Anfield Red

The director who criticised Rafa Benitez in the press has resigned, according to the club's official website.

Mr Noel White, who has been director for 21 years, has resigned after he confirmed he was the person who spoke to a newspaper about Rafael Benitez.

Chairman David Moores said : "This is very sad for both the Club and Mr White who has been a valuable member of the Board for 21 years.

“However, the Board considers that the statements made do not reflect its own views and that this is not the Liverpool way of doing business. The proper place for debate is around the boardroom table.

“It is vital that we pull together at all times whether on the field or off it.

"It has to be said that at the first available opportunity on the day the article appeared Mr White was completely honest in telling me that he was responsible for it. He recognised that this made his position on the Board quite untenable and he did the honourable thing by resigning.”

Speaking about the incident, Mr White said : "It is with great regret that I have tendered my resignation as a Director of the Club.

“For the 21 years I have had the privilege of being a Director of this great institution my guiding principle has been to act in the best interests of the Club.

“In view of the controversy caused by comments in a national newspaper, attributed to an anonymous director, and the effect this has had on the Chairman, my fellow Directors, the Manager and many supporters, I feel the honourable course is to resign. Indeed, my guiding principle dictates that this is the only course.

"It was never my intention to cause such controversy, nor did I envisage that my remarks would receive such widespread coverage. I recognise, however, that I must take responsibility for my actions even though the outcome was not what I intended.

“I have always received a great deal of support and friendship from the Chairman, the Board, the Club and staff and I hope and believe I have reciprocated. I continue to wish them, the Manager, the Players and all associated with Liverpool Football Club every possible success.”

Now that it has been revealed, hopefully it can be forgotten about with a win against Bordeaux tonight in the champions league.

Rafa Benitez says he is not bothered by this morning's reports of a board member criticising him, and that he just wants to concentrate on the team.

In typical Rafa fashion, only considering the best for the team ahead of personal affairs, he said "I have too much respect for the club and for the board to talk about this. I prefer to speak about it in private.

"I learnt a good phrase off John Toshack when he was in Spain – 'no comment'.

"This story hasn't affected preparations for the game this weekend though. We have been working on the match for two or three days and we will continue to do so."

A win tomorrow against Aston Villa would complete a great turnaround for the reds after beating Reading midweek.

Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard insists he is happy playing on the right of midfield, and that whatever is best for the club comes first.

Gerrard has been playing on the right and left of midfield this season, Rafa has said that he plays just as well there as the centre, and he plays that role for England; but the Liverpool boss has been criticised for not playing his captain in his favoured central role.

Gerrard insists he is more than happy to play where ever he is needed: The position is not the issue, When you are a young player breaking through you want to play in your favourite position, you are desperate to get into the team.

"But I am 26 now, I have to think of the team first. If the manager needs me to do a job on the right or the left I have got to accept it.

"He knows where I would like to play but I also understand that there is a job to be done for the team and I need to do what the manager wants me to do.

"I have heard he has said the order of priority is "team, club, supporters, players" and I agree with that. It is not about individual players, it is about the team.

"Last season we finished third in the league and we got 82 points, a club record, and we won the FA Cup. And 75% of the time I played on the right."

He also said that he is positive that he is ready to start playing to the best of his ability again, and that it is only a matter of time before he is firing on all cylinders again.
There has always been pressure on me since I have become captain of Liverpool and I can understand the criticism and take it on the chin,"

"I know I am not playing at the standard I want to play at but I feel as if my best form is only around the corner. A little fluky goal or a big performance will turn my form around.

"I know I am a good player and good players have dips in form. And that is happening at the moment.

"Certain people expect me to go out every game and be man of the match and score from 30 yards, but it is impossible to do that at the level we are playing at. It's really difficult.

"I also understand when I am not playing to my own standards, and I can take the stick when it comes my way.

"I've had a couple of dips in form in my career so far, but this is the first one since Rafael Benitez has taken over.

"I had a couple of dips in form under Gerard Houllier and I came back a better player and a stronger character for it. Hopefully I will do the same again.

"I know my best form is just around the corner, I can feel it coming back in training."

Rafael Benitez has praised Robbie Fowler after his performance on wednesday, and says that the Liverpool Legend can inspire the rest of the team to victory.

Fowler scored the first goal in the win over Reading with a great finish, his first goal since the opening day of the season, which could have given him a place in tomorrow's game against Aston Villa.

Rafa praised Robbie's attitude in training , and says that Fowler can inspire his side to more wins.

"I think for some of the younger players Robbie is an idol, And to see your idol in front of you and see the things he can do is amazing for some of them.

"He is really good and really positive, a very good signing and he now has the mentality that you look for in a senior player of his age. He trains at the same level as the rest of the other players in every training session. If you see the number of goals that he scores in training it's fantastic. You see that in every training session.

"Robbie is a very clever player, especially at home, and can be a good option for us.

"I was talking to him about two weeks ago and it was fine. He is training well, he is working really hard in every training session. He knows and understands the situation because he is not stupid. He would like to play for sure, but he must wait.

"Look at Vladimir Smicer before. You never know when a player can be really important. For me, Robbie during the season can be a very good player for us. Sometimes, if you're having trouble scoring, you can use him because he is clever and can do it."

Bellamy missed the Man United game with an injury, and may not feature tomorrow, so hopefully God will get a place in the team.

Robbie Fowler says he is hoping for more first team games, after scoring the opening goal against Reading.

Liverpool have been struggling to find goals in the league, and God announced his return to the side with a goal against Reading in the Carling cup on wednesday. Despite not playing recently, partly due to injury, he is happy to play any part he can, but is looking for more first team games to help fire the reds back up the table.

"I don't know what to expect this weekend," he said.

"Obviously I hope I'll be involved, but it's not me who decides these things. Apart from the first 30 or 40 minutes last night, I thought I did well, and all I can hope is the manager liked what he saw.

"The manager has explained the situation to me, and I totally understand the position.

"I said when I came back I just wanted to enjoy every minute I get playing for Liverpool, and I'd be happy being involved as much as I can be. That's the way I feel.

"I've always been confident I'll score goals given the chance, and it was an important one last night because it gave us the stepping stone we needed to get the results.

"Once we got the first, it calmed us all down and we played well to get to 4-1. "(against Reading)

Liverpool Chief executive Rick Parry has given his backing to Rafa Benitez after today's outburst by one of the members of the board.

An anonymous member had criticised Rafa after the reds start to the season had not lived up to expectations, but Parry leaped to the defence of the Spanish Boss, saying:

"We understand the expectations at Liverpool but we are clearly moving in the right direction under Rafael Benitez, We unquestionably have a better squad than we did last year so it is not about making judgments at this stage.

There are no trophies handed out at the end of October, with the exception of the Community Shield which we have already won. You can only judge our performance over the course of a full season.

"We all knew there was a sizeable job to do when Rafa was appointed and that is why we have never laid down any timescales or imposed unrealistic pressures. What is important is continuous year on year improvement.

"The wins in Istanbul and Cardiff were great achievements which we celebrated together. Some of the early results in the league have not gone as well as we would have wanted which is why we have a collective responsibility to pull together and work even harder to improve things on the pitch."

An anonymous Liverpool board member has criticised Rafael Benitez in the press.

Liverpool may not be where everyone expected them to be in the league yet, but, rather than backing the manager, a member of the board has come out and criticised the Liverpool boss.

Speaking to the daily Mirror, the board member said : "We have paid too many inflated prices and inflated wages for players who are not doing the job, The signings we made in the summer cost us a lot of money and they've not worked, it's the same old story"

"We were happy to spend £9m on a centre-forward but we were told we should be spending £30m. You can't go out and get a Bentley all the time."

"When it comes to any manager, the view of the board has always been to let them get on with it. We do not believe in interfering.

"But the day will come when we may not be that way inclined any more. We have always been very respectful of any manager we appoint. The view has always been the same one, the right one – that the manager must stand or fall by his efforts.

"But one thing that we can't hide is that we have to be in the Champions League every season and if we do not qualify it will be a major problem.

"The budget we have set up is still in balance if we do not get into the Champions League. But if we are to make investment in the team we are talking about £20m of income we need to have every season

We were looking to do something in the league. We thought it would be this year and it's not going to happen now.

"Normally, by the time you get to October, you'd expect the manager to know his best team and stick with it but there are no signs of that happening now. I don't think he could tell you what his best team is."

It seems that 2 major trophies in 2 seasons is not enough for some people, and hopefully the identity of the person responsible for this nonsense will be made public.

The board allowed Houllier time to build, change the squad, and never did this to him. Yet, with the signings he made, some of which were fantastic, others cost the club dearly, with the club making massive losses on them.

Rafa should have the full backing of the board, players, staff and fans of the club. Let's show our support for Rafa at the Vill game tomorrow!

Liverpool beat Reading 4-3 in a classic cup tie at Anfield.

Robbie Fowler returned to the side, partnering Peter Crouch upfront, and was also made captain for the day.

Neither side created much in the first half, although Bolo Zenden came close with a low drilled shot from 25 yards, before Jermaine Pennant played Fowler through who chipped the ball cleverly into the back of the net to make it one nil .

John Arne Riise made it 2-0 just before half time, after Pennant again was involved, running from the half way line before playing a one two with Fowler, Riise then took the ball and shot, only for the keeper to palm it back at him, but Riise smashed in the rebound.

Liverpool went into the break 2-0 up, the second half started as positively, with Gabriel Paletta scoring a header on his debut from a Jermaine Pennant corner.

The drama began as Reading pulled a goal back through Bikey, who headed in after a corner. Crouch then made it 4-1, after Fowler played him in, then Crouch rounded the keeper to make it look as if the tie was over.

Credit to Reading, they never gave up, and pulled two more late goals back through Leroy Lita and another header this time by Shane Long.

Dirk Kuyt came on for Riise, and nearly scored a contender for goal of the month, chesting a cross outside the area before volleying at full power only to see his shot hit the bar.

Liverpool hung on for victory despite some dodgy keeping from Reina at the end.

It may not seem likely but it is not impossible…

If you asked me right now what our chances of winning the title are I'd say "slightly better than they were at the same time last season"….which translates as "not very good, really".

But, but, but….they are slightly better than they were at the same point last season. This time last year we'd had a start marred by draws and defeats, but the difference was that we had a relatively easy start to the campaign. By the final whistle in the 9th game of 05-06. we'd amassed 13 points, and the fixtures from which we'd gained them were as follows:

Middlesbrough (a) 0-0
Sunderland (h) 1-0
Spurs (a) 0-0
Man Utd (h) 0-0
Birmingham (a) 2-2
Chelsea (h) 1-4
Blackburn (h) 1-0
Fulham (a) 0-2
West Ham (h) 1-0

This time around, we're sitting on 11 points from 9 games. The fixtures have been….

Sheffield Utd (a) 1-1
West Ham (h) 2-1
Everton (a) 0-3
Chelsea (a) 0-1
Newcastle (h) 2-0
Spurs (h) 3-0
Bolton (a) 0-2
Blackburn (h) 1-1
Man Utd (a) 0-2

The only common fixtures in that bunch are Blackburn & West Ham at home. 6pts last year, 4 this year though our performance in the draw against Blackburn was no worse than that seen in the win against the same opponents last year…we had the rub of the green with the sending off that time around, and as a performance it was far from impressive.

The killer for us this time around has been the away fixtures – look at them rationally. Everton, Chelsea, Bolton, Man Utd. Sheffield Utd should've been won by us, but as we all know visits to promoted sides can be particularly tricky at the season's start (Man Utd have struggled with Watford and Reading). The other games, however, are brutal. Such a run is ridiculous, and has me wondering about just how 'random' the fixture computer is – we may win these games on occasion in season's past, but when you put them together in a hideous run, you're left struggling for any sort of momentum.

If we'd beaten Everton, chances are we'd have gone into the Chelsea game with our heads held higher and finished our myriad chances, consigning them to a first home league defeat under Mourinho. As it is, we put in a valid performance, but fell short. The lack of confidence which reached its nadir at Old Trafford on Sunday began to rear its ugly head in the 2nd half of that fixture. Bolton followed – never an easy place to go, particularly when you're struggling away from home. Okay, so we'd won a couple of home fixtures but you know you've yet to register a win on the road, you know the pressure's on. We played alright up until the worst piece of officiating I've ever seen gave Bolton a free-kick, from which journeyman Gary Speed fortuitously shot them ahead. After that, heads dropped and it never looked as though it'd be our day. Against Man Utd the same happened when Scholes bundled the ball home.

There can be no doubt that our start has not been good enough, but the fact that the games we've lost with have been what I'd select as 4 of the 5 hardest away games of the season (and guess what? Our next away game completes the 5, being a trip to Arsenal!) offers me a slight positive. We've seen on multiple occasions that Rafael Benitez has what it takes to turn things around – it takes a while sometimes, but he can do it. We hadn't recovered from a half-time deficit in a league game since May 99, Gérard Houllier's first season, until we managed it against Man City in Rafa's first season. We hadn't come from a losing position at half-time in an away game since the early 90s until we did so with 10 men against Fulham, again in Benitez' first season at the helm. That, of course was nothing compared to the greatest comeback in footballing history in the final game of the aforementioned term….but I'm sure you're all terribly bored of hearing about that, so I'll move on….

….I'll move on, yes, to last season. Mediocre start from a set of fixtures we really should've taken considerably more points from. Chelsea aside, we were up against an unremarkable set of teams in general, and Man Utd at home is also a fixture we could (and should) have won, were a bit more belief evident. Rumblings of genuine discontent were heard as early as the Birmingham game, and they intesified over the following weeks, exploding after a pathetic display against Fulham. I recall people suggesting that perhaps an English assistant should be foisted upon the Spaniard so out of his depth in English league football (a laughable suggestion I've seen brought up again of late)…

I remember posters claiming that perhaps we give Benitez until the end of the season, with tough decisions needing to be made if the manager who, five months prior had led us to our 5th European Cup, hadn't overseen a considerable improvement in Premiership result-making. Plenty doubted if he'd ever adapt, and questioned whether he was genuinely an improvement over Monsiéur Houllier, or just a master of fluke who'd somehow managed to convince the world that the miserly combination two league titles in Spain & a European Cup in his first season in England were evidence enough of his worth to continue as manager of Liverpool F.C.

So, what happened to his second year at Anfield after that poor start? Did he and his shattered team crumble, did they wave the white flag and end up finishing amongst the mid-table riff raff? By season's end, had they left Sam Allardyce positively giddy with delight?

Err, no….they just did what they'd shown themselves capable of in 04-05. They came back. They recovered. They returned from a losing position in style and shot up the table, finishing the season on 82 points which – technically – made them the best Liverpool team since 1987-88. Something which may come as a potentially fatal shock to many pundits (look away now if you have any sort of health condition which may be affected by sudden emotional upheaval) is that they did this with Steven Gerrard operating from the right of midfield for the majority of the season. Which, I've no doubt means that last season didn't actually happen in Andy Gray's world, written off by the cartilage collecting scotsman as a tear in the space-time continuum.

What does this mean for this year, I hear you cry? Well, it means that Rafael Benitez has displayed time and time again that he can turn things around – that he can get his team into gear and get them playing quality, winning football. And you know what? I expect him to do it again, which is why I (boldly or stupidly, depending on your general view) stated that our chances of lifting the title are slightly better than they were this time last season. We have an easier fixture list now – that is a fact. We had a fantastic run of form last season, which came to an end at Man Utd in a match we controlled & should have won – in fact, before that game we'd started to pull away from Ferguson's men and we were being dubbed the only real challengers to Chelsea. Indeed, had we done as we should at Old Trafford, beaten Birmingham at home on the crest of a wave and then gone to Stamford Bridge (hmm….two horrible away games in a row…familiar!) in the best of shape, who knows what might've happened last season?

This time we have no such worries if we find ourselves winning home and away, week in, week out. After our trip to Arsenal (a match I do not expect us to claim an awful lot from) we don't have to concern ourselves with any sort of run coming to an end at the home of one of our big rivals (or Bolton, who ended our winning run before Man Utd inflicted defeat) – however, they have to come to us and if we're on a run of form to rival last year, coming to Anfield will be an intimidating prospect for anyone. There's a huge psychological difference in putting on a big performance to end a run at your own place and coming to the home of the form team and getting something there.

So what if we're on a roll and by the time Chelsea come to Anfield in January, the gap is down to, say, 7 points before kick-off? A home win would leave them looking considerably less comfortable than they're used to being at that stage of the season. What if Man Utd have to come to Anfield on March 3rd with us on a brilliant run and their lead over us whittled down to 3pts? They'd be feeling the pressure more than they were at Old Trafford last time around, that's for certain.

So, you know, top 2 might not be looking awfully likely at the moment, but if we should find ourselves on a run a bit like last season, we don't have quickfire visits to Old Trafford and Stamford Bridge to set us right back – White Hart Lane, while not to be underestimated, is about as hard as it's likely to get post-Arsenal. We've proven time and time again under this manager that we can turn things around – I think I've said that enough – but the point remains….it might be worth retaining a little bit of faith, because clawing back a deficit has been the rule rather than the exception under this manager when it matters most. And I got away without mentioning the FA Cup final up there, which might not have gone unnoticed….

Everyone talks rubbish in the heat of the moment – I'm guilty of myriad big-mouth howlers when I'm in a heated debate or moments after another depressing loss. I'm an absolute nightmare. But I'm bizarrely calm about our wider prospects for the season, just as I was at the same point last year. On Saturday, we play our 10th game of the season – it's at home and it's against Aston Villa. Our 10th game last season was away and it was against Aston Villa. We won that time (albeit fortuitously, with a performance which was met with one or two complaints, as they generally are…) so perhaps….perhaps….

wtf is this guy on about