Pepe Reina

[Shaggy]

http://twitpic.com/6yhink

[Lee]

The Carra screaming and Rafa part should make for an interesting read.

Think I'll have to pick this book up tomorrow.

[Daniel 7]

In a scrap, I'd back Pepe to win.

[Shaggy]

I'd back him against pretty much anyone in our squad.

[Craig_H]

The press are such **** stirring cunts.

[Arn]

Rafa HAD to go, the wheels had come off - Reina

Liverpool keeper Pepe Reina has offered an explosive insight into the disastrous season that cost Rafa Benitez his job.

He admits it was time for the Spanish boss he admires so much to leave Anfield, because things had got so bad he feared the team would be relegated.

In his sensational new book, which lifts the lid on Anfield’s innermost secrets, Reina offers a brutally truthful behind-the-scenes account of why Benitez was axed, his row with Rafa over a beer, the beach ball goal that haunts him - and a mighty bust-up with Jamie Carragher...

"When Rafa left Liverpool at the end of the 2009-10 season, I knew that it was the right time for him to go.

"It hurts me to say that, but the wheels had come off by then and there was no guarantee that he was going to be able to put them back on.

"I know that I will be for ever in his debt for what he has done for my football career, and it is never nice when a manager leaves or loses his job, but there are times when, for whatever reason, the methods that have been bringing a manager so much success just stop working.

"When this happens, the club has to make a decision about whether you will be able to get back to winning ways again, or if it is time to look for a new manager who might be able to freshen things up, just by having a different approach.

"Liverpool wanted to go down the latter route and it was probably the right decision.

"I was upset, obviously, because it is always sad when a manager loses his job, but even more so when he has been as important to your career as Rafa has been to mine.

"But I also thought half of the dressing room was not happy and so, probably, for the club if not for me personally, it was the best outcome for everyone.

"I first began to realise we were in trouble when we played against Espanyol in a pre-season friendly at the start of August 2009.

"They beat us 3-0 and could have scored more. When I came off the pitch there was a part of me that thought, 'If we carry on like this, we are going to get relegated.'

"It was as if someone had flicked a switch at the end of the previous season and we had gone from being a really strong team to a really weak one.

"It was clear that we were nowhere near the level that we wanted to be at. When there are problems at a big club and the atmosphere turns, one of the first comments to be made is always that the manager has lost the dressing room.

"In this case there were still players who supported the manager, but obviously there were others who were not too happy with him for different reasons.

"My own opinion was clear - I liked Rafa and continued to support him - but I cannot speak for everyone.

"Sadly for Rafa, we went from second place in the Premier League one season to seventh place the next and that was always going to result in him coming under pressure.

"One of the problems we had was that we had lost some good players - Xabi Alonso, Peter Crouch and Jermaine Pennant - but never really replaced them.

"Signings were made with the idea of making improvements to the team, but the reality was that the ones who came in were not of the same standard as the ones who had left.

"You can look at the players who came in and ask why they didn't deliver, because no footballer can ever be free of responsibility.

"But, in football, the buck always stops with the manager. If he makes signings that don't work out then it won't be long before the people who run the club are going to ask questions.

"Had someone said to me at the end of the 2008-09 season, when we came so close to winning the league, that just 12 months later the manager would be gone, I wouldn't have believed them," he added.

"But that is football. It is not about what you might have done in the past, it is about what you are doing in the here and now and what you are going to do in the future.

"None of us can live on past glories.

"The moment any of us think that we can is the moment that decisions about our future are taken out of our hands - if I have a really poor season in goal, the chances are that Liverpool will start looking at the possibility of replacing me."

Clicky

[Arn]

The day I declared war on Carra - Reina

The veins in our necks were bulging, our faces were red with anger and neither of us was going to back down.

The row between me and Jamie Carragher started during the game - I can't even remember which one - carried on in the dressing room and didn’t come to an end until we sent each other text messages *apologising.

He went crazy at me, screaming at me, and I was screaming back at him.

We were like that for fully five minutes shouting at one another and getting our point across.

The people who sit in the seats closest to the pitch probably could not believe what they were hearing.

We were on the same team but we were arguing with each other with real passion and neither of us was willing to back down.

They will have thought it was all over when we stopped, but as soon as we got back into the dressing room we started again and it was even rougher than it had been on the pitch.

If anything, the screaming was even louder and all the other players were just totally silent, watching us giving each other hell.

We are all passionate and we are all desperate to win so it is totally natural that there will be occasions when our emotions boil over and we take it out on one another.

It wasn’t even over anything major.

It was just a difference of opinion over whether I should knock the ball long or he should give me an angle for a short pass.

I ended up kicking the ball out wide to where I thought Carra should be, but he wasn’t there and it went out of play.

“You really think you’re [legendary Germany defender] Franz Beckenbauer and you’re always trying to play short passes when you should just empty it,” he shouted at me.

“If I know one thing it’s that you definitely aren’t *Beckenbauer, but just give me a bit of support when I’ve got the ball so we can try and play instead of just kicking it down the pitch,” I responded .

Clicky

[Arn]

Reina: Beer spat shows trouble was brewing for Benitez

While Pepe Reina rates his former Reds boss Rafa Benitez the best he has worked with, he still admits the Spanish coach had flaws.

And the keeper revealed one angry bust-up with his old manager, that he believes exposed the fundamental weakness in his managerial style - the fact that he never played at a high level.

In his new book, Reina takes up the story:

"The biggest argument I ever had with him was about a beer.

"We had lost 2-1 at Besiktas and not played too well. I decided to have a beer.

"I don't see a problem with that, because for me it is healthier to do that than it is to have a glass of Coca-Cola or a drink like that.

"Suddenly, the bartender turned up and said, 'The club doctor, the medical staff and the manager have made it clear to me that they do not want you to have a beer.'

"I asked Rafa what was going on and he said I was forbidden from having a beer.

"I still don't know why this was the case but, whatever the reason, I was fuming.

"I grabbed my bags and stormed off to my room without even having my dinner. That is how upset I was.

"For me, Rafa was in the wrong on that occasion. It suggests the manager does not trust you to look after yourself in the right way.

"As a player, you have to know when the time is right to relax and when it isn't, and I like to think that I have that balance.

"He [Benitez] saw it differently and maybe if he has a small weakness as a manager it is that he did not have a massive career as a player before he moved into management.

"I used to wind him up about this all the time and he would get angry when I reminded him that he had not played at the top level.

"He would list all the teams he played for and they were like third division and university teams! I would say to him, 'That's not football! Tell me where you got the experience that comes with being in the dressing room at the top clubs.'

"I did it with the greatest respect, because I knew his achievements demanded my respect. But maybe it is a truth as well, because by spending time in dressing rooms as a player and getting close enough to the players to understand their moods and the way they are, I think it can make you a better manager.

"You only have to look at what Rafa, Jose Mourinho, Andre Villas-Boas and Louis van Gaal have achieved in football and the trophies they have won to realise that you don't have to have had a great career as a player to be a great manager.

"But, in my opinion, the most complete managers are always likely to be the ones who had a great career as players for many years as well."

Clicky

[Arn]

Reina: Beach-ball farce summed up season

If one incident sums up perfectly the disaster of Liverpool's 2009-10 season, it was the infamous 'beach-ball' goal.

And even thought the victim Pepe Reina can now smile at that hilarious moment, he insists in his new autobiography that he still cannot believe the goal that has gone down in folklore was allowed to stand...

"If it felt like 2009-10 was all doom and gloom, then that's because it was .

"It is not a period of my life that I will remember fondly and the whole period was summed up by that beach-ball incident at Sunderland.

"Even now, when I see replays of it on television, I cannot believe that it happened - even though I can't help laughing at the stupid, funny face I pulled after the ball went in.

"I have been asked so many times why I didn't just kick the beach-ball off the pitch as soon as it was thrown on, but I only realised it was right in front of me when Andy Reid crossed the proper football into the box and there it was.

"Even after spotting it, I didn't think it was about to play a part in one of the craziest goals in English football history.

"Darren Bent had a shot. I knew I had it covered - until the ball collided with the beach-ball and flew past me into the back of the net.

"My first instinct was to chase the linesman, because I knew that something wasn't right.

"I have to be honest though, and admit that I didn't know exactly what the rule was at that point. I was shouting at the linesman.

"'You have to have seen that!' I screamed at him. But he told me the ball hadn't been deflected.

"'You're f***ing joking,' I said. 'It was impossible not to see that. Either you are lying to my face or you think I am stupid.'

"He was adamant. 'No, no, no, Pepe. I am sure.'

"'You have got to be taking the p**s. It's impossible for you not to see what happened. Are you telling me that the ball was not defected by the other one?'

"He was certain.

"'Then you really are taking the p**s, then?' I replied.

"It made no difference. The goal stood. The beach-ball became the symbol of our season.

"But no matter how crazy that incident was, it should not cover the fact that we were not good enough on that day when Sunderland defeated us.

"Nor were we good enough during the season as a whole."

Clicky

[McDermotX]

“If I know one thing it’s that you definitely aren’t *Beckenbauer, but just give me a bit of support when I’ve got the ball so we can try and play instead of just kicking it down the pitch,” I responded

Really bad timing with this book lark Pepe. Papers are going to try and sensationalize everything.
Rookie mistake.
**** like the Mirror now will try and keep this going till Saturday.

[Lee]

"One of the problems we had was that we had lost some good players - Xabi Alonso, Peter Crouch and Jermaine Pennant - but never really replaced them.

[cream]

Really bad timing with this book lark Pepe. Papers are going to try and sensationalize everything.
Rookie mistake.
**** like the Mirror now will try and keep this going till Saturday.

Doesn't matter as long as Rooney is making the bigger headlines.

[Alex]

So Pepe and Carra had an argument about Carras biggest issue. Pepe is right for saying it, we should never been a lump it down the pitch team.

Its not like he has said anything explosive. He doesnt agree on philosphy with Carra. That gets a big 'Meh' from me.

[Rich]

I really, really, really, really hate the way all journalists seem to write footballers' autobiographies.

[Alex]

Me too, but it does help when the Journo is a Liverpool fan with no desire to see the clubs name smeered.