CBC-Sports

Rafa Benitez's rants getting tiresome

August 17, 2009 10:53 AM | Posted by   John Molinaro  

The first week of the English Premiership is barely in the books and already I’ve grown tired of Rafa Benitez.

The Liverpool manager was crying foul after his team Sunday’s 2-1 loss to Spurs at White Hart Lane, claiming that the Reds should have been awarded a late penalty that would have allowed them to earn a draw.

First things first.

I like Benitez. I think he’s a quality manager and I have a great deal of respect for what he accomplished in Spain with Valencia.

But since coming to England he’s gained a reputation as a hopeless whiner, routinely finding fault with the referees as a way to deflect criticism from his sometimes under-performing club.

To be sure, Spurs defender Benoit Assou-Ekotto knocked Liverpool’s Andriy Voronin down in the box with what can best be described as a hockey hip-check, without so much as making an attempt to play the ball.

Referee Phil Dowd waived play on, thus incurring Rafa’s wrath after the game.

“I think everyone could see that it was a penalty on Voronin,” Benitez said. “It was so clear.”

Asked whether he thought it likely that Dowd would have awarded his team a second penalty in the light of Glen Johnson winning an earlier spot kick, Benitez answered: “With this referee I knew that it was impossible.”

Dowd was dead wrong in his judgement – it clearly was a penalty – but Benitez seems to have overlooked the fact that Liverpool was clearly second best on the afternoon and a 2-2 draw would have flattered them.

Instead of having a go at Dowd, perhaps he might have saved some cross words for Ryan Babel, who was a passenger out there before finally being subbed out in the 68th minute.

Or maybe he could sit down with Jamie Carragher and ask him what, pray tell, was going through his mind when he attempted a clearance, even though Martin Skrtel had called for the ball (and thus injuring Skrtel in the process when the two collided).

And what about Fernando Torres? Where was he yesterday?

Dowd’s blown call presented Rafa with a ready-made excuse, which he duly took.

I’ve said it before but it bears repeating:

The mark of true greatness is the ability of a team to rise to the occasion, overcome adversity, and win games in spite (not despite) of poor officiating.

In short, great teams don’t find excuses, they find answers.

Got that, Rafa?

Some other observations from an entire weekend spent watching soccer ...

- André-Pierre Gignac’s strike for Toulouse against St. Etienne in Ligue Un was, without a doubt, the best goal of the weekend.

- Don’t overlook Hamburger SV in the Bundesliga title race this year. They dismantled Borussia Dortmund 4-1 and boast explosive power up front.

- Yes, Manchester City looked impressive against Blackburn, but don’t clear a space in the trophy cabinet just yet, as the defence looked pretty shaky at Ewood Park.

- Nice to see Darren Bent score in his Sunderland debut. I thought he received a bum deal at Spurs, and hopefully he can turn things around and put himself back in contention for the English national team.

- Brandao’s winning goal for Olympique Marseille against Lille, while impressive, doesn’t change the fact that Fernando Morientes should be starting up front for OM.

Be sure to follow John F. Molinaro on Twitter (http://twitter.com/JohnMolinaro)

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