Andy Gray Attacks Rafa Shock !

[Frogfish]

Sky Sports expert Andy Gray has attacked Rafael Benitez ahead of Liverpool’s game with Everton at Goodison Park.

Gray believes Benitez has taken the team backwards following their win in the Champions League final in 2005 and is ’staggered’ by his treatment of Alberto Aquilani.

He said: “I don’t think he’s done a great job since Liverpool won the Champions League and if anything they’ve gone backward this year. That’s alarming if you are a Liverpool fan.

“I thought that nothing Rafa does would surprise me any more but I was staggered by his treatment of Alberto Aquilani on Tuesday. Why would you refuse to play your biggest summer signing from the start of a match like that? This is a kid who played 25 minutes against Arsenal at the Emirates a month ago.

“I was amazed that against Debrecen he didn’t say to Aquilani ‘go play and get as much in your tank as you can and when you’ve had enough give me a signal and I’ll take you off’. But that’s not Rafa’s style. How he gets anything from the lad when he puts him on for 30 seconds is beyond me, beyond me.â€

The former Everton player also insisted if the Reds lose at Goodison Park on Sunday, fans that support Benitez may start questioning the manager.

“To lose to Everton at Goodison at the weekend would be another hammer-blow to the players belief and will chip away at the confidence of those fans who are still behind Rafael Benitez. His critics certainly don’t need any more ammunition,†he said.

“There is still plenty of passion in the Merseyside derby even if, like most derbies, it may not be as intense as in the past. That is only natural when you compare the modern game to the days when the majority of players in a derby were British. That doesn’t mean that today’s players are not aware of the history and traditions that go with it. Far from it.

“Liverpool have to pick themselves up after the devastation of going out of Europe. Rafa may say his team is confident after that 1-0 win but I don’t agree with that. They did what they had to do in Hungary but there’s no great glory in beating Debrecen 1-0. “

Shit stirring cunt.

 

[gareth_thomas]

ah well.. He is an Evertonian.

This whole Aquilani thing has been bewildering.. The teams performance in the Champions league was simply half arsed and so far our league efforts havent been much better... however, the fuckwitt knows we have improved its just not showing at the moment but its clearly there.

probably one of the few times that an Evertonian can use facts to get one over on us.. not suprised at all.

 

[gkmacca]

Sky, thankfully, have defeated themselves by droning on for so long they're practically inaudible. I flicked over to them at lunchtime yesterday, foolishly. Thommo wasn't there, so the inexplicably popular ageing anorak Stelling made lame jokes about the Europa League whilst that tactical genius Paul Walsh moaned about all the tactical things that 'anyone knows' except Benitez. Apart from reminding me of here, it was too tired and silly even to irritate any more.

 

[Dreambeliever]

Does anyone expect anything different?

But in fairness he makes a very valid point and raises a question most have been asking regarding Aquaman.

 

[Judge Jules]

That's so often the trouble with football debates. People make valid points (and I too agree with the one about Aquilani) but their history of bias is such that those points get passed over because of who made them. There are one or two on here who are very much in that category.

 

[gkmacca]

Welll, without knowing what went on last Tuesday, the sub appearance seems bizarre, but as for the rest of it I'd need to know the views of the medical team before launching into a denunciation, from my armchair, of how he's been handled. Maybe Gray knows more about it. Standing next to Atkinson during all those Villa matches obviously taught him a huge amount, including how to assess players coming back from long term injuries at other clubs. He will also know - like the fat-arsed knowitalls down the various ale houses around Merseyside - what Liverpool's medical staff made of the tests that followed the Arsenal appearance. All in all, he's brilliant because he feeds the right prejudices at the moment.

 

[manwithnoname]

I hate Andy Gray

But he's got a point

 

[gkmacca]

on the top of his head.

 

[monsieurdantes]

[quote author=Brendan link=topic=37515.msg1001089#msg1001089 date=1259493440]
I hate Andy Gray

But he's got a point
[/quote]

that is like letting rafa continually play lucas, and on a random occasion when he plays well saying "he's got a point"

 

[Asbo]

The team thats going backwards play in Blue.

Grey is diverting the flak for the real manager thats in trouble Gollum.

He's on the worst run of form ever seen from him and his shite team.

 

[Spionkop69]

Ex-Bluenose denigrates Liverpool manager?

There must be a game on...