[LEGACY: Something handed down from an ancestor or a predecessor or from the past.]
Liverpool have experienced a rocky voyage from leading and competing against Europe’s finest clubs and battling for the domestic cup, to hovering just above the relegation and playing teams such as FC Utrecht in the Europa league.
Just where has this sudden change come from?
Well, Rafael Benitez joined the club in the summer of 2004 and firstly convinced Steven Gerrard not to join rivals Chelsea, then managed to reach the Carling Cup final and recover from a poor start to win the Champions League.
There was no doubt that Benitez’s decline from 2009 onwards and their failure to win silverware was because of his inefficient and bad spending in the transfer market.
Benitez spent £240 million throughout his reign at Anfield, during which he captured over 80 players and the majority were simply not good enough for the squad.
The club suffered after the Spaniard’s relationship with American owners George Gillett and Tom Hicks collapsed after reports revealed that Jurgen Klinsmann had been offered the post before Rafa but had rejected it for Bayern Munich.
Financial backing had always been a problem for Benitez during his time on Merseyside as numerous expensive signings such as Robbie Keane, Alberto Aquilani and Ryan Babel all failed to deliver at Anfield.
An abundance of transfers for under £10 million saw Liverpool cross names off their squad-sheets faster than they could keep up with. From the 60+ transfers that Benitez made during his helm, only four can be recognised as substantial – Reina, Mascherano, Alonso and Torres, all for multi-million pound deals and perhaps the most obvious signings for any top club, but nevertheless quality additions to Liverpool.
The Latin quarter had been added to Melwood, which sparked a Spanish revolution within the camp. However this all changed very quickly when Xabi Alonso, Liverpool’s pivotal playmaker and the only Premier League player to reach 1,000 completed passes in a single season, left the club for Real Madrid on a £30 million deal in 2009.
Alonso’s departure signalled not only the decline of Liverpool in the years to come, but the eventual demise of the Rafa Regime on Merseyside.
Despite reports suggesting that Alonso was happy to say, he left the club following a disagreement with the manager. It was a combination of Alonso’s departure and Benitez’s failure to competently replace him with suitable quality which pushed Liverpool to its limits in the 2009-10 season – finishing 7th in the league, crashing out in the FA Cup 3rd round to Reading and finishing bottom of their Champions League group.
Perhaps just a poor season? No.
When you sell Alonso for £30m you expect to buy a player of equal or potential talent, to not suffer a loss of quality within the squad. Looking back, Benitez’s replacement, injured Alberto Aquilani, comes to no surprise when analysing the Spaniard’s previous transfer list. He halved the Alonso funds on the Italian and on bringing Glen Johnson in from Portsmouth, and played Brazilian Lucas Leiva in his place whilst Aquilani recovered.
Rafa defended his legacy after leaving the club saying that:
“When I left the club, (Javier) Mascherano, (Yossi) Benayoun and (Albert) Riera were there, along with Carra (Jamie Carragher), (Steven) Gerrard, (Jay) Spearing, (Stephen) Darby, (Emiliano) Insua, (Diego) Cavalieri and (Jonjo) Shelvey.”
Despite starting the season with Liverpool, Mascherano left the club in destination of Barcelona for an alleged £23 million, reducing Rafa’s era to just Fernando Torres and Pepe Reina, as Yossi Benayoun left for Stamford Bridge on a reported £4m deal in the summer.
When Benitez left the club “by mutual consent” (aka sacked) in June, so did his tactics.
Man marking was abolished by Hodgson as early as the first pre-season games, and players which Benitez signed and failed were either sold or sent out on loan: Insua (Galatasary), Aquilani (Juventus), El Zhar (PAOK), Degen (VfB Stuttgart), Riera (Olympiakos), Dalla Valle (Fulham) and Plessis (Panathonaikos) all left on loan, whilst Ryan Babel completed his recent move to Hoffenheim in January.
Fernando Torres’ £50m deadline day transfer to Chelsea, and the club’s acquisition of two young forwards in Andy Carroll (English, 22) and Luis Suarez (24) marks the end of the Benitez era at Anfield (Pepe Reina is still there, but he is expected to leave in the summer as he has no mates left), and it was very much a case of poor scouting and lack of support and communication from both parties which eventually pushed the Spanish era out of Merseyside.
It only took 6 months, two managers, a double-defeat to Blackpool, and another Europa League campaign, but the Reds are finally grating the last of the Benitez cheese, and with Kop-legend Kenny Dalglish back at the helm alongside a proper scout like Damien Comolli and some proper American businessmen, Liverpool are set to remerge themselves with Europe’s elite, or are they?
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