beejay

To avoid any more argument over this I think all of us should accept the final word on the subject from the Oracle himself http://www.skysports.com/experts/expert_st...4891883,00.html Rafa the baffler Keane right to go but Benitez might well be wrong Posted: 03rd February 2009 18:19 Keane: back at Tottenham Had Rafa left him Robbie Keane on, like he did with Fernando Torres on Sunday, there is no doubt he would've got late goals - as he has done throughout his whole career - and the situation would be totally different. Chris Kamara Quotes of the week It was no great surprise to see Robbie Keane go back to Spurs - but I am still baffled by Rafa Benitez's attitude towards him. After all he was the man that signed him. HE was the man who decided to pay £18million for him, no-one else. Sometimes you can say 'he wasn't the manager's signing' but that can't be said in this case. There is no director of football at Liverpool to pass the blame on to and Rick Parry does not sign players. But for some reason, Rafa clearly decided pretty quickly that he was not right for the way he wants his side to play. It does amaze me as well, because he is the first person to rest players - as we saw all too well last week - yet Keane still couldn't get a look-in. And when he did make the team he barely played a full 90 minutes. Had Rafa left him on, like he did with Fernando Torres on Sunday, there is no doubt Robbie would've got late goals - as he has done throughout his whole career - and the whole situation would be totally different. Keane is a class player, there's no doubt about that, but I still don't know why Rafa came to the decision he did and did so quickly. And Liverpool's loss is clearly Tottenham's gain. They have made some money and they have got a quality striker that would walk into most sides in the Premier League except perhaps Manchester United and Chelsea - and obviously Liverpool's! No other side down the bottom really has a striker of Keane's calibre so you can see why Harry Redknapp was so keen (pardon the pun) to take him back. Kammy's Picks of the Weekend GAME - Liverpool 2-0 Chelsea It has to be this simply because of the situation surrounding it. It wasn't the best game you'll ever see, but it was a quiet weekend all-round in the Premier League - and it's not often I've said that this season! It was a big, big win for Liverpool and although it doesn't rule Chelsea out of the title race, I would have worried about the Reds had they lost. The pressure on Rafa Benitez before the game was immense and that made it all the more tense, if not spectacular... until the last few minutes. TEAM - Liverpool I have to give it to them even though the sending off should never have been and did change the game. But you can't say Liverpool wouldn't have gone on to win it anyway because they just kept going, kept going, kept going. As I say they were under all the pressure but to come away with three points that have taken the heat off their manager took some doing - especially against a Chelsea side that are so hard to break down. I would have been concerned about their whole momentum had they lost.

It's interesting that Rafa did consider him last year & tried to buy Lennon right up until the last day of the transfer window.

There will be changes with the Portsmouth game coming up in 3 days. I can see Agger, Lucas, Benayoun & Babel all starting, maybe even Dossena but my teams for the 2 games would be: At Everton : Reina, Arbeloa, Carragher, Skretl, Aurelio, Kuyt, Mascherano, Alonso, Babel, Gerrard, Torres At Portsmouth : Reina, Arbeloa, Carragher, Agger, Dossena, Benayoun, Alonso, Lucas, Riera, Gerrard, Torres Battling team for Everton with an attacking side at Portsmouth

The difference now is that these guys were invited by Hicks. Heaven knows if anything will come of it but it's only a couple of weeks ago that every paper was running the story about an imminent sale to the Kuwaitis sparked off by Hicks & his people (Nash & Ayres), it was swiftly denied & reported in all the same papers as the Kuwaitis withdrawing, then all of a sudden 6 of them turn up at the match as guests of Hicks. He is the one who is thought to be the most stubborn. We are all too punch-drunk over the constant rumours but this is a new twist

I think the way it works is that the club set an operating budget which is linked to a target position in the table, progress in cups & champions league. Rafa's transfer budget will be dependant on exceeding the projected targets. So he gets a %age of our uplift in revenue from say finishing 2nd instead of 4th ; making Champions League semis instead of just the group stages etc. This budget is topped up with sales of players he generates. He then has to work within this budget. His problem over the last few years was that Parry was controlling how this budget was spent. Rafa made his recommendations then Parry went off & did deals - sales & purchases. If Rafa's been given the nod that next summer the budget is his to run, he sells Keane now to a desperate Spurs at a much higher price than he perceives he can get in 6 months and has this in the bank to trade in the summer. In the meantime, we can use the salaries released from Keane & Pennant to secure Agger & Kuyt, 2 of his key squad members.

And lose Agger? Maybe Kuyt? And keep Keane?

True, but they did try to buy his stake then only for Hicks to exercise his veto. These people weren't OTT'ers they were here for a reason and must be genuinely interested

The more I think about it (& reading between the lines of the echo article explaining his reasons) the more I believe that the primary motive for selling Keane now was cash. I think we will quite soon see new contract offers for Agger & Kuyt using some of the salaries freed up by Keane & Pennant. Rafa will also get his new contract with more control over transfers and without Parry's influence, he will look to bring in the players he wants in the summer.

It's been lost a bit in the fallout from beating Chelsea & selling Keane but the fact that 6 representatives from the Kuwaiti family attended Anfield as guests of Hicks is pretty significant isn't it? The stories over the last couple of weeks after their interest first broke into all the papers was that they had withdrawn or were not interested except in a sponsorship role. Something seems to be going on...

F***ing right. If Ferguson had made this call (he has done in the past often enough) everyone would be saying what a bold, decisive manager he is and the focus would have been on the player who couldn't hack it, had a bad attitude etc etc. Because it's Rafa at the moment, he is cold, icy, not nice to play for, political games blah blah. There's a whole lot more about this that none of us know, least of all the press who are hanging Rafa out to dry. Does anyone seriously think that he would bomb Keane out because it proves a point with Parry?

Just think of the war chest we are building up for the summer

We have enough options. The main thing now is that we won't be distracted by all the Keane-circus media and Gerrard will play as 2nd striker for the rest of the season instead of centre midfield. It's also a chance for Rafa to throw the challenge down to Babel, Benayoun & Ngog - they will get more playing time and it's up to them to prove themselves.

He's not gone yet & still can't see rafa leaving us short when we are in this position, something is going on

I hope Spurs are making a suitable donation to our favourite charity after tapping up Keane. The sale has cost us £3m apparently - £16m off the £19m he cost excluding add-ons which no longer apply.

Aurelio Gerrard Torres Very close between all 3, Aurelio & Gerrard were superb for the whole 96 mins & Torres was a constant threat then came up with the 2 goals. Fantastic performance from Fabio, in fact both full backs were great s'funny I thought forum lore stated that our full backs were sh*te and wouldn't get near any other top 4 side (Bosingwa & Cole LOL)

Sky are saying the deal won;t go through because keane wants to stay & fight for his place

That's the deal Rafa wanted apparently

To be fair, he was ill at the time. He threw up at half time but he was a key player then and had to carry on before being subbed when it was too late He also played in last year's champions league semi-final at Stamford Bridge (& gave away the crucial penalty in extra time). Anyway, I can't see Sami playing on Sunday - Rafa has enough of a job deciding between Agger & Skretl

Some quotes from Rafa's press conference http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/footbal...ga-1521251.html Tottenham anger Liverpool in Keane saga By Paul Walker, PA Friday, 30 January 2009 Rafael Benitez has confirmed Liverpool have told Tottenham they are unhappy with their conduct in the Robbie Keane saga. The Anfield chief believes Spurs boss Harry Redknapp's claims that he would like Keane at his club could constitute an illegal approach. Liverpool have not officially reported the north London outfit to the Premier League, but Benitez has not ruled out doing so. He said: "We have not decided yet whether we will take this further, it depends on their response." Liverpool are particularly unhappy because of Spurs' complaints about the Reds' conduct when Keane moved to Anfield for £20m last summer. That situation was only smoothed over when Liverpool apologised and made a donation to a charity of Tottenham's choice. The capital club did make contact with Liverpool on Thursday, but Benitez said: "We have said to Spurs that we are not happy with them because of the comments from their manager about Robbie Keane. "I do not think that they have come in with an offer. He has been training this week very well, he is our player and he is trying to make sure he is ready for the next match. "I think he is a long-term part of our plans, I hope he scores a lot of goals." Benitez added: "We are not happy with Spurs. We have told them we were not happy with their manager's comments in his press conference about Robbie. "We were very, very correct when we signed Robbie even though Spurs were complaining. Now we have this situation to deal with. "But Robbie has been fine. Spurs wanted the player but they had to do things properly. "They have to make an official offer and we will say yes or no. You must do things properly, especially when you have complained about everybody when he first joined us." Keane was dropped by Liverpool for last weekend's FA Cup tie against Everton, but returned to the squad at Wigan on Wednesday where he was a late substitute for Steven Gerrard. The Republic of Ireland captain will be in the squad for Sunday's home match against title rivals Chelsea. Doesn't quite say he's not for sale at any price!!!

If we win 5-0 our goal difference will be better than theirs

Rafa's just said we won't sell Keane and the club have written to complain about Spurs tapping up!

If we beat Chelsea, how long before the "It's on" thread starts?

I dread to think what Sky's build-up to Sunday's game will be like. They will be loving this, Monkey face will be desperate to put the knife in, thank f*** I'm at the game. Before that Newcastle match I had to endure Sky's coverage & in spite of us sitting on top of the league their whole pre-match debate was about Keane not starting & what was Benitez doing, rotation blah blah. Even after a 5-1 slaughter Keys was saying "you would have fancied Robbie Keane to put away some of the chances Liverpool missed".

Agger is fit again. Tough call but I would like to see him back in the side for Sunday. The other "surprise" might be Dossena in instead of Aurelio.

The lad has a point. Every pub conversation now turns into an inquest about Keane not playing, Gerrard being subbed, Rafa's cracked up, blah blah with even semi-intelligent people repeating all the b******s spewed out from talksh*te & the daily manc. The only way to shut the f******s up is to win a few games so they can start on clubs who deserve to have the p*ss taken out of them like Newcastle & Spurs