Voici un bel article dans le Liverpool Echo du 27.12 par Tonny Barrett au sujet de Sammy Lee et bien mérité !
TONY BARRETT: Sammy Lee has been Liverpool's best summer signing of all
Dec 27 2008 by Tony Barrett, Liverpool Echo
WHO was Rafa Benitez's best signing during the summer?
Even Andrea Dossena's mum would be hard pressed for making a convincing case for it being the Italian left back who has endured a torrid time since arriving on Merseyside.
Robbie Keane was the most expensive but has struggled to live up to his £20m price tag and will have to add dramatically to his goal tally if speculation on his future is to go away.
Swiss defender Philipp Degen has barely been seen because of injuries, which his critics believe isn't a bad thing given his performances when available.
Diego Cavalieri was brought in as back up to Pepe Reina and has only appeared in three cup games up to now so can't really be judged.
Of all the signings on the playing front, Albert Riera has undoubtedly made the biggest impact as the Spanish winger has given Liverpool the width they so badly needed and proven himself to be a far better player than the one English football fans remembered from his loan spell at Man City in 2006.
On the whole, it wasn't Liverpool's most productive summer in the transfer market but there is one signing which stands out above all others.
When Benitez was on the lookout for an assistant manager Sammy Lee seemed like the obvious choice for the job.
Proven top class coaches with Premier League management experience and the universal respect of his peers don't come on the market too often, especially not ones who are steeped in the tradition of Liverpool Football Club.
Having been discarded by Bolton Lee was on the market at a time when the club he supported as a boy was on the lookout for a new addition to its backroom team.
The timing could not have been better for both parties and Lee was able to slot in seamlessly, even taking in a couple of days training at the end of last season.
As several of the players have since admitted it was as if Lee had never been away as he set up training drills for the squad to take part in and equally importantly added a Scouse accent to the mix of Benitez's staff and a knowledge of what makes Liverpool tick which was gained during his previous spells at the club as both coach and player.
You can't put a price on such experience and Lee's input since returning to Anfield has been invaluable.
Over the past couple of weeks, the 49-year-old has faced his biggest test since becoming Benitez's number two.
The illness which laid the Reds boss low and kept him away from first team duties meant someone had to fill his shoes and the command structure at Melwood made it inevitable that Lee would be that man.
At Arsenal last week, commander Benitez may have been directing operations by mobile phone but it was his understudy who was putting his orders into practice and the combination was enough to win Liverpool a hard earned point at what remains a difficult venue despite the Gunners' inconsistent league form so far this season.
Benitez trusts Lee totally and enjoys a relationship with him that he probably didn't have with Alex Miller, the coach whose departure to Japan at the end of last season created a space in the Liverpool backroom staff which Lee has filled.
He also respects Lee's vast knowledge of Liverpool as a football club and the way it should conduct itself and rightly so.
Having graduated from the Kop to go on and play for the Reds, Lee won League Championship and European Cup winners medals with Liverpool before coaching at Anfield under Gerard Houllier.
What Sammy Lee doesn't know about Liverpool Football Club probably isn't worth knowing and his knowledge alone has made him an invaluable member of Benitez's staff in the short time he has worked with the Spaniard.
The fact that he talks like a Liverpool coach from a bygone age, a modern day version of Ronnie Moran, is also a huge positive even if it doesn't give press men the easy headlines they are looking for.
It can be all too easy to get carried away with big four status, particularly with Liverpool having enjoyed their best start to a season in more than a decade.
But in the press conferences leading up to the Arsenal game, Lee was humble and understated and refused to take the bait certain individuals were offering him in the hope of getting a cheap headline.
On a couple of occasions he actually apologised in advance for talking in clichés, but he needn't have bothered because his routine Anfield speak is exactly what Liverpool needs right now.
This is no time for promises that can't be kept or for bold statements that could end up making the club look foolish at a later date. It is a time for feet to be kept on the ground and for perspective to be retained and Lee does that do perfection.
That is why Sammy Lee is the perfect man to be Rafa Benitez's number two and why he will take some beating as Liverpool's best summer signing.
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