Who Should be Aston Villa Manager ? Now with new, revised poll

[enigma]

Benitez or Rijkaard for me, they both have established records and could attract decent signings.

I really don't want Rijkaard. It's well known he'd lost the dressing room at Barcelona and they were pretty much managing themselves when they won the Champions League, A bit like France under Domenech when they reached the final of the World Cup. He can't take too much credit for that. There's a reason the best he could do when they sacked him was to manage in Turkey and even then he could only manage 8th with Galatasary who are the biggest club in that country. Not much of an established record if you ask me.

[KevinGage]

It's an interesting theory.

But seeing as he took over in 2003 (after a period when they'd won nowt since the late 90's) won the league in 2004/05 and the league and EC in 05/6, I'm not sure it stacks up. Valdes, Iniesta, Messi and co all came through during his stint. And whilst it would take a supremely inept manager to waste those kind of talents, he also signed the likes of Eto, Marques, Ronaldinho and Giuly.

His recent failure at Galatasary is why he might be semi realistic for us. Yet any manager that inherits ageing shithouses like Baros, Kewell and Lucas Neill (and they were some of his better players) is up against it from the start. Haven't Galatasary just recently moved to a new stadium too? This may or may not have impacted on finances available to strengthen adequately, rebuild the squad et.c

[enigma]

It's an interesting theory.

But seeing as he took over in 2003 (after a period when they'd won nowt since the late 90's) won the league in 2004/05 and the league and EC in 05/6, I'm not sure it stacks up. Valdes, Iniesta, Messi and co all came through during his stint. And whilst it would take a supremely inept manager to waste those kind of talents, he also signed the likes of Eto, Marques, Ronaldinho and Giuly.

His recent failure at Galatasary is why he might be semi realistic for us. Yet any manager that inherits ageing shithouses like Baros, Kewell and Lucas Neill (and they were some of his better players) is up against it from the start. Haven't Galatasary just recently moved to a new stadium too? This may or may not have impacted on finances available to strengthen adequately, rebuild the squad et.c

The players that came through weren't down to him though. That's all down to La Masia. They'd have come through no matter who was in charge.

And transfers are handled differently there too. The manager can suggest targets to go for but the board have the final say. It was them that wanted Ronaldinho for example (Not that Rijkaard wouldn't have wanted him mind you)

[villa for life]

Bit mystified why Benitez has a lot of support.
When he was sacked by Liverpool, they were a mid-table team filled with average players, one of the most mediocre teams in Liverpool's history. He had lost the dressing room and made some extremely expensive but dodgy signings (Aquilaini and Glen Johnson both around 17 million).
He was sacked also by Inter, after criticizing the owners for a lack of funds.
He's also very much into zonal marking and squad rotation.

I just don't think he's a good fit for Villa right now.

[The Situation]

Redman, could you enlighten the Villa fans on Rafa's tactics and his style of football at Liverpool?

From what I can recall when Liverpool played well, they played very well - attacking freely and scoring lots of goals, but when they were bad, they were really bad and would seem to really struggle against the smaller teams having problems of opening up defences etc...

Would Rafa ever implement 'negative' tactics or would you call them 'clever' tactics?

P.S. Ignore the members on Villatalk. That site is a disgrace and certainly does not represent Villa fans, that site is an embarrassment to Villa fans.

Compact, possession football. He was forever gesturing for the defence and midfield to close. And always talking about controlling the game by dominating the ball.

But you're right - at times we struggled to open teams up when off form. We'd often end up playing the entire game in the opposition half but without delivering a final ball. Maintaining shape was very important but that often left us static and left the man in possession with few options. And you could say it was negative. We rarely had men pouring forward and he rarely threw caution to the wind.

I'm sure the above wasn't part of the plan but I think Rafa was always aware of his team's limitations. Priority was to be difficult to beat and if we weren't on top form, he would rather accept a draw than risk defeat. Liverpool was always a work in progress under Rafa, only realising it's potential in the second half of the 2008-09. Our form was so good then, men were pouring forward but still snapping back into shape if possession was lost.

We thought that was the start of something. We just needed to carry on playing like that. You probably remember the 5-0 at Anfield. That was as good as I remember us playing under Rafa. And I remember Gerrard giving an interview where he claimed the team was ready pick up where we left off the next season. But that approach backfired. We didn't have the form to play so cavalier that early in the season. I remember trying it against you and you picked us off 3-1.

That was when Rafa's reign started unravelling. We stopped being difficult to beat.

So that's how I would summarise Rafa's approach as Liverpool manager. Very dependent on form. If form is good, go for the win. If not, take the draw. The idea is make sure you're on form more often.

Thanks for the detailed response. Interesting reading

[Malandro]

made some extremely expensive but dodgy signings (Aquilaini and Glen Johnson both around 17 million).

Good job they now have Keegan (Carroll 35 million, Henderson reported 20 million and possibly Phil Jones 16 million) If I didn't know the manager, I'd swear that was O'neill

[TopDeck113]

Keegan?

[Malandro]

Whoops!

[DrGonzo]

Bit mystified why Benitez has a lot of support.
When he was sacked by Liverpool, they were a mid-table team filled with average players, one of the most mediocre teams in Liverpool's history. He had lost the dressing room and made some extremely expensive but dodgy signings (Aquilaini and Glen Johnson both around 17 million).
He was sacked also by Inter, after criticizing the owners for a lack of funds.
He's also very much into zonal marking and squad rotation.

I just don't think he's a good fit for Villa right now.

Thank the Gods!!  Someone is talking sense.  The guy is an ass.  He took 5 years to destroy the squad that Houllier took years to build, he spawned the Chumps League trophy (rather like that Barca team they only won that because they started to play like they needed to, not how Benitez had set them up. ffs he picked Kewell for that match!) 
Owen Coyle for me off of that list, he is a motivator and has an appreciation of how to play football even if he hasn't a proven record.  Best of the bunch and British.

[avfcpg]

How on earth do you "spawn" the Champions League Trophy? Does that mean it doesn't count?

Wish we could spawn a trophy or two....

[not3bad]

Just seen a tweet from Matt Kendrick stating that McClaren is NOT the leading contender for the Villa job.

[pauliewalnuts]

How on earth do you "spawn" the Champions League Trophy? Does that mean it doesn't count?

It is also quite ironic for Villa fans to denigrate a European Cup final win against the odds as "lucky"

[holtepaul]

i have had to say benitez in the list given, closely followed by rikyaard for me. Ben first because of what he said in that interview, seems to fit the criteria.

However, until someone is standing on the pitch holding a shirt, its still ancelotti for me !

[ozzjim]

How on earth do you "spawn" the Champions League Trophy? Does that mean it doesn't count?

It is also quite ironic for Villa fans to denigrate a European Cup final win against the odds as "lucky"

It was a tactical move that bought the turnaround too wasn't it - something like Gerard dropping further back to see more of the ball and Milan could not cope with him attacking from a position they were not prepared for. Plus Dudek had a great game.

If Benitez does come, he can pick up another keeper like Reina if wants to!

[cheltenhamlion]

Holtepaul, his name is in the list and does not read as Rikyaard.