England coach thanks Croatian for his inspiring team talk
When he isn’t belittling the opposition, Slaven Bilic likes to rock out with his band Rawbau. In the video, he’s the guy playing the guitar who looks like Slaven Bilic.
With the exception of the ongoing witch hunt of Premiership clubs who have poached young talent from elsewhere, it’s been a relatively quiet week in football so far. Hence, much prominence has been given to Slaven Bilic’s daily attempts to destabilise the England camp ahead of Wednesday night’s World Cup qualifier with Croatia.
So far, he has highlighted team’s lack of ‘Englishness’ (not exactly a criticism when you consider the team’s recent form), claimed to have figured out a super secret way to ensure victory (he won’t tell us what it is) and he has berated John Terry for speaking out
Sir Alex Ferguson has found a new reason to criticise Benitez
Video Credit: 101GG (watch from 33secs onwards)
The war of words between Sir Alex Ferguson and Rafael Benitez was reignited today when the Manchester United boss accused Rafa of showing “contempt” to Sam Allardyce because of a gesture he made after Liverpool scored their second in the 4-0 win over Blackburn last week.
Allardyce has also criticised Benitez’s actions, saying: “I think they are disrespectful and quite humiliating. I waited to have a word with Rafa Benitez in his room after the game but as usual, and unfortunately, he didn’t turn up.”
Based on those comments, The Spoiler was expecting to see Benitez
Liverpool - who have lost only one of their last sixteen Champions League games - entertain Real Madrid at Anfield tonight, knowing they simply have to keep the visitors from scoring to progress in the competition.
As underdogs of sorts, Los Blancos must do everything in their power to gain an advantage. With his comments diminishing Liverpool and their historic stadium, Juande Ramos appears to have delivered a big blow in the pre-match mind games:
“I’ve got absolutely no fear of what lies ahead. With all the respect in the world for Liverpool and Rafa Benitez, I’ve been a coach at some of the great stadiums in the world, either in charge of the home side or with the opposition team.
“Coincidentally I never took Spurs to Anfield so it will be my first time on the bench there. But Anfield just isn’t a bigger deal than the Bernabeu, the San Siro or the Camp Nou - and I’ve seen all those before.”
Some very assumptuous words from a man who has never actually managed a team at Anfield before.
Meanwhile, feisty Argentinean Javier Mascherano has hit back at the Spaniards with some extremely unsubtle
He would love it if Fergie stopped criticising refs! Love it!
Liverpool are sitting pretty three points clear of the table ahead of this weekend’s games, but the pressure to stay at the top seems to getting to Mr Benitez. We all know he’s as mad as a box of frogs, but we’ve never seen him get quite as worked up as he did in a press conference earlier today.
Rather than talk about the upcoming Stoke game, Rafa chose to lay into Sir Alex, even suggesting that the powers that be should let Fergie write the fixture list to stop him complaining about it.
Benitez started his rant by condemning Ferguson’s lack of respect for referees:
“I want to talk about facts. I want to be clear, I do not want to play mind games too early, although they seem to want to start.
“During the Respect campaign - and this is a fact - Mr Ferguson was charged by the FA for improper conduct after comments made about Martin Atkinson and Keith Hackett.
“He was not punished. He is the only manager in the league that cannot be punished for these things.
“How can you talk about the Respect campaign and yet criticise the referee every single week?
“We know what happens every time we go to Old Trafford and the United staff. They are always going man-to-man with the referees, especially at half-time when they walk close to the referees and they are talking and talking.
“All managers need to know is that only Mr Ferguson can talk
He usually speaks with the wisdom of a tall French Buddha, but Gunners boss Arsene Wenger is quoted in the press this morning claiming his side can still do the double:
“I still believe we will be champions in this league.
“If I didn’t believe we could win the Champions League I wouldn’t be here.”
Of course, it’s all theoretically possible, but it will require a victory at Anfield tonight and a further five league victories - something that looks a little beyond a side enduring a sticky run of form.
So what do you think? Should the footballing world take Mr Wenger’s threat seriously, or dismiss it as pre-Champions league Liverpool-baiting banter? Votes and comments below, please.
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