Sport Liverpool Football Club

[ras el hanout]

His family still live here.

For the last time, you are not his family!

[The Fox]

So the English media reports on one of Rafa's press conferences where he speaks about Liverpool, and we suddenly decide that he's never given a press conference about his current club Inter? What a load of shite.

Yeah I was being facetious funnily enough. Not sure what to say if you didn't pick up on that.

edit: this is hardly the first time he's ranted about Liverpool though is it

[Reynard]

Ranted? Yeah, he's always ranting, that fella.

EDIT: It turns out that I mustn't have ever truly known the meaning of the word until it was used by the media to describe situations where Benitez is talking about something he disagrees with.

[ras el hanout]

Ranted? Yeah, he's always ranting that fella.

You're actually being harsh on rafa for once. He's not always ranting. Just every now and again he goes off on one. Unlike mourinho rafa normally comes out of it looking like a buffoon. It's a shame he does it.

[The Fox]

I'm sorry, is "tirade" better than "rant"? Is that more apt? Or "diatribe" perhaps? Or we can call it a "dialectic" if it makes you really happy. I'm not sure this is terribly important though.

Christ, you guys are something else. I can't imagine ever defending Wenger so vehemently; certainly not if he'd left under a cloud after a terrible season finishing 7th or whatever it was. And that's a guy whose "legacy" at my club is somewhat more impressive than that left by Rafa.

[SMD]

For the last time, you are not his family!

2/10

[Takizawa]

I'm sorry, is "tirade" better than "rant"? Is that more apt? Or "diatribe" perhaps? Or we can call it a "dialectic" if it makes you really happy. I'm not sure this is terribly important though.

Christ, you guys are something else. I can't imagine ever defending Wenger so vehemently; certainly not if he'd left under a cloud after a terrible season finishing 7th or whatever it was. And that's a guy whose "legacy" at my club is somewhat more impressive than that left by Rafa.

I'd have replied the same regardless of who it was about.

[SMD]

I'm sorry, is "tirade" better than "rant"? Is that more apt? Or "diatribe" perhaps? Or we can call it a "dialectic" if it makes you really happy. I'm not sure this is terribly important though.

Christ, you guys are something else. I can't imagine ever defending Wenger so vehemently; certainly not if he'd left under a cloud after a terrible season finishing 7th or whatever it was. And that's a guy whose "legacy" at my club is somewhat more impressive than that left by Rafa.

[The Fox]

Look cheerleaders, I really don't have anything against Benitez at all. He seems alright. A bit stroppy, a bit temperamental, but he's ok. Never had any beef with him when he was over here really. But from an outsider looking in with feint interest, he seems to keep talking in disparaging terms about various people at the club. This has happened on a few occasions since he joined Inter. And I think it seems a bit odd, given the nature of his current position. I mean he should basically be all really, but instead he seems a bit . I really think he'd do himself a favour if he rose above any perceived injustice and stopped sniping at people, but then like I said, he always seemed a bit temperamental.

edit: ^^^^^^ I have literally no idea what that series of photos is meant to represent

[Nate Dogg III]

2/10

Credit where it's due, I chuckled.

I can sort of see both sides. It's a press conference ahead of a game between Inter and Tottenham in London so naturally there's going to be a lot of English press there asking questions related to English football. But if after six years and a move to the continent he still can't see that sometimes the sensible thing to do is just waft it away and talk about the game then there's no hope for him. I don't really understand this whole 'the media had it in for him' thing because he just keeps falling for it. The milk line, last night's sugar line - he's making headlines and he knows it.

Also the cheek of the guy to tell Hodgson to concentrate on his job, after he so clearly had to be told to do the same thing after the list of facts and that legendary press conference where he answered every question with 'I am focusing on preparing the team for the next match', is actually pretty funny.

In his defence I'd have frozen out Dalglish as well. The guy was sent out to scout Benitez's replacement and came back with his own name and nothing else, I think that says a bit about his motives in coming back to the club in the first place.

[SMD]

Look cheerleaders, I really don't have anything against Benitez at all. He seems alright. A bit stroppy, a bit temperamental, but he's ok. Never had any beef with him when he was over here really. But from an outsider looking in with feint interest, he seems to keep talking in disparaging terms about various people at the club. This has happened on a few occasions since he joined Inter. And I think it seems a bit odd, given the nature of his current position. I mean he should basically be all really, but instead he seems a bit . I really think he'd do himself a favour if he rose above any perceived injustice and stopped sniping at people, but then like I said, he always seemed a bit temperamental.

But that's how he's portrayed in the media.

He just loves Liverpool (contrary to what ramone might ramble on about in a sec) and he keeps getting shite even though he doesn't manage us any more.

Can you imagine any other manager getting so much shit while his successor - touted by the media - does such an awful job that the only fall back those who pushed his case have is 'oh the previous manager was shite'.

We went from 'Rafa's underperforming with a good squad' to 'Rafa's left dross'.

He's just a bloke. He's had years of dealing with this shite, it's like when people break up and one keeps bringing it up, eventually the other will want to set things straight, no?

[Rev]

edit: ^^^^^^ I have literally no idea what that series of photos is meant to represent

I'm not sure, but I think it says that he won a cup, then nothing else good happened until he got on a plane to Milan.

[The Fox]

Who is Benitez getting shit from though? Ramone obviously, but I reckon even stroppy Rafa can deal with with that. It's a genuine question because I don't follow it all that closely. I haven't seen many people having a pop at him, but then I'm not frequenting Liverpool-specific websites.

[SMD]

Hodgson himself has had a swipe at Rafa. It's always brought up by the likes of Henry Winter and Patrick "The Potato" Barclay.

It does come up a lot.

[ras el hanout]

Where's the swipe? Can we have some quotes?

[dogsout]

And still, the Rafa wars rage on.

[The Fox]

Responding to Telegraph/Sun trolling when you don't even live in the country any more seems odd to me. It's not like they're calling him the Antichrist. Like I said, wouldn't it be better to just be like "Whatever, I'm managing the European champions now so you hacks can suck it" and then walk off like that guy in the 'FUCK YEH' cartoons.

[SMD]

Where's the swipe? Can we have some quotes?

You back up your arguments as much as a Conservative Spending Review.

[ras el hanout]

Who is Benitez getting shit from though? Ramone obviously, but I reckon even stroppy Rafa can deal with with that. It's a genuine question because I don't follow it all that closely. I haven't seen many people having a pop at him, but then I'm not frequenting Liverpool-specific websites.

what you must understand is that a lot of liverpool fans incredibly don't think rafa is anything but the best manager ever. So they don't see last years 7th place finish as his failing. If Roy had said " we finished 7th last season and that's not good enough." They would see it as a swipe. Our fans would be " well it's better than the bottom three hodgson out!"

until you understand that Reynard and smd would actually haha they would actually like rafa back! Until you understand that then you can't understand the protective shield that rafa created around himself.

Unless you say rafa was a genius then you attacking him.

[ras el hanout]

You back up your arguments as much as a Conservative Spending Review.

Actually at the top of this page I posted the quote. As you can see there's no attack. Now where are the swipes?

And still, the Rafa wars rage on.

Yeah he's been ranting again.

[Rev]

Responding to Telegraph/Sun trolling when you don't even live in the country any more seems odd to me. It's not like they're calling him the Antichrist. Like I said, wouldn't it be better to just be like "Whatever, I'm managing the European champions now so you hacks can suck it" and then walk off like that guy in the 'FUCK YEH' cartoons.

Bendtner?

[phresh]

He's a top flight football manager, as much as he might love Liverpool you can pretty much guarantee he loves himself more, the way I see it he was defnding himself as much as anything. Hodgson's comments about the scouting/transfers did sound a little off regardless of whether they were accurate or not.

[ras el hanout]

He's a top flight football manager, as much as he might love Liverpool you can pretty much guarantee he loves himself more, the way I see it he was defnding himself as much as anything. Hodgson's comments about the scouting/transfers did sound a little off regardless of whether they were accurate or not.

Didn't rafa bang on about how he improved everything. Wasn't that disrespectful to houllier?

[reef]

The actual problem isn't the squad. I was just busting the lack ot finance myth. Last year, the year before we had the best squad in the Premiership. I've said this on many occassions, I applauded Rafa for building such a great squad. if there were prizes for building squads he'd probably win. The problem is he can't get them to play. One is no good without the other. Now, this is a fact.

Ramone - 20th Nov 2009

[ras el hanout]

The actual problem isn't the squad. I was just busting the lack ot finance myth. Last year, the year before we had the best squad in the Premiership. I've said this on many occassions, I applauded Rafa for building such a great squad. if there were prizes for building squads he'd probably win. The problem is he can't get them to play. One is no good without the other. Now, this is a fact.

Ramone - 20th Nov 2009

I still agree with that guy - and if hodgson finishes higher than 7th it'll prove it. Less than 7th and I'll conceed Roy is no better than rafa.

But what is your point? I suggest rafa built a good squad but couldn't get them to play - the alternative is he didn't build a good squad and couldn't get them to play. That would be damning.

Of course the squad was much stronger a few years ago and rafa did spend big to get there. it did weaken as time went on (due to incresingly bizarre transfers rather than lack of funds) but I still reckon we'll finish in the top 4 or 5. A big improvement on last season. Seems now we're not going to have the money to waste that rafa did (as all managers do) so, as Roy says, we're going to have to be better at buying the right players.

[Gabe]

You're actually being harsh on rafa for once. He's not always ranting. Just every now and again he goes off on one. Unlike mourinho rafa normally comes out of it looking like a buffoon. It's a shame he does it.

I'm actually with Ramone on this; whenever Rafa elected to try and get a (contentious) point across, he always ended up looking rather foolish, whereas Mourinho has a bit more class and usually looks pretty good.

Still, I'm not sure anything Rafa did was as bad as Houllier trying to defend Robbie's 'celebration' after scoring against Everton at Anfield all those years ago - now *that* was cringeworthy.

[dizogg]

To be fair Mourinho could probably take a shit on the press conference desk and everyone would be saying what a genius mind game it was. Yes, because he is so successful.

[Graham S]

Mourinho isn't classy, he'd lie and cheat and stab his granny to gain any advantage.

Rafa is fairly classy, but is also a prickly, odd nerd.

[the_debaser]

Guys, let it go. Rafa fluked one Champions League, spent a shitload of cash, failed to win a premier league and left at the end of what can only be described as a desperately bad season.

And now he's losing at Spurs.

[rjpageuk]

And now he's losing at Spurs.

He lost with us to Spurs away in his last season too, he obviously hasnt learnt anything.