I dont know if many people saw this, but it was on at 7:30pm tonight on LFCTV and ended at 10:30pm. Unfortunately, i missed a fair chunk of it, but caught about half of it and i have to say, it was a brilliant watch.
Aside from the goals from the games, the bits of insight from Rafa in between each game was really interesting to watch and highly entertaining.
I looked through my digital tv schedule and it doesnt look like there's a repeat due anytime soon. Certainly not in the next 7 days anyway. Hopefully it'll be on again though, because i'd like to see it in full.
But anyway, one bit which i found especially interesting, was the discussion between the presenter and Rafa, about the role of the media, with specific reference to the 'rant' about Ferguson.
The following is a transcript from that segment:
Presenter
We can't talk about the media in this country without talking about your press conference before Stoke where, as you mentioned, you spoke in nothing but facts. Were you again surprised about the overreaction from some quarters after that press conference?
Rafa
I know that United has a very good press so clearly you could see after the result against Stoke that the people close to Mr Ferguson were using these facts like "Ok, this is the turning point".
I think our players were not worried about the press conference. We couldn't win against Stoke because we didn't play well, and also we had a crossbar and we hit the post at the end so (it) could be the same situation but winning the game.
Also they were talking about "Oh United are winning lots of points in this time" but they had some games in hand so they were playing games and we were not playing so they were using this, and clearly you could see that we were in control, we knew what we were doing and at the end you could see that the team was playing at the same level.
Presenter
But when Mr Ferguson starts talking about you, you know you're worrying him, you know you're doing something right.
Rafa
Yeah clearly you could see his reaction, the rest of the season he was losing control. But again, you can win, (when) people talk about mind games it's very easy to win mind games when you have the best team, so to win on the pitch if you have better players is not difficult. To win the other things, i think is just a game for the press. For me, we were defending our club, so it was clear that we were talking about things that nobody can argue that were right.
Presenter
People have called it, and the media called it "Rafa's rant". (Rafa smiles).
You seemed very calm though on the day, you seemed very sure about what you were saying. I suppose you had to go and ask someone what a rant was, didn't you when that came out?
Rafa
No, I think that was a surprise and I remember when we were arriving to Old Trafford, one boy was (gesturing to symbolise a sign) "Rafa's cracking up" you know, with his father, the example for the boy was amazing, but anyway (rolls eyes), I was sure that we knew what we were talking about clearly because I was not ATTACKING Sir Alex Ferguson, I was just using things that everybody could say "Yeah, it's true" and I received a lot of messages (from) the people saying "Yeah it's right" but nobody wanted to say. So we know that when a team or a club is doing well for years and everybody says "We cannot go against them". But I was trying to defend my club because Sir Alex Ferguson was talking about us during the whole season two or three times.
Aside from the goals from the games, the bits of insight from Rafa in between each game was really interesting to watch and highly entertaining.
I looked through my digital tv schedule and it doesnt look like there's a repeat due anytime soon. Certainly not in the next 7 days anyway. Hopefully it'll be on again though, because i'd like to see it in full.
But anyway, one bit which i found especially interesting, was the discussion between the presenter and Rafa, about the role of the media, with specific reference to the 'rant' about Ferguson.
The following is a transcript from that segment:
Presenter
We can't talk about the media in this country without talking about your press conference before Stoke where, as you mentioned, you spoke in nothing but facts. Were you again surprised about the overreaction from some quarters after that press conference?
Rafa
I know that United has a very good press so clearly you could see after the result against Stoke that the people close to Mr Ferguson were using these facts like "Ok, this is the turning point".
I think our players were not worried about the press conference. We couldn't win against Stoke because we didn't play well, and also we had a crossbar and we hit the post at the end so (it) could be the same situation but winning the game.
Also they were talking about "Oh United are winning lots of points in this time" but they had some games in hand so they were playing games and we were not playing so they were using this, and clearly you could see that we were in control, we knew what we were doing and at the end you could see that the team was playing at the same level.
Presenter
But when Mr Ferguson starts talking about you, you know you're worrying him, you know you're doing something right.
Rafa
Yeah clearly you could see his reaction, the rest of the season he was losing control. But again, you can win, (when) people talk about mind games it's very easy to win mind games when you have the best team, so to win on the pitch if you have better players is not difficult. To win the other things, i think is just a game for the press. For me, we were defending our club, so it was clear that we were talking about things that nobody can argue that were right.
Presenter
People have called it, and the media called it "Rafa's rant". (Rafa smiles).
You seemed very calm though on the day, you seemed very sure about what you were saying. I suppose you had to go and ask someone what a rant was, didn't you when that came out?
Rafa
No, I think that was a surprise and I remember when we were arriving to Old Trafford, one boy was (gesturing to symbolise a sign) "Rafa's cracking up" you know, with his father, the example for the boy was amazing, but anyway (rolls eyes), I was sure that we knew what we were talking about clearly because I was not ATTACKING Sir Alex Ferguson, I was just using things that everybody could say "Yeah, it's true" and I received a lot of messages (from) the people saying "Yeah it's right" but nobody wanted to say. So we know that when a team or a club is doing well for years and everybody says "We cannot go against them". But I was trying to defend my club because Sir Alex Ferguson was talking about us during the whole season two or three times.
Comment