Why Do You Have To Be Such A Prick?
I’ve been meaning to write this for a while now but since I got the question if I think Rafa Benitez is a good coach I figure now is the perfect time to stop being lazy. I think Rafa Benitez is a great coach and one of the best at x’s and o’s in the world. Anyone who can tear apart Real Madrid 4-0 in the Champions League isn’t a fool. I don’t rate him as one of the elite mangers in football but he is right below them.
My issue with Rafa to go along with the likes of former Bayern Munich and Schalke coaches Louis van Gaal and Felix Magath is why in the world do you need to be a miserable prick for? These coaches were in charge of some of the world’s best teams and rarely cracked a smile. I realize Benitez didn’t have it easy with all the issues from ownership and on some level it must of bugged him seeing the press fawn all over Mourinho and Ferguson but on a player level you rarely seen players go to bat for Benitez. What you did see is players like Albert Riera and Jermaine Pennant hit out at Rafa the same way Bayern and Schalke players hit out on van Gaal and Magath once they were shown the door.
I realize fans think football players are million dollar robots but for coaches not to try and connect with players on a human level annoys me. I do think players run through a wall for Mourinho because he cares about them. He takes an interest in their lives and realizes what is going on at home is as import as what is going on at the pitch. I remember a story Wesley Sneijder telling a story during his first days at Inter Mourinho goes up to him out of the blue and sends him and his family on vacation to Dubai saying he looked tired and needed rest. Sneijder said from there I would of ran through a wall for Mourinho.
Being likeable should be easy for most people, drawing up top tactics like Benitez, van Gaal and Magath should be the hard part which is why I never get when a coach alienates his players who are the direct cause of his success.
I have more issues with Rafa cause I do think he is a politician who was always quick to pull out the ownership sucks card to deflect any heat, plus I think it was a dumb move the way he tried to run over Inter under a bus saving give me money or sack me to the press when he was coaching the same team who won the Champions League…..the same team he then took to 6th in the standings the next season but he is a very smart coach.
April 22nd, 2011 at 5:43 pm
That is totally, 100% fair. Except…
I’d say that Rafa is adored by many LFC supporters as well as Valencia and Inter fans who all never (mostly) wanted him to go, or when he went they realized what they were missing. I think Pako Ayesteran was a great foil for Rafa as he was the personality and the “player’s friend” and it could be argued that since Rafa fired Pako there’s been more of a separation between Rafa and players.
I always thought it was hilarious how he never celebrated a goal and was all cool-ass. Mourinho was close to the LFC gig before Rafa got hired but his celebrations at Old Trafford is “not the Liverpool way of doing things” when Porto knocked them out in 2004 so that was part of what eliminated him.
And yeah, I think I mentioned this before but Mourinho grew up an LFC supporter as a lot of people did in around his age group…he thought he was going to LFC that year too.
I think it’s what you’re saying, and circumstance going against Rafa as well…he was lied to at his last few gigs in regards to what’s available (or never got any answers on transfer funds, or had to work with Rick Parry who’s a fool at that stuff).
Maybe when the season’s over I’d be curious to see who you see as the top managers around right now. Some are obvious, some like Rangrick are underrated IMO and some like Coyle are a bit overrated. But clearly Mourinho’s in the top 3-5 in the world right now, and over the last 5 years.