Rafael Benitez - The Man Brendan Rodgers Has To Thank

By Josh Bradley: http://bradleysbettingblog.wordpress.com https://twitter.com/JoshBradley10

On June 16th 2004, Liverpool finally got their man as the then Valencia manager Rafael Benitez signed on the dotted line and took charge of the reds.

His career at Valencia brought much success, as he managed to win La Liga twice as well as bringing the Uefa Cup back to the Mestalla in his three year career at the club. This created much hype around the Spaniard and he was welcomed on Merseyside with open arms.

The man from Madrid managed to live up to the expectation as he endured a successful six-year stint on Merseyside in which he managed to deliver a Champions League winners and runners up medal, an FA Cup winners medal and Liverpool’s highest league finish in many years, when finishing four points off winners Manchester United in second place.

He will be forever remembered for ‘that night’ in Istanbul when he brought home Liverpool’s fifth Champions League trophy in incredible fashion, clawing back a 3-0 deficit after half-time.

His transfer dealings as he racked up just under £229 million’s worth of spending, but when you look back over the years, he was possibly the shrewdest man to work in the transfer market. He managed to convince some of Europe’s top names to grace Anfield, the likes of Fernando Torres, Xabi Alonso and Javier Mascherano as he created one of the strongest Liverpool teams of the modern era. Of course he made some mistakes (pretty big ones..) such as signing Robbie Keane for £19m before not really giving him a chance and shipping him back out to Spurs within a year  for a fraction of the price, as-well as bringing in ‘the new Thierry Henry’ Ryan Babel for £11.5m. But everyone makes mistakes, and Rafa’s were very few and far between.

His man management was brilliant and he brought an attacking style of play to Liverpool which excited the fans, and managed to adopt the football he played at Valencia into the Premier League, whilst still dominating in Europe thanks to the likes of Luis Garcia and Djibril Cisse.

He left with his head held high in 2010, and for many, the Benitez era was well and truly over. But little would they know, it would take to this season to really begin to shine, without many even realising.

Brendan Rodgers has gained many fans across the country for giving many members of his youth squad a chance in the first team, without people actually realising where he acquired the players from.

Raheem Sterling, Suso and Jonjo Shelvey have been three of the revelations of the season at Anfield after putting in a string of impressive performances pushing them into first-team regulars. All three of these were brought to the club by Benitez when he was still at the helm.

He signed Sterling in February 2010 from QPR, when he was only 15, for an initial fee of £600,000, which could rise to £5 million depending on how many appearances he makes for the first-team. This was risky business and many thought splashing out such big cash on a 15 year old was crazy, but now we are beginning to see just how good Rafa was at spotting talent.

This is seen in it’s strongest case by the signing and nurturing of Suso. ”Rafa phoned me and convinced me to leave Cadiz CF. When he left us and Hodgson came in, everything was totally the opposite,” Suso stated. He allowed him the chance to learn from older players in the reserves without rushing him into the first team, and wasting his talent. The 18 year-old has shone over the past couple of years in the reserves with many commenting on his magnificent technical ability and vision. We must all be thankful for Rodgers giving him a chance in the first team, but we must not forget just how important Benitez was in initially signing Suso and then keeping him at the club.

Shelvey is arguably the pick of the bunch as the ex-Charlton man has come into his own, and is now challenging the skipper for a place in attacking midfield. When Liverpool splashed the cash on Joe Allen and signed the Welshman for £15m, the majority felt it was the end for Shelvey at Liverpool, but he has performed with great credit when given the chance and showed his passion and desire to fight for a place at the club. Benitez spoke extremely highly of Jonjo when he paid the £1.7m for him back when he was 16.

“Players who could feel what Liverpool means. Shelvey is one of these and we have two or three names ready so we will try to do the best for the club.

“We have this long-term plan in place and we will try to follow the plan.”

These are only a few of the players that we can thank Rafa for that our now in the main squad. Pepe Reina was a £6m purchase from Villareal, which has turned out to be a steal, as he’s developed into one of the most consistent Goalkeepers in the world.

Martin Kelly has developed into a promising talent and looks set to be challenging for a place in the first-team when he returns from injury.  Benitez gave Kelly his debut in 2008 and stated he thought Kelly could be in contention to be first-choice centre-back after the departure of Sami Hyypia. He has usually been deployed as a right-back due to his pace and ability with the ball, but could easily slot back in to a centre-back role if Brendan feels he’s suited.

But finally, one of the most important things Rafael Benitez ever did in his six-year stint at Liverpool occurred in the first month. When the man from Madrid arrived at the club Steven Gerrard’s future was in doubt, but the decision for the former Valencia manager to fly out to Portugal whilst Gerrard was competing in the Euro’s proved to be a shrewd one. He had a lengthy discussion with Gerrard about the direction the position the club was going in, and why he should stay at the club. This was a major factor in the skippers decision to stay, as he had previously stated he was ‘unhappy with the progress the club was making’, but a few words of wisdom from Benitez instilled the confidence in Gerrard the club was going in the right direction.

Without this, Gerrard could well be playing at Stamford Bridge alongside another Benitez master-stroke  Fernando Torres. Instead he is still captaining his childhood club and gracing the Anfield turf every weekend, which in turn is still key in attracting big names to the club.

So when you are thanking Brendan for giving the opportunities to the youngsters, allow a small appreciation for a certain Mr Benitez for allowing the team to take the shape it does today. Benitez’ best work at Liverpool, may still yet to have occurred.

The Premier League – Who to follow, and updated bets

By Josh Bradley: http://bradleysbettingblog.wordpress.com/ https://twitter.com/JoshBradley10

The Premier League is well under way and it is clear to see there are numerous surprise packages and potential superstars in the offing, as-well as established top class players, cementing their status.

Five Key Men:

1) Nikica Jelavic: The Everton man has started this season, the way he finished the last. He has bagged 4 goals already, even with missing out two weeks of the season through injury. His one touch finishing is a key factor for Everton’s success this season, and with the support he is receiving from Fellaini he looks set to continue shooting up the goalscoring charts. I advised a bet on the Croatian before the season started to finish top-scorer at 28/1 and he is now a best priced 16/1, so you can afford to lay the bet off for a small profit if you wish. But with Everton’s fixture list, it may pay to wait until more towards Christmas time after the Croat has banged in a fair few more goals.

2) Santi Cazorla: The Arsenal creative midfielder has been one of the finds of the year. After impressing in his first season at Malaga last year, Arsene Wenger seen enough potential to bring the Spaniard to the Emirates in an attempt to fill the void left by Fabregas. He is key to any success Arsenal will have this year, with the link-up play he is going to have, between Ramsey/Arteta and the front three. He knows where the goal is, as shown by his return of 9 goals last year from Midfield when still at Malaga. He has already scored two this year for new club Arsenal and could reach double figures before the end of the season.

3) Fernando Torres: After enduring a torrid opening to his Chelsea career, El Nino has finally began to regain the form he showed at Liverpool. His finishing is exceptional, and he will create chances out of nothing. His partnership with Eden Hazard is enough to scare any defenders and the fact that Chelsea are already four points clear is partly down to the Spaniard finding his shooting boots. He has bagged four so far this season in the Prem, and the 11/1 I advised pre-season has now disappeared and he is now a best priced 13/2. This still looks a brilliant bet, with the way Chelsea have started the season, and I expect him to score 20+.

4) Rickie Lambert: The ex-Beetroot factory worker has answered all his critics who questioned just how well he would when stepping up to the Premier League. The Liverpudlian has been key in Southampton’s opening few games, and has managed to help his side out of the relegation zone, although they still sit in a precarious 17th place. He can play as a lone striker with great conviction and comparisons with Grant Holt at Norwich are fair, as both have magnificent hold up play as well as tremendous power and a deadly finish. If Southampton are to stay up, Lambert will be the key man to keep them up.

5) Joe Hart: Many people’s choice as the Worlds best goalkeeper, and it is hard to disagree after the consistent performances the Englishman has put in. He has started the season in inspired form and although City have conceded a lot more goals than they would have liked, it could have been a lot worse had it not been for Hart. His positioning is second-to-none and it allows him to make plenty of saves that other ‘keepers would have no chance of getting near. Manchester City have conceded twice as many goals as Chelsea have, and Mancini will be looking to shape up his defence. However, if Manchester City are to retain their title, a lot of it will come down to the performances of Joe Hart.

Five to watch:

1) David de Gea: David de Gea has responded well to the heavy criticism he faced due to a number of poor performances last year, staking his claim to keep the number one spot this year, ahead of Anders Lindegaard. De Gea has always been renowned as a brilliant shot-stopper, but his positional awareness and command of his box, has often been disappointing. He lost his place against Spurs, as Fergie opted to give Lindegaard his chance between the sticks, but after conceding three, it looks likely he will be be relegated to the bench once more. If United are to mount a serious challenge to claim their 20th league title, a lot will rest on clean sheets, so de Gea will be of key importance. He knows this is his chance to prove himself as a world-class ‘keeper, and this will be a massive season for him.

2) Matt Jarvis: Jarvis turned heads in the summer when breaking West Ham’s club record transfer fee, for over £10 million. He had a successful career but will be under a substantial amount of pressure from the Hammers faithful to deliver. However, he seems to have slotted in to the way Allardyce goes about his football perfectly. Last season he was the most accurate Premier League crosser, and the most frequent, with 56 finding a team-mate out of 218 crosses, and with the loan addition of Andy Carroll, he will have a brilliant target to aim at. He never fails to track back and his work-rate is excellent, he looks set to be in for a brilliant season which could really kick-start the 26 year-old’s career.

3) Suso: Brendan Rodgers has put his faith in the products of the Liverpool youth academy and Suso is possibly the most exciting prospect. The Spaniard slipped under the radar following all of the fuss about 17 year-old Raheem Sterling, but the creativeness of Suso is something that Liverpool have lacked for a long time. He is one step ahead of defenders and has the talent to actually create an end product in the final third. His debut against Manchester United was incredibly impressive, and he didn’t let the occasion overwhelm him as he showed he was fearless, with his direct running at some of the best midfielder’s and defenders in the world. He has put in numerous brilliant performances at Youth and Reserve level, and the partnership he struck up with Suarez during the Norwich game was enough to excite Liverpool fans across the globe. He looks set to be given plenty more chances by Rodgers and by the end of the season he could well have established himself as a key first-team member.

4) Romelu Lukaku: The West Brom forward who is on-loan from Chelsea is one of the rawest talents in the league. His physical presence is massive and the 19 year-old Belgian has the perfect mix of pace and power. He failed to cement a starting place at Stamford Bridge but Steve Clarke has said Lukaku will be getting a number of first-team opportunities at The Hawthorns. He often brushes past defences with his direct running style, but his finishing often lets him down. Clarke will aim to get the best out of the big man during his time at the club and if he can improve his finishing, he will be a massive hit. He has the potential to become one of the best target-men in the league, as he has incredible pace to go with his strength and tremendous aerial ability. It is going to be a massive season, and it would be no surprise to see him become a massive success, and we could well see him partnering Fernando Torres up-top next season at the Bridge.

5) Michu: One of the shrewdest pieces of business during the transfer windows has to be Laudrup bringing in ex Rayo Vallenco star Michu. He was the highest scoring midfielder in La Liga last season with 15 goals, alongside his 3 assists and 5 Man of the Match performances. He has adapted well to the English game and has already scored 5 this season, impressing pundits with his passionate performances, intricate passing and brilliant finishing. He will be key to Swansea’s attempt to avoid relegation and he is more than a fitting replacement for Gylfi Sigurdsson. A big season is in store for the Spaniard and he will be hoping his decision to turn down bigger clubs for the Swans, will be a worthwhile venture.

Tips:

0.5 points: Santi Cazorla – PFA Player of the Year @ 14/1 – Paddy Power

0.5 points: Fernando Torres – PFA Player of the Year @ 16/1 – Paddy Power

3 points: West Brom – Top Midlands Club @ Evens – BetVictor