Just when you thought it was safe to go back out on the pitch. Big Sam and Rafa are at it again. Fresh from Benitez's Barcelona jibes, Big Sam has hit back by claiming he has got under Rafa's skin, that he doesn't like him, and that the Liverpool manager has blown his clubs chances of reaching the Champions League.
This round of their constant belittling of each other started on the eve of Blackburn's trip to Liverpool where Sam Allardyce claimed that Rafa had turned Liverpool into a modern day version of Bolton.
An unhappy Benitez decided to bite his tongue on that occasion, but hit back in the press conference following the Reds 2-1 win over Rovers.
An angry Rafa said: "We can win on the pitch but some people have to talk before and after the game because they find it difficult to do a football job. I am sure he is a model for football all around the world. I am sure Barcelona are thinking about copying their style of football," amongst other things, but that was his most damning comment.
It appeared to be the final say on the matter, this season, but following Liverpool's shock 1-0 loss to Wigan at the DW Stadium, Big Sam has returned with a few choice words of his own.
"It was a good cover-up by Rafa (jeering Blackburn's style of play) because he knows how bad his side were and that was repeated against Wigan on Monday night.
"He's got personal with it for many, many years now.
"That's why I don't like him and the feeling is probably mutual.
"I don't get personal with him; I get into him and under his skin, yes, but that's all part of the game.
"The tit for tat between me and Rafa will probably go on until one of us is no longer a Premier League manager. I've managed to psyche out one or two here and there and that's how the Premiership has evolved over the last 20 years. But no, Pep Guardiola has not been in touch yet!"
He went on: "The last time one of the big four didn't finish in the top four it was Liverpool - Everton got that spot - and I think this time it looks pretty difficult having lost against Wigan.
"They are having to rely on other teams slipping up now. They have a wealth of experience and that may be a telling factor when the nerve ends start jangling. We saw what happened to Tottenham a few years ago with the famous 'poisoned lasagne' scenario - and they let it slip.
"But I think it might be more difficult for Liverpool this time around because there are more teams involved. There's Manchester City, Aston Villa and Tottenham in there and if Everton keep rolling on you might be surprised to see them making a late run."
Allardyce insists that Liverpool's losses to Wigan and Lille prove that he has won the psychological battle. He said: "You do it to try to get your team in a position to get a result. Personal criticism is not the road I go down, and I don't personally criticise Rafa Benitez but I clearly get under his skin and that can be a benefit to my side when we play them."
With the two of these guys going at it hammer and tongs you could almost believe they were rival boxers rather than managers of football teams.
Pity they won't meet again until next year...
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Showing posts with label Blackburn. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Blackburn. Show all posts
Mar 11, 2010
Mar 1, 2010
Rafa The Klingon Twists The Knife On Big Sam After Liverpool Beat Blackburn
The Klingons have a saying; Revenge is a dish best served cold. After years of thinking that Rafael Benitez was an emotionless Vulcan, it would appear that he is actually a first cousin of Worf...
Mere moments after Liverpool vanquished Blackburn 2-1 at Anfield, Rafa couldn't wait to stick the knife into Big Sam and twist. Of course, his comments were a direct reaction to Allardyce's claims that he had turned Liverpool into an expensive version of Bolton.
The relationship between the duo has always been strained, but now it is absolutely poisonous.
Blackburn for their part received five yellow cards during the game, and were lucky not to see Chimbonda and Nzonzi get red after two awful challenges. But Sam defended his team's discipline by saying that the referee had been swayed by the Anfield crowd.
Allardyce pointed out that Liverpool had committed 25 fouls without being punished with a card, while Blackburn had only made 10 fouls.
“If we had possessed a goalscorer, we would have won,” he said. “It is not often you come to Liverpool and create more chances than them but we don’t have a goalscorer and they have Gerrard and Torres.”
Rafa for his part was pretty unrepentant and left his most vicious comments 'til last.
“It doesn’t matter, we won,” was Benitez’s retort when that was put to him about Liverpool's current style of play.
“We prefer to play football. If they play the way they play under this manager, it is difficult but it is their decision. When you have won you don’t have to think about how you played...”
“We have four or five players bleeding because of studs,” said Benitez. “We can win on the pitch but some people have to talk before and after the game because they find it difficult to do a football job. I am sure he is a model for football all around the world. I am sure Barcelona are thinking about copying their style of football.”
Ouch...
Look out for their next bout in 2011...
Share
Mere moments after Liverpool vanquished Blackburn 2-1 at Anfield, Rafa couldn't wait to stick the knife into Big Sam and twist. Of course, his comments were a direct reaction to Allardyce's claims that he had turned Liverpool into an expensive version of Bolton.
The relationship between the duo has always been strained, but now it is absolutely poisonous.
Blackburn for their part received five yellow cards during the game, and were lucky not to see Chimbonda and Nzonzi get red after two awful challenges. But Sam defended his team's discipline by saying that the referee had been swayed by the Anfield crowd.
Allardyce pointed out that Liverpool had committed 25 fouls without being punished with a card, while Blackburn had only made 10 fouls.
“If we had possessed a goalscorer, we would have won,” he said. “It is not often you come to Liverpool and create more chances than them but we don’t have a goalscorer and they have Gerrard and Torres.”
Rafa for his part was pretty unrepentant and left his most vicious comments 'til last.
“It doesn’t matter, we won,” was Benitez’s retort when that was put to him about Liverpool's current style of play.
“We prefer to play football. If they play the way they play under this manager, it is difficult but it is their decision. When you have won you don’t have to think about how you played...”
“We have four or five players bleeding because of studs,” said Benitez. “We can win on the pitch but some people have to talk before and after the game because they find it difficult to do a football job. I am sure he is a model for football all around the world. I am sure Barcelona are thinking about copying their style of football.”
Ouch...
Look out for their next bout in 2011...
Share
Feb 27, 2010
Blackburn's Big Sam Taunts Liverpool and Rafael Benitez -You're The New Bolton!
Never a pair to let sleeping dogs lie, Big Sam has moved to provoke Rafael Benitez and Liverpool fans everywhere, by claiming that the Spaniard has destroyed Liverpool and turned them into a modern version of Bolton.
The duo have endured a rivalry that began in 2004 when Bolton beat Liverpool 1-0, the result stirred Benitez to launch a scathing attack on the Lancashire club and their manager for the physical tactics employed during the game. Of course Big Sam reciprocated, and the duo have taken every chance to wind each other up since.
Last season Rafa drew the ire of Big Sam after the Blackburn boss read his counterparts body language as being extremely disrespectful.
Liverpool had taken an early two goal lead through Xabi Alonso when the Liverpool manager walked from the dug out with his arms in a gesture of finality. Big Sam read the hand gesture as Rafa saying the game was all but over. However, Benitez then countered by saying that his gesture was aimed at Alonso, who had refused to follow his managers orders prior to scoring.
Either way it was a storm in a tea cup as both managers looked to get one over on each other.
The two main protagonists meet again today when Blackburn travel to Anfield, and Big Sam has moved quickest this time, by claiming Liverpool under Benitez are just like the Bolton team he used to criticise.
Allardyce said: ‘He’s used all that stuff that he always says he doesn’t like — it’s ironic, isn’t it?
‘I watched them at Manchester City and they got six players booked, so he’s brought the physical side out as well.
‘If it’s a good physical challenge on Sunday then I’ll be more than happy to go down that route — although I don’t really have the players to do that like I did at Bolton.
'But they’ve had to go back to basics and the pretty stuff goes out of the window until you start winning. They have been professional and dogged enough to slowly improve over recent weeks.
‘They have not been as pretty and fluid as they could be but they have done the job and got the results they needed to get back in the pack.’
Allardyce also sensationally revealed that, at the height of the pair’s dispute, he discovered that Rafael Benitez had gone to referees’ chief Keith Hackett with video evidence against Bolton.
Such was the Liverpool manager's dislike of Bolton and Sam Allardyce, he actually compiled a DVD of all of their fouls and tactics and then distributed the recordings to the top referee in the country.
Why Benitez would take such a route is unknown, but it does come across as being extremely childish. Was it an effort to influence referees decisions against Bolton?
Allardyce thought so before adding: ‘He went as far as putting a DVD together and sending it to Keith Hackett. He doesn’t know I know that, but I do. I got on to Keith Hackett and told him I didn’t want it to influence what refs do because it was all a load of rubbish.’
This match between the pair is an important one. Liverpool are currently embroiled in a four way battle for fourth. With only one point separating four teams, Spurs, Manchester City, Liverpool, and Aston Villa.
Losing ground at this stage of the race would be tantamount to disaster and the Reds will go into this game needing to collect all three points.
Fernando Torres and Yossi Benayoun are returning to fitness but should find themselves on the bench, meaning that Liverpool will employ the same stifling tactics that have seen them only lose once in the league since Christmas.
Blackburn, for their part, are on a similar run to the Reds having only lost twice since Christmas and they have begun to pull away from the drop zone that threatened to engulf them.
11 points off the relegation zone and 11 points off Europe mean that Big Sam's team should finish in mid-table respectability.
They will not be easy for Liverpool to break down, especially in their current state, but the difference should be seen when Rafa springs his aces from the bench.
A tight affair that Liverpool should just nudge, but as ever, all eyes will be on the two managers.
John Terry and Wayne Bridge, who?
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The duo have endured a rivalry that began in 2004 when Bolton beat Liverpool 1-0, the result stirred Benitez to launch a scathing attack on the Lancashire club and their manager for the physical tactics employed during the game. Of course Big Sam reciprocated, and the duo have taken every chance to wind each other up since.
Last season Rafa drew the ire of Big Sam after the Blackburn boss read his counterparts body language as being extremely disrespectful.
Liverpool had taken an early two goal lead through Xabi Alonso when the Liverpool manager walked from the dug out with his arms in a gesture of finality. Big Sam read the hand gesture as Rafa saying the game was all but over. However, Benitez then countered by saying that his gesture was aimed at Alonso, who had refused to follow his managers orders prior to scoring.
Either way it was a storm in a tea cup as both managers looked to get one over on each other.
The two main protagonists meet again today when Blackburn travel to Anfield, and Big Sam has moved quickest this time, by claiming Liverpool under Benitez are just like the Bolton team he used to criticise.
Allardyce said: ‘He’s used all that stuff that he always says he doesn’t like — it’s ironic, isn’t it?
‘I watched them at Manchester City and they got six players booked, so he’s brought the physical side out as well.
‘If it’s a good physical challenge on Sunday then I’ll be more than happy to go down that route — although I don’t really have the players to do that like I did at Bolton.
'But they’ve had to go back to basics and the pretty stuff goes out of the window until you start winning. They have been professional and dogged enough to slowly improve over recent weeks.
‘They have not been as pretty and fluid as they could be but they have done the job and got the results they needed to get back in the pack.’
Allardyce also sensationally revealed that, at the height of the pair’s dispute, he discovered that Rafael Benitez had gone to referees’ chief Keith Hackett with video evidence against Bolton.
Such was the Liverpool manager's dislike of Bolton and Sam Allardyce, he actually compiled a DVD of all of their fouls and tactics and then distributed the recordings to the top referee in the country.
Why Benitez would take such a route is unknown, but it does come across as being extremely childish. Was it an effort to influence referees decisions against Bolton?
Allardyce thought so before adding: ‘He went as far as putting a DVD together and sending it to Keith Hackett. He doesn’t know I know that, but I do. I got on to Keith Hackett and told him I didn’t want it to influence what refs do because it was all a load of rubbish.’
This match between the pair is an important one. Liverpool are currently embroiled in a four way battle for fourth. With only one point separating four teams, Spurs, Manchester City, Liverpool, and Aston Villa.
Losing ground at this stage of the race would be tantamount to disaster and the Reds will go into this game needing to collect all three points.
Fernando Torres and Yossi Benayoun are returning to fitness but should find themselves on the bench, meaning that Liverpool will employ the same stifling tactics that have seen them only lose once in the league since Christmas.
Blackburn, for their part, are on a similar run to the Reds having only lost twice since Christmas and they have begun to pull away from the drop zone that threatened to engulf them.
11 points off the relegation zone and 11 points off Europe mean that Big Sam's team should finish in mid-table respectability.
They will not be easy for Liverpool to break down, especially in their current state, but the difference should be seen when Rafa springs his aces from the bench.
A tight affair that Liverpool should just nudge, but as ever, all eyes will be on the two managers.
John Terry and Wayne Bridge, who?
Share
Oct 5, 2009
EPL Review: Chelsea Stuff Liverpool, Arsenal Get Six, Spurs Get 12, and Hull!
Week eight of the EPL season doubled the amount of draws we've had so far. Didier Drogba took Jamie Carragher apart, Arsenal scored six against Blackburn, Spurs brought their tally of goalscorers this season to an impressive 12, and Hull pulled off a massively needed win against Wigan.
Oct 25, 2008
The Most Underrated Players in the English Premier League
Everybody knows the stars of the English Premier League: Ronaldo, Gerrard, Terry, Lampard, Fabregas...The list just drips with class. But behind every star player is a player who puts the team first, every time. A player who is priceless to the manager and does just enough to avoid media praise and just enough to be one of the first names on the team sheet every time.
But who are these masked men? Who are the true heroes of our Premiership age? Let's take a look at some of the current crop.
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