benitez

Season-Defining Moments From The Last 5 Years

In commemoration of AnfieldIndex’s 5-year anniversary, this piece celebrates such a feat by highlighting the season-defining moments pertaining to Liverpool – the football club that the website is based on – over the last 5 years. This spans out from the beginning of the 2010/2011 season up until the 2014/2015 season. Just as a disclaimer,...

A New Hope: Liverpool’s Resurgence

“This time we’ll be destroyed for sure. This is madness.” – C3PO. A long time ago, in the annals of English football, there was a club... But this was no ordinary club. 18 League Titles, 5 European Cups and dozens of alternative trophies had launched Liverpool into the status of Global Superpower. Having fought against common enemies...

Liverpool’s Greatest Ever Manager

Quick question Reds, Who is Liverpool's greatest ever manager? I bet your answer depends on what age you are. If you're in your twentys or thirties you might say Gérard Houiller or Rafa Benitez or even Jürgen Klopp. If you're in you're forties or older you have a golden generation of managers to choose...

Klopp is the Right X-Factor for the Right Time

Just days ago, when an Arsenal fan mentioned Sanchez, Arsene Wenger or their huge stadium as their x-factor, I would have struggled to respond. I would have suffered a similar fate when a United fan talked about their riches, their experienced and accomplished manager. Or a Chelsea fan brought up their world class manager...

The Weak Link – Martin Skrtel

It's a common theme these days for a Liverpool player to split the opinions of the fans. Every single individual has their own template for when they're judging a player. What's good and what's bad. Nobody is impartial. Very few are right but that's the beauty of football isn't it, everybody has an opinion. Whether you're...

Klopp is The Man To Unite Liverpool’s Divided Fanbase

During my 21 years on the planet, the Liverpool fanbase has always been a divergent lot. Chasms of opinion have existed over matters both trivial and sincere. In the age of Football Twitter the various factions of Liverpool support have become increasingly clear and ghettoised, united and divided by opinions on various issues of support,...

A Solid Spine Would Do Liverpool Just Fine!

I’ve watched a lot of football over the best part of nearly 20 years and I’ve seen some great sides, some played beautiful expansive football, whilst others adopted a more defensive approach where they’d be ruthless on the counter attack. I’ve witnessed so many great managers and tacticians orchestrate various formations such as 4-5-1,...

Rafa vs Rodgers – Comparing Their First Three Years

Brendan has just begun his fourth season as manager and his first three years have been full of great expectations with limited success. It is hard to pinpoint exactly how well Rodgers has performed whilst in charge. In three seasons under Rodgers, the Reds have finished in 7th, 2nd and 6th, with two cup semi-finals...

Heroes of our Past: Xabi Alonso

In the summer of 2004, there was a renaissance underway at Anfield.  Liverpool replaced Gerard Houllier with a new man on the touchline in former Valencia manager, Rafa Benitez. Freshly off his second La Liga title in only three seasons at the Mestalla, the Spaniard was set to bring a winning mentality and tenacity...

Liverpool Needs Its Own X-Factor To Progress

The Oxford Dictionary defines x-factor as “a variable in a given situation that could have the most significant impact on the outcome”. X-factors tend to be the difference between teams that win trophies, those who fail to make top 4 and those that end up being relegated. An x-factor of some sort is therefore...