Rafa Benitez Is Cracking Up

After successfully making the whole of the footballing world think he is a clown not so long ago with his attack on Manchester United, it seems Rafa Benitez has lost the plot once again.

After a second successive 1-1 draw with fierce local rivals Everton at Anfailed, Benitez refuses to blame his own players for their failure to win, instead attempting to blame Everton manager David Moyes for employing defensive tactics. Insisting that "They were coming for a draw, we were trying to win."

Liverpool have attacking options with Torres, Keane, Ngog, Kuyt, Babel, Gerrard etc, while the large part of Everton's attacking players are either long term injury victims or were suspended. Did Rafa expect Moyes to go all out attack without any strikers? You would think so judging by his postmatch interview.

But it's not the attack on Moyes' tactics that made me laugh out loud today, it was the complete hypocrisy and lack of reality that surrounds the hysterical man.

His first sentence is one that you can't deny, but his second sentence is laughable and indicative of the deteriorating mental state he seems to be in.

"We know some teams will do the same thing and defend. I have never played like that here, and never did this while I was at Valencia."

Of course not Rafa. You didn't put 11 men behind the ball during several Champions League games with Chelsea, Barcelona and others. You didn't put 11 men behind the ball during one of dozens of away league games since your arrival at Unfilled.

It's just a figment of my imagination that Liverpool, in recent years, have become very well known for their defensive 'European' style of play. For a team that 'play to win', Liverpool do seem to get a lot of draws.

Me thinks Senor Rafa needs to get a grip on reality before he goes off on another self humiliating rant.

Instead of telling Chelsea staff to zonal mark the officials at old Trafford, he should worry about his own zonal marking that allowed diminutive Australian Tim Cahill go unnoticed, not once, but twice at Anfield this week.

And he should concentrate on the failings of his strikers, namely big summer flop signing Robbie Keane, before criticizing the opposition.