You lot are pathetic.

75. At 10:04am on 21 Oct 2009, RandomMemorableName wrote: You lot are pathetic. The fact that your so eager to pounce on (a rare) run of poor form says it all. This constant tirade aimed at Rafa and his 'failings' in the transfer market are ridiculous. You cannot judge a player singularly in this situation, you have to assess the bigger picture. The fact that every player signed and sold by Rafa has been sold for a profit suggets he knows what he is doing.

Hmm. A bold claim.
Let's have a look, shall we?

Rafael Benitez has indeed made a number of signings he later sold at a profit, the most notable of which being Xabi Alonso, of course. Here's a list:

Carson £1m in £3.25m out = £2.25m
Alonso £10.5m in £30m out = £19.5m
Bellamy £6m in £7.5m out = £1.5m
Crouch £7m in £10m out = £3m
Sissoko £5.6m in £8.2m out = £2.6m
Arbeloa £2.6m in £3.5m out = £0.9m

Total = £29.75m profit

Not bad. A near-£30m profit on players bought and subsequently sold by dear Rafa.
But wait! Surely there are more than that? Surely he's signed and sold more than six players?! But... he couldn't have, could he? After all "every player signed and sold by Rafa has been sold for a profit." Have a look:

Morientes £6.3m in £3m out = £3.3m loss
Luis Garcia £6m in £4m out = £2m loss
Gonzalez £4.5m in £4.2m out = £0.3m loss
Pennant £6.7m in £0 out = £6.7m loss
Leto £1.85m in £1.3m out £0.55m loss
Keane £19m in £12m out = £7m loss

£19.85m loss

So, indeed a bold claim... and a false one.
Overall, of players bought and sold by Rafael Benitez, he has made losses on as many players as he's made a profit. He's lucky Martin O'Neill priced him out of buying Gareth Barry because in that case he would have sold Alonso a year earlier for £14m and the figures wouldn't look so good at all. So, thanks Martin.

Example: ith our limited budget - check our NET SPEND each year compared to those around us (including the likes of Villa and Spurs) - we couldn't have arrived at Torres without first making a profit on players like Crouch and Bellamy.

You didn't sell Crouch until a year after signing Torres so I'm treating that part as absolute nonsense. Likewise, the net profit on sales of £9.9m is almost entirely thanks to the £19.5m profit on Xabi Alonso, a player who was sold a full two years after the signing of Fernando Torres. I doubt the measly £1.5m profit on Bellamy really made all the difference.

As for the net spend - clickity click here.
04-09, Rafa's period in charge, Liverpool are 3rd. Behind Chelsea and Man City, ahead of Villa and Spurs. What exactly are you trying to claim here?

The rate at which this squad has improved gets overlooked just all too often. Time and time again people fail to see that what we are chasing is not a stationary object. Chelsea, Utd, Arsenal - they are all improving. The fact is however, we are improving at a faster rate.

That is not a fact. Manchester United and Chelsea have been scoring consistently in the high-80s in points for the last 4 or 5 years. There is very little, if any, room for improvement beyond that. It is a lot easier for a team like Liverpool to improve from 68 and 76 points to 86 than it is for Manchester United to improve on the 90 points they scored last season. No team is going to finish the season on 100 points.

We finished over 30 points behind the champions in Rafa's first year in charge. Each year we are getting closer. Miracles we do at once, the impossible takes a little longer.

The first part in italics is indeed true. The second part in bold... is not.
In Rafa's second year in charge you finished 9 points behind the champions on 82 points.
Third year - 68 points, 21 points behind the champions. Incidentally, the champions that year were Manchester United, who had finished the season on 83 points the year before, only a single point more than Liverpool. They went forward, Rafa's Liverpool took a huge backward step.
Fourth year - 76 points. An improvement on the year before, still less than he achieved in his second year.
Fifth year - 86 points. Yes. Finally, an improvement on the second year of Rafa's reign. It doesn't change the fact he achieved less in the third and fourth years than the second.

To summarise, you did get closer last year but to say you have been getting closer each year is clearly untrue.

Good day.