12 Jun 2013

'I felt sick' - Angry Ex-Red blasts Rafa Benitez for 'heart-wrenching' snub.

In his first spell at Anfield, Craig Bellamy lasted only a year before leaving the club for West Ham. It was an abrupt departure, and a little surprising considering his (overall) good form. Bellamy - now at Cardiff City after a second spell at Liverpool - has provided some insight into his midset during his time working under Rafa Benitez, and possibly revealed one of the reasons why he decided to leave.

In his new book, 'Goodfella' Bellamy admits that he 'never really felt right playing under Rafa', and he revealed his heartache at being dumped on the bench for the 2007 Champions League final with AC Milan. He remembered:

"It was heart-wrenching not to play any part at all. When we were on the coach back to the hotel, a couple of the boys expressed surprise to me that Rafa hadn't brought me in. It was nice of them but it didn't help.

"It was over. The chance had gone. As a fan of the club, I felt sick about the defeat. As a player denied the chance to play the biggest game in club football, I just felt empty."


It's hardly surprising that Bellamy left soon after that gigantic snub. He definitely deserved to feature in the game, and to this day, Benitez's mistake is hard to understand.

To add insult to injury, inferior players like Boudewijn Zenden and Jermain Pennant started ahead of Bellamy, and (predictably) neither player had any telling impact on the game.

If both Bellamy and Peter Crouch had started against Milan, I have absolutely no doubt that the result would've been different. Leaving them on the bench made absolutely no sense, and it's a prime example of Benitez's legendary stubbornness.

At the time, Crouch was the club's top scorer in the Champions League, and with his goal against Barcelona, Bellamy played an integral part in getting the Reds to the final. Alas, for whatever reason, Benitez cut of his nose to spite his face, and Liverpool ended up losing.

Gerard Houllier's decision to replace Dietmar Hamann with Vladimir Smicer in the 2002 CL quarter-final against Bayer Leverkuses is one of the worst European decisions in LFC history (IMO), but Benitez's double-snub against Milan in 2007 comes close.

Jaimie Kanwar


57 comments:

  1. I thought Pennant was man of the match for that game (for Liverpool), though i might be wrong.

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  2. Pennant played okay, but the point is he made no specific, measurable contribution to the game. No goal; assist etc, and LFC lost.

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  3. Pennant was very good in the first half, mistakes from gerrard for not finishing!! but till today ive never been able to understand why play fat bolo when we had PC15 and bells on the bench :(

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  4. Fair enough on Zenden, but I don't know how you can keep laying into Pennant's contribution to that game. He was clearly our best player on that day.

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  5. Weak leadership and over the top fan adoration created Benitez. He thought he would be right whatever he did and he would not compromise. Not with anyone. Not with the board or players. Not even with his long time friend Ayesteran. The thing is, he seems to be an amicable guy most of the time. I honestly believe he loves this club and cares deeply for those involved in it. Leaving out Bellamy and Crouch made about as much sense as starting the 2005 final without Hamann. His time at Liverpool is littered with erratic, illogical decisions like that. On the pitch and in the transfer market. That's why I was never in favour of a return. Having said that, I do have a soft spot for Rafa and I'm happy he did well at Chelski even though those inbreds didn't deserve him. I'm also happy he got the job at Napoli which is a brilliant, beautiful club. The Liverpool of Italy imo. And I hope he does well there but somehow I expect him to be at odds with the board after max 3 years or so.

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  6. Never liked that side of Rafa,Id say its his biggest flaw as a manager...His pig headed stubbornness

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  7. Craig Bellamy has spoken of his great admiration for Rafa Benitez here. He said he was the finest manager he every played under:

    http://www.rafabenitez.com/web/index.php?act=mostrarContenidos&idioma=in&co=240



    On another occasion he said he would never say a negative word about Rafa because it was Rafa that made possible his dream of joining LFC.

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  8. Jamie K. Another dig at Rafa. I'm with most here in agreeing Pennant was probably best on field for Reds and this was the final we deserved to win. As for Bellamy I am a fan but we all have to remember the cohesion of the team and didn't Bellamy play a round of golf with JAR earlier in Competition. Rafa did get reds to 2 finals in 3 years so hard to justify much of criticism coming from Craig. As for his high praise of King Kenny his record during the second coming is nothing to really write home about let alone put in a book. Love you Craig and Kenny too.

    In Rafa we trusted

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  9. Oh yeah I forgot about the champions league, uefa cup, fa cup 2 spanish titles, european super cup and world club cup you won as manager you fucking wanker, how fucking dare you criticise Rafa you muppet, be ashamed you cunt, the man worked wonders for Liverpool yet you would back Rodgers who won fuck all

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  10. Harry Kewell was the big mistake in that game. Should've been Bellamy on that wing from the start.

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  11. Man, Harry Kewell could have been Australia's own Gareth Bale if he wasn't injured so much...

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  12. So what your saying is your a better manager than Benitez as you would of picked a different team and we would of won the game??. The fact is Benitez is very good in Europe, he has won UEFA with Valencia, CL with Liverpool and UEFA with Chelsea, so I would assume his European credentials are up their with the best. What is also amazing is that year Bellamy attacked a fellow Liverpool player with a golf club for not singing on a Karaoke and you seem to defend him but lambast Suarez and deem his actions unforgivable. What i do know is under bentiez, Liverpool where feared in Europe, we could match anyone even if our players man for man were inferior. Everton and man utd fans were silenced and the Kop was in the media and fans were sounded out as the best, oh how we have fallen. Now we can only dream of a CL final. I truly believe Rafa was sacked to early and if FSG had given him the types of money that has been given to KD and BR, we would be looking forward to CL football this year and a title challenge, instead we are maybe looking at another transitional year and 4th spot.

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  13. I agree with other, i think Pennant was the man of the match in the final.
    Also wasnt the final after the golf club incident? im not 100% sure

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  14. I agree, He was an amazing player when healthy, but now i just wish he'd leave australia alone lol

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  15. It was Pennant's corner that led to Kuyt's meaningless late goal.

    And even though Kuyt scored, he was a large reason for our failure to win. We dominated the game but had such a pointless "striker" up front, that we ultimately carried minimal goal threat.



    Bellamy and Crouch definitely should have played a major part in the final, but not at the expense of Pennant

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  16. Are you really saying that if a player doesn't directly get a goal or assist, or his team loses, that he can't have had a good game though??


    That's pretty limited (and ridiculous) analysis as far as I'm concerned

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  17. You may be wrong officially, but he was definitely our best player on the day..

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  18. Against a small, ageing team, Crouch had the height advantage and Bellamy had the pace advantage. Kuyt meanwhile had no tangible advantage over the Milan defence but got the nod up-front, and we suffered because of it (in spite of being the better team on the day)

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  19. "I have absolutely no doubts that the results would've been different".... How could you absolutely surely, know such a thing? I think for you to have a differing opinion is your right and certainly the points you make are interesting. But "absolutely no doubts" is a bit much

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  20. He played after the golf incident. As a matter of fact, I think himself and Riise even combined for the goal that put us past Barcelona. So to then drop him for the final for an incident after which he was allowed to play, would be a bit odd. But like I said, it wouldn't be the only odd thing Benitez did during his reign.

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  21. Didn't they both score against Barcelona.

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  22. How can you "have absolutely no doubt" J-Dogg? Also, I'm not a football manager so maybe I'm equally unqualified to speculate on this as you are, but I would imagine that attacking a team-mate with a golf club in a drunken haze whilst on a team-bonding exercise in Portugal might have somewhat informed Benitez's decision to eventually sell Bellamy. Or the slew of average performances during that season, most notably his hilarious misses that cost us 3 points against Manchester United at Anfield.


    Bellamy was a liability in his first period at Liverpool. I can only imagine how much of a nightmare he must have been to train. Ultimately, there's a case to be made for the idea that, until Bellamy arrived, everyone was fully behind Rafa. But then the players became less professional and turned it into a lads holiday at times. Gerrard was swayed by this period.

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  23. Bellamy's a headcase. I'm amazed everyone is taking everything somebody shadow-wrote for him as The Gospel.

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  24. Yeah, getting us to 2 Champions League finals and winning 1 of them being the oddest thing of the lot.

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  25. Also, I find it slightly hypocritical that you should slate Luis Suarez for "disrespecting Brendan Rodgers", but then when a player who you like has a pop at a manager that you hate, you side with the player in this instance.

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  26. Ah yes because when you get to two CL finals it's ok to drive away your best players, pay insane amounts of money for players who have hardly played because of injury for two years and to complain about internal affairs in press conferences

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  27. Perfectly well said phil. I cant ever remember hearing "transitional" during 6 years of rafa. Till now players that Rafa bought in are the spine of the side - like pepe, agger,lucas. Others that he bought in like Torres brought in 50 million for the club. Amongst the youth set up Suso and Sterling were players he bought in. Yes he made mistakes - but who doesnt? Yes he may have been pig headed on occasions - but name a man without flaws?

    Bellers was a supporter before he was a player and we all love him for that. But the more we go through "transitional" periods the more rafa's years seem like heaven.

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  28. The point is it will be many,many years before we can indulge in criticising the tactics of a Liverpool manager in the champions league final.


    Unless Rafa comes back of course.

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  29. First, I'm indifferent to Bellamy overall. Second, comparing Suarez and Bellers is ridiculous. Not even in the same universe. Bellamy says nothing that is disrespectful here. There's nothing mean-spirited, just an honest view of a CL snub. Plus, he wrote it in a book FIVE YEARS after the event; he didn't bitch about it at the time in the press.

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  30. I have absolutely no doubt because that is my opinion.

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  31. Hey, guess what: it's my opinion. You'll have to deal with it. Objectively, it may be wrong, but that's what I think.

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  32. No, that's patently not what I'm saying. I'm suggesting that Pennant had no specific, measurable impact on the CL fine, which is true. He had a good game? Big deal. Liverpool lost, so what's the difference?

    My overall point is that I believe Crouch and Bellamy *would've* made some specific, measurable impact on the game, which could conceivably have led to an LFC victory.

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  33. Please, your opening line is so unbelievably pretentious. This is what fans do: we speculate and give our views. Just because it's Benitez, doesn't change that.

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  34. 'But the more we go through "transitional" periods the more rafa's years seem like heaven.'



    True and more overrated/hyped his time becomes.

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  35. to be honest, not benitez biggest fan, just stating facts the way i see it, which is opposite to yours!!

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  36. The big deal is that you say an inferior player (Pennant) was selected (ahead of Bellamy) and totally ignore his actual performance on the day, stating that he had no impact on the game, which is blatantly untrue.


    I too believe that Crouch & Bellamy would've made a big difference against Milan, but both played PLENTY of games for LFC where they neither scored nor got assists, even when they had good games also, which makes your point pretty weak. As I said before, to argue that a player had no impact on a game if he fails to score and his team loses is extremely naive and I'm pretty surprised to see you make such an argument.


    btw, Kuyt DID have a "specific, measurable impact" on that game, yet he had a poor game overall and his failure to play the role of a striker properly (i.e. be a consistent outlet and goal-threat upfront) meant that he was a large reason for us failing to win...

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  37. Once again, you completely and utterly miss the point. You can persist with this irrelevant tangent all you like, but it has nothing to do with the point I made.

    Pennant's performance on the day is irrelevant: he did not do anything to help LFC win the game. If he played so well, why did he not influence the game in LFC's favour?

    I'm arguing that if Bellamy and Crouch had played, it's more likely they would've influenced the game in LFC's favour. They may have played well also, but I believe they would've made some specific impact on the match that would've swung the game in Liverpool's favour.

    As noted earlier, Crouch was LFC's top scorer in the CL, so obviously at the point, he was much more likely to bring something to the table than Pennant. Same (arguably) applies to Bellamy.

    Overall, if an *attacking* player has a good game but makes no specific, measurable impact, and the team loses, who cares? The team still lost. That attacking player's job is to help LFC *win*, and if he doesn't score/create goals, and the team loses, then any positive performance is worth nothing (IMO).

    It's not naive at all, and if you're 'surprised' by such an argument then it is clearly you who is naive.

    I'll give you a comparable example: Defender X puts in a great performance against Team Y: lots of blocks, headers, tackles etc, yet Team Y win the game 3-0. Ultimately, Defender X's good performance is irrelevant as Team Y still ended up winning Thus, Defender X had no real positive impact on the game. As part of the defensive unit, it's defender X's job to stop goals being conceded, and clearly, he failed at that.

    Same applies to Pennant: he failed (as did Kuyt et al) on the attacking front as Liverpool lost the game.

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  38. Rafa did not play Crouch against the midget Defenders must the the worst misstake!

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  39. I'm not following any tangent, just following your argument - unfortunately you seem to forget that football is a team game, full of plenty of meaningful contributions that don't show up on the scoreboard - Pennant as an individual DID influence the game in Liverpool's favor, but the team overall failed in its objective to get the win.


    Pennant (and Zenden) were midfielders. The job of the midfield is primarily to control the flow of the game (which we definitely did) and create chances (which we did to a lesser extent, largely as we had no serviceable striker), with any goal contributions being a bonus, so pretending that you actually believe you are comparing players like-for-like just does not wash. Simple as. And simply swapping out a midfielder for Crouch or Bellamy may well have imbalanced the team such that we didn't even have enough of the ball for them to deliver their "specific, measurable, impacts" that you keep bleating on about.


    My act of naivety was in thinking that your overly simplistic view-points were restricted to arguments such as Suarez, rather than being applied to football overall.

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  40. Somewhat related note:


    I really liked what Bellamy had to say about Kenny Dalglish in this book.


    The one excerpt that's been shown is how much admiration he had for Kenny not only as a player but as a person.


    Very classy.

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  41. The excerpts I have read are so poorly written, he must have done it himself.

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  42. bang on about benitez and his stubborness and ill never forgive him for the barry for alonso debacle

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  43. AndWithSuchSimplicity10:20 pm, June 13, 2013

    Rafa had to make decisions. He had to pick a team which he thought would win the game.
    Zenden would have got the nod because of his 'big game experience', and he probably didn't pick Crouchie because although he would win everything in the air the Milan players would simply play for the foul. Although our top scorer in Europe he never seemed to get many decisions off the continental refs......
    Sometimes it's just fate. We played pretty well, but lost. I think everyone (fans included) tried to recreate Istanbul, and sometimes you just can't do it.
    It's easy to pick a team 6 years after the event. I mean, who in their right mind would think Pennant would be one of our best players on the night yet Carragher would put in one of his worst performances. And who'd have thought that Gerrard wouldn't have a left foot......

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  44. AndWithSuchSimplicity10:23 pm, June 13, 2013

    Scary really, isn't it? :(

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  45. I think you've just shot yourself in the foot there: we suffered because of it ('no tangible advantage over the Milan defence') in spite of being the better team on the day.

    Erm....now why was that so? It would appear that we were the better team on the day because Rafa chose the RIGHT players for the game. He made a good team selection, which meant we played well - better than Milan, in fact.

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  46. And Kuyt had no impact at all throughout his time at Liverpool. He did not score countless important goals for us, as well as never being a consistent performer, who worked extraordinarily hard for the team. He was, of course, completely unreliable.

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  47. He's right Jaimie: you can't say that because - perhaps - Pennant was an inferior player, he shouldn't have been there, when, in fact, his performance on the night suggests that it was the right call to make: he was the best player for Liverpool.

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  48. And Bellamy never even set foot on the turf, Jaimie. So YOUR point is irrelevant. You're making idle speculation about Bellamy's POTENTIAL contribution rather than examining Pennant's ACTUAL contribution.

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  49. Yeah, it certainly never did him any favours at Chelsea, where he caved in to the fans' desires....leaving them to find a new manager, outside the top four and without a European trophy. Plus, the mascot problem: Terry.


    Nope, you're right there....Stubbornness has been his downfall.

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  50. We were still 'transitional' - making the transition, that is, from top four hopefuls to European giants and Premier League contenders. I like that kind of transition....

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  51. Im referring to his Liverpool days...

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  52. You pick your strongest team and don't worry about the other team. Let them worry about you. Obviously every team and every player has weaknesses but the only way to get consistent results is by playing your own game.

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  53. I don't know why my post was not published at the time, but eitherways, I did not go off on any tangent and was totally focused on the redundant argument that you made.

    Football is a team game, full of players with different roles. The primary job of the midfield is not infact to score, but primarily to control the game and supply the strikers - we did the first on the day with Pennant's contribution on the right a major reason, but largely failed to do the second due to the deficiencies of the man upfront (who did actually have a "specific, measurable impact on the game, but was still arguably one of our worst players on the day).

    Anyway, I'm not going to go back over all I already said in my unposted post, but to follow your simplistic argument, you should only select strikers (for their goal contribution) and defenders (for their clean sheet statistics) as those are the only measurable factors that count. It's just a very naive argument, simple as.

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  54. We were the better team but failed to benefit from our dominance because we had no cutting edge. I don't remember any major positive coming from having Kuyt upfront, while his presence meant that we were missing any sort of cutting edge to our overall dominance.


    So no, I'm not contradicting myself in the argument here.

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  55. Kuyt went an entire Premier League campaign, primarily playing upfront, in which he scored a single goal from open play.


    Scoring a couple of "important" penalties against Everton doesn't make up for that for me and prove his reliability..

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  56. and if your opinion mattered that much, you woud have been a manager jaimie..but the fact is you are no where close to shebby singh leave alone Rafa.

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