Liverpool and Ireland legend Ronnie Whelan believes the end of Rafael Benitez’s reign at Anfield is in sight after the club’s stuttering start to the season.
Whelan, who won six English titles in his playing days at Anfield, has accused Benitez of putting success in Europe before the club’s quest for Premier League glory.
And he believes Saturday’s 3-1 defeat at Fulham, which left Liverpool nine points adrift of league leaders Chelsea, could signal the beginning of the end for the Spaniard.
“It’s all gone wrong with the manager and he’s shown exactly where his priorities lie,” Whelan told Ireland’s RTE Television “He wants to win the European Cup so he can get a job in Europe. For me, his days have got to be numbered at Liverpool.”
Whelan’s criticism was sparked by Benitez’s decision to substitute Fernando Torres after an hour at Craven Cottage because of concern over the groin injury the Spanish striker is carrying.
Benitez desperately needs Torres to be fit for tomorrow’s Champions League trip to Lyon, where a defeat would probably end Liverpool’s chances of progressing to the group stages.
Despite that, Whelan was adamant that Benitez should have kept Torres on the pitch on Saturday.
“He’s taken players off who are the only players who are going to give you a chance of winning the game,” he said. “And he drags them all off because he’s got a game on Wednesday.”
“When I saw the team I thought he’s not bothered about this game. He’s putting all his eggs in one basket and I can’t see why he’s done it,” Whelan said.
Benitez defended his decision to withdraw Torres from the fray with the score at 1-1, pointing out that there had been a major doubt over whether the striker would play any role in the match.
“The other day [against Manchester United], he played 80 minutes but needed four days to recover. He still has some problems but we had to decide whether to start with him [at Fulham] or use him from the bench,” he said.
“We decided that it was better to start with him, so he could warm-up properly. It was a difficult decision, as we knew it could be a risk and we might lose him for even more time,” Benitez said.
“We kept him on for 60 minutes then tried to protect the player. I prefer to lose a player for 20 or 30 minutes, not one month,” he said.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but