Pack your bags Roy

[Pablo]

Rafael Benitez has launched a cryptic attack on Liverpool's ousted owners and current managing director Christian Purslow.

Benitez, whose six-year reign as manager ended in the summer, hit out at former co-owner Tom Hicks' claim that he was largely to blame for the Reds' worst ever start to the Barclays Premier League this season.

Hicks pointed the finger at Benitez for wasting much of the money he was given to spend during the latter half of his tenure.

But a clearly irked Benitez insisted the Americans were to blame, citing their of appointment Purslow in the summer of last year as the beginning of a downward spiral that ended in the Spaniard's exit.

In an outburst reminiscent of Eric Cantona's famous quote featuring seagulls and trawlers, Inter Milan boss Benitez compared events leading up to his departure to a bottle of milk.

"I prefer not to talk too much about Liverpool," said Benitez, who watched his former club's Merseyside derby defeat on Sunday which left them second bottom of the table.

"I prefer not to talk about this because I feel really sorry for the fans.

"I was watching the fans and I was really sad after the defeat the other day.

"We have a saying in Spanish, which is: 'White liquid in a bottle has to be milk'."

Benitez, who led Liverpool to second place in the Premier League in 2009 but could only manage seventh last term, added: "What does this mean? It means that after 86 points and finishing second in the league, what changed?

"The Americans, they chose a new managing director and everything changed.

"So, what changed?

"The managing director is involved in all the decisions: new lawyer, new chief of press, new manager, nine new players, new medical staff, new fitness coaches - they changed everything.

"At the beginning, they changed the managing director who was talking with some players, and they changed everything that we were doing in the past.

"So, if you want to ask again what was going on, it's simple: they changed something and, at the end, they changed everything.

"So, white liquid in a bottle: milk. You will know who is to blame."

Pressed further on the matter, Benitez would only say: "White liquid in a bottle. If I see John the milkman in the Wirral, where I was living, with this bottle, I'd say, 'It's milk, sure'."

I'm only surprised he didn't directly blame my fellow Est posters

[danperkins]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/b...-five-problems

thoughts?

All very true, but think well known by anyone that has watched us play this season. Unfortunately we need a new manager, 2 new wingers, a LB and CB as well as some exits. The fact that we will have to wait for a managerial change and wait until January for a personnel change is very very bad news.

We look disjointed and lost. No fire and no passion. Managers confusion on the sideline, strange game plan and elementary tactics are stemming down to the players and they look bewildered and devoid of any sort of continuity. Their looking for a reaction and some inspiration from Roy and he is just looking back at them looking for the same things, its hard to stomach.

Short of Roy completely turning things around which would be miraculous i don't see how any of these deep rooted problem can be fixed. Short of new management (that includes Sammy Lee out) and 4 new players, CF/LB/LM/CB and maybe a RM too. I just don't see a quick fix for Liverpool and i reckon Torres is a goner no matter the owners do.

[Arn]

I wonder what Rafa would say if it was Purslow that delivered the milk

[Kenneth]

I'm only surprised he didn't directly blame my fellow Est posters


:

*

I do fail to see how change, per se, was the cause of many problems. A new lawyer, a new press officer etc makes no difference to a team whatsoever. It does come across as blaming anything himself, which may be mostly fair, but it's not a great impression to give.

Anyway, people hoping for a return anytime soon can probably write off that though.

[Neil Young]

Come on mods, which thread do you want us to talk about Purslow in?




Do they ever do anything useful?

[Arn]

*

I do fail to see how change, per se, was the cause of many problems. A new lawyer, a new press officer etc makes no difference to a team whatsoever. It does come across as blaming anything himself, which may be mostly fair, but it's not a great impression to give.

Anyway, people hoping for a return anytime soon can probably write off that though.

A new press officer means better control of the club. They can release things they want instead of things the manager want for example. They can release the articles to match their point of view.

Better control.

[Shaggy]

*

I do fail to see how change, per se, was the cause of many problems. A new lawyer, a new press officer etc makes no difference to a team whatsoever. It does come across as blaming anything himself, which may be mostly fair, but it's not a great impression to give.

Anyway, people hoping for a return anytime soon can probably write off that though.

Whatever people think about it, I reckon Ferguson has just buried Rafa's comments.

[Kenneth]

Whatever people think about it, I reckon Ferguson has just buried Rafa's comments.

Not seen that. Will check it out with a

[Pablo]

Whatever people think about it, I reckon Ferguson has just buried Rafa's comments.

Very true . To be honest it's for the best, we've had enough publicity lately.

[Galb]

rafa the man is a legend - rafa the manager im starting to sour on really quickly. please please please rafa just coment on questions put to you regarding lfc "i prefer to talk about inter" and leave it at that. it almost sounds as though he is blaming purslow for our **** tactics / performances last year.

we loved you rafa ( some still do ) please stop answering questions on us and they'll soon stop asking them!!!

In fairness to him, I think its unfair to expect him to stay quiet when he's being criticised by the likes of Hicks and every single media pundit with the same single opinion.

Its clear from the way he tried to avoid the questions that he does want to move on and not talk about us directly, but it must be hard when people not fit to wipe his arse are having a go at him when he's not here to defend himself or his reputation.

[Lecter]

All very true, but think well known by anyone that has watched us play this season. Unfortunately we need a new manager, 2 new wingers, a LB and CB as well as some exits. The fact that we will have to wait for a managerial change and wait until January for a personnel change is very very bad news.

We look disjointed and lost. No fire and no passion. Managers confusion on the sideline, strange game plan and elementary tactics are stemming down to the players and they look bewildered and devoid of any sort of continuity. Their looking for a reaction and some inspiration from Roy and he is just looking back at them looking for the same things, its hard to stomach.

Short of Roy completely turning things around which would be miraculous i don't see how any of these deep rooted problem can be fixed. Short of new management (that includes Sammy Lee out) and 4 new players, CF/LB/LM/CB and maybe a RM too. I just don't see a quick fix for Liverpool and i reckon Torres is a goner no matter the owners do.

I actually reckon the right managerial appointment could improve things

Our squad is not as bad as is being portrayed

Ok its not top 4 material and is probably only now good enough to match Rafa's 7th place finish of last season but I do feel that with the right manager with the right approach we could start picking up points quickly

[RichC]

I actually reckon the right managerial appointment could improve things

Our squad is not as bad as is being portrayed

Ok its not top 4 material and is probably only now good enough to match Rafa's 7th place finish of last season but I do feel that with the right manager with the right approach we could start picking up points quickly

completly agree with this.

It's about formation and tactics, you change this around to play the right formation with the players we've got and it looks a lot stronger than the current dross we're playing.

For me the best way of us setting up for a game is similar to Barca as it would get the best from the players we have in the squad.

[Lecter]

completly agree with this.

It's about formation and tactics, you change this around to play the right formation with the players we've got and it looks a lot stronger than the current dross we're playing.

For me the best way of us setting up for a game is similar to Barca as it would get the best from the players we have in the squad.

We should go on the front foot from the start

We should press the opposition high up the pitch and quickly try to turn possession into incisive play. We should also be looking to condense the play lot more than we do now

Sitting deep, conceeding possession and inviting balls into our box is suicidal with the back four we have at the moment

[RichC]

We should go on the front foot from the start

We should press the opposition high up the pitch and quickly try to turn possession into incisive play. We should also be looking to condense the play lot more than we do now

Sitting deep, conceeding possession and inviting balls into our box is suicidal with the back four we have at the moment

yup high tempo football, pressing and not allowing the opposition to advance like they are currently.

It's just so depressing to watch the current style of football we're playing as you know we're going to get crucified by most teams playing this way.

I forgot though, we're now playing the best football since Roy has been here!

[sitoca]

No idea what that saying means but I imagine that's it, isn't it? It has to be milk. If not it's spunk or something equally unpleasant. I think he's saying the LFC milk bottle isn't full of milk as it should be, it's full of cock custard

I think what Rafa is trying to say here with his milk in a bottle comment is that CP is looking at things too simply and making assumptions. Hence the change in the medical team whom CP assume would cure all the team injuries, buying players from what he heard from that would make the team better.......etc when in fact he needs to analyse deeper to find the true cause or what is the white liquid in the bottle.