Nice one Bozz, I am really looking forward to it. Problem is, I am American, and I hate the ignorance we show sometimes to other countries, cultures, etc especially when we are meant to be a melting pot. Some cracking stories of, take England for example, people have no clue that Ireland isn't part of Britain, or think Scotland is in England. Some really embarrassing stuff.
He made a mistake in bringing this up when Liverpool were top of the league and arguably the best team in the league. He had no point in doing it and it backfired on him. The media said this would make or break Liverpool and the pressure got to Benitez in the end and it filtered down to the players. I always thought if he had just done what he had done all season and kept quiet then Liverpool would have probably won the league. In my eyes it wasn't that Liverpool weren't good enough but Benitez brought unnecessary pressure on the team.
I have to disagree, as I think it was all the draws early in the season when you were away at the World Club cup. It looked like we had a healthy lead but we should have known that you would come back from the club world cup on a mission and kick into the second half of the season in typical United fashion. We beat you guys 4-1, Villa 5-0 or something like and were playing electric stuff. It was the dropped points to the teams we were expected to beat that got us into trouble and basically once we had an even number of games, we realized we were in trouble of losing the title, which we ultimately did. I will agree with the extra pressure that didn't help but I thought we ended the season flying, he finally let the shackles off as we had to win to try and catch back up.
You should remember though that after the rant you only managed to win 2 of the next 7 games. That allowed United to overtake you and gain the initiative. Then you seemingly got back into the title race after beating us at Old Trafford and only went on to drop 2 more points after that. I think it was that period of 7 games that Benitez realised he was in a title race afterall that he slipped up. By the time you got back on form it was too late.
I know I can look it up but I just remember a few games in that time frame and the two that stick out were boro ( Skrtel as a RB?!?!?! Carra talks about that in his book and how he regrets that game massively) and Stoke away. I remember thinking those had to be wins and it was a loss and a boring draw. You could see United coming and we kept dropping games like those. Still can't believe we didn't win it that year, really hard to take still.
Before Rafa's rant. P20 - W13, D6, L1. Scored 35 - Conceded 13. Points - 45. Point Avg - 2.25 After Rafa's rant. P18 - W12, D5, L1. Scored 42 - Conceded 14. Points - 41. Point Avg - 2.27 Myth dispelled. Let's move on swiftly.
It's also the same the 10 matches before and 10 after. And the Gerrard mess was going on at the same time as Rafa's speech. There is nothing even resembling a correlation between that press conference and results. It's just some people wanting there to be one so they can have a go at Rafa. It's absurd and sad in equal measure.
Or it could be you lot not wanting there to be one so you can defend Benitez. You lot will say one thing. Most people will say the other.
There is like I explained. Ok you tell me why you didn't manage to win the league that season as you were top of the league in January and the best team in the league.
top of the league because we had like 6 games in hand or something like that though, don't forget that! I think it would have been better had it been neck and neck at that point, keep the foot on the pedal and not think we were OK and had a healthy lead when in reality we didn't. Edit: to answer your question, draws against teams we should have beaten.
Like bluff city said We had already slipped, you had games in hand. If I remember rightly, our form started dipping well before xmas. I think it was the match that Carra cost us vs Spurs that started it. We pissed away a lead late in the match and after that we went wobbly. I think it was november. Can't be bothered to look it up but it was a late 2-1 loss to Spurs.
boro loss I think it was 2-0 or 2-1 was really gutting as well. Also we tied I believe stoke at home but should have won the game when a Gerrard free kick went in untouched but the ref called it back for something. A lot of little things that did not go our way. Then we did have some luck with the Arsenal game in the CL but not so much so with Chelsea the next round ( cracking second leg though!)
Liverpool had a team of experienced professionals who had played in many high-profile matches. How exactly can the relatively little media pressure 'get to them'? When you say something causes something else you have to give a reason for it, not just show the correlation.
This group of players had never been involved in a title race before. When they realised they were in a title race they wobbled a bit and Benitez's rant put them under extra scrutiny.
So we were already in a slide you would go above us if you won your games in hand we had no title race experience and it was already showing our captain and talisman had just been arrested and had an uncertain future and you think we lost the title race because rafa called red nose a tw@t sounds plausible. If that's what you want the answer to be.
Maybe... Doesn't explain why they were so good in the business end of the season when the pressure is at its highest though.
Before Rafa's rant. P20 - W13, D6, L1. Scored 35 - Conceded 13. Points - 45. Point Avg - 2.25 After Rafa's rant. P18 - W12, D5, L1. Scored 42 - Conceded 14. Points - 41. Point Avg - 2.27 They wobbled before and after. Again the draws killed us, it is that plain and simple, we only lost TWICE!!! EDIT: having looked at the rant again it is aimed at one man, that is it.
Why are you twisting it around? All redconn was stating was there were multiple factors to us not winning the league, he named what he thought they were. Also he gave your reason in there ( little to no title race experience).
