Excellent Read

[WaltonRed]

Horrible post.

[Red Nick]

He's over exposed because the ball goes up to shit like Voronin and Babel and 9 times out of 10 comes back bypassing a lacklustre midfield but dont let that cloud your judgement.

 

Again there is some truth in your point of view but probably doesnt explain the full story

 

The truth lies somewhere between your point of view and DDs (without the Vitriol)

[Red Nick]

Yes, Carragher gets caught out time and time again but it's always somebody else's fault: the attackers always lose the ball; the full backs attack too much; the midfield goes missing; the full back shouldn't have allowed the cross; it was a stupid free kick to give away; he doesn't trust anyone else; zonal-marking. Any more excuses from the Carrapologists?

 

Did Jamie fuck your wife?

[DonaldDonaldson]

Did Jamie fuck your wife?

 

No, but I would have included it as one of the excuses if he had: "Used up all his energy shagging my wife therefore continually loses out in the physical tussle".

 

It may well be a viable excuse though for his apologists: "Lothario endeavours drain all his energy, but who can blame the handsome bastard?”.

[Unrighteous]

Did Jamie fuck your wife?

 

(Insert Porno Music)

[Ian H]

What if they're genuinely worried about the future of the club and think a change of manager is the only way? Would you, as a true Red, keep silent if you felt to do so was not in the club's best interests? I'm not saying that's the case, mind you; I'm just hypothesising. Sometimes whistle blowing can be the courageous thing to do, rather than the snide, shit-house option it may seem to be.

 

No. I'd probably get together with my like-minded 'true Reds' and have a chat with the manager, explain to him that he has got it all wrong, then all work together to get us out of the shite mess we are in.

 

Meanwhile all of the other players/shithouses/staff (delete as required) can go running to slag him off to the press, and then play out of their skins so as to impress the 'new' manager when he arrives.

[Durango]

Yes, Carragher gets caught out time and time again but it's always somebody else's fault: the attackers always lose the ball; the full backs attack too much; the midfield goes missing; the full back shouldn't have allowed the cross; it was a stupid free kick to give away; he doesn't trust anyone else; zonal-marking. Any more excuses from the Carrapologists?

As much as I think Carragher deserves a place in the side,you have a point there, DD

[John101]

Fuck me. When did football become so shit, and our fans so angry and bitter. Not a nice feeling anymore.

[silverlining]

Did Jamie fuck your wife?

 

 

Haha

 

"wife"

[PaulMcC]

Has Carra been havinga go at his team mates?

[masch]

If all this noise is coming from our players, I'd much rather they got their own houses in order first given the below-par performances coming from a few of them. In fact the players who aren't spouting off; Pepe, Yossi, Fernando aren't the ones disappearing in midfield or making mistakes at the back.

 

Rather than this fucking game of cat and mouse in the media I just want them to grow a pair, get their heads down and sort it out between them. We're going nowhere fast at the moment with too many people concentrating elsewhere.

[aws]

If all this noise is coming from our players, I'd much rather they got their own houses in order first given the below-par performances coming from a few of them. In fact the players who aren't spouting off; Pepe, Yossi, Fernando aren't the ones disappearing in midfield or making mistakes at the back.

 

Rather than this fucking game of cat and mouse in the media I just want them to grow a pair, get their heads down and sort it out between them. We're going nowhere fast at the moment with too many people concentrating elsewhere.

 

Exactly. We're playing poorly because a lot of our major players are playing poorly. We won't find form until they find form.

 

If I was drawing up a list of "People to blame for our shit season", the scapegoats getting it in the neck would be way down at the bottom.

[zico]

Senior squad members such as Carra and Gerrard should have a look at themselves in the mirror if they are talking this shit about the manager as they are as much to blame as he is.....

 

Carra - been shit poor all season...

Gerrard - puts England ahead of the Reds...

 

It's the British media against Liverpool the way it has always been, as they're a bunch og manc ass licking lizards.....

 

It's time for players, manager and fans to unite and get through this crisis....

 

Until the day someone tells me a big investor providing £100 million for transfers and a better manager alternative is provided we are better of with Benitez...

 

I think some of our support is small time asking for his head, considering the injury problems we have, and his results for us in the past...

 

One should be very mindful of what one wishes!

[Paul]

It's truly amazing to me that players who have given entire careers of fantastic service to this club get slagged at the drop of a hat when the chips are down. I'm not into any player being slagged off (as opposed to criticised), but for Gerrard and Carragher to be getting it is unreal. They are both genuine Liverpool legends.

[Brownie]

It's truly amazing to me that players who have given entire careers of fantastic service to this club get slagged at the drop of a hat when the chips are down. I'm not into any player being slagged off (as opposed to criticised), but for Gerrard and Carragher to be getting it is unreal. They are both genuine Liverpool legends.

 

In some people's eyes the manager is far more important, so naturally they will criticise anyone who is alleged to be against him.

[Randy Marsh]

Honesty, I've always made sure to read Winter's works as I always found him to be one of the most balanced and informed journalists in the business. He has also come accross as being very complimentary of our club and our manager. But his recent hatchet job agenda driven shite has meant Ive lost a hell of a lot of respect for him. It's been so one sided and it saddens me that he's now slotted in to the category of so many others in the business, all with a quite obvious and clear agenda against Rafa Benitez. Very surprised by Winter really.

 

The level of shite printed against our manager in the past few weeks has been disgusting and purely backs up alot of our suspicions that there is a genuine agenda to hound Rafa out. Thing is, all it does for me is galvonise and increase my support for the manager. I don't like the attacks from the outside and it's times like this we need to stick together, ride the storm and come out the other end. One day Rafa will have his day with these snidey bastards, and I cannot fuckin wait. Whatever happens, I wouldnt have anyone else managing us.

[Dicko]

In some people's eyes the manager is far more important, so naturally they will criticise anyone who is alleged to be against him.

 

The opposite is also true.

[billybonzo]

A WINTER TALE: In reply to Henry's hatchet job on Rafa Benitez

HENRY WINTER took time out from bowing at his Alex Ferguson shrine yesterday to stick the knife in on Rafa Benitez with a laughable piece in the Telegraph.

 

Lauded as one of the best journalists in the land by some, the least you would expect is a fair, balanced and accurate report.

 

Not a bit of it.

 

Winter has a clear anti-Benitez agenda and it leaves his hatchet job on the Spaniard full of holes.

 

Now clearly after a nightmare run of six defeats in seven games, the Liverpool manager is far from bombproof - questions are being asked, and rightly so, not least as to why Yossi Benayoun was substituted in the defeat to Fulham.

 

But for someone like Winter, is an appreciation of the circumstances too much to ask?

 

He kicks off with the opening line:

 

"Virtually no one." So argued Jamie Carragher when asked whether Liverpool had anyone to replace Fernando Torres should the talismanic target-man miss Wednesday's Champions League tie at Lyons.

 

Oh no, you might think, Rafa's lost the dressing room, even Carragher is having a pop...then you read the rest of the quote which Winter decided to leave out:

 

“We know Fernando is not quite 100 per cent,” Carragher said. “If Fernando had got injured at the end, we would have had virtually nobody for the game in midweek but we still brought a Dutch international in Ryan Babel on. It should be enough quality.”

 

Paints a different picture doesn't it? One, perhaps, that doesn't suit Winter's agenda?

 

Further into the article:

 

"His verdict is partly a compliment to Liverpool's exceptional No 9, but also an implicit indictment of the understudies assembled by Rafael Benítez. Blaming such individuals for being too poor (Andrei Voronin) or too raw (Ryan Babel, David Ngog) is pointless; culpability rests with Benítez for recruiting them while ignoring prodigal sons such as Emile Heskey and Michael Owen."

 

Did Winter have a straight face when he typed this? Was he sniffing glue? Heskey? The player who can't get a regular game at Aston Villa? The player who has scored TWO goals since moving to Villa Park in January? Yes, Henry, he would be ideal, wouldn't he? What a replacement for Torres. And Owen - well Winter seems to love him almost as much as he does Ferguson. From where I'm sitting, he's not setting the world alight since moving to Man United. We've been there, done that and he's a shadow of the player he was when he snubbed LFC and headed for Spain. And, despite his protests to the press, he DOES get injured a lot.

 

"In August, few people outside Anfield considered Liverpool to have a squad comparable to those at Old Trafford or Stamford Bridge. Benítez, as usual, will divert attention elsewhere. He will bemoan refereeing decisions, injuries, tardiness in the transfer market and the comic capers of the American co-owners."

 

Er, yes? Few people inside Anfield thought the squad was comparable to those at Old Trafford and Stamford Bridge either. Knock him all you want, but Benitez's counterparts have had more money in one go to spend on players - and they haven't had to sell to buy. And Chelsea, Man U, Arsenal and Manchester City pay bigger wages. Well documented. Fact or diversion? Refereeing decisions? Well they haven't helped have they? Oh and your mate Fergie, well he never moans about refs does he Henry? Winter, by the way, recently wrote a sickening defence (see here) of Ferguson's ridiculous attack on Alan Wiley, a move made with the sole aim of concealing a poor performance against Sunderland. And the owners? Well don't get me started - I wrote a huge post about them on Sunday (see here).

 

"He will even criticise "senior players'' such as Carragher and Steven Gerrard following the early-season loss to Aston Villa. One constant: Benítez never accepts responsibility himself."

 

Am I missing something? Are Carragher and Gerrard not allowed to be questioned? Carra has admitted himself he has been below-par this season. And the comment Winter refers to comes after Gerrard charged the length of the pitch to launch himself into a ridiuculous tackle that gave Aston Villa a penalty and sealed their 3-1 win at Anfield. He's blown hot and cold (when fit) so why shouldn't Rafa have a pop? As for accepting responsibility - what manager does that, name one? I'd love to see the examples of Fergie coming out to the press and saying "You know what lads, I got that wrong, it's all my fault." He's bought crap players, he's got his tactics wrong. ALL managers make mistakes, none of them admit it - why single out Benitez?

 

"That is why some people tire of the self-absorbed Spaniard."

 

For some people, clearly, read Henry Winter.

 

"We've heard all the excuses before. We've seen the utter reliance on Gerrard, Torres and, for all his recent woes, Carragher."

 

Benayoun is enjoying his most effective spell at Anfield, continuing where he left off last season. Pepe Reina is the best keeper in the league, Glen Johnson has been a quality signing, Alberto Aquilani looks promising...tired argument, Winter.

 

Liverpool can afford to sack Benítez. Compensation would be less than £5 million under the "mitigating the loss'' principle if he found employment, but no desire can be detected within the club for a regime change.

 

You seem confident he would find employment, would that be, by any chance, because he's a good manager? And it would cost £20m thereabouts if Benitez didn't find employment - so would the fiscally-challenged Hicks & Gillett be prepared to take that risk? And who would recruit the new manager - our beloved co-owners? The same people that wanted Jurgen Klinsmann? Shudder to think who they would go for this time. Finally - what world-class manager would want to come to the club right now? Why would they choose to work for owners who hate each other, at a financially-insecure club with a budget significantly less than your rivals enjoy? Alan Curbishley is available though...

 

 

"But it is known around Anfield that Purslow has talked to Benítez about his style of management, notably his cold detachment from the players"

 

Yawn, one of your favourites this, isn't it? When I last looked, Benitez is the manager, not the players's best friend. We've done the best mates thing with Roy Evans - it didn't work. You don't like him, get over it. Maybe Fergie will give you a cuddle...

 

"Sensible businesses plan for succession and any defenestration of Benítez should take place only in the close-season. Who knows? Benítez might win the FA Cup."

 

So after all that, your point is he should stay? Stunning.

[Randy Marsh]

Read that before mate, cracking article. Highlights the many holes in Winter's piss poor hatchet job work in the past few weeks. As I said in a previous post, I'm so surprised in his sudden change to "Sunday Supplement" gobshite.

[Brownie]

I haven't bought a newspaper for about three years, so naturally I don't really get worked up about things like this.

[Ian H]

It's truly amazing to me that players who have given entire careers of fantastic service to this club get slagged at the drop of a hat when the chips are down. I'm not into any player being slagged off (as opposed to criticised), but for Gerrard and Carragher to be getting it is unreal. They are both genuine Liverpool legends.

 

I can't comprehend a player not wanting to give an entire career of fantastic service to Liverpool, but there's plenty of the fuckers around.

 

For the record, I agree with you that both Gerrard and Carragher deserve a few out-of-jail cards for their performances, but if they are (alledgedly) handing bombs to the press for them to throw at Benitez then they need pulling up for it. The same way ANYONE at the club caught doing this should be.

[goatboy59]

As I've said before I don't think the problem with Winter is the perceived 'influence' from players, important players though they are. The real concern is with his knowledge (first or second hand) of what Purslow says does or thinks.

 

This follows closely on from Matt Dickinson writing an entire article about the 'whispers' re Kenny taking the reins, which would seem sensationalistic if it were influenced by a few internet chunnerings about the king, so has a vague whiff of the whispers coming from more substantial circles.

 

I could be leaping to huge and wild conclusions, the product of a corrupted and eternally evil mind. I could just be believing the worst in the thieving, scruple-lite cunts who 'run' this club.

 

But then again...

[The Owld Fecker]

Thanks to the OP.

 

A good read.

[Yahweh]

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