Ferguson vs Benitez thread

Karmafaerie

ntlbell wrote: »

poor run of form?

semi finals of the fa cup

semi finals of the champions league

top of the league

shocking.

liverpool out of the champions league

out of the fa cup

7 goals conceded in their last two matches

I think raffa's the one who needs to start concentrating

Im sorry, but here I was thinking we'd conceded 4 and scored 8 in our last 2 games.

Liverpool 4-0 Blackburn
Chelsea 4-4 Liverpool


How did you actually manage to forget the very game we're talking about?!!
You're not Ferguson's advisor by any chance are you?!!

Mr Alan

this article sums it all up for me really. Mr Ferguson is quite simply just worried is all.

The bitter feud between Sir Alex Ferguson and Rafael Benítez spiralled out of control yesterday when the Manchester United manager launched his most vitriolic attack yet on his Liverpool counterpart, accusing the Spaniard of being arrogant, contemptuous and lacking in humility.

In what has become the most hostile rivalry in English football, Ferguson used the build-up to United’s FA Cup semi-final against Everton at Wembley Stadium tomorrow to condemn Benítez’s claims that their Merseyside rivals were a “small club”. The Scot then embarked on a sustained and unprovoked assault on the Liverpool manager’s behaviour during their match against Blackburn Rovers at Anfield a week ago.

When Fernando Torres, the Spain striker, scored his second goal to put Liverpool 2-0 up, Benítez responded by making a theatrical “cut” gesture — the kind a boxing referee makes when a fighter is ruled out for the count — as if to suggest that the match was finished as a contest.

Although Benítez was smiling when he made the gesture and there was little evidence to suggest it was malicious or even directed at Sam Allardyce, Ferguson claimed yesterday that it was a deliberate attempt to spite the Blackburn manager.

“There’s one thing with his [Benitez] arrogance that he showed that you can’t forgive and that is his contempt for Sam Allardyce last week when Liverpool scored their second goal,” Ferguson said. “Did you see it? It was absolute contempt. He went like that [Ferguson repeats the gesture] . . . game finished. I don’t think Sam Allardyce deserved that. A guy who has worked so hard for the LMA [the League Managers' Association], looking after young managers, he didn’t deserve that with a team that was weakened. I don’t think any other Liverpool manager would ever have done that. But he [Benitez] is beyond the pale.”

Allardyce agreed, although given the friendship between the Blackburn manager and Ferguson, and the dislike both have for Benítez, there were whispers last night of their respective outbursts having been pre-coordinated. The questions that loomed largest included:

Had Ferguson and Allardyce collaborated in their attack on Benítez?

Ferguson denied that he had discussed the matter with Allardyce, who branded the gesture “disrespectful and humiliating” yesterday, but the United manager would not let it rest, despite the attempts of a club press officer to intervene. “I’m surprised nobody picked it up, actually,” said Ferguson, who believed that Benítez could have been provoked by Allardyce’s claims that the Liverpool manager was “a whinger and a moaner”. “I don’t think you’d ever get me doing something like that — you won’t. You have to have humility. He [Benitez] has played himself into a powerful position [at Liverpool]. He wants control of all the transfers — for whatever reason, I don’t know, but that’s the last thing I’d want. Crikey. I don’t know what he does in his spare time, but he’s certainly not using it in the right way.”

Why did the United manager choose the eve of an FA Cup semi-final against Everton to reopen his war of words with Benítez?

Ferguson had suggested last week that Benítez made an error of judgment by talking about him in the build-up to the first leg of Liverpool’s Champions League quarter-final against Chelsea at Anfield, which they lost 3-1, although the United manager will doubtless argue that he was not guilty of making the same mistake yesterday, even if his team lose to Everton.

On the one hand, Ferguson’s staunch defence of Everton and David Moyes, their manager, could be construed as an attempt to lull the Merseyside club into a false sense of security — “Benítez called Everton a small club, which just points to his arrogance, but David Moyes is building a big club,” Ferguson said yesterday. On the other hand, maybe Benítez is right, the United manager’s preoccupation with Liverpool is reflective of the fact that he is running “a bit scared”.

Benítez was accused of cracking up after his calculated attack on Ferguson in January, which served as the catalyst for the ensuing bad blood between the pair. So can the same now be said of the United manager?

Since United won the first of their ten Barclays Premier League titles in 1993, Liverpool have failed to mount a credible challenge — until now, in the year when United hope to draw level with their rival’s record of 18 championships. Ferguson has claimed publicly that he is unconcerned by equalling Liverpool’s haul, but that could not be farther from the truth.

By making repeated references to Chelsea being “buoyed up” after their Champions League victory against Liverpool and by insinuating that the West London club could now be United’s main rivals for the title, Ferguson is merely trying to divert attention away from the fact that he is fearful of the threat the Merseyside club pose.

Does Ferguson really “hate” Benítez?

The reality is that Ferguson probably sees a lot of himself in Benítez — they are both ruthless, single-minded and dictatorial — and is struggling to accept that and worried that the Liverpool manager may be in the process of acquiring precisely the same kind of power the Scot exerts at Old Trafford.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/premier_league/article6115799.ece

jamsieboy86

ntlbell wrote: »

when it was arsenal running us close or winning it was arsene at it

when it was chelsea it was jose

raffa's getting his half hour of fame in

it'll be all he'll have left at the end of the season a mixed tape from sky on what could of been the best season in twenty years but we ended up with sweet FA

stormer raffa, stormer :rolleyes:

Always seems to be the opposition manager at it and not Ferguson.

monkey9

I see the Legion of Doom are back in business!!

Here's a question. How come the last we heard of the LOD, in full throttle, the way they've been all season was during the first half of the Manchester United Vs Liverpool fixture at Old Trafford back in March of 2009.

It was eerily quiet as Liverpool hammered Utd 4-1, Madrid 4-0 and Villa 5-0 while Utd started dropping points all of a sudden and there was was a title challenge back in the frame.

But suddenly, this week, when Liverpool have been knocked out of the Champions League and Utd have qualified for the semi's and are also preparing for their F.A Cup semi final and Taggart has started mouthing off, the LOD are back!!

Or have i just answered my own question????

NaiveMelodies

kinaldo wrote: »

Ferguson can't stop talking about Benitez, whether it's to do with Allardyce, his contract, or spare time. I think it's rather pathetic, it's not mind games but rather attempted bullying. Ferguson is more than a bully, he's a tyrant, who obviously just hates Rafa since that blown out statement of facts, and is now trying to alienate someone already considered an outsider. Obviously Allardyce doesn't like Rafa because he's a foreigner stealing their jobs. Their collusion is simply to turn more people against Benitez. As I said, pathetic.

completely idiotic post, both ferguson and benitez have been equally as vocal against one another this season, it wouldnt be happening if liverpool or united werent vying for the title.

Jazzy

ive only read the last few posts.
are we really debating over fergies britishness or something like that?


mr spock, im afraid we have hit retard factor 5

Highsider

Look Alex ferguson is a fantastic manager who has been left with his pants around his ankles with these comments. He has come across as a sad old man with an agenda (that agenda being he is woried about what Rafa is building at Liverpool and needs to act). I think he will look back on these comments when he retires with a great sense of embarrassment. I expect the FA wil not take action against him considering they let him away with murder most of the time. IMO it's best Rafa stays quiet now as most people are seeing fergie for what he is at this stage.It's actually a bit sad to see an excellent manager go down this road with childish comments TBH.

Headshot

Highsider wrote: »

Look Alex ferguson is a fantastic manager who has been left with his pants around his ankles with these comments. He has come across as a sad old man with an agenda (that agenda being he is woried about what Rafa is building at Liverpool and needs to act). I think he will look back on these comments when he retires with a great sense of embarrassment. I expect the FA wil not take action against him considering they let him away with murder most of the time. IMO it's best Rafa stays quiet now as most people are seeing fergie for what he is at this stage.It's actually a bit sad to see an excellent manager go down this road with childish comments TBH.

lolz all the way

may I remind people who started this

yap your right Rafa started this with his rant

Highsider

Just watching sunday supplement there. Calling it like it is saying ferguson has fouled up big time here and is looking rather pathetic

mike65

Confusious says, unless in Australia, posting at 3 am leads to rubbish.

Headshot

Highsider wrote: »

Just watching sunday supplement there. Calling it like it is saying ferguson has fouled up big time here and is looking rather pathetic

lolz again highsider

thats not what im hearing at all

iv heard its mind games again

Highsider

Headshot wrote: »

lolz again highsider

thats not what im hearing at all

iv heard its mind games again

Turn up you hearing aid will ya :pac:

Headshot

Highsider wrote: »

Just watching sunday supplement there. Calling it like it is saying ferguson has fouled up big time here and is looking rather pathetic

see the important word here is like

more or less making up bull ****

Highsider wrote: »

Turn up you hearing aid will ya :pac:

maybe you should press the help button on your remote and press the subtitles

Highsider

Headshot wrote: »

see the important word here is like

more or less making up bull ****




maybe you should press the help button on your remote and press the subtitles

Watching it online thanks very much.

Headshot

Highsider wrote: »

Watching it online thanks very much.

watch it then a couple of times then

leninbenjamin

Ferguson playing mind games... never thought i'd see the day.

thegen

Just finished watching the premiership on rte 1. Giles and Steven had nothing nice to say about Ferguson and Fat Sam. I think they as neutrals have said it all.

Berti Vogts

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/premier_league/liverpool/article6122646.ece

From The Sunday Times April 19, 2009

‘Ferguson Siralex is trying to bait me into being rash’
Rafa's Reply (as told to John Aizlewood)


How a journalist can get away with such an embarrassingly bad (and arguably racist) article is beyond me.

mike65

I suspect that is what passes as satire these days.

thegen

all a bit touchy about Ferguson. Being Irish I dont recognise the title he has before his name.

Maybe Benitez does'nt either.

This will all end in tears.

thegen

Deleted User wrote: »

This will all end in tears.

You are probably correct there. But who willbe shedding the? Ferguson or the utd supporters who fail to recognise he has made a fool of himself along with his mate Allrdyce.

It is great to be a neutral on topics likethis. Benitez did have his say earlier in the season, but Ferguson has brought it to a new low with the "signing" of Allrdyce into his mind games team. Very childish by him IMO. I suppose that is what happens as you get older you revert to your childhood.

Anyway it is making for good entertainment.

Nunu

Ferguson and Allardyce have chosen to see something in Benitez's celebration that just wasn't there in my opinion.

...speaking of Sam Allardyce and managers does anyone else see the resemblance between Phil Brown and a meerkat?

thegen

Nunu wrote: »

Ferguson and Allardyce have chosen to see something in Benitez's celebration that just wasn't there in my opinion.

...speaking of Sam Allardyce and managers does anyone else see the resemblance between Phil Brown and a meerkat?

Nunu, great to see a utd fan acknowledge they were wrong. What did poor Phil Brown ever do to you? Or are you trying to divert the attention of Ferguson;)

Thanx 4 The Fish

Hang on, he is not admitting that all fans are wrong, he has expressed the opinion that there was nothing disrespectful in the celebration. Don't go making more out of it than it is.

thegen

Thanx 4 The Fish wrote: »

Hang on, he is not admitting that all fans are wrong, he has expressed the opinion that there was nothing disrespectful in the celebration. Don't go making more out of it than it is.

No not the fans, Ferguson and Allardyce. I would never accuse them of that.

Thanx 4 The Fish

KK, fair enough mate, was just trying to stop fights

ntlbell

fergie hates liverpool/raffa etc so much he went out of his way to make sure the lads could wear the black arm bands at their away cl game.

he's a real sour fecker all right

Mr Alan

ntlbell wrote: »

fergie hates liverpool/raffa etc so much he went out of his way to make sure the lads could wear the black arm bands at their away cl game.

he's a real sour fecker all right

that mr bell, has nothing to do with anything

tok9

ntlbell wrote: »

fergie hates liverpool/raffa etc so much he went out of his way to make sure the lads could wear the black arm bands at their away cl game.

he's a real sour fecker all right

ah what? It was uefa who decided to get the players to wear the arm bands.