You would think Rafael Benitez would learn his lesson, wouldn’t you? Following his pre-meditated insanity speech, quoting ‘facts’ that weren’t actually facts at all, Liverpool went on to drop points against Stoke for the second time this season, playing out another 0-0 draw.
After dropping points and allowing United in to a position where they can be league leaders before Liverpool even play another game, Benitez decided to talk about Manchester United again. He said we were scared and nervous.
United then go on to have their best performance of the season, trouncing Chelsea at Old Trafford. Not exactly the behaviour of a team that is nervous.
So has Benitez learnt his lesson? Course he hasn’t. He’s at it again!
“It’s another fact,” started Benitez. “So maybe we will talk in another press conference about facts. One fact is that a person that has a lot of power and control and is on a lot of committees is in the FA. So, something is very strange.”
He then goes on to single out Ferguson again. His reason? Because Ferguson has been speaking about Liverpool too much. Have I missed something?
“Would I meet Mr Ferguson face to face? I don’t have any problem,” Benitez continued. “I have a lot of respect for him as a good manager. If he wants to talk about the weather we can talk about the weather. I don’t need to put pressure on Manchester United. They are under pressure, they know they are, because when you talk too much about another team that means you are under pressure. I need to change my mobile phone because it is blocked with messages. Are they from managers? I can’t talk to you about what they have said to me. It was the right moment for me to say these things about Mr Ferguson. Mr Ferguson was talking too much about Liverpool and for too long a time so I think it was the right moment to say, ‘enough is enough’. And a lot of people think the facts I put on the table were right. We will wait and see what happens now. If Mr Ferguson continues saying things, OK, maybe we will have to look for more facts and maybe in 22 years we have a lot of facts. It is a situation that he has created.”
Didn’t Ferguson just get asked what he thought of Liverpool’s title chances and Ferguson responded by saying he didn’t know if this group of players who’ve never won the Premiership before had the bottle to do it?
Man Utd News 24/7
What a twat!
I’m worried that Rafa might not actually be mad and might actually know exactly what he is doing.
The world watched as Wayne Rooney spat and snarled in the faces of referee Howard Webb and his assistant yesterday only to go unpunished.
So when Sir Alex claimed afterwards that ‘Rafa’s facts’ are not facts, how many viewers do you think were convinced?
All Rafa has done is plant a seed. Every contentious decision that is awarded in our favour between now and the end of the season will be met with the response ‘Rafa was right’ – even if he isn’t.
Mad or not – Benitez is threatening to undermine Sir Alex’s legacy here. He is looking to hit him where it hurts. I can’t help thinking that either there is at least some truth in what he is saying or he has taken the mind-games to an entirely new level.
Rafa starts off his rant by stating a specific incident this season when Ferguson was punished by the FA with a fine and ban. One minute later, Rafa says Ferguson is the only manager to go unpunished. He disproved his own ‘fact’ within a minute.
Ferguson’s legacy as the most successful manager ever in this league will not be threatened by the obsessive and repetitive ramblings of Benitez. You’re kidding yourself if you think otherwise. Cuckoo cuckoo.
The reasons for this man’s outburst are many:
1) He’s said so often that his team are good enough to win the title and now the owners are expecting it. Failure will cost Rafa his job – that’s why a new contract hasn’t yet been signed.
2) He knows he needs to add to his squad – but after blowing an indecent amount on Keane he’s not going to get a penny. No addition to his squad means no title. All the world can see he needs two full backs and support for Torres.
3) If he leaves Anfield in the summer, he might be expecting RM to sign him. But if the stories about AW going there are true, then rule RM out.
Rafa has built his own bed – a bed of nails – and now he’s got to lie on it. He’s in a mess but it’s all of his own doing.
His latest attack on David Gill might get him into hot water with the FA. Suggesting that Gill influences decisions the FA makes regarding UTD is laughable. And wasn’t Rick Parry on the FA board some years ago?
Rafa = Fat Spanish Fuckhead!
This guy is so proud of himself since spitting his “facts” that now he can’t seem to shut up. I thought he was wasn’t playing mind-games. In fact I think the reason he keeps going on about “Missa Fer-Hu-Sen” is because he’s trying to get our manager to lose focus so that “Liwa-pull” have a better chance.
Well, Desperate times call for Desperate measures up at the merseyside I suppose.
Scott u r god in bringing statistics just how many times did fergie speak about liverpool ?rafa is acting as if fergie is speaking about them every day and night.he might have mentiond us more .the man is going crazy it might be the medicine he is taking for his kidney that r affecting him.or maybe he isn’t handling the pressure of the title race which is harder than his thick mind can take.or he just thinks himself smart and playing mindgames .wenger tried it last season when we traveled to saudia .and he is talking like he is the knight that will free the PL from the evil fergie : that he is saying what ppl wanted to say for 22 years and he is the sound of the ppl .the man is CRAZY and winning today didnt help surely he didnt see it coming he thougt we will lose and he will start talking how he was right that we r afraid .
“they are under pressure, they know they are, because when you talk too much about another team that means you are under pressure.” this is absolutely hilariously ironic
Yes, the manner of the rants are so vitriollic that I believe Rafa thinks this is his last trump card to play, never mind it upsets even non-ManU/Fergie supporters. He is burning his bridges & there’s no turning back. The only thing he can say now is he ‘is under tremendous pressure’ to lift the PL title and Manu/Fergie stand in the way, more than any other team or manager, so he is throwing down his last pound/dollar or whatever bullet he has still left. All these when L’pool is still at the top of the table! Amazing! The man is desparate!
Premier league is full of minds game All the reports by english news & blogs presume that england are the best. But what have england won either than 1966 world cup? Do they ever win the youth european or youth world cup? No.
You see, in england there are the so called BIG 4. MU, Chelsea, Arsenal & Liverpool. But this are the only team compete each other while the others just filling the league. While in Spain and Italy there a lots of teams challenging the like of Real Madrid, Barcelona, Inter, Milan & Juventus for the titles.
Who win Ballon de Or ? Is he English. No.
Someone please don’t shut him up.Everytime he talks he motivates our players even more.
haha Costas.. then let’s just let him talk on and on.
It’s not only motivates our player even more, but also demotivates his own players haha.
But anyway there’s only one genius brilliant Rafa : RAFAEL DA SILVA!
You are right on that one.Look at what the idiot did.With his idiotic comments on Friday he lit a fire under out players’ butt that i haven’t seen in years.United have won numerous trophies in recent years by playing it cool.However our last really passionate performance was the 1-0 win over Chelsea with the Fletcher header.On Friday i said that we needed the Alan Smith of that match to make a cameo performance on Sunday.Well,thank God for Ryan Giggs!
Doctor Red writes:
Anger: Heartbreaking at any age
Everyone gets angry from time to time. It’s a normal human response to unfair treatment and other injustices, and it’s a common reaction to frustration and criticism, whether justified or not. But normal anger is one thing, excessive hostility quite another. Some people get angry without provocation, others react excessively to minor adversity, and still others experience inappropriately intense or prolonged anger to legitimate triggers. Such is certainly the case under review: Mr Fatrafa, a middle-aged, pressure-saturated manager responsible for a club which knows its present status is undeserved and under threat from a superior rival, and his second-in-command, Mr Stevie-Me-Me-Me.
Outbursts of anger are never pretty, and they can damage relationships and careers. Anger can also bring on heart disease. But older men are most vulnerable to heart disease, while younger men are more likely to have short fuses. Does youthful anger affect the mature heart? Studies of anger and heart disease say the answer is yes: Excessive anger at any age can take a toll on men in midlife and beyond.
Mechanisms
How does hostility harm the heart? Like other forms of stress, anger triggers a surge in adrenaline, the stress hormone that boosts the blood pressure and pulse rate, increasing the heart’s workload and multiplying its need for oxygen. Adrenaline can also provoke abnormal heart rhythms, including potentially lethal ventricular arrhythmias. In addition, the hormone activates platelets, the tiny blood cells that trigger blood clots that can block arteries narrowed by the cholesterol-laden plaques of atherosclerosis. High levels of anger can even provoke spasm in a coronary artery, which results in the additional narrowing of a partially blocked blood vessel.
Are you angry?
Most angry men know it — and if they don’t, a friend or relative can usually attest to their excessive hostility (if they dare to speak up). But for an objective evaluation, you can use the same scales used in the Harvard studies of anger in maturity (see below). To evaluate your long-term tendency toward hostility, use the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory anger scale. Answer true or false to each of these questions:
At times I feel like swearing, particularly at all things manchester.
At times I feel like smashing things, especially the face and visage of SAF, the wizard.
Often I can’t understand why I’ve been so irritable and grouchy.
At times I feel like picking a fistfight with someone: SAF, Gary Neville.
I easily become impatient with people.
I am often said to be hotheaded.
I am often so annoyed when someone tries to get ahead of me in a line of people that I speak to the person about it.
I have at times had to be rough with people who were rude or annoying.
I am often sorry because I am so irritable and grouchy.
It makes me angry to have people hurry me.
I am very stubborn.
Sometimes I get so angry and upset, I don’t know what comes over me.
I have gotten angry and broken furniture or dishes when I was drinking.
I have become so angry with someone that I have felt as if I would explode.
I’ve been so angry at times that I’ve hurt someone in a physical fight.
I almost never lose self-control.
For questions 1–15, each “true” scores 1 point; for question 16 “false” scores 1 point. The higher your total, the higher your anger level.
If you score high, don’t let hostility make you mad — or sick. Instead, take measures to calm down for a healthy heart.
Both Mr FATRAFA and Mr Stevie-Me scored an unfortunate, and potentially health-destroying 15 points. My diagnosis: stock up with plenty of aspirin, take a long lay down in a darkened room, think of taking up another career, perhaps in a sunnier climate – waiting at table perhaps? Or a transfer to a richer club that plays in blue.
Some short-term tips:
Even without professional help and medication, you can benefit from stress-reducing techniques.
Consider learning how to meditate. Or experiment with deep breathing exercises:
Breathe in through your nose slowly and deeply, pushing your abdomen out so your diaphragm contracts maximally.
Hold your breath for a few seconds.
Exhale slowly through your mouth, thinking, “relax. eh? eh?”
Repeat the sequence five to 10 times, concentrating on breathing slowly and deeply, and repeat to yourself “Mr Ferguson, he is the man who knows”.
You can also use behavioral techniques to help stay calm. Practice during your daily life so you’ll be able to keep your cool in times of stress:
Drive your car in the slow lane.
When you approach a hold-up, join the longest line.
Use your car horn only to prevent car accidents, not to vent frustration.
Eat slowly.
Talk slowly; try not to interrupt others.
Don’t put in the last word in an argument, even if you think you’re right, and especially when these involve SAF/the wizard/the man who knows.
Don’t raise your voice in anger.
Don’t use expletives; substitute less hostile phrases like “que?” or “que!”
Don’t permit outbursts of anger; instead wait for a few moments, take a few deep breaths, and express yourself calmly.
Try not to grimace or clench your teeth; practice smiling.
Finally, adandon all hope of glory: that was all in the past my friend. Those days are long-gone. You are not famous anymore. You are a middle-ranking, mundane, exemplar of fading mediocrity, surrounded by a sea of over-excitable, complaint-laden, victimised whingers. Come to accept this and you may recover some dignity and respect
Somebody should show Rafa and all Liverpool fans goals they scored against Hull.Both of them were irregular,scored after fouls against Hull defenders.
Rafa know Liverpool is shit and they were lucky so many times this season and he is just trying to put ball into another corner
Prasac don’t even go there.It doesn’t matter really.Rafa is a Spaniard and he knows damn well what it means to have a big club constantly helped by the refs(ehem Real ehem).And if he doesn’t know maybe he should come to Greece and see how often Olympiacos have decisions in their favor.His rant was to influence the refs in our next matches to play against us.Plain and simple.And you know what?It worked.Before the Vida goal Webb didn’t give a penalty on Ronaldo and disallowed the clear goal of Ronaldo.But that is main difference between Fergie and Rafa.Fergie’s first priority is to beat the referee decisions,Rafa’s is to let referees do his bidding.
I can’t wait for Old Trafford against that shower…he’s losing the plot…Ferguson’s makes a comment about the title race, he comes out with babbling idiocy about decisions…22 years? a lot of facts? Well by the nature of fuckin time there’s going to be more decisions that went for us over a 22 yr period, is Benitez that thick? Give him 22 yrs at Liverpool and somebody could have a go at him for ‘being successful’ or ‘having longevity’…The best teams get fouled the most because they have the best players who can take balls away from defenders better than other players so we are bound to get more penalties, it’s logical…what isn’t logical is Rafa Benitez and the crazy little parallel universe he inhabits
He certainly did not complain about the penalty decision at Anfield against Athletico when Gerrard blatantly dived.
Oh by the way where is Tom Earnest, who said we will speak on Monnday?
Aww !! Poor Rafa hes gone and lost it again !!
After the Rafa Rant we have a weekend of responses (which United do the talking on the pitch), the scousers travel to Stoke with the Fat Spanish Waiter leaving his £20.3 Million pound Super Striker Robbie Keane on the bench (That is more than the cost of the whole Stoke starting line up) and with respect to Stoke the scousers couldn’t score A GOAL in 180 mins of football against them.
We entertain the Rent Boys using our squad resting key players and dish them out a good hammering.
What happens after !! we get another desperate Rafa rant picking out a few more of ‘his facts’ talking more shit !! I think it wont be long before we see this big fat sweaty clown in a padded cell mumbling to himself doped up on Prozac shortly.
Rafa , I bet your sorry you even opened you mouth, you must be spewing in your paella; I hope they dont ever sack him, the Premiership needs a clown and he is some one to laugh at, we havent had an idiot like this since Keegan, keep up the good work Rafa, we love you !!
Rafa has been made to look a fool by the press. When asked about Chelsea Fergie viewed them as our main rivals as this Liverpool team have never been in this position. Rafa has then responded by claiming facts several times yet the only fact he has produced is one which Fergie got charged with. He’s fallen into the press’ trap who sensationalise ‘mind games’ yet I don’t think it was from Ferguson. Until Manwell can present the facts I think he’ll remain a joke.
Finally I said it in december but we have proved now that the league is a one horse race. 5 home games and 2 away until the end of February should see us well clear at the top. When we play the dippers it will be them needing to win to keep within touching distance like Chelsea had last year.
completely agree…also like to say that sometimes I forget as a United fan just how much our club is envied/hated…There’s enough half-wits chirping up out there who actually believe that influencing refs and decisions is one of the pillars of United’s last 16 years of success…It’s an utter disgrace that a professional manager can be so deluded that when some of the thick/jealous people agree with him ‘via text’ he believes he has championed some great cause. Fergie will be remembered as one of the greatest managers that ever lived, decisions like playing Giggs out of the blue against Ballack, Lampard and Mikel for him to claim man of the match as a 35yr old central midfielder whilst the fat half-wit can’t even start one of his few decent players Babbel against Stoke or for any period consistently.. There’s a lot of the media out there who are calling Benitez for what he is but there’s still too many div kids inhabiting this planet who actually feel he had something worthwhile to say….fuckin disgrace, he’ll be remembered for bottling the title in 2008/9 when if he’d just kept his mouth shut it could have been blamed on his poor selection policy, poor transfers and mediocre team once again.
Benitez and the dippers are not really worth a comment.
Just something funny my sister said.
She claims she is faster than Robbie Keane. She is 56 and in a wheelchair!
(Her joke not mine)
If I were Sir Alex, at the next press conference, upon being questioned on Mad Rafa’s latest rant, before changing the subject I’d take a pause, pull a piece of paper from out of my back pocket … blow my nose on it and throw it in the bin !
I didn’t hear Manuel complaining when the ‘dippers finished 5th in the league and the (then) FA Chief Exec, professed Liverpool fan Brian Barwick, was lobbying for them to be allowed into the CL.
Short memory, much?
manuel has cracked,he knows the dippers have blown it and knows he’ll probably get booted out at the end of the season.
I reckon we actually get a poor return of penalties at OT considering the amount of attacking we do and the level of possession too.
Ronaldo got wrestled to the ground by carvalho and they both got yellow carded when Ronnie had the audacity to complain.
Remember Distin taking out Ronnie like an American football blocker and getting diddly squit. That cost us a treble last season.
I’d like to see stats on penalties at home for the Premiership sides.
I think Rooney was lucky to get away with his carping yesterday but that cannot be blame on Sir Alex. If the referees didn’t turn a blind eye then Rooney would have to change this aspect of his behaviour and most of us would prefer that anyway.
perkythered……BRILLIANT BRILLIANT BRILLIANT..LOL
Who won today?