THIS WEEK THE former Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez was in Dublin to promote his new book and give a talk about his time at Liverpool and his success as a manager.
With two La Liga titles and a Champions League title to his name among many other honours, the Spaniard is rated as one of Europe’s best but is currently without a club as he looks for a job that a club that will challenge for trophies.
We sat down to speak to him about finding that club, his eventful six years at Liverpool and his views on the Republic of Ireland under Giovanni Trapattoni – all questions that you asked him when we requested your submissions last week.
Here’s are the full questions and answers:
Q: If you were still the manager of Liverpool, do you think you would have won the Premier League by now?
It’s a good question but I am not the manager so you cannot say yes or no. It’s difficult, it depends, at the end of the day it depends on the support from your own club and after the other teams and so you now have teams like Manchester City, United, Chelsea, spending big money every year then it’s not easy. These past two years Liverpool has spent a lot of money but they are not in the same position so what we could be with me in charge, I don’t know.
Q: Leading up to the 2009/2010 season and knowing obviously that you had lost Xabi Alonso, what players would you have bought?
Xabi Alonso is one question that I cannot explain every single detail but obviously Xabi decided to go, to leave and then we have to bring players. You say: ‘Oh you know he was on the market’. Yeah but I was in the market (for Alonso’s replacement) two years before when he was playing just 43 per cent of the minutes. Then the year after he was doing maybe his best season, playing every game and he decided to leave. Then we had to bring in different players.
Gareth Barry was an English player for the list and because he was a very good, consistent player, an international and could be a player that playing with Lucas, Mascherano, Gerrard would be fantastic at the end for the team.
Okay we didn’t sign Gareth Barry and Xabi left we were looking for a player that could link with the striker, with (Fernando) Torres. So that was (Alberto Aqualani) a player who’s passing of the ball was really good. But he was injured and we were expecting maybe one or two months and it takes four months at least. So it was a problem and then everything was going wrong this year.
Q: Obviously that season you were quite short of strikers, do you regret letting Robbie Keane leave in January of 2009?
Not really because if you analyse the stats (from 2008/2009), the last 11 games this year we won ten and we drew one. So it wasn’t ‘Oh you know the team is doing…’ The team was doing well, especially because we were playing with one striker and normally (Steven) Gerrard behind the striker but still we had different options like Kuyt. for example.
So I think the problem wasn’t this, the problem was that some games at home, the teams are defending too much so it was not easy and then we drew these games. But then we lost just two games this year.
Q: Would you like to have brought in another striker that summer (of 2009) though?
No this time we decided that Robbie (Keane) was the partner of Fernando but it was not going well because the understanding was not good enough and ultimately because Gerrard was doing so well with Fernando that it was easier, they were scoring a lot of goals together and they were a threat in every game. So to have another striker we bringing in some young players like Ngog to be there and then grow close to them. But okay they didn’t have the time.
Q: There is a couple of young players in the Liverpool team now, Raheem Sterling, Jonjo Shelvey, Suso is on the cusp of the first team. These are players that you brought to the club, what do you think of the impact they are making so far?
I think that they are doing well and its one of the things that when they talk about the past, the past they forget that we bought these players. So we had a plan when we were in charge of the Academy in my last year we were bringing a lot of young players and we were changing the style, the coaching style.
So everything was going in another direction and you can see now the young players coming through the system. We are really proud of the signings of young players who were improving the young players that we had. We were preparing the future, like a legacy for the club and some people try to forget these things.
Q: I guess you wish you could have worked with those players yourself, no?
Yeah because my background is a physical education teacher too so I like to teach with the young players and talking about the basics, the techniques. I like to improve players and then it could have been fantastic to have seen these kind of players.
Q: Your power struggle at Liverpool, the power struggle with the owners at Liverpool, was that in anyway similar to what went on at Valencia before you left there?
No, totally different. So at Valencia we were winning and winning and winning and then the question was about extending the contract and try to improve. (But) Valencia didn’t have the resources to compete against Real Madrid or Barcelona, we won two leagues and the UEFA Cup but it was different.
So was totally different. Here (in Liverpool) it was more the Americans. Remember that they put the debt on the club that means they have to pay the loans then you can see the accounts of the club going [makes descending gesture] and the money available for signings players and competing with less and less.
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I think my net spending now is £2 million, so £2 million per year and still a lot of players like (Martin) Skrtel, (Pepe) Reina, (Daniel) Agger, Lucas Leiva. That means that the key was the financial issues and the club was starting to change a little bit with everything. They (the American owners) wanted to sell the club, they appointed Christian Purslow to sell the club and he takes one year to find investors and this year everything was in relation to the money, so you could feel this.
Q: Do you think what’s happening at Liverpool at the moment in terms of money and the fiasco over the transfer window is a direct result of what happened under Hicks and Gillett (the club’s previous owners) and what they did to the club?
It’s easy to talk about the past but how much money have they spent in the market in the last two years? So I don’t think that this is a similar situation. So if you analyse the money that we had available at the end and the money that they have spent in the last two years I don’t see that the similarities, no.
Q: A lot of Liverpool fans are a bit wary of these American owners I guess because they were so stung by Hicks and Gillett. From what you have seen so far do you think these American owners are better for the club, are working out better for the club?
The problem with these owners is that I didn’t meet them so I don’t know them. One thing is what you can see outside and the other thing is the information that you have. So I don’t have this information but I knew the other owners so obviously I have an idea about the other owners and I’m not too clear about these owners.
Q: Your biggest achievement ? Winning La Liga with Valencia or the Champions League with Liverpool?
I think that both were really good. We won the league twice and the UEFA Cup it was really good, the last season the league and the UEFA Cup against Real Madrid and Barcelona and remember that Real Madrid was the team of the Galacticos of Ronaldo, Figo, Robert Carlos, Zidane, all these players. So it’s great and we had a good team.
The Champions League with Liverpool obviously the first year we have to manage every single game during the competition so I was really pleased because the players they were good. But almost every game was tactical so we had to do something and I was really proud of this.
To put one in front of the other, the best game ever will be Istanbul because it is the best final in the history of the Champions League forever. But the league is always to be more consistent, you cannot compare both.
Q: What is your single biggest regret as a football manager?
I have a lot of them but always I think the same: It ‘s better to focus on the positives. So you cannot win nine titles, almost every single title at club level and then start to think that I have made this mistake or that one.
We know this but we have to think about the positives so then we will try to change things if we have to do it but it depends on each club, each team, each player and the relationship that you have with them. So I think that is something that will come that maybe I will do this in a different way. But obviously with so many successes I think that you have to focus on this, no?
Q: Here’s one, do you ever expect to see a female manager at a top European club?
I think it will take some time. You can see that the level has improved a lot with women’s soccer because you have the United States doing well and you have China. In Spain they have some good players. Coaches always will take some time. I think it’s quite difficult but obviously I had some friends in Spain and they were really good, really good but then to have this opportunity will be tough but I think that it will take some time. But maybe.
Q: Out of all your signings from any of your clubs you have worked, which was your best one?
I was working with Raul in Madrid, he was very competitive when he was 16. Gerrard is a good player….
But signings now, because you didn’t sign Gerrard, you didn’t sign Raul…
Signings, signing [pause]. Here (at Liverpool) obviously Reina, Agger, Skrtel, Lucas , Mascherano, Torres – all these players. Kuyt. It was really really a pleasure to work with Kuyt, because Kuyt is a player that can play in four positions, so these kind of players.
The best? [exhales]
All of these players, I say to you, Liverpool football players they were maybe the best at this time in their positions, no? I think that I have to say one of these… Mascherano. Maybe for the position, Mascherano could be this kind of player but obviously Torres in his best form was amazing, no?
Q: You were the last manager to take a team other than Barca or Real Madrid to a La Liga title, can you see anyone in La Liga at the minute who could usurp those two?
Not now because of the differences in terms of the squad. The money available is so big that I think that it’s still… Valencia was doing well this year and Atletico Madrid now is similarly stronger but still in a league competition, it will be far away.
Q: Do you worry about the dominance of the big two in Spain because it’s almost like what happened in Scottish football with Celtic and Rangers. They finish so far above the rest of the league, is it worrying for the quality of the game in Spain?
Yes, I think so. I think it’s important to have more competition because you will enjoy it. You cannot go to these games thinking: ‘We will lose, how many goals will we concede?’ I think that is not right, there has to be more competition. When we won the title we had Deportivo La Coruna,Villarreal, Sevilla. So you had obviously Barca, Valencia, Atletico Madrid. You have five teams, they could beat each other.
Q: If you had to choose, your team playing badly but winning a big tournament or playing really good football but not winning any tournaments…
[Laughs] I did this question on my website, almost the same…
Tell us the answer…
I will tell you the story. A manager that was always talking about the style, the style he was asked in Spain about this: ‘Do you prefer to win playing bad or to play well and lose’? (He said) ‘No I prefer to play well and lose…’ Two or three days after he realised his comments, he said: ‘No, no, no. If you play well that is the answer, no. If you play well, you have more chances to win.
So if you talk about just one tournament, you have to win. If you talk about the project and then the league or whatever, you have to play well because you will win more games. So you have to choose one or the other. If it is a short tournament you have to win, but then you have to prepare the team to play (well) because it will easier to win.
Q: If you could take charge of any current squad in European football which would it be and why?
It has to be… my idea now is to challenge for trophies so then that is the reason why people say ‘Oh you know, you don’t get a job’. Yeah I have had a lot of offers but the main thing for me is to challenge for trophies. So maybe you have a very good project and they will say: ‘Okay you know in three years time we can challenge…’ Yeah but we were winning, people they forget we won the FIFA Club World Cup with Inter and they say that Inter was not good enough. We won the Italian Super Cup and the Club World Cup, so we finished winning.
Then what I would like to have is another club that you can fight and you can challenge for trophies. So then you can say this one or the other one but obviously one, a top side if it is possible and if you cannot then you have to change and then consider (other offers) like we did with Liverpool or with another team. So we will start working, see what happens but without any problems because we like to improve players and we like to improve teams.
Q: Do you worry that the longer that you stay out of the game or stay out of football management the more difficult it will become to get the job, the ideal job that you want where you are challenging for trophies or have the money to spend?
In a normal situation maybe, but not now. So I am forward thinking, I am always using the technology, watching games, analysing games. I work for TV because I want to watch the games and go to the stadium and feel the atmosphere. I talk with players all the time and managers. We developed a programme, a coaching tool because still we are in the game.
Q: If you could go back to La Liga would that be something you would be interested in?
The problem with La Liga is that if you want to win you have just two teams…
Q: Would you consider a team outside the top two?
I had some offers from Spain and I could see that it was impossible…
Q: Does the task not interest you though, of beating the top two again. I mean you’ve done it before?
Yeah but at least you have to be close. If you are too far away, it doesn’t matter. You can be the best coach in the world and still you will be ten or fifteen points behind… I am not scared about this because I have confidence that we can do well but it has to be a team that has to be close.
Q: Last couple of questions, I know you’ve been asked about this already but what do you think of the situation with the Republic of Ireland at the moment? There is a lot of unhappiness with the manager, Giovanni Trapattoni, after the European Championships and disillusionment with his formation, his tactics…
Yeah but I said that before, he was amazing and everybody was so pleased that he was ready to win the title. After: ‘Oh you know it was a disaster…’ But I think you have to keep the balance and understand that if the manager decides to play the style or system it’s because he knows the players and he is watching them in every training session. Because I am a manager I understand when you make a decision, maybe from the outside, maybe it’s a mistake. But when you are there with the information you have it is the right decision. So now he has experience and I think it’s a question a time, he will get the team doing well again.
Q: So do you think Ireland will stick with him… or should stick with him rather?
I don’t know. I don’t like to see any manger losing his job.
Q: Would the Ireland job ever interest you?
I like to be involved in the daily basis, coaching training sessions. All of these things. But in the future… you have to consider… For me it’s a project and when I talk about projects and you talk about structures of things, sometimes it’s a relationship with the people in charge, sometimes its the feeling around the team, the atmosphere with the fans and so all these things you have to put together when you have offers.
Q: So I guess then the other question is does international football management interest you at all?
Yeah I am quite interested but maybe still it is too soon. I am 52, I am still a young manager for maybe ten years at club level. You never know, but it depends, sometimes you are looking for a club, (but) then you have an opportinity that it is the right time and you can do well.
Rafa Benitez answers your questions on Liverpool, his ambitions and Ireland
THIS WEEK THE former Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez was in Dublin to promote his new book and give a talk about his time at Liverpool and his success as a manager.
With two La Liga titles and a Champions League title to his name among many other honours, the Spaniard is rated as one of Europe’s best but is currently without a club as he looks for a job that a club that will challenge for trophies.
We sat down to speak to him about finding that club, his eventful six years at Liverpool and his views on the Republic of Ireland under Giovanni Trapattoni – all questions that you asked him when we requested your submissions last week.
Here’s are the full questions and answers:
Q: If you were still the manager of Liverpool, do you think you would have won the Premier League by now?
It’s a good question but I am not the manager so you cannot say yes or no. It’s difficult, it depends, at the end of the day it depends on the support from your own club and after the other teams and so you now have teams like Manchester City, United, Chelsea, spending big money every year then it’s not easy. These past two years Liverpool has spent a lot of money but they are not in the same position so what we could be with me in charge, I don’t know.
Q: Leading up to the 2009/2010 season and knowing obviously that you had lost Xabi Alonso, what players would you have bought?
Xabi Alonso is one question that I cannot explain every single detail but obviously Xabi decided to go, to leave and then we have to bring players. You say: ‘Oh you know he was on the market’. Yeah but I was in the market (for Alonso’s replacement) two years before when he was playing just 43 per cent of the minutes. Then the year after he was doing maybe his best season, playing every game and he decided to leave. Then we had to bring in different players.
Gareth Barry was an English player for the list and because he was a very good, consistent player, an international and could be a player that playing with Lucas, Mascherano, Gerrard would be fantastic at the end for the team.
Okay we didn’t sign Gareth Barry and Xabi left we were looking for a player that could link with the striker, with (Fernando) Torres. So that was (Alberto Aqualani) a player who’s passing of the ball was really good. But he was injured and we were expecting maybe one or two months and it takes four months at least. So it was a problem and then everything was going wrong this year.
Not really because if you analyse the stats (from 2008/2009), the last 11 games this year we won ten and we drew one. So it wasn’t ‘Oh you know the team is doing…’ The team was doing well, especially because we were playing with one striker and normally (Steven) Gerrard behind the striker but still we had different options like Kuyt. for example.
So I think the problem wasn’t this, the problem was that some games at home, the teams are defending too much so it was not easy and then we drew these games. But then we lost just two games this year.
Q: Would you like to have brought in another striker that summer (of 2009) though?
No this time we decided that Robbie (Keane) was the partner of Fernando but it was not going well because the understanding was not good enough and ultimately because Gerrard was doing so well with Fernando that it was easier, they were scoring a lot of goals together and they were a threat in every game. So to have another striker we bringing in some young players like Ngog to be there and then grow close to them. But okay they didn’t have the time.
Q: There is a couple of young players in the Liverpool team now, Raheem Sterling, Jonjo Shelvey, Suso is on the cusp of the first team. These are players that you brought to the club, what do you think of the impact they are making so far?
I think that they are doing well and its one of the things that when they talk about the past, the past they forget that we bought these players. So we had a plan when we were in charge of the Academy in my last year we were bringing a lot of young players and we were changing the style, the coaching style.
So everything was going in another direction and you can see now the young players coming through the system. We are really proud of the signings of young players who were improving the young players that we had. We were preparing the future, like a legacy for the club and some people try to forget these things.
Q: I guess you wish you could have worked with those players yourself, no?
Yeah because my background is a physical education teacher too so I like to teach with the young players and talking about the basics, the techniques. I like to improve players and then it could have been fantastic to have seen these kind of players.
No, totally different. So at Valencia we were winning and winning and winning and then the question was about extending the contract and try to improve. (But) Valencia didn’t have the resources to compete against Real Madrid or Barcelona, we won two leagues and the UEFA Cup but it was different.
So was totally different. Here (in Liverpool) it was more the Americans. Remember that they put the debt on the club that means they have to pay the loans then you can see the accounts of the club going [makes descending gesture] and the money available for signings players and competing with less and less.
I think my net spending now is £2 million, so £2 million per year and still a lot of players like (Martin) Skrtel, (Pepe) Reina, (Daniel) Agger, Lucas Leiva. That means that the key was the financial issues and the club was starting to change a little bit with everything. They (the American owners) wanted to sell the club, they appointed Christian Purslow to sell the club and he takes one year to find investors and this year everything was in relation to the money, so you could feel this.
Q: Do you think what’s happening at Liverpool at the moment in terms of money and the fiasco over the transfer window is a direct result of what happened under Hicks and Gillett (the club’s previous owners) and what they did to the club?
It’s easy to talk about the past but how much money have they spent in the market in the last two years? So I don’t think that this is a similar situation. So if you analyse the money that we had available at the end and the money that they have spent in the last two years I don’t see that the similarities, no.
Q: A lot of Liverpool fans are a bit wary of these American owners I guess because they were so stung by Hicks and Gillett. From what you have seen so far do you think these American owners are better for the club, are working out better for the club?
The problem with these owners is that I didn’t meet them so I don’t know them. One thing is what you can see outside and the other thing is the information that you have. So I don’t have this information but I knew the other owners so obviously I have an idea about the other owners and I’m not too clear about these owners.
Q: Your biggest achievement ? Winning La Liga with Valencia or the Champions League with Liverpool?
I think that both were really good. We won the league twice and the UEFA Cup it was really good, the last season the league and the UEFA Cup against Real Madrid and Barcelona and remember that Real Madrid was the team of the Galacticos of Ronaldo, Figo, Robert Carlos, Zidane, all these players. So it’s great and we had a good team.
The Champions League with Liverpool obviously the first year we have to manage every single game during the competition so I was really pleased because the players they were good. But almost every game was tactical so we had to do something and I was really proud of this.
To put one in front of the other, the best game ever will be Istanbul because it is the best final in the history of the Champions League forever. But the league is always to be more consistent, you cannot compare both.
I have a lot of them but always I think the same: It ‘s better to focus on the positives. So you cannot win nine titles, almost every single title at club level and then start to think that I have made this mistake or that one.
We know this but we have to think about the positives so then we will try to change things if we have to do it but it depends on each club, each team, each player and the relationship that you have with them. So I think that is something that will come that maybe I will do this in a different way. But obviously with so many successes I think that you have to focus on this, no?
Q: Here’s one, do you ever expect to see a female manager at a top European club?
I think it will take some time. You can see that the level has improved a lot with women’s soccer because you have the United States doing well and you have China. In Spain they have some good players. Coaches always will take some time. I think it’s quite difficult but obviously I had some friends in Spain and they were really good, really good but then to have this opportunity will be tough but I think that it will take some time. But maybe.
Q: Out of all your signings from any of your clubs you have worked, which was your best one?
I was working with Raul in Madrid, he was very competitive when he was 16. Gerrard is a good player….
But signings now, because you didn’t sign Gerrard, you didn’t sign Raul…
Signings, signing [pause]. Here (at Liverpool) obviously Reina, Agger, Skrtel, Lucas , Mascherano, Torres – all these players. Kuyt. It was really really a pleasure to work with Kuyt, because Kuyt is a player that can play in four positions, so these kind of players.
The best? [exhales]
All of these players, I say to you, Liverpool football players they were maybe the best at this time in their positions, no? I think that I have to say one of these… Mascherano. Maybe for the position, Mascherano could be this kind of player but obviously Torres in his best form was amazing, no?
Not now because of the differences in terms of the squad. The money available is so big that I think that it’s still… Valencia was doing well this year and Atletico Madrid now is similarly stronger but still in a league competition, it will be far away.
Q: Do you worry about the dominance of the big two in Spain because it’s almost like what happened in Scottish football with Celtic and Rangers. They finish so far above the rest of the league, is it worrying for the quality of the game in Spain?
Yes, I think so. I think it’s important to have more competition because you will enjoy it. You cannot go to these games thinking: ‘We will lose, how many goals will we concede?’ I think that is not right, there has to be more competition. When we won the title we had Deportivo La Coruna,Villarreal, Sevilla. So you had obviously Barca, Valencia, Atletico Madrid. You have five teams, they could beat each other.
Q: If you had to choose, your team playing badly but winning a big tournament or playing really good football but not winning any tournaments…
[Laughs] I did this question on my website, almost the same…
Tell us the answer…
I will tell you the story. A manager that was always talking about the style, the style he was asked in Spain about this: ‘Do you prefer to win playing bad or to play well and lose’? (He said) ‘No I prefer to play well and lose…’ Two or three days after he realised his comments, he said: ‘No, no, no. If you play well that is the answer, no. If you play well, you have more chances to win.
So if you talk about just one tournament, you have to win. If you talk about the project and then the league or whatever, you have to play well because you will win more games. So you have to choose one or the other. If it is a short tournament you have to win, but then you have to prepare the team to play (well) because it will easier to win.
Q: If you could take charge of any current squad in European football which would it be and why?
It has to be… my idea now is to challenge for trophies so then that is the reason why people say ‘Oh you know, you don’t get a job’. Yeah I have had a lot of offers but the main thing for me is to challenge for trophies. So maybe you have a very good project and they will say: ‘Okay you know in three years time we can challenge…’ Yeah but we were winning, people they forget we won the FIFA Club World Cup with Inter and they say that Inter was not good enough. We won the Italian Super Cup and the Club World Cup, so we finished winning.
Then what I would like to have is another club that you can fight and you can challenge for trophies. So then you can say this one or the other one but obviously one, a top side if it is possible and if you cannot then you have to change and then consider (other offers) like we did with Liverpool or with another team. So we will start working, see what happens but without any problems because we like to improve players and we like to improve teams.
In a normal situation maybe, but not now. So I am forward thinking, I am always using the technology, watching games, analysing games. I work for TV because I want to watch the games and go to the stadium and feel the atmosphere. I talk with players all the time and managers. We developed a programme, a coaching tool because still we are in the game.
Q: If you could go back to La Liga would that be something you would be interested in?
The problem with La Liga is that if you want to win you have just two teams…
Q: Would you consider a team outside the top two?
I had some offers from Spain and I could see that it was impossible…
Q: Does the task not interest you though, of beating the top two again. I mean you’ve done it before?
Yeah but at least you have to be close. If you are too far away, it doesn’t matter. You can be the best coach in the world and still you will be ten or fifteen points behind… I am not scared about this because I have confidence that we can do well but it has to be a team that has to be close.
Q: Last couple of questions, I know you’ve been asked about this already but what do you think of the situation with the Republic of Ireland at the moment? There is a lot of unhappiness with the manager, Giovanni Trapattoni, after the European Championships and disillusionment with his formation, his tactics…
Yeah but I said that before, he was amazing and everybody was so pleased that he was ready to win the title. After: ‘Oh you know it was a disaster…’ But I think you have to keep the balance and understand that if the manager decides to play the style or system it’s because he knows the players and he is watching them in every training session. Because I am a manager I understand when you make a decision, maybe from the outside, maybe it’s a mistake. But when you are there with the information you have it is the right decision. So now he has experience and I think it’s a question a time, he will get the team doing well again.
Q: So do you think Ireland will stick with him… or should stick with him rather?
I don’t know. I don’t like to see any manger losing his job.
Q: Would the Ireland job ever interest you?
I like to be involved in the daily basis, coaching training sessions. All of these things. But in the future… you have to consider… For me it’s a project and when I talk about projects and you talk about structures of things, sometimes it’s a relationship with the people in charge, sometimes its the feeling around the team, the atmosphere with the fans and so all these things you have to put together when you have offers.
Q: So I guess then the other question is does international football management interest you at all?
Yeah I am quite interested but maybe still it is too soon. I am 52, I am still a young manager for maybe ten years at club level. You never know, but it depends, sometimes you are looking for a club, (but) then you have an opportinity that it is the right time and you can do well.
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