Liverpool's form since Paco left has been truly abysmal, the players collectively go from one lack lustre display to another. Paco was the players conduit to the manager and the one person brave enough to say no to Rafa.
Publicly the players say they support Rafa but there's only a machine like emotion free communication between Rafa and them. Rafa may very well be a tactical genius but his people skills are lacking. It's all good and well having lots of great players but we need someone who can motivate them, shame none of them seem to be able to stand up and be counted by themselves !
I'm a believer in the rotation system when you have the right players (we do), but I'm a much bigger believer in good motivators (we lack one) and its neglecting that aspect which will cost us the big trophies this year !
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Rotation, Rotation. Is anyone else getting sick of hearing this? Paul your right, Rafa's done it for three years now and we've always played well in the Champion's League and finals at the end of the season.
Last night is difficult to say what went wrong. Paco was a massive influence. But last night we never played as well as we can and in fairness, Marseille played very well (or at least we let them). It may boil down to the team not being mentally prepared before the game (Paco's motivation). But one thing is for sure - the team as a whole just did not click. Just one of them nights i guess. Well lets hope so.
Darren.
Belfast.
To paraphrase Zhou Enlai, it's too early to say whether Paco's departure has had such an impact. I find it hard to believe that an assistant can have such an impact, Alex Ferguson went a whole year without one and managed fine.
Hey 'Darren from Belfast', you're not the Darren from Belfast who used do the Stadium Tour? :-)
Paco's leaving has left a void, the players dont have a good interpersonal relationship wtih Rafa.
Paco offered them an outlet for their frustrations etc.
I'm not saying we're playing badly because Paco left - but the players clearly lack motivation and dont have anyone to talk to (sounds mushy cushy i know).
Mourinho, Ferguson etc are more people oriented managers - something which Benitez is not.
"the players dont have a good interpersonal relationship wtih Rafa."
How do you know this? It sounds like cod psychology to me.
I thought it was common enough knowledge that they dont, Gerrard, Carragher, Alonso et al have come out and said they didnt have much of a relationship with Rafa but did with Paco.
The way Guilleme Balague on Sky Sports put it is that Rafa views the players merely as pawns and has no interest in developing good relationships with them.
What the players say is worthless. Everything is always rosy in the garden, they love the gaffer and don't want him to go - then they fawn over the new man in exactly the same way as if the other guy never existed.
As for Guillem Balague's comments, I agree with him that Rafa doesn't want to cosy up to players, he just wants them to do their jobs and go home. I like this. It shouldn't mean he can't motivate them or that they need an assistant to give them a cuddle when the gaffer is being beastly to them
hi deiseach,
nope im not the guy who used to do the Stadium Tour, i've been on it alright ;)
Pity. Darren from Belfast of Stadium Tour fame made much of all the ashes that were scattered at the Kop end in the same talk where he went about the newly laid pitch. So I asked him what he told people who queried where their loved ones ashes had gone when the pitch was torn up. "Well," says Darren from Belfast, "is it any different to being buried at sea?"
Excellent answer
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