Benitez can't seem to get Liverpool out of his head

SOCCER:LIVERPOOL do not catch the eye in a Premier League table that shows them interred in 19th place but they are still prominent in the mind of a manager who left them in the summer. Considering Rafael Benitez is now in command of the Champions League holders Internazionale and has the Group A match with Tottenham Hotspur at San Siro before him, his readiness to reflect on matters at Anfield was marked. He responded strongly to the allegation by Tom Hicks, one of the deposed co-owners, that his extravagant spending had been ruinous.

“I prefer not to talk too much about Liverpool,” Benitez said before hurling himself into the subject. There was amusement when he emphasised that the club’s squad is every bit as feeble as it looks. Benitez opted to translate a Spanish saying into English, which gave it a peculiar tone. “White liquid in a bottle has to be milk,” he said.

Before long Benitez even had a mention for “John the milkman in the Wirral”, whom he used to know. All the same the Spanish proverb was, at heart, no more esoteric than someone in England remarking that “if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck it probably is a duck”.

Benitez may have appeared offbeat but he was straining to empathise with the Liverpool support. “I was watching the fans,” he said, “and I was really sad after the defeat (to Everton) the other day.”

There is more than a hint of self-interest in his comments. A claim is being made that there were mitigating factors to Liverpool’s disappointing seventh place last season. Benitez underlines the contrast with the campaign that had preceded the decline. “After 86 points and finishing second, what changed?” he asked. “The Americans, they chose a new managing director and everything changed.

“The managing director (Christian Purslow) is involved in all the decisions: new lawyer, new chief of press, new manager, nine new players, new medical staff, new fitness coaches. They changed everything that we were doing in the past. So, if you want to ask again what was going on, it’s simple: they changed something and, at the end, they changed everything.”

Some of those developments, such as the signings, occurred after Benitez had left and it is informative that he talks as if these matters affected him directly. Purslow, who succeeded Rick Parry, was being accused at an unexpected moment since he has lately been popular as one of the three directors who opposed Hicks and George Gillett last week to bring about their downfall.

Benitez will have to tear himself away from reflections on Anfield melodrama, since he now has his role to play on a grand Serie A stage. Its lustre was enhanced when Jose Mourinho steered Inter to their third European Cup triumph, 35 years after its predecessor.

Few references were made to Tottenham but the side will have to show their authority all over again. While Benitez’ tenure has opened well enough, many presume that decline is the only prospect for men who, in many cases are in the closing phase of their careers. The knowhow is vast and Tottenham are novices in the Champions League but Harry Redknapp’s squad may also have a sense of excitement to fuel them. That could keep minds off the concerns about the lack of a settled defence. While such potential ebullience is a concern to Inter their worldlywise squad usually prevails.

Redknapp last night insisted he would not put the reins on his Tottenham side in their mouthwatering clash with Inter.

Redknapp vowed to stick to his attacking principles in tonight’s game despite being without suspended talisman Rafael van der Vaart.

The Tottenham manager’s declaration of intent whetted the appetite for the club’s fans, who have been treated to a feast of goals during what is their first taste of Europe’s elite club competition for almost half a century.

Asked if Tottenham would “start like an express train”, as they did in last month’s draw at Werder Bremen, when they raced to a 2-0 lead, Redknapp said: “We always have a go, we play an attacking game. We’ll look to have a go try to cause them problems. We won’t just look to sit back and soak up pressure for 90 minutes, that’s not the way we play.

“We’ll be positive and see what we can do.”