Rafa justifies 'arrogance' and 'contempt'
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This episode shows the following summarized points:
1. Sir Alex Ferguson is still at his wily old self and an ultimate opportunist in mind game playing (1 hour after Allardyce's comments.. that's quick).
2. The same text message can be interpreted as various forms, let alone a message expressed through body language.
3. Allardyce is an over-sensitive old man.
4. Benitez is lousy at shouting on field instructions and he's not good at making those decisions either. So he's better off sitting on the bench writing notes and remain emotionless as usual.
5. Kids who post offensive messages shouldn't be allowed in this forum, whether it's a 798, 879 or 619.
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STEVEN GERRARD insists Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez is too focused on his own team to ever bother antagonising rival managers.
Benitez came under fire from both Alex Ferguson and Sam Allardyce last week for allegedly showing ‘arrogance’ and ‘contempt’ — in the words of Manchester United boss Fergie — towards his Premier League counterparts.
The row stemmed from an ambiguous gesture made by Benitez after the Reds scored their second goal against Allardyce’s Blackburn in their 4-0 win.
But Liverpool skipper Gerrard insists Benitez was just joking that his pre-match instructions had been utterly ignored in the build-up to Fernando Torres’ headed goal from a Xabi Alonso free-kick.
He said: “I was sitting right behind Rafa and I can guarantee that it was in no way trying to dis-respect their bench.
“We had the set-pieces up on the board before the game and he had told Xabi to do a certain free-kick. He did the opposite but we scored from it, so he was basically saying ‘Don’t listen to me, do your own thing’.
“You can understand why Sam’s upset but why he didn’t speak to Rafa to clear it up?”
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Rafa justifies 'arrogance' and 'contempt'
Rafa Benitez has at last delivered his explanation of the gesture that led to such stern criticism from fellow managers Sam Allardyce and Sir Alex Ferguson.
It was Benitez’s reaction to Liverpool’s second goal in their 4-0 win over Blackburn that prompted such consternation from his peers.
The action looked to be nothing more than a shrug and an innocent hand gesture but led to both Allardyce and Ferguson condemning the Spaniard for showing both ‘arrogance’ and ‘contempt’ towards his opponents.
Sammy Lee has since claimed that Benitez was merely making a point to his players; a version of events that the manager himself now seems to have backed up.
"Xabi Alonso and Emiliano Insua were standing over a free kick and I was shouting orders to them in Spanish," Benitez told the Daily Mail
"I kept saying, ‘Play it short’ because I thought there could be a surprise element. But Xabi just whipped it straight into the area and when Fernando Torres headed it in, he turned round and gave me a big grin.
"I had to laugh and I just made a sign to say, 'Okay, don't listen to me'."