Rafa Benitez And Liverpool Remain Defiant About Manchester United

Liverpool manager Rafa Beneathus is adamant Manchester United are not untouchable. Every season begins with 20 teams all filled with their dreams and ambitions for the forthcoming season. Maybe only 6 teams include winning the Premier League in their list of desires. But as the season progresses the six become five, four and so on and so forth.

And now there are two.

Manchester United are stringing together a remarkable run of games in which they have broken the record for the most consecutive clean sheets. Currently they have gone 14 games with out conceding, the previous record was a mere eleven by Chelsea. They remain unbeaten since the World Club Cup in Japan and Edwin Van Der Sar has become the holder of all records for golakeeping in the process. Chasing United has cost Luiz Filipe Scolari his job and has made the usually defiant Arsene Wenger bow down and say United are untouchable. Rafa Bentiez remains unbowed though, for now.

The Spaniard has good reason not to cede defeat, despite United's imperious form. In his second title season with Valencia in 2004, with 12 games to go, Benitez's side stood eight points behind Real Madrid. Valencia, of course, went on to win that title, and win it in style. They finished five points ahead of Barcelona, with Real seven points adrift.

Despite the bad news that Steven Gerrard has not recovered from a hamstring strain to face Manchester City tomorrow and will only know on Monday if he will make Wednesday's Champions League tie with Real Madrid, a five point lead is not nearly enough for Benitez to follow Wenger's lead and throw his shield at Ferguson's feet just yet.

He said: "It would be better if we had a five point lead on them, but clearly you can manage it if you win some games in a row. We did that at Valencia and it gave us more confidence, and it is the same here. It is too much to say United are untouchable. They won a lot of games 1-0 and then they have scored three or four in a couple of games and everyone has been talking as though they were playing well for the whole season. But you can see a lot of games where they were not playing well. Clearly we cannot say we think they are unbeatable. We have to think we can win our next games, then go to Old Trafford and win."

If Liverpool are to catch and overhaul their great rivals, then Benitez knows they must start to take games by the scruff of the neck early on, rather than leaving it until the last minute to snatch victory, as they did against Portsmouth two weeks ago. Tomorrow's visitors have already felt the full effect of a Liverpool late show, losing 3-2 at Eastlands thanks to a last minute Dirk Kuyt strike. Refusing to give in is a fine characteristic, but if Benitez is to protect his players from burnout, he needs them to kill games off.

He said: "It would be easier for the team, for the fans, for my heart if we scored early. It is better to score in the first half when you have had plenty of possession, as we did at Portsmouth. I watched the tape and there were three clips in the first 10 minutes. We have been controlling these games but it would be so different if we scored the first goal. If you do, they open up and you have more space.".....Back To Home Page...

Scolari Trying To Blag It

Chelsea manager Luiz Felipe Scolari is cliaming he is not under pressure despite losing 2-0 to The Bindippers AND trailing United by 5 points AND United have a game in hand.

Chelsea are thrid now and Scolari, who concedes he has had no money to spend in the transfer window, maintains that Chelsea's predicament "is not a problem in my life" but he acknowledges that the title is no longer in Chelsea's hands, as Manchester and Liverpool look to have turned it into a two-team race for the prize.

The Brazilian coach said: "There has been no money, but I agree with Chelsea on that. I have a good enough squad of players. I do not feel any pressure. I have my job, I do my best every day, that is not pressure. It is not a problem in my life, I laugh when I win but sometimes we lose. It is now more difficult at the top. The title is more distant, we have allowed Liverpool to go ahead of us and Aston Villa are close. We need to play game by game and see what the situation is like at the end. But it is not in our hands."

I'm actually beginning to feel a bit sentimental having Chelsea so far behind and not up at the top chasing United week in and week out......but my sentimentality only lasts for about 30 seconds because I then begin to laugh my ass off.....Back To Home Page...

A Year To Remember For Manchester United

As Sir Alex Ferguson watched Ryan Giggs sprint towards the jubilant Manchester United supporters packed into one end of Wigan's JJB Stadium, a look of relief spread across his face.

Giggs had just scored the goal that wrapped up United's 17th English league title and their 10th during Ferguson's reign.

Despite holding a substantial lead over their London rivals at one stage, United had been made to sweat all the way to the finish line by Chelsea and eventually ended only two points clear.

Taking the title by such a narrow margin could be a sign of things to come in the Premier League as the global credit crunch begins to level the playing field.

United, Chelsea, Liverpool and Arsenal will all finish the year at the top end of the table again, but the emergence of Aston Villa as serious challengers to the big four underlines the closing gap between the league's superpowers and the chasing pack.

That Chelsea will start 2009 firmly in the title race is no surprise, but there are signs that the financial meltdown is starting to make life difficult for Luiz Felipe Scolari.

Scolari made an impressive start after replacing Avram Grant as Chelsea boss, but the Brazilian, who was furious that Manchester City out-bid the Blues for Robinho on transfer deadline day, has presided over a series of spluttering performances in recent weeks.

To make matters worse, Scolari has been told he must sell before he can buy after owner Roman Abramovich called a halt to the extravagant spending that has marked the Russian's time at Stamford Bridge.

Chelsea aren't alone in tightening their belts and only Manchester City, backed by their Abu Dhabi-based billionaire owners, will buck the trend and pay big money during the transfer window.

The financial implications of relegation from the Premier League are too catastrophic to contemplate now and inevitably chairmen are getting twitchy.

When Paul Ince was sacked by Blackburn after only 17 matches in charge, he became the sixth top-flight boss to lose his job this season.

Winning the League Cup in February wasn't enough to save Juande Ramos as Tottenham's form collapsed.

Harry Redknapp, tempted by a crack at his first big club, left Portsmouth to replace the Spaniard and sparked a remarkable revival, while Kevin Keegan's second coming at Newcastle ended in acrimonious circumstances.

On the field, the Premier League still has much to commend it. Giggs' goal at Wigan was the prelude to an even more dramatic Champions League final penalty shoot-out win against Chelsea in Moscow 10 days later that capped one of United's greatest seasons.

That double triumph could be the start of another glorious era for United, but before the champagne corks had even stopped popping, Cristiano Ronaldo, whose 42 goals had played such a key role in United's success, took the fizz out of their celebrations by unsuccessfully pushing for a move to Real Madrid.

Ronaldo has cut a forlorn figure ever since and his erratic form in the second half of 2008 has added to the impression that he is still at United on sufferance only.

But Ferguson's men still ended the year newly crowned as FIFA's Club World Cup winners and returned from Japan with Liverpool and Chelsea within touching distance.

The most encouraging trend of the year has to be the way newly-promoted Hull and Stoke have managed to make the critics eat their words.

After Derby's relegation in May with 11 points - an English top-flight record low - Stoke and Hull and were widely regarded as certainities for relegation. But both are clear of the bottom three and, not only was Hull's win at Arsenal was one of the most memorable of the year, it also contributed to the spectacular outburst from Gunners captain William Gallas a few weeks later that revealed the extent of Arsene Wenger's problems at the Emirates Stadium.

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Xavi Not Happy - Manchester United And Chelsea Could Be

Xavi is not a happy player right now. His contract is up for renewal and Barcelona refuse to offer what he wants and this fact has alerted Manchester United and Chelsea.

I am at a loss as to why Barca would mess him around like this. Xavi is one of those very rare players these days who has shown complete loyalty to his team.

Xavi came up through Barcelona's youth system and has spent all of his footballing life with them. Showing exceptional talent for a player of his age, he quickly made his way through the youth and reserve teams and was a key member of Jordi Gonzalvo's FC Barcelona B team that won promotion to the Spanish Segunda Division.

At the age of 18 he was thrown in at the deep end and made his debut in the Super Cup Final and believe it or not, he scored too, what a start. He was that impressive he soon became a permanent fixture in Louis Van Gaals team that won La Liga.

Although his main role is as a central midfielder, he is also capable of playing as a defensive midfielder and would be an ideal replacement for Paul Scholes who is showing signs of his age and is running out of time at Old Trafford. Xavi does have a buyout clause of £100m but that seems to mean nothing these days, if a player wants to leave then the price is more likely to be around £20m - £25m. I'd love to see him at ~United and think he would be a great asset. As I said, Scholes is on borrowed time now, Owen Sa(Ha)rgreaves seems to be crocked too often, and we need someone of Xavi's calibre.....Back To Home Page...