The Thoughts of Jamie Rednapp
This afternoon whilst surfing the net for information, I came across an article on the teamtalk website. I have never come across this website before so I have no idea if it one that you can trust. The article concerns an interview that was given by ex Liverpool player Jamie Rednapp.
I have listened to Jamie many times on Sky Sports before and during a premiership game and to be honest there are times when I have shouted at the television because it appears that he does not have a clue. Jamie as you know is an ex Liverpool player but unfortunately seems to have lost any allegiance he had with the club.
After the game on Saturday, he made his usual derogatory remarks about what Rafa and Liverpool should do to improve their situation. He also of course pulled the match apart as though he was the manager. It did not make easy listening and I often wonder what would happen if he was suddenly thrust into the manager's position.
Jamie has again voiced his opinion and it is unfortunately aimed at Rafa Benitez. In the article he is questioning his management skills and feels that Rafa manipulates us, the supporters. The first thing that he brings up is every commentators favourite topic - zonal marking. Jamie has said that he feels this should be dropped. As I said earlier, I very rarely agree with him but on this particular subject, he has my full backing. It is being proved week in and week out that man to man marking is the only system that should be used. It would stop the constant leaking of goals. He said that the reason we were doing well a couple of years ago whilst using the zonal marking system was because we had Sami Hyppia and Peter Crouch, who due to their height could reach and head the balls as they came in.
With regard to Rafa manipulating the fans, his comments were that he gets us the supporters where he wants us. Unfortunately he does not go on to explain this point. What I will say from my own point of view is that Rafa does not manipulate me. I have always formed my own views about the different managers of the club throughout my time as a supporter. I will admit to not being happy with the situation at the moment, but although I am wavering slightly I still believe that Rafa Benitez as the manager can pull us out of the hole that we find ourselves in.
As we are now in Hungary for the next round of the Champions League, Jamie made the point that he felt Torres would seek to leave the club if the fates are against us and we fail to qualify the next round. I cannot honestly see that happening, after all, the situation that we are in is unfortunately mainly down to how the players have played once on the pitch. If as I suspect we do end up in the Europa league it will be down to the team to forge ahead and try and win that for us - we need to prove that we are still a force in Europe. Unfortunately it has already been announced that Torres and Babel have not travelled. There is I understand also worries over the fitness of Stevie G who was troubled with cramp towards the end of Saturday's game.
Tom Hicks and George Gillett do not escape his criticism which I guess is par for course at the moment. Jamie said that although there are problems going on behind the scenes, it is too easy to lay the clubs woes there. I don't honestly think that anybody has done that. I am sure that any supporter will tell you that yes, they must hold most of the blame as they have not supplied the funds needed to buy a new striker and also someone who is capable of replacing Alonso, but they are not part of the team that runs around on the pitch for ninety minutes.
Rafa, he feels at the moment is making excuses for the team and refuses to recognize that things need to change. I have to say again I have to agree with this particular point. We have reached the point, where it would be just as easy to switch on a tape recorder. Rafa seems to come out with the same excuses week and week out. In his latest press conference when the subject of the Liverpool defence came up, Rafa said that we were better than last season although mistakes were still being made. These he expected to be eradicated before the end of the season. I honestly don't think that this will happen, but unless something drastic happens before then, I will place my trust in my manager, say a prayer and hope that the arms of fate decides that it our turn for some good fortune.
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How can you agree with him on the zonal marking argument? How many games did Crouch play to stop the corners last season. Answer Zero seen as he left for Portsmouth? In fact how many times was crouch playing to allow him to prevent the goal when he was with LFC. Its the very reason why he left because of the lack of first team football. Also last season Hyppia hardly had a look in due to the arrival of Skertl and also Agger being there. A season where we tallied up our highest league points. You have look at your arguments before you follow the Clueless Jamie Redknapp. This dogma regarding the zonal marking is getting tiresome
Hi Jacky. How can I agree with Jamie on the zonal marking argument - That is easy - it simply is not working. I have watched and studied Liverpool Football Club now for most of my life - believe me man to man is the best way to go. Crouch I will admit did not play as much as he should have done which is a great pity because although I am not really a fan of his, we certainly need him now. As you say, Sammi hardly got a look in last season but I think that perhaps Rafa is regretting that decision now. Yes we got our hightest points tally but we had did not have the injuries we have now and towards the end of the season Rafa did let the lads of the leash so to speak - they played with a lot more freedom. Also without making another tiresome remark we did have Alonso who is now appears is doing extremely well back home in Spain.
Hi Faith. I just don't see how Alonso will make us better at zonal marking. I also don't see how the injury argument is going to get us to do better with man-marking. In fact its probably a sure fire way to do worse seen as we do mostly zonal marking practice. You dont want to suddenly revert to something else when things are going wrong. LFC conceded 8 goals from set pieces in all competitions last season compared 15 that Man U conceded. If zonal marking is risky why the stats show otherwise. Right now we are low on confidence. Our defence has been leaking goals from open play as well as from set pieces. Once we get some of our players back and probably more importantly a few wins under our belt things will look better. Against Lyon or MCFC we played rather well. We had numerous chances to beat Birmingham. Injuries haven't helped. I have to admit that even I have slightly got irritated with Rafa of late but you don't become a bad manager overnight. You don't smack Real and Man U with 4 goals a piece without being a good tactician. The problem right now is injuries which if looked at closely could have been offset with a robust squad. When a man is denied money to bolster his squad you can't blame him when injuries start piling up. I am just worried that with some of this drip drip effect we will drive out our best coach in a long while and send the club back another 5 years. Who will replace him. Which manager would want to come in and try to win in a league where the likes of CFC and MUFC have vast resources and we have to sell players to buy any new ones. I just don't want to see us turning into a Newcastle FC
Hi Jacky, Alonso was one of those players that seemed to able to adapt any situation. If you recall his first season with us was a bit like Lucas last year. It was only when Rafa said that he wanted to sell him that he seemed to improve and became the player he now is. I am not sure that we do have any zonal marking practise. If we did, the staff at Melwood should have by now realised what the problems were and spent a lot of their time trying to instill the right way into players about how it should be done. I know we only conceded 8 goals from set pieces last season, but that is 8 goals too many, Our defense at the moment is totally useless and needs to have it drummed into them about what they are on the field for. We are extremely low in confidence at the moment and I don't put that solely down to the fact we are losing matches and have all the injuries that we do. There is something else going on and I have not as yet put my finger on it. We have played well as you say in the games such as Lyon, Manchester City and Birmingham although it took one our players to cheat to ensure a draw in that game.
The result of the Manchester United game was not just down to Rafa and his tatics - The twelfth man was in attendance at that game. I can not understand why during some games, the ground is quiet and yet on others the noise is deafening. I know I always ensure that I make a point of cheering and yelling at the team throughout the game, whoever they are playing. I know it is very difficult for Rafa due to the lack of funds to bolster the team in a way that we the supporters would like, but Bill Shankly and Bob Paisley managed it when they bought lower division players. Any manager worth his salt, should be able get his players by the scruff of neck and make them into what he wants. I dont think we will lose Rafa, he is on too lucrative a contract - one that he virtually put together by himself. The owners also do not have the funds to pay him off and there is not a manager out there that would come in whilst the club is in the mess that it is. Unfortunately unless the owners find the new investment that RBS have told them to find, there is every possibility in the future that we will end up like Leeds and Newcastle. I just hope that there is someone out there who is willing to take the risk and also who is willing to underwrite the debts that Hicks and Gillett have caused, although common sense tells me there is not.
I have lost all respect for him and I think he is just doing utmost best to unsettle the team for the benefit of his old man's team.
Hi ML I hate to say it but ever since Jamie linked up with Andy Gray his comments appear to have been against the club. I totally agree with you when you say that the comments are made so that Tottenham can benefit from any team that he unsettles.
I have defended rafa for a long time but his stubborn approach to things is getting beyond frustrating. Insanity is doing the same thing over and over, expecting different results. I've supported Liverpool for 26 years, but some of the perfomances we have seen for the past 3 months are shocking. The main problem is Rafa's persistance with Lucas. My analysis is that our midfield is clearly lacking any creativity whatsoever. Whilst Mascherano's form has been dodgy at times he is still performing his role and the finger clearly points at Lucas who is currently playing in Alonso's position. The opposition have become more than aware that our midfield no longer possesses any defence splitting passes, instead Lucas spends the whole game playing sideways(never heard of a team scoring on the touchline), so its easy to defend against us. If you have any doubts, analyse the goals we have scored this season and you will realise that most of our goals this season have been scrappy goals none of the beautiful team goals we saw last season when Reina would start the move, with Alonso engineering and Gerrard, Torres, Benyaoun or Riera finishing off. So because we are not attacking half as much, the opposition is attacking us even more making us concede more goals, more set plays resulting in more goals again. Reina is showing more class this season not because his defence has changed but because we are constantly under pressure. I dont think I've seen him make as many saves in the past 4 years as he has done in the past 4 months. So I dont know if the solution to the problem is Aquilani or moving Gerrard back to midfield and playing two strikers but surely Rafa must see that this idea of 2 holding midfielders especially against lesser teams like Debrecen (who almost got a point against us) is not working. It would be nice if Rafa could take a leaf out of Barcelona's book, they play with 2 attacking midfielders and only 1 holding player.
Zonal marking is not an excuse for ball watching like liverpool do it can work - First you cover your zone before the ball is kicked then secondly - react as necessary to attacking players movements. Liverpool are not doing the second bit. No excuse for top players and top management - such an easy thing to train for and correct.
To be honest I dont know how many points weve lost through this but even if it was only 1 point it could be the difference between us finishing in top 4. If you cant train your players to do it right rafa then drop the system.