Rafa's Lucky Escape

Rafael Benitez has got to be one of the luckiest men in football. Having escaped his sinking Liverpool ship with a hefty multi-million pound pay-off in the summer, he has somehow found himself in the plush position of Internazionale coach. After leaving Liverpool with a disillusioned squad lacking in cover across the entire pitch and without a Champions League place for the first time since 2003, he was given the generally unenviable task of replacing Jose Mourinho at the European Champions. Yet for Rafa, it represented a golden chance to remain at a massive club. Massimo Moratti, the Inter President, went with the opinion of the masses on the continent who remember Rafa’s achievements in winning the Spanish league twice with Valencia and claiming the UEFA Champions League title with Liverpool in 2005. What they tend to ignore is the way Rafa ultimately flopped at Liverpool and had to be shown the door.

Benitez’s case is unusual. Having inherited a squad from Gerard Houllier, a few (mainly short-lived) Spanish additions such as Luis Garcia, Xabi Alonso, Josemi and Antonio Nunez , saw the Reds claim the European Cup for a fifth time in incredulous circumstances. Garcia’s ghost goal against Chelsea in the semi-finals, Steven Gerrard’s late face-saver against Olympiakos in the group and the miracle of Istanbul itself were all remarkable aspects of a season where the Anfield outfit finished in 5^th place in the Premier League, more than 30 points behind Jose Mourinho’s champions Chelsea and level on points with Bolton Wanderers. Benitez continued to live off this glory for the rest of his reign at Anfield, with a win over West Ham in the FA Cup Final the following year proving to be his only other piece of major silverware in six years at the helm.

The Premier League was Liverpool’s real desire, with no league title since 1990, and in that respect Rafa’s reign was an abject failure. After not even coming close in his first four seasons on Merseyside, he finally built a team strong enough to challenge for the 2008/09 title. But in the aftermath of his infamous rant at ‘Mr Ferguson’ his team wavered and dropped points with a series of draws. Eventually the lack of depth in the squad saw Manchester United edge out the Anfield challenge and it was at this point that Liverpool really began to fall apart. With the peeved (due to Rafa’s advances on Gareth Barry the previous year) Xabi Alonso replaced by the injury-plagued Alberto Aquilani, a failure to significantly strengthen the squad proved terminal but at the start of the season nobody could quite have predicted the scouse team’s sudden decline. With the likes of Jamie Carragher, Gerrard, Javier Mascherano and Fernando Torres failing to perform as regularly as before, the frailties of Liverpool’s squad were revealed during a truly dismal campaign. The likes of Emiliano Insua, David Ngog and Maxi Rodriguez failed to cut the mustard while Ryan Babel, Yossi Benayoun and Albert Riera were just three of the many who have fallen foul of Benitez’s poor man management skills. Eliminated from the Champions League group stage, out early in both domestic cups and slipping as low as seventh in the league, Rafa had truly left Liverpool in a mess.

And while the loveable but seemingly hapless Roy Hodgson has so far failed to turn things around, with the ownership-based off-field turmoil not helping , Benitez is living the high life in Milan. Inheriting a outstanding treble-winning squad including World Player of the Year elect Wesley Sneijder, Samuel Eto’o, Diego Milito, Julio Cesar, Maicon and Cristian Chivu all in their peak, surely even Rafa can’t fail to at least win Serie A this season. But he has already dropped key points against Roma and a far from flying Juventus this season. Benitez’s ineptness was blatant for all to see in the Super Cup defeat to Atletico Madrid in Monaco where the same team who had claimed the Champions League trophy under Mourinho looked tactically confused and were deservedly beaten by their Spanish opposition. A 2-2 draw away at Dutch side Twente on the opening day of the Champions League also seemed unconvincing. Yet Rafa’s luck should continue as he has a squad of excellent players at his disposal. The likes of Sneijder, Milito and particularly the on-form Eto’o can all win games on their own. This was clear during the Cameroonian-inspired thrashing of Werder Bremen on matchday two and the same player grabbed the winner at Cagliari this weekend. Surely Benitez’s poor man-management and bizarre manner in public will prove to be his downfall in Italy, a country not known for much patience with managers. But unless Massimiliano Allegri can gel his Brazilian trio of Ronaldinho, Robinho and Pato with ex-Inter star Zlatan Ibrahimovic or Claudio Ranieri gets the best out of veterans Francesco Totti and Adriano at Roma, the man from Madrid may well achieve Serie A success with the brilliant squad that he has undeservedly inherited.

Could Big Kev lead the line for the Three Lions next week?

Kevin Davies is no spring chicken. A key member of the Chesterfield F.C team that reached the 1997 FA Cup semi-final and with nearly 400 Premier League appearances to his name, the Bolton Wanderers captain has certainly been around the block. Yet it is only now, at the age of 33, that the Yorkshireman has made a breakthrough into the England squad. So why has Fabio Capello, or any of his predecessors for that matter, failed to move before?

Davies has a penchant for grabbing goals in big matches. At Bolton he has scored in the 2004 League Cup Final, netted against Bayern Munich in the UEFA Cup and got a winner against Manchester United back in his Southampton days. But he is by no means prolific, having only reached double figures for goals in five of his seventeen senior seasons, and never surpassed the 12-goal mark.

Where he shines however, is in ruffling the opposition’s feathers and creating chances for the other attacking players. The man can hold up the ball better than most other players in the Premier League and has more Premier League assists to his name than the last forward who filled this role for England, the much-maligned Emile Heskey. But I hear many people asking, what can Davies bring to the role that Heskey didn’t? After all, the Villa man, despite some high points, wasn’t exactly an England success.

Well the Bolton number 14 comes across with more confidence than Heskey ever has. He isn’t shy to cross a referee and has committed 200 more fouls than anyone else in Premier League history. While this wouldn’t normally be viewed as a positive, the physical prowess and pro-active attitude of Davies could be just what the England forward line needs, with a lacklustre Wayne Rooney failing to provide his usual energy in recent months. Partnered with a goal-crazy Darren Bent, Davies could be a good short term option for the Three Lions in a 4-4-2 at home to a Montenegro team who, despite having 6 points from 6 in the group, shouldn’t prove too hard a test at Wembley.

Whether Davies even gets a chance to shine is still up in the air though. Capello has called up players and left them uncapped in the past. Just ask a certain Jimmy Bullard. With Peter Crouch’s England record and his good recent form for Tottenham, and Rooney still a Capello favourite despite fitness and form concerns, Big Kev will have his work cut out in training to break past the established order.

Elsewhere in the England team, with Theo Walcott, James Milner and Frank Lampard all unavailable, there are some choices to be made regarding the midfield. Steven Gerrard, despite his Liverpool woes is still a shoo-in along with Gareth Barry who has been playing well for Manchester City. His team-mate Adam Johnson looks a dead-cert for one of the wide berths, but Aaron Lennon, Ashley Young and Joe Cole will all be doing their best to stop Shaun Wright-Phillips from making it a Sky Blues trio in the midfield. Rio Ferdinand looks set to resume his centre-back partnership with John Terry which restores the back four to ‘full-health’ although with Ferdinand’s lack of match practice this is debatable.

With or without Davies, Capello and the England fans will be confident of England taking the three points from their Eastern European opposition. What is for sure is that the consequences of failing to do so do not bare thinking about for the Three Lions.

Will Marseille Ever Reign in Europe Again?

France has had a major impact on the history of football. Jules Rimet, founder of the World Cup, Henri Delaunay, founder of the European Championships and Gabriel Hanot, instigator of the Ballon D’or award and European Cup all hail from the country. Yet only Marseille have ever won the Champions League, defeating Fabio Capello’s AC Milan 1-0 in Munich. Since that monumental victory in 1993, l’OM have failed to even get out of the group stage. Denied the opportunity to defend their trophy in 1994 because of a domestic match-fixing scandal involving then president Bernard Tapie, the club were relegated and stripped of their domestic title. After two years out of Ligue 1, Marseille won promotion under new owner Robert Louis-Dreyfus but struggled to return to their former power.

Louis-Dreyfus oversaw Marseille’s inconsistent challenges over the course of a decade and a half as Lyon became the dominant force in French football. But one of the last things he did at Marseille before passing away in summer 2009 turned out to be the most influential. By giving the go-ahead for Didier Deschamps to manage the club, he ushered in a new era at the Stade Velodrome. Deschamps, who became the youngest ever European Cup-winning captain back in that 1992/93 season, brought in experience in the form of Edouard Cisse and Fernando Morientes which sparked instant success. A first league title since 1992 as well as a first ever league cup triumph saw Deschamps cement his legendary status at the club and there were high hopes for the 2010/11 season in Europe.

Over the summer, Morientes retired and top scorer Mamadou Niang was sold to Turkish club Fenerbahce but in came national team strikers Andre-Pierre Gignac and Loic Remy, who had been coveted by many Premier League clubs. The addition of young Spanish full-back Cesar Azpilicueta, and return from loan of Ghanaian World Cup star Andre Ayew also pointed to a step in the right direction. Added to the solid foundations of Gabriel Heinze , Souleymane Diawara, Cisse, Lucho Gonzalez and Brandao, all the ingredients for further success seemed in place. Yet the south coast giants have faltered again. Languishing in eighth after eight rounds of games in Ligue 1, the team seems to have lost all momentum.

Favourites to progress behind Chelsea in their Champions League group, two defeats in the first two group games have put pressure on the squad to deliver. Unlucky to lose at home to Spartak Moscow who failed to register a single shot on target, and only scored from an Azpilicueta own goal, the French were easily outclassed at Stamford Bridge by a Chelsea side who didn’t get out of second gear. Deschamps will be hoping for a favour from his old London club, as l’OM’s best chance of qualifying now would be if the Blues did the double over the Russian club. It is not over yet for Deschamps’ men but he will need a full six points against group F makeweights MSK Zilina and at least three points from the return game at Spartak and Chelsea’s visit to the Velodrome. Even if they do scrape through, there is a lot of work to do before Marseille, or their compatriots Lyon earn France their second European Cup success.

The Change in Fortunes of Luis Nani

In November 2009, Luís Carlos Almeida da Cunha, aka Manchester United’s Nani looked to be at the end of his Old Trafford career. The Portuguese winger, much maligned for being inconsistent and a show-pony, hit out at Sir Alex Ferguson in an interview with a Portuguese newspaper and was subsequently dropped for around six weeks.

During this period it was largely expected that the ex-Sporting Lisbon player was going to be on his way to either Juventus or AC Milan in the January transfer window. He had been at Old Trafford for two and a half years and despite high points, such as wonder goals against the likes of Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur, these were overshadowed by low points such as his sending off against West Ham when he feigned injury when he himself had headbutted Lucas Neill. Berated by his own manager who agreed with Arsene Wenger’s anger when he had incited Arsenal players in an FA Cup tie by playing keepy-uppy in the middle of the pitch, many felt the boy from Cape Verde would never cut it as a Red Devil.

But something changed.

A heart-to-heart chat with Ferguson in January 2010 saw Nani given another chance and this time he grasped it. Impressive performances in a 4-0 league victory over Hull City and the Carling Cup semi-final victory over Manchester City saw the wide-man back in the United fans’ good books and a fixture in the starting XI. In his next match, an outrageous piece of skill on the right wing saw him leave Arsenal’s Gael Clichy, Samir Nasri and Denilson for dead at the Emirates Stadium and force an own goal out of Manuel Almunia.

The tide had turned and Nani was rewarded with a four year contract extension in March, something which seemed unthinkable just three months earlier. Further impressive goals against Bayern Munich, Tottenham and Sunderland saw Nani finish the 2009-10 season on a high, even if United were pipped to the title by Chelsea and knocked out in the Champions League quarter-finals. The winger had finally added consistency to his game and at last was racking up the plaudits. Alas, he was ruled out of the World Cup when, in typical Nani fashion, he injured his collarbone attempting an acrobatic overhead kick in training.

Devastated to miss out, Portugal boss Carlos Queiroz even claimed Nani had threatened suicide if he was left out of the squad as he felt he would recover soon enough to participate. But he put that behind him at the start of the 2010-11 season and along with Dimitar Berbatov has become key to United’s plans. The previously under-performing duo have either assisted or scored three quarters of the Red Devil’s 16 league goals. Nani is the top assist maker in the premier league both in the 2010-11 season and the calendar year 2010, and with Antonio Valencia ruled out for several months, looks to be making United’s right wing position his own.

Finally starting to fill the boots of his friend and Portugal team-mate Cristiano Ronaldo, it wouldn’t be too surprising if the rejuvenated number 17 finds himself in the running for the end of season gongs. Still just 23, it finally looks like he could be a key player for both Portugal and Manchester United for many years to come.