried to beat teams with the ball, outplay them, be technically better and i was proud we took the game to every single opponent we played. Then I looked at Insua and Johnson without and ounce of fight in them, I watched Lucas, Mascherano, Kuyt run around aimlessly with not an ounce of technical ability in them.



Workers, tacklers, defenders and I didn't recognise LFC. Nothing made sense. Everything we'd ever built, every ounce of sweat and blood spilt to make us the best, the most beautiful team to watch, we played the best football in the Premier League even under Roy Evans. Now what? These workhorses and everybody tackling and closing down space. So please don't lecture me because as a lifelong fan i know the difference between short term success and long term health in a club.



We sold our values down the river, we sold Shankley's vision to conquer the world, to be the most technical, the best passing team, the best to watch and that was destroyed under the tenure's of Houllier and Benitez. It was neither manager's fault they gave everything but we sold our philosophy and identity in the lust for a another title and I think it was the biggest mistake we have made in recent history with Hicks and Gillette alongside it.



That's how I feel. Nobody is asking you to feel the same way. Nobody is asking you to agree but these are my feelings and they're just as valid as yours