Rafael Benitez Tries His Hand at The Blame Game...

Liverpool start a new Premier League campaign away to Sunderland on Saturday amidst a conflict between Rafael Benitez and the management, writes Salaar Shamsi.

The Reds endured a strained season in 2007/08, with the relationship between co-owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett coming under constant scrutiny as well as a seemingly distort partnership between manager Rafael Benitez and chief executive Rick Parry.

Now, with the summer-long transfer saga surrounding the club's public pursuit of Aston Villa midfielder Gareth Barry still unresolved at the start of the campaign, relations between the latter pair appear to be fragile once again.

As Benitez attempts to prepare his side for the visit to the Stadium of Light he will be confronted by newspaper reports that he was close to resigning his post over the Barry deal.

On Friday, Benitez surprisingly turned the spotlight on Parry and the club's owner he specifically only used the singular to mastermind a way out of the saga that has rumbled on all summer.

"I will try to be very clear over the (Barry) situation. Everyone has been talking and it seems that the blame is put on me.

"I get blamed for everything, for global warming to high petrol prices." (Hmm..Benitez showing some humor)

"But in this case I want to be very clear. Since I talked to Martin O'Neill about the situation in April, I have not talked to anyone at Aston Villa."

"All the talks have been between our chief executive Rick Parry, the owner and the chief executive of Aston Villa. And those talks have all been pretty good."

"So if anyone wants to talk about Barry in the future they must talk with the owner, Rick Parry or the chief executive of Aston Villa. And as I have said, those talks I understand have been good."