Rafa Benitez Launches Attack on Manchester United Boss then Draws with Stoke

We still have a bit of catching up to do on Blue Hawks as we continue to review the recent football activities, but sometimes a story presents itself that demands coverage. Seems like the the boss of Premier League leading Liverpool has taken it upon himself to be the self-annoited spokesperson for the other 18 managers in the EPL by launching a full-fledged assault on Man United boss, Alex Ferguson.




The timing of this is really quite confusing. Benitez has guided Liverpool to their best ever start since the formation of the EPL and his squad have held top spot for several weeks. Although Man U prepare to face a critical clash with Chelsea this weekend, Liverpool do not actually play United again until mid-March. So why the outburst?

Seems like Benitez is upset that Ferguson gets away with criticizing referees, and apparently the Man U chief is unjust in complaining about the particular sequence of Man U's fixture list. Like this is something new. Are you kidding me? Fergie has been going handbags with the likes of Arsene and Jose, and just about every other EPL manager for the past 25 years - ask Keegan how that worked out for him.

But Rafa, with his well documented notebook, pulls out his file with a list of facts regarding Feguson's attitude towards referees and United's schedule, and acts like this could derail Liverpool's chances of the title.

Fergie's been up to this for far longer than Rafa will ever be manager of Liverpool, regardless of how many marches the red side of Merseyside organize on his behalf. I'll hasten to add that I doubt any Premier manager will ever come close to the amount of silverware that Sir Alex has attained.

Sounds like Rafa is bottling it; although there is almost half the season still to go and he is the one in first place....for now. Last year we had the blow up with the American owners being blamed for Liverpool winning crap in the Premier League. This year after another 30 or 40 million quid of spending, the team are in finally in first place and actually challenging for the title, but it seems that is not good enough for Benitez. Maybe he is he trying to make a pre-emptive excuse just in case Man U win their couple games in hand and climb to within a point of first place. Who knows?


Regardless, anyone reading this site knows that BlueHawks personally couldn't give a toss about any of the so called "Big Four," but this as we routinely cover the Premier League, this story could not be passed up. So while Rafa spent time trying to rattle Ferguson's feathers, his team went out and drew with 3rd from bottom Stoke nil-nil - again; in a game that the Potters came far closer to winning. Maybe he should have spent more time filling up his dossier with scouting notes on Stoke - sort of like Hartlepool did in the Cup last week.

If I had to pick a personal favourite of the "Big Four" to win the league this year, I'm rooting for Villa...sod the rest (and yeah I know Villa are not considered a member of the EPL elite - thats the point).

Is Benitez right? Who does it impact more? Do you really think Ferguson cares? Hit the comments link and let me know.