The Smiling Assassin

I don’t know how many mirrors Rafa has broken in recent weeks, or indeed whether he broke them while walking in front of a group of stray black cats but you get the impression that luck is not something that is in large supply at the moment down on Merseyside.

In recent weeks, it would seem as if the whole world is against Liverpool and Rafa in particular with such managerial geniuses as Ronnie Whelan and Stan Collymore (presumably taking some time off working for National Car Parks, obviously) have been quick to dismiss Rafa and his chances of winning any trophy at all this season.  In fact, the hysteria that has been written in some of the national papers in recent weeks has been nothing short of retarted genius. Particularly from Mr. Collymore. I would provide links to his recent comments but that just give The Mirror the idea that any genuinely thinks he has something interesting to say, when we know full well that he hasn’t.

No one can denying he's dogging the issue

As I said recently, I do think Rafa needs to take some kind of blame for the clubs recent troubles. However what has been thrown up in recent weeks would test anyone’s mental strength and patience to the limit.

Referee’s (and their assistants) awarding goals that should never had stood under the laws of the game; and how interesting that whole incident has been swept under the carpet so very quickly. If that incident had happened to a certain red nosed scotsman down the M62, then you would have had grovelling apologies from the referee, the PGMO, Richard Scudamore and probably Gordon Brown.

Even the Queen would probably have given him a second Knighthood as a way of saying sorry. Instead, everyone seemed to find the whole situation incredibly amusing and moved on as if nothing happened. No questioning of the Ref OR the linesman (who DID have a perfectly clear view of it) still allowed the goal to stand. But hey, it was all good fun, eh?

In addition to that, you had the weekend’s game at Craven Cottage, a halloween horror show to rival anything that John Carpenter or Wes Craven could serve up. While I’m not going to question the rancid second half performance, does anyone find it strange that before the dismissals there was only one yellow card, and that even that was for “unsporting behaviour”?

Did the game really get that ugly, that quickly that 2 players deserved to be sent off? Listening to the game on BBC Radio Five Live on Saturday and John Murray commentating seemed shocked and amazed that the red card was produced. And the fact that the replays showed that Degen actually got the ball suggests that the ref may have had some other reason for deciding to send him off.

Ok, it was only Phillip Degen you might say (I do like Degen, he has been INCREDIBLY unlucky with injuries) but the fact remains. With eleven players on the pitch (well, ten and Andriy Voronin) we could still have offered some kind of resistance and even got a draw (something we still haven’t achieved this season I might add). It just seems odd that the ref felt that two challenges, so close together warranted red cards. Don’t want to insinuate anything, I’ll just leave it there. My point, after all that, is that Rafa has no control over bizarre refereeing decisions. There are some things that are truly in the lap of the gods.

Bitterness and paranoia aside, it’s also clear that there is a genuine injury crisis at the club at the moment, with the Spanish and English FA’s not exactly helping us out a great deal on this front either.

He wouldn't have allowed SG to play, surely?

Why exactly did the English FA allow Stevie G to train when they knew he had picked an injury in the game against Ukraine? It beggars believe that they would allow this at all. Again, one suspects that if they put Rayne Wooney through a training session when he was carrying an injury which then aggravated it, the Scots Montser would be given two Knighthoods and a Highland Whisky company as means of recompense. Same with Fernando. Why exactly was it acceptable for him to play in a meaningless set of qualifiers when he could quite easily have been rested? One suspects that the next time Spain and England come calling for these two Rafa will politely but firmly tell them to va la cogida usted mismo. And if you do speak Spanish, please excuse my language.

But add in injuries to Glen Johnson, Albert Riera, David Ngog, Alberto Aquilani, Martin Skrtel, Daniel Agger and even youth players such as Martin Kelly then you have a pretty good idea of just how desperate things are at the moment. Somewhat ironically, the next international break can’t come soon enough, if only to give players the time to rest and recuperate. It’s all very well claiming that it’s the debt or the lack of depth in the squad but if even the players who are coming in are either getting injured or getting suspended then you can hardly blame Rafa for that. He does have a very good squad at his disposal, it’s that injuries have clearly been our downfall so far this season.

I wont even get into the idea of sacking Rafa. Not just because I’ve only just sorted out a header image of him for the site but also because getting rid of him would make no difference at all. The same players would be there, all carrying the same injuries, the same problems and the same issues. The argument is that removing him would simply destabilise the club even more. We all know that removing Hicks and Gillett is of more pressing concern but sadly that is much harder all together.

As I’ve said before, Rafa is not entirely blameless in all this; far from it in fact. However, to suggest that everything will be solved by getting rid of him is nonsense of the highest order. Not that this is going to stop the national press having a field day and whipping up a crisis where there isn’t one. In a months time, they’ll be somewhere else *cough* Hull *cough* and this will all be old news. And if there is one good thing about six teams being in for the title it’s that they can all take points off each other. Which is just as well really….