Liverpool FC Forum

by **Paul C** » Mon Feb 05, 2007 12:18 pm

From Teamtalk.com:

Rafa rant lights blue-touch paper

TEAMtalk's James Marshment explains why Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez was spot-on in his assessment of Everton as a 'small team' this weekend.

Rafa Benitez's has caused something of a stir this weekend by calling Everton a 'small team'.

So why all the fuss? Benitez is only stating what everyone in football, (minus deluded Everton supporters) already know to be the truth.

Everton have long lived in the shadow of their more illustrious rivals, bar for their golden era of the 1980s under Howard Kendall when they had, admittedly, as good a club side this country has seen in modern times.

Even then though, their League championship triumphs in 1985 and 1987 and their European Cup Winners Cup triumph in 1985 were probably overshadowed by Liverpool's Double in 1986.

But Kevin Ratcliffe, Neville Southall and Co are now long forgotten and David Moyes' current class of 2007 are just not in the same league as either their predessors or Rafa's Reds.

True, Tim Cahill and Mikel Arteta are a touch of class on their day and it surely won't be too long before some of Europe's big guns come calling for these two supremely-talented midfielders.

And if there is a more suited player in the English game to assume Paul Scholes' eventual mantle at Manchester United than Cahill, then I have yet to see him...

But let's not wander too far away from the fact of the matter here: Everton are the second-best team in Liverpool so therefore as a 'small-minded' (if not a 'small' club), would regard a point at Anfield as a great result. That, coupled together with a 3-0 victory over the Reds back in September, probably means that for Everton supporters, the 2006/07 campaign will be regarded as a successful season.

Everton fans might count Benitez's comments as that of a bitter manager, frustrated by his side's inability to crack a defence expertly marshalled by Alan Stubbs, Joseph Yobo and the ever-improving Joleon Lescott.

And whilst there is an element of truth in that assessment, you can't help but admiring Benitez's honesty in stating what all football fans were thinking. No-one wants to watch a side sticking 10 men behind the ball and showing no ambition to gain anything more than a dreary point. Everton went to Anfield with 'small ideas', 'small-minded tactics' that befit everything associated with a 'small team' with a 'small mentality'.

So was Benitez wrong to say what he did? No, because it was the truth. The fact that he touched a nerve in every bitter Everton supporter nationwide is not his fault.

I mean, it must be hard being an Evertonian. No-one wants to watch their most bitter rivals collect trophy after trophy over the years and even rain on their parade when they were in fact themselves quite good.

As a supporter of a team who have fallen on far harder times than the likes of Everton, I'm easy ammunition for any bitter Toffees. And I admit, if my team went to Anfield, we'd be lucky to get away with a 5-0 stuffing. And if we collected a point, then I suppose I too would be celebrating. But that's the point that Everton are missing. It was a great point for them because for a 'small team' living on past glories (and recent qualification for the preliminary stages of the Champions League does not count!) a draw at Anfield is to be savoured.

Rafa's frustration was that when Chelsea came to Anfield recently, they didn't come looking for a point. They came looking for three. Big team equals big mentality. As a result, Liverpool were able to play their natural game and collect a victory that was possible because they weren't facing 11 men with the sole intention of suffocating the life out of what should have been a decent game.

Therefore, who can say Rafa was wrong? Small team, small expectations, big point.

by **Big Niall** » Mon Feb 05, 2007 1:05 pm

I think he was wrong.

LFC are obviously bigger than most clubs but we don't want to be arrogant and walk around saying all the smaller clubs are just "small clubs". He meant it as an insult.

I remember WEnger complaining that a team (possibly everton) came to Highbury and played for a draw but other teams are under no obligation to come out and play attacking football.

LFC were not good enough to score a goal against a cr*p team like Everton.

by **woof woof !** » Mon Feb 05, 2007 1:34 pm

I did laugh at the discomfort it caused our bitter cousins but I tend to agree with Big Niall on this one . It was the kind of comment you'd expect from a Chelsea manager not Liverpool FC .

by **JBG** » Mon Feb 05, 2007 1:45 pm

I think Rafa scored an own goal with that remark but it has been blown out of proportion.

Rafa's English is still not the best and he tends to class the top 4 and the top European sides as "big teams" and everybody else as "small teams". I think had English been his first language he would have couched his intention in more careful words. I don't think Rafa was dismissing Everton as a small club, but rather one of the also rans, a mid table side as opposed to one of the big guns.

Everton are a big club but they are kidding themselves that they are one of the "big guns": they haven't been since 1989. I think Rafa didn't intend to slate Everton as a club but rather point to their lack of ambition and current modest playing resources. In that he is correct, but I think he made a mistake in making any comment, as Everton will blow it completely out of proportion. I haven't been on any Everton websites lately but I have no doubt that Bluekipper will be burning effigies of the man and will have numerous members going on about they hate Fat Rafa Beneathus (hilariously ironic monicker).

by **112-1077774096** » Mon Feb 05, 2007 1:53 pm

i thought he didnt say 'small club', i thought he said 'smaller clubs' which has a totally different meaning.

we are smaller than barca but we are not a small club

by **redmikey** » Mon Feb 05, 2007 1:58 pm

rafa covers a dig like that by saying his english isn't the best, he was just annoyed the lads didn't break them down enough,

when pepe saved from eye of the diver a draw was written all over that game, i am just gutted we have dropped 4 points to a smaller club

by **red37** » Mon Feb 05, 2007 2:23 pm

Rafa's thinking behind that 'terribly damning' comment :sleep

http://www.newsnow.co.uk/cgi/NGoto/186131309?-11194

no complaints from me Senor Benitez...

by **Leonmc0708** » Mon Feb 05, 2007 4:26 pm

Bull.

.

Wyness - you dont expect it from a Liverpool Manager ? Read up on Shankly's comments about 2 teams and closing the curtains.

People moaning about Rafa not being like a Liverpool manager then read up on Shankly's comments about 2 teams and closing the curtains.

by **account deleted by request** » Mon Feb 05, 2007 4:47 pm

Its time a few people grew up, Shankly was famous for his put downs of other clubs and I see this as no different. If they are getting upset at being called a small/er club how would they react to Shankly's cutting jibes ? Cry ? :laugh:

by **Sabre** » Mon Feb 05, 2007 5:10 pm

Rafa's English is still not the best and he tends to class the top 4 and the top European sides as "big teams" and everybody else as "small teams". I think had English been his first language he would have couched his intention in more careful words

Agreed. That was a spanish expression lost in translation. Meaning that you can tell that to a Valencia that comes to your stadium to put the bus in the goal -- ie too defending.

But that said, it's said normally to irritate the opposition.
:laugh:

by **stmichael** » Mon Feb 05, 2007 5:13 pm

JBG wrote:I think Rafa scored an own goal with that remark but it has been blown out of proportion.

Rafa's English is still not the best and he tends to class the top 4 and the top European sides as "big teams" and everybody else as "small teams". I think had English been his first language he would have couched his intention in more careful words. I don't think Rafa was dismissing Everton as a small club, but rather one of the also rans, a mid table side as opposed to one of the big guns.

Everton are a big club but they are kidding themselves that they are one of the "big guns": they haven't been since 1989. I think Rafa didn't intend to slate Everton as a club but rather point to their lack of ambition and current modest playing resources. In that he is correct, but I think he made a mistake in making any comment, as Everton will blow it completely out of proportion. I haven't been on any Everton websites lately but I have no doubt that Bluekipper will be burning effigies of the man and will have numerous members going on about they hate Fat Rafa Beneathus (hilariously ironic monicker).

I agree. Everton were a bigger club 20 years ago than they are now.

Huddersfield were a big club in the 20s. Wolves were a big club in the 50s.

Everton have spent the last 20 years slipping away from being a fairly big club to their current place as a small club. They've spent that 20 years blaming their decline on everyone else except their own board. Kenwright and Wyness are the current holders of the propaganda card, easily convincing their fans that they are still the biggest club in Liverpool and other such :censored:

.

They are not a big club. In Premiership terms they are a small club, like Bolton. They're smaller than Newcastle, no bigger than Blackburn.

If they carry on blaming all their troubles on others, and their fans keep buying it, they'll be a small club in the old second division.

by **Reg** » Mon Feb 05, 2007 5:13 pm

Who cares....?

Every word these guys utter is scrutinised. If I was in the same position there'd be a blood bath !

by **Anfield rapper** » Mon Feb 05, 2007 5:33 pm

I think it was planned. Rafa knows about the rivalry between us and this season after beating us at theirs they came too ours and defended. This statement will cut them to the bone and next time they come to Anfield they will have the pressure of trying to ram rafa's words down his throat and come out and play football. When they start playing football we will beat them.

by **66-1120597113** » Mon Feb 05, 2007 5:34 pm

Do we really care if Benitez has offended poor little Everton!

The very fact that they are acting as if they have won the Champions League because they took 4 points from 6 off us this term proves exactly what he said is right!They are a smaller team.Also their fans reaction to a draw when they expected to be hammered emphasises this even more!FU>CK THEM AND THEIR FEELINGS!

by **Dalglish** » Mon Feb 05, 2007 5:45 pm

Lets get something straight here, Rafa actually said "Smaller Clubs" NOT Small so despite whan the Everton fans sing "We don't care what the Red.chite say" they patently DO care which we all just about suspected anyway.

When the Chief Executive comes out all guns blazing it just epitomises the small (theres that word again) mind mentality that prevails at Everton Football Club.

I don't know, we endure the least eventful derby for years and the Bluenoises STILL want to cause a ruck. Maybe it gives them a sense of importance and meaning

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Rafa's 'small team' remark - Good article on teamtalk

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