Kind-ness

Yesterday it was comments about the kind of refereeing needed, today it is an observation about the kind of coaching at another club. Rafa Benitez's campaign for good football continues:

"Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger has done a very good job, he has experience and he likes to play good football, so you must have a lot of respect for this kind of manager and his team." (BBC 14.02.2006)

I wonder why this current focus for Rafa? It seems that there is something about premiership football that he does not like and wants changed.

It is interesting to me that these comments come only weeks after I watched an ugly match between Liverpool and ManU. Not ugly in terms of its physicality but more because of the lack of precision in passing and moving (ie. core footballing skills) and a preponderance of long balls into general areas that never found a target. You couldn't even really call the innumberable long balls, "long searching balls", because the passer often did not seem to have any intent other than to hoof the ball upfield. It was so disappointing given that I had thought it would be a game where Liverpool would have a break through and establish themselves as a first class side at the level of a Chelsea. Given United's injuries, terrible reputation for defending and the not "good" football they play, I was thinking that Liverpool could have won the match 3 nil. Losing 1 nil on a last second Rio Ferdinand header was no advertisement for Liverpool's arrival. A header by the way was the only way the ball was going to go in that day given how much the ball was off of the turf. Liverpool's performance also gave no proof of the fact that while Benitez is now talking about good football, they are actually playing it.