RAFA BENITEZ - The man who came in from the cold

As Anfield, the city of Liverpool, and every Liverpool fan jumped for joy during Sunday's humbling of Man United, one man stood still...emotionless; impassive, and controlled. That man was, of course, Rafa Benitez - the heartbeat and Commander in Chief of everything Liverpool FC.


If one was to spend the whole match against Manchester United watching Rafa, it would be hard to judge the scoreline at the end. The team he was guiding on the pitch echoed his personality off it: cold, ruthless, determined and very tactical.

Every team eventually becomes the image of their manager, and Liverpool are showing signs that they are Rafa Benitez. Indeed, against United, the team was stubborn in its resistance and clinical in its attacking play.

I’ll try to refrain from throwing superlatives though because I’ve been almost driven barmy hearing all the negativity this week, and now we’re (inevitably) set for a week of praise. The fickleness of football and the media in general is as rotten as the economy surrounding it.

For a man supposedly unfit to be manager of Liverpool, Rafa must have been very lucky to tactically outclass Alex Ferguson for the 3rd consecutive time. It’s funny how the best in the business tend to have that luck. And it’s not as if Fergie hasn’t had his fair share, with 3 own goals changing matches in United's favour this season already.

If Rafa does manage to get his hands on the Premier League come May, he will have won every major competition available to him in the last 8 years, conquering Europe, Spain, and England respectively.

The majority of the football world seems awash with ignorance when the subject of Liverpool and Benitez comes up. The lack of respect shown to the Liverpool manager beggars belief; he is derided in some sections and Liverpool are gleefully kicked when they’re down by Sky Sports ‘pundits’.

With Rafa's proven pedigree in the big games and big moments, it’s borderline offensive to hear a bunch of ex-players (all considered unprofessional at many points in their playing careers) questioning Rafa’s managerial ability as if the last game was his first.

Matthew Le Tissier, Paul Merson, Charlie Nicholas and Stan Collymore all make fools of themselves regularly. I don’t know whether to laugh or cry at their opinions.

Sky’s Soccer Saturday saw Charlie ‘Champagne’ Nicholas churn out the same old garbage about Rafa’s spending at the club. £250million, £300m hell why not go nuts, “Benitez has spent £687 million and he has nothing to show for it!”.

After having a go at Rafa's lack of nouse in the transfer market, Jeff Stelling, another who may as well be wearing a jesters hat, asked Mr Champagne about Wigan's passing record in games this season, to which Charlie replied “Jeff, don’t throw stats at me, stats don’t interest me”.

A classic example of selective argument. I feel like I should point out Paul Merson’s comments, but I can’t bring myself to do it. The man is a simpleton and I pity anyone who takes his comments as gospel.

I don’t want to dwell on these type of sensationalist nobodies though; I want to talk about Rafael Benitez. I thought it unwise to write an article about Rafa during the last two weeks because I don’t think the majority of people were in the mood to hear it. After Sunday’s game I think maybe people might be a little more open to Rafa-praise.

I hope I’m not alone in saying I see a lot of similarities between Rafa and Bill Shankly. Both are/were incredibly single-minded; ruthless and confident. Both share a certain affinity with the fans (although Rafa’s is a lot more knife-edge than Shank’s everlasting love was). Both men also seemed to have a habit of clashing with the directors and those above them. Both have/had ideas of dynasty. Shanks created one, Rafa is starting one. I see Rafa as very much laying foundations at the club, I hope others can see that too.

Losing four games in two weeks doesn’t make or break a great manager, and it doesn’t break an extremely good team. Rafa often finds himself as ‘boy against world’. We often see those who know him defend him to the hilt, those who don’t know him trying to strike the killer blow.

For Rafa, it must seem as though he’s shut out from the media clique and the ‘friends in high places’ advantage of certain managers. Rafa is very much out in the cold and if I as a fan get that impression then Mr Benitez must surely feel it too.

Rafa does, however, have one amazing weapon in his armoury against the doubters, and that is the Liverpool fans. Secular in our nature, we as a people and as a fanbase must surely be able to relate to the unfair criticism of our Manager. Liverpool, Scousers and the wider fanbase in general, often display that ‘us against them’ mentality, something from which Rafa can take comfort. Basically, when our backs are against the wall we rally around those who need our protection.

Rafa is a big boy and can handle the pressure, but when Liverpool fans back him it gives a sense of unity that is rare to find. I often hear on television that Liverpool fans are against Rafa and this and that, but I can’t really trust the surveys and vox pops; there’s always an agenda.

You don’t have to look far on the internet to find some moron preaching about Mourinho and claiming to be a Liverpool fan, but in the cold light of day, most fans I speak to talk with a lot of sense.

The last week saw probably the greatest pressure build up in the last 20 years for a Liverpool manager; the ball had been dropped, but it takes a man of great courage and guts to reach into the fire and pull it back out again. This is what Rafa has done, and we should not forget it the next time Liverpool are in dire straits.

We’d be fools to think that we’ll never be in such a situation again, but we’ve learned that when luck and form conspire against us, we have the testicular fortitude to fight our corner. And then some.

Chris Severs

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