mathewbet1

Funniest thread ever

They have got the easier run in 'on paper', but titles arnt decided on paper are they.

Very premiership much liverpool winning can

Yeah about six o clock on thursday, dont forget to bring your own gravy. cheers.

Two wins against these bitter no marks and the stoke game will be long forgotten. So lets t*** em. Twice.

Baking Powder?

Kenwyne Jones. Why not could get him for 12m. Better than Heskey.

Should have started with this Carra Hyppia Skrtle Aurelio Riera Garrard Masch Bable ...............Keane.............. ...............Torres..............

Hyppia Babel - just for theat great run, did for in 5 mins than benni did all game, Torres - for just being torres

Rabbit in the headlights that was the performance today

I blame the green kit

I blame the green kit

Do you want some , do you? Mr Ferguson....................

Benitez is taking on the master at his own game Sam Wallace, Football Correspondent Saturday, 10 January 2009 In April 1988, a 46-year-old Alex Ferguson, not yet knighted and virtually the same age as Jose Mourinho is now, gave his take on how Liverpool benefited from refereeing decisions. "I can understand why clubs come away from Anfield choking on their own vomit and biting their tongues knowing they have been done by the referee," he said. "It would be a miracle to win here. I am not getting at this referee. It is the whole intimidating atmosphere and the monopoly they [Liverpool] have enjoyed here for years that gets to the referees eventually." More than 20 years on, despite all that Ferguson has said since, that quotation is one of his most memorable. In fact you can still buy T-shirts in Manchester bearing those words. Coming after a 3-3 draw it became the defining take on the perceived bias of referees towards Liverpool at Anfield. It was argued over for months. The point is not whether Ferguson was right or wrong. The point is that people remembered. The point is that referees remembered. If Rafael Benitez's invective yesterday against United was designed to do anything then it was designed to stick in people's minds, especially the part about United players haranguing referees and getting decisions at Old Trafford. Liverpool fans, spare me the pious emails telling me he is right. This is not about right or wrong – and who on earth could ever judge which team gets the most decisions at home? It is about having a calculated effect on referees in a title run-in that is heating up nicely. Ferguson is a bully. In fact he's brilliant at it. After the FA Cup third round tie against Southampton, the manager Jan Poortvliet said, as respectfully as possible, that Ferguson stood up once in the whole game and after that every decision went for him. He may well be right, but does anyone seriously expect Ferguson not to use his 23 years of unprecedented success, his fame, his forceful personality to give himself an advantage? There is no manager who would not do the same. Benitez has taken Ferguson on at his own game and for that he deserves admiration. It is testament to his own understated way of going about things that he had every argument typed out in bullet points on a sheet of paper. Ferguson prefers the molten-eruption, phlegm-flecked, finger-jabbing approach. Benitez delivered in the manner of a geologist giving a lecture on soil erosion. The desired effect for the Liverpool manager is that every referee in charge of a United game from tomorrow to the end of the season is eager not to be the man fingered for caving into Ferguson. It will be the issue that grips us from now on: is Benitez right? And that is just the way the Liverpool manager wants it. If one referee has a moment of doubt because of what Benitez has said and denies United accordingly then, for Liverpool, it will have been worth it. Ferguson will have to come back at Benitez, he will have to do so in order to defend his team. He has been here before, to a lesser degree, when Arsène Wenger accused the Neville brothers of targeting Jose Antonio Reyes in the famous 49-game unbeaten run-ending match in October 2004. Never mind the "Battle of the Buffet" that ensued, Ferguson was most concerned to address a public perception that his team were dirty because he realised how damaging that could be. If you have any sympathy, save it for the referees who find themselves in a no-win situation. No one can actually remember whether that decision to send off Colin Gibson that sparked Ferguson's rant almost 21 years ago was right or not. They do not recall whether Steve McMahon should have been sent off too, which he also believed. They just recall the impression that Liverpool got decisions at home. Which is exactly the same legacy – albeit with referees at Old Trafford – that Benitez wishes to create.

Rafa Rage: 'Only Mr Ferguson can talk about referees and nothing happens...' Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez lays down the gauntlet to his greatest rival with an extraordinarily choreographed outburst By Ian Herbert Saturday, 10 January 2009 If Liverpool move on from their current position of ascendancy to reclaim the league trophy after 19 years, history will cast Rafael Benitez's utterance at Liverpool's Melwood training ground yesterday as the work of a genius. If Manchester United reel them in, then he will be another Kevin Keegan. Benitez was meandering through his weekly media briefing, discussing the vagaries of today's visit to Stoke, when, questioned about Sir Alex Ferguson's assertions published this week that Liverpool may choke on their title push, he pulled from his jacket pocket a handwritten list of grievances he had been harbouring against the Manchester United manager and calmly proceeded to assassinate him. The Spaniard said that Ferguson and his staff's haranguing of match officials when they leave the bench at half-time was so severe that his side had resorted to "marking" members of the United bench and he advised Luiz Felipe Scolari to do the same when he arrives at Old Trafford tomorrow. "We know what happens every time we go to Old Trafford," Benitez said. "Mr Scolari needs to know so that maybe he can use zonal marking against the staff of United because they are always doing man to man with the referees when they go to the bench and especially at half-time. Other managers need to know this." Benitez detailed four instances – against Hull City, Southampton last week, his own side last April and Portsmouth in the FA Cup last March – of what he sees as Ferguson's repeated attempts to influence referees, as well as football authorities with his criticism of scheduling. "Only Mr Ferguson can talk about the fixtures, the referees and other things and nothing happens," Benitez said. "We need to know about the facts. I am not talking about my impression. But facts." He mocked the United manager's recent declaration that he will send staff to oversee the preparation of fixtures, which Ferguson believes are weighted against United. "[One] option is Mr Ferguson organises the fixtures and everything in his office and sends them to us," Benitez said. "Then everyone will know and no one can complain." The word from Old Trafford last night was that Ferguson was aware of Benitez's comments and, predictably enough the outburst, delivered after his own press conference, is known to have been a source of amusement to him. After the cameras had stopped rolling, Benitez gave an indication that comments Ferguson made after Liverpool had defeated Chelsea 2-0 last October had niggled him, long before Ferguson told Inside United magazine that Liverpool were susceptible. "He has been talking about Liverpool since we beat Chelsea," Benitez said. "He said by us winning, we had done United a favour. I stayed very calm and very relaxed but he continued complaining about the fixtures." Benitez, who was returning to a theme he last took up before his side's Old Trafford match last spring, insisted that he had not fallen into Ferguson's trap – just as Keegan did 13 years ago, when his side were ahead of United. "I don't think so," was all he would say when that suggestion was twice put to him – and as pieces of invective go this was certainly about as far away from Keegan's "I would love it" speech as you will get. "Everybody can see that I am talking about facts," Benitez said – but by directly mentioning "mind games" three times, he betrayed a sense that he was trying a few out on Ferguson. The rather stage-managed nature of Benitez's outburst also points heavily to it being some psychological game of his own in a vital week for Liverpool. Today's visit to the Britannia Stadium is precisely the kind of game Liverpool have failed to win this season – Stoke took a goalless draw from Anfield – and if they draw again United can move within two points of them with a game in hand if they beat Chelsea, and then Wigan on Wednesday night. Liverpool rejected any suggestion that a Sky TV reporter had been asked to pose the question, but Benitez was certainly ready for it with his A4 sheet of paper. Given his ongoing struggle with the English language, there was bravery in this strategy. Keegan-style outbursts are certainly not the Benitez way. When he discovered his club's owners had tapped up Jürgen Klinsmann last autumn he delivered the longest press conference sulk in recent Liverpool history and if he is trying to pump up his players then it is quite possible that Jamie Carragher has encouraged the strategy. Carragher is a closet admirer of Ferguson and his mind games and he said recently that Liverpool have been indulging in a few of their own: "It will tell us that we've been doing something right." Off camera, he also rejected suggestions that he was either putting pressure on his own players by stepping things up in this way, or risking a repeat of the consequences of publicly goading Didier Drogba before last season's Champions League semi-final, which ended up with Drogba scoring twice in Chelsea's win and giving him some back. "United are a very good team but I don't think Ferguson will score any goals," Benitez said. "We are under pressure because we are top of the table [not because of what I have said] and we want to win. That's it." Benitez expressed disappointment that his contract negotiations have still not come to fruition. He may bring in Fernando Torres today, he said, and he hopes to have Pepe Reina but will be without Xabi Alonso. In the bigger picture, that seemed rather beside the point.

If we win and utd loose this weekend rafa will be hailed as a genius, if we loose then he will have been seen to have lost it. I think hes just said what a lot of managers have been thinking for years, fergie has the FA and the officials in his pocket. I belive his comments will ultimnately help us if we are in a two horse race for the title as it will make refs and officals stand up to these c**** that much more. Well in rafa.

Diarra

Know what you mean, we could open up a 5 point gap between ourselves and Chelsea, which will put a lot of pressure on them over this busy period. If we have any hope of winning the league then we need a good performance and a win, otherwise the momentum will be lost. I think it will be a trickier game than people are expecting, but think we will play it almost like a home game..... getting an early first goal is vital then hopefully the fludgates will open, Ill go for 3-0 to us.

Heard that swap deal Pennant and 7m for Lennon is on, only stumbling block is Pennants wages and Harry realising that Pennant is crap.

Maybe milan remember his performance from the 2007 final, which was very good imo.

Hes an easy lover................................

Beastie Boys...................................????

I regularly go to the ground and buy off touts been to 3 or four this season against mid table teams average price ive paid is 45-50 quid. My advice is wait just untill kick of as the touts wil be asking 70-80 well before kick off as kick off approaches they have to get rid and the prices wil come down. I typically pay 45 quid for a 47 pound kop ticket, dont pay any more unless it's a big game when the demand will be that much higher. If you can plan in advance (1month) just phone the ticket office usually tickets available first come first served.

Hearing whispers that Alonso has a bad cut - six stitches and bad bruising. No signs of any breakage but wont find out untill scan. If not bone damage prob out for 7-10 days.

.....................Casillas................... Alves......Ferdinand....Carra....Evra... Ronaldo....Gerrard..Kaka......Messi.. ............Torres.....Eto'o.................