It’s been way too long since we were the Liverpool Football Club we all have known and loved for most of the last fifty years, since the great Bill Shankly put the Club on an irresistible path to greatness. In recent history, Gerard Houllier proved to be a very decent man who clearly had an affinity and love for the City and the Football Club but who fell short of taking us to the ultimate destination. Unfortunately for Gerard, it wasn’t just the destination he failed to achieve: it was also the mode of transport.
Fans over a certain age became used to dining out on filet steak rather than corned beef. Shankly started the revolution and handed the baton to Paisley, who took a great recipe and improved upon it. Fagan followed with more of the same. Pass and move; attacking football; play your best eleven.
But what of Rafa and the position we now find ourselves in?
I love the tradition of the Club; I love the support and loyalty displayed by the Supporters; and I love the unshakable belief in Rafa shown by the Diehards. This is the tradition of the club; end of story.
But, sooner or later, Houllier ran out of time. Or was it that he ran out of ideas?
Rafa was perhaps fortunate to win the Champions League in Istanbul in his first year, with a team made up predominantly of Houllier’s players. However, history reports he choreographed an improbable comeback that did, indeed, take the world by storm and he found himself writ firmly, and forever, in LFC lore. But what really happened during those fifteen long, half-time minutes in Istanbul? Did Rafa really produce a motivational speech to match those of a Churchill, Mountbatten, JFK, Martin Luther-King, Ghandi or a Mandela? Did he really reach deep into the psyche of those players and bring about the metamorphosis we all witnessed in the second half.
Nothing that has happened since would indicate Rafa has that in his locker. Maybe it was a one-off; perhaps the right time; right place. Or maybe it was something else. Maybe, just maybe, it was a Gerrard or a Carragher, so completely humiliated by the circumstances of the first half that they felt compelled to act, to take control and to make an impassioned plea to the non-Scousers amongst them to save face; to give those travelling supporters something to believe in; to tap into whatever professional pride they still had. Whatever it was, it earned itself a place in football history; to be remembered forever as one of the footballing comebacks of all time.
It also bought Rafa a huge amount of goodwill, warranted or not. Goodwill on which he continues to dine out.
So what now?
In my humble opinion, Rafa doesn’t play football the ‘Liverpool Way’ and, what’s more, he is philosophically unable to do so. He has a negative, ‘let’s not lose’ mentality that doesn’t sit well with the ‘faithful’. Without doubt, and I’ll be the first to admit, if we were at Title Number 19 and looking for 20 under his stewardship, I would probably say, “Okay, it ain’t pretty but it’s getting the job done.” Unfortunately, it ain’t pretty but it’s not getting the job done. Sure, we can hang onto those halcyon days from the last three months of last season and see what can be achieved. But, looking back over Rafa’s time in charge, were those three months ‘the norm’ or, in retrospect, were they as much of an aberration as the second half in Istanbul?
This isn’t about the bankrupt performance the team has put in today, this week, this month or, even, this season. It’s much more fundamental than that. You can talk about the Yanks and you can talk about the lack of money but we are talking about a footballing philosophy and the ability to get consistently good performances from the players you have at your disposal.
By posting this I am clearly opening myself up to criticism and, possibly, personal abuse. Those of a reasonable disposition will likely ask for my solution. Oh, if life were so simple.
Although I have never been a fan of Rafa’s management style or footballing philosophy, I have to admit to probably giving him one more season; although I am confident he is not the guy to take us to the Promised Land. Having said that, if we fail to finish in a CL qualifying spot, I obviously wouldn’t be disappointed to see a change at the top before next season.
Posted by Racing_in_the_Street on LFC Online's forums