31 Oct 2016 18:27:05
Hi Eds and Reds, just wondering what your opinions are on Didi Hamann, I remember liking him when he was at the club but unfortunately I'm too you young to remember his time at the club too well, cheers guys.

{Ed001's Note - I loved him as a player, he was quality. His intelligence on the pitch was what made him stand out and his introduction, imo, was in big part what changed the 2005 Champions League final. If he had started the game, we would never have been 3-0 down at half-time.}

1.) 31 Oct 2016
31 Oct 2016 20:23:56
Credit to Rafa to bring him on. That was the beginning of the tactical man Rafa to me. Absolutely class player and his best game.

2.) 31 Oct 2016
31 Oct 2016 20:31:58
Have to agree with the Ed on this, was one of my favourite players at the time. I may be wrong but he also seems a nice bloke when he's been on the TV doing punditry or interviews, and still has a soft spot for LFC.

3.) 31 Oct 2016
31 Oct 2016 19:57:06
Cheers Ed, I always value your opinion, I'm reading Carragher's autobiography at the moment and his story about the first time he met Didi is hilarious.

{Ed001's Note - Didi was my fave in the Houllier era, once we lost God.}

4.) 31 Oct 2016
31 Oct 2016 21:01:34
If Rafael was a tactical genius he would have started Humanness in the final.

5.) 31 Oct 2016
31 Oct 2016 21:28:10
Didi was absolutely brilliant in his position and my favourite player in that era. Made the players who came after him look like complete amateurs. He totally deserved all he won with us - the 2005 final win was as much down to him as anything Stevie or Jerzy did. Finishing with a penalty scored with a broken toe. An absolute star, and an wonderful scouse German.

6.) 31 Oct 2016
31 Oct 2016 21:28:17
lol God23, yeah I agree mate.

7.) 31 Oct 2016
31 Oct 2016 21:48:00
I've decided I'm a real sadarse for remembering this, but I watched the 2nd leg of PSV vs. Milan in the semi final that year. PSV were behind from the first leg so they put Park Ji Sung behind their striker and went for it. He was able to cause big problems for their defence by running at them with the ball. PSV leveled the tie and were heading to extra time before Milan grabbed an away goal in stoppage time. And bear in mind that Park turned out to be hard-working wide midfielder rather than a twinkle-toed second striker when he joined Man U, so it's not like they were facing a world class player.

It was a strange decision (& ultimately an incorrect decision) to leave out Hamann, but my guess is Rafa and his staff thought Kewell could do the same thing to their defence as Park had in the semi final. In hindsight, the obvious decision would've been Hamman and Alonso in central midfield with Gerrard as second striker or free role from the right, but hindsight is wonderful.

8.) 31 Oct 2016
31 Oct 2016 22:09:00
SR it was ultimately the correct decision, we won big ears for good!

9.) 01 Nov 2016
31 Oct 2016 23:44:11
Loved Didi, one of my favourite every players - only behind Hypia and Carragher.

10.) 01 Nov 2016
31 Oct 2016 23:49:13
Good job didi didn't start the final then ed ;)

11.) 01 Nov 2016
31 Oct 2016 23:53:17
Hamman was Houlliers best signing.
If you read Carras autobiography Didi was very un German like.
Apparently He's a bit of a header.
Great footballer.

12.) 01 Nov 2016
01 Nov 2016 00:51:29
First saw Didi play in 1994 when he came up thru the ranks at Bayern Munich. Great player. Very gifted, great footballing brain and very cerebral player. He got better with age and was a huge cog in the German team that made the final of the WC in 2002. SG gets some of the credit for Istanbul nut trust me, we couldn't have done it without Didi, that much is clear. Was also a great guy of the pitch, as well.

13.) 01 Nov 2016
01 Nov 2016 06:23:17
Rafa could have just let the game go without any subs like Klopp did against Sevilla when they were hammering us in the middle and Can was looking like a confused child and Henderson on the bench.
He instead brought the subs and changed the game.

{Ed001's Note - you are talking crap, Rafa was terrible for having a set time to make subs, everyone moaned about his subs at the time, now you all have short memories and think he was some kind of supermanager. If he was so good, why did we not win the league with the best midfield in the world feeding Torres? Simple, he was not that good.}

14.) 01 Nov 2016
01 Nov 2016 06:38:48
That is still a pain Ed01. He bottled it in the end not winning the title.

{Ed001's Note - he bottled it at the start actually. Then it was too late to win it before he finally unleashed the players and let them play.}

15.) 01 Nov 2016
01 Nov 2016 06:43:18
I don't get you chin. Why are you using 1 match of Rafa's 7 year reign to have a pop at Klopp's current 1 year reign.
Rafa was a fantastic manager for us and Klopp is the best thing to happen to us since. Rafa made plenty of tactical cock ups in his time but to me he remains a legend.
Get behind Klopp, he will succeed. He will not always sign the players you want to sign or use the subs you would use, but ultimately he will succeed. Stop comparing the past, get behind the present.

16.) 01 Nov 2016
01 Nov 2016 07:01:05
Not sure where did I go against Klopp. Rafa was tactically first class and at times you need to tell a story for some to get in there head.

{Ed001's Note - no he was not. He was tactically solid, played the same way as Mourinho, park the bus and hope to snatch a goal, in 90% of matches. That is not first class, that is not where his strengths lay at all. His strengths lay in organising the team, not in tactical set up.}

17.) 01 Nov 2016
01 Nov 2016 07:11:12
Chin, Rafa picked the wrong team against the same opponents and same manager 2 champions league finals in 3 years. In Istanbul he changed it and we won. In Athens he didn't. Would Rafa have won against Sevilla? We will never know so just accept that. Personally I doubt Rafa would have got to the final last season but, again, we will never know.

18.) 01 Nov 2016
01 Nov 2016 08:30:01
Couldn't aagree more, ed1 and Ron.

19.) 01 Nov 2016
01 Nov 2016 09:01:15
Rafael Benitez, as good as he was, is the complete opposite of Jurgen Klopp. Rafa was pretty unfriendly towards players, defensively-minded even at Anfield (2 DMs) and not brilliant with the media. Given the quality at his disposal I'd say he underwhelmed, frustrated and under-achieved. Any comparison to Jurgen is moot because they are so different. I'm very thankful that we had Rafa because of what he brought to the youth set-up, Istanbul and his stance against the owners. He also clearly loved Liverpool and brought some legendary players to the club (as well as many failures! ) Benitez was brilliant for us in Europe but not so switched-on domestically. Jurgen Klopp doesn't deserve any criticism as far as I'm concerned.12 months in charge, 1 x domestic final, 1 x European final and title-challengers.
I can't understand why a manager who has brought such happiness back should have one single critic.!

20.) 01 Nov 2016
01 Nov 2016 11:11:22
Not sure why we are debating the qualities of two of our managers who both have their individual strengths and tactics. Having said that, the biggest difference between Klopp and Rafa is that Benitez brought success over his tenure, whereas Jurgen is yet to achieve anything significant so far. I do believe Klopp will ultimately be the more successful manager for us if he sticks around but I will always be thankful to Rafa for what he and his team achieved.

21.) 01 Nov 2016
01 Nov 2016 13:04:17
Raffa was building a great team at Liverpool that would have won the prem.
Later he bacame hamstrung by Gillettes and Hicks take over which burdened the club with debt.
Then he had to compromise on signing quality.
That led to the quality players moving on because they new the club was bust.