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Posts Tagged ‘rafael-benitez’

• Spaniard returns to Wirral home after Internazionale sacking
• Benítez’s return ‘not extra pressure for me’, says Hodgson

Roy Hodgson has dismissed the availability of Rafael Benítez as a threat to his position at Liverpool and does not believe the club would consider rehiring a manager they sacked with a £6m payoff only six months ago.

Benítez’s departure from Internazionale last night, yet to be officially confirmed as the two parties discuss his latest severance package, presents another problem for Hodgson as he seeks to win over Liverpool supporters, many of whom remain ardent admirers of the Spaniard. Rumours of an Anfield return for Benítez have been fuelled by the fact he was at home on the Wirral when sacked by the European champions, although that is his family’s only permanent place of residence and he made no secret of his intention to continue living on Merseyside when he left Liverpool in June.

Liverpool have new owners and the hierarchy that presided over Benítez’s exit – Tom Hicks, George Gillett, Martin Broughton and Christian Purslow – are no longer employed by the club. New England Sports Ventures, the current owners, appointed Damien Comolli as director of football strategy largely in response to the expensive transfer mistakes of recent years and intend to give Hodgson time to correct the club’s slide.

Asked if the spectre of Benítez complicated his position, the Liverpool manager said: “You would have to ask the owners about that but it’s not extra pressure for me, not at all. It would be surprising [because] if he was the right man for the job then it would have been wiser not to let him go and then bring him back six months later.

“This job will always have lots of people linked with it. When you occupy one of the top jobs in the country, it would be very strange if other people were not linked with your job. I’m sure there are people who are very envious of my position and would very much like to take my place.”

LiverpoolRoy HodgsonRafael BenítezAndy Hunterguardian.co.uk

Today’s Mill can’t understand why you would turn the heat up if you are already on fire

Tottenham Hotspur might have breezed through their Champions League group scoring an average of 649 goals per game, but after a scan of the nation’s news outlets this morning, the Mill can’t help but feel that one or two people’s confidence might be getting out of hand. After all, in the middle of the Telegraph’s football site this morning was a link reading: “[Peter] Crouch: we’re not afraid of anyone in Europe”.

Not afraid of anyone? What about Chris Ryan, Bear Grylls or Supernanny? That’s without even leaving the UK. According to Wikipedia, in Spain they have a “shapeless, sometimes hairy” bogeyman called Ogro who hides in closets and will eat your offspring just for misbehaving at bed time.

But if it sounds like Crouchie has lost the run of himself then far more troubling news awaits for Tottenham supporters in the Daily Express. Apparently Harry Redknapp has become so convinced of his own managerial powers that he now believes he can turn Glen Johnson into a world-class full-back. Of course, if Spurs get lucky one of Juventus or Bayern Munich might get to the Liverpool right-back first.

Over at Anfield, Roy Hodgson will get over Johnson’s departure by doing a celebratory jig and heading out to find a defender who, y’know, defends every once in a while. We’ll have no childishness about stories he’s out chasing (Rennes defender Rod) Fanni. Best of all, Liverpool even reckon they’ll have enough left over to sign Ashley Young from Aston Villa.

Not that Crouch would be around, in any case, to watch that particular disaster play out. Roman Pavlyuchenko’s agent has been discussing his client’s future at the club with Tottenham’s top brass, you see, and claims that “[Robbie] Keane will most likely be sold and maybe Crouch“. Aston Villa’s Ged Houllier is already waiting outside White Hart Lane with £6m and a small, grubby photo to identify the Irishman by.

That may come as some relief to Keane, since the only other team being linked with him this morning is Leicester City. Sven-Goran Eriksson has already been snubbed by David Beckham, and apparently has been told that the club’s owners “want a big signing”. Reports that he has also bid for Roque Santa Cruz suggest some clarification is required over what sort of “big” they are after.

It doesn’t really matter, of course, since Sven will probably get bored and start looking for a new job before too long, and his ears have no doubt pricked up at news that two positions may soon be coming vacant. The Sun reckons Carlo Ancelotti’s days at Chelsea may be numbered, while Italy’s Gazzetta dello Sport’s front page declares this morning that “The world is not enough for [Rafael] Benítez”. By which they mean he’ll probably get the boot even if Inter win the World Club Cup.

In other news, Stoke City want to keep Jermaine Pennant at the end of his loan spell, but Real Zaragoza want £6m to let that happen. Wolverhampton Wanderers are contemplating an offer for the Newcastle United defender Steven Taylor in January, and Gary Speed is being tipped to be the next Wales manager. And that’s your lot.

Tottenham HotspurLiverpoolRennesAston VillaJuventusBayern MunichLeicester CityChelseaInternazionaleRafael BenítezStoke CityWalesZaragozaPaolo Bandiniguardian.co.uk

After a match-winning performance at Bolton the Argentinian has set his sights on overturning Chelsea

Maxi Rodríguez would not be a Liverpool player had John W Henry completed his takeover 12 months ago. Aged 29 and given a lucrative three-year contract late in the negotiations that secured his exit from Atlético Madrid, the Argentina international is among many at Anfield who represent the antithesis of Henry’s sabermetric approach to the future. Not that calculus ever prevented a player from making his mark.

With one toe-poke against Bolton Wanderers last Sunday Rodríguez released Liverpool from the ignominy of the relegation zone, delivered a first league away win since April and gave the manager, Roy Hodgson, the first three points on his travels in 14 months. He also lifted a sense of foreboding surrounding the encounter with Chelsea tomorrow while enhancing his reputation before a hung Liverpool jury.

The 86th‑minute winner capped a fine overall performance from Rodríguez at Bolton. The midfielder started due only to Dirk Kuyt’s ankle injury and his place tomorrow is threatened by the Dutchman’s rapid recovery. But 10 months into an indifferent Liverpool career Rodríguez admits his adaptation period is over. The ability that brought 41 caps for his country and the captaincy at Atlético, he says, was not misplaced during transit in January.

“After eight years in Spain where the style of play is not nearly as physical as it is in England I did need some time to adapt to playing here,” he said. “Football is football all over the world, you always play with the ball but it does take some time to get used to new styles. Now, though, I feel I understand English football very well. I feel as though I know my team-mates a lot better and they know me, and that is helping me play a lot better.”

It obviously did not help Rodríguez’s adjustment that the manager who brought him to Anfield, Rafael Benítez, was gone five months later or that, as Hodgson stresses and the appointment of Damien Comolli as director of football strategy illustrates, he is at a club in transition. The midfielder believes there are more profound differences between Hodgson and Benítez than their recent public assessments on the state of the Liverpool squad.

“All managers have their own style and the new manager who arrived in the summer has a different one to the manager who left. They are not particularly similar in the way they do things or what they want us to do, so we have all had to adapt to the style of today’s Liverpool manager. The important thing is that we have the players to do that, to let the team play higher up the pitch as the manager wants. We have not had a good start to the season at all but now we are getting our confidence back and in a little while we will be going the right way up the table.”

Consecutive wins over Blackburn, Bolton and Napoli have improved belief at Liverpool but Hodgson has resisted every invitation to proclaim that a corner has been turned. Whether his reticence is based on the impending visit of the champions, fluctuating performance levels against Bolton and the Italians or an acceptance the Anfield faithful is still to be won over is unclear. Late, dramatic victories such as the last two games do resonate, however, and Rodríguez is adamant there will be no inferiority complex against Carlo Ancelotti’s team.

“The most important thing with a new manager is results. If you are winning games and the players are full of confidence, then they can change styles much more quickly. If things go wrong and results do not come, then it is much more complicated. That’s why the win at Bolton was very important for all of us. We have been working hard and we deserved to win. It felt like it could be the start of our comeback.

“We have always believed in our team and in ourselves as players and we believe that this team can beat anyone. We are in a good frame of mind and we are starting to show our ability after a problem with our confidence early in the season. There is no reason why we cannot win comfortably at home.”

LiverpoolRoy HodgsonRafael BenítezAndy Hunterguardian.co.uk