Why Benitez Is Buying Spanish.

Dub13

***

Right have you all seen the interviews lately with our new manager Rafa Benitez.
Has been asked recently if he was going to buy in which he said yes.

Then was asked will he buy English players

In which the reply was I will buy good players.

To me this was a perfect reply and Benitez is buying Spanish players because he knows the spanish market better than any other manager in the Prem.

Benitez has also been quoted as saying if he finds another player on the contienent or English who will be a success for LFC then they too will be signed.

So next season expect more signings from Benitez who are English, but this season expect more.

When Rafa came the only player you wanted Rafa to come that was not from Valencia was Xabi Alonso and it looks pretty likely this will go ahead this Thursady. So we are getting a player who is a super player who Real were wanting and had a bid of £8.5 million turned down.

Also Barca are fighting to keep Garcia with Rijkaard saying he will try and keep Garcia at any cost but yet Garcia has spoken about his admiration for our man Rafa.

In Spain Rafa Benitez is a name that top spanish players would love to work for becuase he is a man driven by success and a man who often gets his success.

p.pete

That's why GH bought French - hopefully when the dust settles we won't be scratching our heads wondering what he was thinking.

I'm quietly confident but I suppose I was also confident that a guy who helped build the renowned French youth academy would be able to draw some talent from the French youth academy.

I'm hoping one of the main differences is that Benitez is better at actually developing and introducing the talent which is something GH couldn't do. He has been great for Frances infrastructure and great for Pool's too I believe. Thanks to him I believe the youth academy is a lot stronger (despite the lack of evidence pushing into the first team over the last few years) and other areas such as training facilities.

Rafa has already shown bravery in introducing Warnock and Potter into his first competitive match. Also throwing 19 year old FSP into the Spurs match while still finely balanced while criticised was still a brave move.

Anyways... I'm at least hopeful.

kida

FFS - how many more Liverpool threads do we need - could this have not been put as a reply to the 30 others? There are more clubs than Liverpool.

Pepe LeFrits

kida wrote:

FFS - how many more Liverpool threads do we need - could this have not been put as a reply to the 30 others? There are more clubs than Liverpool.

There are only 5 on the top page atm...

There have been more Man Utd threads than that before.

midget lord

kida wrote:

There are more clubs than Liverpool.

They are merely a sideshow...


I am really optimistic since RB took over and i look forward to a one or two more signings before the closing of the window. Once this season is over i will start looking forward to 2005/06!

Dub13

kida wrote:

FFS - how many more Liverpool threads do we need - could this have not been put as a reply to the 30 others? There are more clubs than Liverpool.

LFC are very active in the transfer market right now so people will talk about them more,if you have no intrest dont read it and maybe start a new thread

p.pete

kida wrote:

There are more clubs than Liverpool.

Starts some threads and let us know about them

kida

If something newsworthy or new had happened maybe a new thread - but this belongs in one of the other ones about the signings. There should really only be one current thread about any club.

Kaids - just because there were a lot of threads about any other team doesn't make that right either.

midget lord

kida wrote:

There should really only be one current thread about any club.

And who are you to decide this?

Pepe LeFrits

kida wrote:

If something newsworthy or new had happened maybe a new thread - but this belongs in one of the other ones about the signings. There should really only be one current thread about any club.

Kaids - just because there were a lot of threads about any other team doesn't make that right either.

And yet, where were you then?

redspider

Managers tend to get deals with players from countries/leagues that they know best and have worked in, etc, due to their contacts and all that, and even understanding the language.

I think Houllier played the French options a bit too much and hopefully Benitez will not do the same. But being Spanish, if there are any disgruntled under-performing players out there that speak spanish, then Benitez has a chance of picking them up, ala Larsson, Viera, Cantona. There are nuggets out there all the time. Spending large sums on players that are currently playing well is not a financially prudent model.

However, management is a bit of a hit and miss when it comes to getting in players. Its not quite a random lottery, as managers can motivate certain players at certain stages of their careers, can instill tactics, etc, better than others, but the transfer market is chaotic at the best of times and your mileage may vary. You can be very lucky (C. Ronaldo to Man U, or very unlucky. C. Nicholas to Arsenal).

Dub13

Look at Wenger when he first took over at Arsenal...he signed alot of french players and now as the years have gone on and he got to no so called local players he has moved away from that.

Rafa has an upper hand on Spanish players as not many EPL managers are as up to date on them.We all no even in todays market that English players are way way over priced.

midget lord

Dub13 wrote:

English players are way way over priced.

See Wayne Rooney, Rio Ferdinand & David Beckham.

johnor

I would have said GH had a great fix on french players, the players he brought in didnt exactly inspire pool fans. I dont doubt RB's credentials, he has achieved alot with valencia and probably does have an upper hand, just dont count your chickens before they hatch. The original french players bought in by AW were bought for very little...Anelka, Grimandi, Viera. Think the difference with GH was he bought in at the finished article stage, even when AW bought Henry he wasnt considered to be in the same class as he is now...its a credit to the vision of the manager and the managers ability to nuture the talent. Im not aware of RB's credentials in that department however i do know of the many quality players who have advanced through the valencia ranks....

What im saying is basically you could look back in 4/5 seasons time and say be telling us about all the waste of space spanish players that RB brought in....I remember Biscan being highly thought of before he moved to pool..think juventus were after him....just saying dont count the chickens until they are out of the egg and fully cooked or whatever

Dub13

The thing about Wenger is he has never had loads of cash at any club he has been at,even when he won the EPL he still has only a tiny % of Man You,Chelsea and even Liverpool's transfer kitty.How he does it I will never no.

Big Ears

Dub13 wrote:

The thing about Wenger is he has never had loads of cash at any club he has been at,even when he won the EPL he still has only a tiny % of Man You,Chelsea and even Liverpool's transfer kitty.How he does it I will never no.

well he's a very intelligent person , and has put a lot of effort in developing Arsenal youths aswell (something a lot of manager don't do) , and also has been involved in developing several other parts of Arsenal F.C. .

He has done a huge amount for that club , and for some reason I could never see him parting with Arsenal for another club .

When he does leave Arsenal im sure the club will be in great shape with a very good bunch of senior and youth players .

eirebhoy

kida wrote:

FFS - how many more Liverpool threads do we need - could this have not been put as a reply to the 30 others? There are more clubs than Liverpool.

I agree. I just checked and I have replied to 3 of the last 20 threads that dub13 has opened in soccer while I replied to 13 of the last 20 threads posted in soccer. (search)

I'm a Celtic supporter but if I wanted to chat about the minor things at Celtic football club I'd go to www.thehuddleboard.com Even though this is an Irish site I'd still post most topic's about Irish football at foot.ie.

TwoShedsJackson wrote:

Dub13 you're the worst poster ever in the Soccer forum. Do we really need a new thread for every little titbit of information you read on the net about Liverpool??

No offence Dub but you should calm down on some of the useless threads you open. I'm sure we all know why Benitez is buying Spanish.

*Sits back and waits for a roasting*

Dub13

eirebhoy wrote:

I agree. I just checked and I have replied to 3 of the last 20 threads that dub13 has opened in soccer while I replied to 13 of the last 20 threads posted in soccer. (search)
No offence Dub but you should calm down on some of the useless threads you open. I'm sure we all know why Benitez is buying Spanish.

*Sits back and waits for a roasting*

Eirebhoy you have been going on about this for a while,who cares how many of my posts you have replyed to...!!this is the internet and if you dont like something just dont click on it.Simple.I dont like some of the stuff on here but I just dont reply.

How many of my threads get no replys or a low number...?not many if any.So there must be people interested in what I post.

I think this is a good thread,with a good discussion about how managers settle into there job.Well it was a good discussion before peole started to knock me.If you dont like what is here just start something new.

eirebhoy

I'm a Celtic supporter but if I wanted to chat about the minor things at Celtic football club I'd go to www.thehuddleboard.com. Even though this is an Irish site I'd still post most topic's about Irish football at foot.ie.

This is different to your average club forum where you post every rumour under the sun. You probably spend a lot of time on forum's like redandwhitekop.com, where they would open a topic to tell you Alonso is playing for Spain on Sky channel 835 at 9 (;) ), which is why I don't mean any offence. You obviously are taking offence.

Dub13

I am not taken offence but I have checked with the mods on this site (months ago) if I was posting to much and they do not think I post to much.

I do post on Liverpool sites I run one.But on this thread we are not just talking about Liverpool its about new managers in the English game.

mike65

Thats enough Liverpool threads - ed.

I'm a fan but dsont really take too much notice of all the threads tbh, I'd sooner see the team tear the opposition to threads instead. (hey that was quite good!:D )

Mike.

talla

To be honest, while Dub13 does open a lot of new threads, I haven't seen any that would be considered spam(apart from the ones hes been warned and banned before about :-) lol). There are a lot of restrictions put in place in this forum, but opening new threads to discuss your clubs goings on would not be one of them. If there were already threads opens discussing the exact same topic then I would have a problem. In the case of this thread i think there might be a reasonable discussion behind it and can't see any problems with it.

redspider

I agree that the thread was valid.

Its just a thread and didnt overlap with any other thread in subject matter. I am a strong advocate of keeping thread numbers down however, so subjects should not overlap (eg: isn't one thread about Nunez enough?).

If a poster has no interest in a thread dont respond and it will soon drift down the pages with lack of responses. This particular thread has now been bouyed by meta-discussion! Ironically the people that didnt want the thread have kept in going .....

Another option: I am not in favour of restricting "free speech" (whatever that is supposed to mean these days) but one tweak could be to restrict each poster to just one new thread per day on the soccer forum. That "cost" would keep threads down to the important subjects and at least make posters think before they enter.

p.pete

Personally I don't think there is an excess of Liverpool threads - people can choose to read and reply, and if they don't the threads will sink. There could just as easily be many more Utd or Villa threads, I wouldn't read them but that's my perogative.

Perhaps there should be a sticky for discussing how the forum should be shaped / used? But then of course there is the rules...

gandalf

Once the thread is relevent and not covering a topic already cover in another thread its ok. However posting rubbish as one person did today for a bit of a laugh will not be tolerated. At the moment this is one of the best places to have a decent discussion on footy with some excellent and intelligent posters. In particular I enjoy redspiders & Bannors post as I'm sure most of the other people on this forum do.

eirebhoy

Dub13 said the following:

" think this is a good thread,with a good discussion about how managers settle into there job."

Maybe if he had've expressed that in the title.

He has a thread with the title "Sneaking suspicion" and goes on to say Bucharest may dump Mancs out of CL. If he had've changed to title to "Bucharest -v- ManU" it would be a bit more relevent.

A week or two ago he opened a topic "Steve Morgan buys into LFC". I haven't heard anything about this.

There was a couple of threads about Michael Owen's rumoured (at the time) move to Madrid yet Dub13 opens another thread, "Don't play Poker with Parry and Benitez" which could have easily fitted in the other Owen thread.

Jason McAteer joked about taking over at Liverpool in 2 years and Dub13 felt it warranted a new thread.

There was a thread open on the best strike forces in the premiership yet Dub opens another one with the following in the opening post: "It's The Mighty Spurs Who Have The Best Strike-Partnership In The Prem!". He goes on to call a Spurs fan deluded for thinking Keane, Defoe and Kanoute was as good as you'll get.

Others that either didn't warrant a thread (there was a similar thread open, etc) or were just plain stupid:
"Liverpool Stadium D-Day" - Similar thread open
"Blackburn Rovers forced to wait on Maradona" - The guy is an average 17 year old footballer with a famous father and barely needed a post in the "transfer rumours and signings" sticky. If he actually signed for Blackburn it probably would have been OK.
"Darren Potter agrees new Deal at Liverpool" - Come on, he's a Liverpool reserve.
"Lfc Legends To Help Afc Wimbledon" - Things like this happen every week and are even less important than testimonial's.

This is all from 2 pages of Dub13 threads.

gandalf

The worrying thing here eireboy is you spent time checking that out :rolleyes:

No complaints have been received by the mods over "Too many" post on a certain team ! Until you start using that mechanism stop whinging in threads !

p.pete

I won't start a new thread (yet...)

Alonso flies in for medical

eirebhoy

gandalf wrote:

The worrying thing here eireboy is you spent time checking that out :rolleyes:

Advanced search > threads started by Dub13 > soccer forum.

BTW, I have no problem with too many Liverpool threads.

Dub13

eireboy,Come on...I like my football and I love talking about it.No big deal.Look at the replys to my posts some are well over 50.

As for the Steve Morgan thread,I run my own Liverpool website and know a few people who work for the club.And I can rell you the deal is back on,at first he wanted to buy out the club but now he is looking into buying the ITV shares.You will here more about this in the next few weeks.And Boards.ie is one of the first sites with info on it.

My site was one of the first to brake the Owen to Madrid story.I opened a new thread " Don't play Poker with Parry and Benitez" as it was about more than just Owen to Madrid it was about the mind games Parry and Benitez are up to.

As for the Jason McAteer thread fair point but it was posted to show how bonkers "our" Jason is

"It's The Mighty Spurs Who Have The Best Strike-Partnership In The Prem!". This one I opened as I read this somewere and this bloke/girl does think Spurs have the The Best Strike-Partnership In The Prem....come on they are not even in the top 5.Maybe I should not have said he was deluded but come on he must have a big par of blinkers or been drunk,even Man You have better strikers than spurs...

"Darren Potter agrees new Deal at Liverpool" the lad is Irish and he is a class act I have seen him play a few times and he is one to watch.Has now played Champions League football and gets no media coverage in Ireland.As for him being a reserve he is in the first team squad,not bad for 19.

"Lfc Legends To Help Afc Wimbledon",Not so much about Liverpool more about Afc Wimbledon,I and many on here take a big interest in how they are getting on.

Anyway I feel like I am in school and I have to account for my work. :mad:

Dub13

I thought that seeing as about 3% of the posters on this board actually know what they're on about in terms of Spanish football, I'd do a little research. That's in no way disrespecting the people on this board- why SHOULD you know about the Spanish League? I'm just trying to help us all out by finding a few things out that might help us to analyse Benitez and his new signings a little more. I started by looking at Valencia in the last few years. In Rafa Benitez's first match in charge at the Mestalla, Valencia won a home match against Real Madrird, 1-0. Apparently both teams were impressive and it was a good match- this shows that Benitez obviously inherited a far better team at Valencia than he has at Liverpool.
He went on to win the league that season- Valencia's first in 3 decades- and was heralded as Valencia's 'Person of the Year 2002.' Pretty good for a first year in charge, right? I do feel that Benitez is going to have a much harder job at Liverpool though, because Hector Cuper and Ranieri after him combined had built a great team, with Benitez coming in and making a few tweaks along the way. Benitez was the only one to deliver the title though- and this shows his excellent talents as far as management goes. He fell out with several players though, because he was strict and harsh, and quick to fine players who stepped out of line. He accepted no individuals being more important than others- he prefers to have a team, not an individual- as shown by his controversial sale of Medieta, the club's captain. Kily Gonzales followed and several other players who were demanding too much, or not putting in enough effort, also walked through the Valencia 'Exit' door. I think that the sale of Micheal Owen confirms Benitez's straight style of management.

Anyway, the season after the title victory, Benitez's team suffered a little because of the fall outs and a general lack of form. They finished a mediocre fifth and fans were a little unhappy about this, but remainded fully behind the boss. This was justified fully, and after bulldozing Liverpool 2-0 at Anfield (and generally embarassing us all round) Valencia went through an awesome season last year, winning the title once again and then seasling the Uefa Cup in a one-sided 2-0 victory over the team that defeated us, Marseille.

Mista won't be on his way to us- I can assure you, he won't want to follow Benitez. The two got on well for the first two seasons, but after that, Mista, along with Baraja, Ayala and Rufete all said things similar to the effect of 'in the end Benitez just wore us out,' again confirming Benitez's strict style of management. Mista recently on his lack of a new Valencia contract:

"I didn't sign the new contract because I didn't like a couple of things that the staff did but we have still eight months to discuss it again," he said. "I think that I can play well with Di Vaio so I don't see why I should think of playing for another team".

Now, the Spanish League is best described by one word: class. The players in the Primera Liga are generally better than the players in the Premiership- they've got Raul, Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, Joaquin, Zidane, Figo, Ayala, Aimar, Mista, and, they DID have, Alonso. Basically, stop moaning about the fact that Nunez and Josemi were unheard of before they came to Liverpool. Josemi has a fantastic reputation amongst Spain's defenders, and a fearful one amongst their attackers. We'd never heard of Hyypia before he came from Willem II, nor had we heard much of Riise before he arrived from Monaco. It's got nothing to do with them not being good enough obviously- but its just to do with whether you follow Dutch, or French, or Spanish football at all. If a Spanish team signed our Carra, they'd have NO idea who he is- same goes with quite a great Premiership players- but generally, that doesn't matter, because they simply haven't made a name for themselves in that particular country.

Now, I watch the Liga on Sky on Sunday evenings, and I admit that Josemi never caught my eye- but Malaga were only ever on a few times. Alonso, however, stuck in my head having seen him quite a lot last year. He is lightweight- he's not strong, but he's bloody tricky and bloody clever, and helped Real along so much last year it's untrue. He can score devastating goals, and deliver devastating 'Gerrard-Style' balls into the box, as well as being able to press and tackle excellently. When he arrives, he'll play behind Gerrard in midfield, and that duo will take some beating.

Finally, Nunez, I had to research him. He's a good players, ok? Who is gonna replace Figo and Beckham and Zidane in the midfield? Not many people at all, so worrying about the amount of first team opportunities he got at Madrid really is a silly thing to do. The reviews I've read are all positive- the guy can pass well, and move well, and can also score with his head and with his 'cracking' right foot. So where this conception on these boards came from that he's 'crap' I really don't know- I'm guessing its just bitter people making things up to make the Owen situation seem worse than it is.

*

I was going to start a new thread with it as I think we could talk alot about the above but well some people think there are two many Liverpool posts so I put it in here.

eirebhoy

Dub13 wrote:

I was going to start a new thread with it as I think we could talk alot about the above but well some people think there are two many Liverpool posts so I put it in here.

Who may that be because I certainly have no problem with the amount of Liverpool threads. If i hadn't said anything about your threads, as you said yourself, you would have opened a new thread for that post. That is the type of post that would fit perfectly under this topic so you've learnt something at least.

Anyway, on topic, do you think the way Benitez supposedly treats players will be good for the club? The players, well the ones you mentioned, don't seem to like him and if you ask me I'd say they're glad he's gone. He doesn't seem to be the type of manager to cut a player slack which could result in one of the best players being put up for sale for something petty. His record is superb though and I wouldn't bet against him breaking into the top 3.

uberwolf

Dub13 wrote:

I thought that seeing as about 3% ........... so I put it in here.

that was a great post. Apart from the occasional scoop that was the best post I've read in here in a long time. And to be fair the scoops benefits aren't measured in terms of the effort or understanding - just timing. thank you and you have my vote

Big Ears

to be honest ive loved all these Liverpool threads for some reason , they're just so interesting .(and I am a Newcastle fan that couldn't care how Liverpool do)

benitez is the perfect type of Spanish manager to fir into the English League , well disciplined and has a good balance between defence and attack .

great to see the Premiership stealing the best Spanish youths : Reyes , Alonso , and hopefully Joaquin(but thats unlikely) .

and good to see Spansih football taking the primadonnas of English football : Beckham , Owen , although Woodgate dosen't really fit in that category .

now all the Premiership needs is Puyol and Ronaldinho .

Dub13

eirebhoy wrote:

do you think the way Benitez supposedly treats players will be good for the club? . He doesn't seem to be the type of manager to cut a player slack which could result in one of the best players being put up for sale for something petty. His record is superb though and I wouldn't bet against him breaking into the top 3.

Well we are going from one extreme to the other,we HAD (thank god he is gone) GH and he would bend over backwards to make a player feel special.Some managers think this is a good idea and the way to go.There are rumours going around Liverpool that Partridge only got a new contract to keep Owen happy (Partridge goes out with Owens sister and is his best mate).GH thought that if he kept the so called "local boys" or the "fans favourites" happy he would be able to build a team around them.Now for the last year or so I have been hearing storys that these so called "fans favourites" who are/were Carragher,Gerrard,Owen and Murphy have been a team within a team if you no what I mean.I am starting to belive it now that Rafa has sold two of them,only 2 months ago would you have thought Owen and Murphy would not be LFC players.

Now we have Rafa who will take no crap,I am starting to think that if Gerrard has another hissey fit next summer Rafa will just sell him.Eirebhoy you ask is this good for the team..?I think it is,over the last 15 years or so we have seen soft managers (expet for that Scottish clown) and it has not worked.Remember the Spice boys and their white suits.... :eek:


I think Rafa is the real deal,I just hope the new Spanish lads can adapt fast if not we could get of to a slow start and it would be next season when we see the best from them.I am a believer in the "one year for a overseas player to settle down" rule.One other thing worries me about the Spanish lads,they may well be grand playing Man You,Chelsea etc etc...how will they get on playing teams like Norwich on a cold winters night in January.Other than that I am looking forward to this season.

Dub13

Ok, so in my Spanish Research thread of a few days ago, I didn't include anything on Luis Garcia because it didn't look like he was coming. Now that his transfer is subject to a medical today, I thought I'd go out into the big wide world/web/newspapers and dig up some information on our (nearly) new forward. I think this will be appreciated as many people here are confused as to what positions he can even play, so hopefully that wil be cleared up.
Born in Badalona, Spain, Garcia grew up playing for youth teams until he was spotted playing up front by Barcalona, and he played for Barcralona 'B' for a few years. At 5'10", the 26 year old is hardly the biggest guy around; his arial threat is not one which is feared. However, he has a wonderful left foot, and a decent right boot too, meaning that Garcia CAN PLAY ON BOTH THE RIGHT AND LEFT FLANKS. That's right, for Barcalona, he played on the right, left and at the end of last season, he played up front as a centre forward. This gives Liverpool options all over the place: those moaning that we need another striker, we've got one, and those moaning that we need a right winger, we've got one. He can play basically anywhere in the final 3rd of the pitch.

As his chances in the Barca first team were limited, a few years ago he was loaned out to Rafael Benitez's Tenerife team, who were struggling against relegation that seemed inevitable when Benitez took over. However, the youngster struck 16 goals that season, and kept Tenerife up. Now you see why Benitez wanted him so much: in doing Garcia a favour and giving him first team action, Garcia kept Rafa's team in the Primera Lige, and basically kept Benitez in the job too. His influence on that team is described by news archives all over Spain as 'brilliant', 'unstoppable' and 'vital.'

Now, the complicated bits. At the time of the loan to Tenerife, Garcia was actually a Valladolid player, who had first loaned him to Toledo. Returning to Valladolid he played 27 games and scored 8 goals. Barca used their 'buy-back' option and bought Garcia back, before in the summer of 2002, Barcelona sold him to Atlético Madrid, but again with a buy-back option. He played 25 games, 22 of them in the starting line-up, totalling 1.523 minutes and 6 goals.

The club again exercised the clause and brought Luis Garcia back for last season at the Nou Camp. Garcia did so well in the Barca first team last season that shirt stores in Spain began pre-printing 'Luis Garcia 22' shirts (http://shop.fcbarcelona.com/stores/barcelona/products/product_details.aspx?pid=14060&bid=9&mid=26&cid=1357) is just one example.

So, yes, in a way I would say that we are buying unproven quality. But in another way, he's done well all round, and the only reason he's come to us is because Deco and Guily have been bought. I wouldn' worry about this 'buy-back' clause that has again been included in his deal with Liverpool; only at the end of his contract here will that be avaliable to Barca.

He's a player who can score, cross, get into the box and worry defences. A RM/LM/F/CF, Garcia can cover us in many, many positions, and, I have also seen a few cracking Barca goals scored by him. In evaluation, many Barca fans and Spanish journalists are calling him 'a steal at 9 million Euros'- and to want a buy-back clause shows just how highly Barca do rate the player- I would say that Luis Garcia will take a little time to adapt, but after that, he'll be a terrific player for Liverpool FC.

midget lord

Dub13 in research craze shocker...

Dub13

I have alot of spare time today. .Things are looking up for Liverpool,I just hope its not another false dawn.

midget lord

this is the most optimistic i have been in over 10 years. I dont expect immediate success, but i think we will finish ahead of the mancs this year and push for glory next year. Rafa says he is finished with signings in this window, but i expect to see wither angulo or Mista sign with us on a bosman in the january window. I also think that he will bring in a few more next season. Its great to look forward instead of back!

redspider

[I think your posts are on topic Dub13 and you were correct in keeping them in this thread, so well done for that.]

I have my doubts about the tough management approach similar to eirebhoy. Football is a sport that requires skilled and motivated individuals, not automoton robots. If managers are too harsh, they can in the long run become a cropper.

However, its not so black and white. There are cases of strict managers in the past that have done well, such as Brian Clough, and there are many cases of softer managers that have done well, such as Rinus Michels and many would put Arsene Wenger in the same camp as well as Martin O'Neill, Brian Kerr, ete. But usually management is a mix of qualities, not just harsh or strict but other qualities, such as the skill in spotting players potentials (on average, even if there is luck involved).

Managers usually lie somewhere in between a whip-holding Slave Master of the pharoahs and Mother Theresa, they need to be flexible, adjust to the situation and the player concerned. Being harsh doesn't always work and a case in point is Alex Ferguson and Beckham perhaps.

So, overall, I will be waiting to judge Benitez on his results over a few seasons and if his chosen style pays off in the long term.

Dub13

Liverpool have announced the signings of Spanish duo Xabi Alonso from Real Sociedad and Luis Garcia from Barcelona.
Both players signed in at Anfield today after successfully completing medicals. They have each signed a five year contract.

Neither player will be involved against Manchester City tomorrow or against AK Graz on Tuesday.

Garcia has been allocated squad number 10 at Anfield while Alonso will wear the number 14 shirt.

Dub13

If u want to see some goals scored by Luis Garcia, u can visit this website:
http://www.mifutbol.com/buscarVideoFrame.php?client_tag=1&event_id=360364

You have to type: Luis Garc on "JUGADOR" field, cause u havent the accent of García.
Select year "Todos" and on the other fields, choose "Todos".

Be careful, with another Luis Garcia playing Murcia. He is not the same player. U will note the difference

Enjoy it