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Title tussle not personal, roars Rafa
Liverpool boss Rafael Benitez resumes his Premier League title scrap with Manchester United on Saturday insisting: "It's not personal."
Ferguson and Benitez: Let battle commence
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Benitez needed an explanation of Sir Alex Ferguson's famous "squeaky-bum time" phrase on Friday before insisting he was controlled and calm as the Anfield men wait to pounce on any more mistakes from United as the title battle nears a conclusion.
Liverpool could be top of the table following their crunch match at Fulham on Saturday evening. United, though, will still have Sunday's home clash with Aston Villa to come, plus a game in hand.
Benitez brought roars of laughter from his media conference when he asked for "squeaky-bum time" to be translated into Spanish for him to understand.
Benitez said: "If it is about nerves, I do not have problems with that, nor do my players. But it is a new word I have learned.
"And I do not see it as a battle between me and Sir Alex. I am not fighting with him, I am trying to do the best for my team. It is not personal, nobody should focus on that.
"I have a lot of respect for Sir Alex. But I am happy with the way my team is playing, with Steven Gerrard and Dirk Kuyt's new contracts and the confidence we have, I have not been thinking about him."
Liverpool return to the title race after their momentum was interrupted by the international break.
Benitez had seen his side score 13 goals in beating Manchester United, Real Madrid and Aston Villa and said: "It has been a good time for the club, but we have to keep winning to start talking about the positives.
"We must beat Fulham or things will be again bad for us. People will say that the break came at the wrong time, we were playing well and the players were very confident.
"We had such good momentum beforehand. But the players understand how important the situation is, I have talked to them since they returned from playing for their countries and they know how vital it is to keep putting pressure on United."
Benitez announced contract extensions for Gerrard and Kuyt on Friday, with the prospect of Fernando Torres being among the next in line for new deals and the club also in discussions with Jose Reina, Alvaro Arbeloa and Jamie Carragher.
Benitez said: "We have been working very hard with a lot of players and agents, and the easiest one has been Gerrard.
"It is probably the quickest new deal I have ever been involved in, sometimes they can drag on."
Gerrard added: "This news has given me a boost and hopefully it will help us in our remaining games.
"We have got big matches to play, all of them cup finals as we have to win them all to stay in the title race and go all the way to Rome for the Champions League final."
He explained: "I have been a fan all my life and it will be fantastic at the end of my career to look back and say I have been with Liverpool all the way through."
Liverpool 8/13, Draw 11/4, Fulham 9/2
Your Comments
powzer (Liverpool fan)
"English is my first language can some one explain what sqeaky burn time means. I understand what SAF is saying when he is whinging once again about fixtures. But what is squaky burn time. English please Alex it is the language of your country's owners."
mattsmith (Manchester United fan)
"The rant was personal, nice to see that he is using the word "sir" again though, respect doesn't cost anything."
notsillad (Liverpool fan)
"Yet again Teamtalk talks of Rafa roaring. Utter rubbish, if you watch the interview on the skysports website, he is having a jovial chat with a journalist. At no point does he roar at no point does he even get wound up, he doesn't understand the phrase squeaky bum time and asks for a translation but thats about it. I get fed up of this ridiculous dramatising of everything."
LORDOFLIVERPOOL (Liverpool fan)
"What happens if both Man Utd and Liverpool finish with the same points and on same goal difference? This would be an ideal situation to have the 39th game played abroad."
busbyboy123
"Rafa doesn't that just put on more pressure to your own team? GGMU"
All comments on this story
The Liverpool Your Say main page
The Manchester Utd Your Say main page
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mouse78 (Liverpool) : "...I'm just glad Liverpool are still in with a shout. It was all going against us until the last few minutes. The pressure is back on United and they have a few problems for tomorrow. I don't see Villa being brushed asid..." view full comment
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Paper Talk: Eriksson eyes Cats post
David Moyes is Alex Ferguson's choice to succeed him as Manchester United boss, while Sven-Goran Eriksson wants to manage Sunderland.
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Liverpool boss Rafael Benitez resumes his Premier League title scrap with Manchester United on Saturday insisting: "It's not personal."
Ferguson and Benitez: Let battle commence
Fantasy GolfCaptain a team of 12 real-life golfers through eight months of Tour action.
Benitez needed an explanation of Sir Alex Ferguson's famous "squeaky-bum time" phrase on Friday before insisting he was controlled and calm as the Anfield men wait to pounce on any more mistakes from United as the title battle nears a conclusion.
Liverpool could be top of the table following their crunch match at Fulham on Saturday evening. United, though, will still have Sunday's home clash with Aston Villa to come, plus a game in hand.
Benitez brought roars of laughter from his media conference when he asked for "squeaky-bum time" to be translated into Spanish for him to understand.
Benitez said: "If it is about nerves, I do not have problems with that, nor do my players. But it is a new word I have learned.
"And I do not see it as a battle between me and Sir Alex. I am not fighting with him, I am trying to do the best for my team. It is not personal, nobody should focus on that.
"I have a lot of respect for Sir Alex. But I am happy with the way my team is playing, with Steven Gerrard and Dirk Kuyt's new contracts and the confidence we have, I have not been thinking about him."
Liverpool return to the title race after their momentum was interrupted by the international break.
Benitez had seen his side score 13 goals in beating Manchester United, Real Madrid and Aston Villa and said: "It has been a good time for the club, but we have to keep winning to start talking about the positives.
"We must beat Fulham or things will be again bad for us. People will say that the break came at the wrong time, we were playing well and the players were very confident.
"We had such good momentum beforehand. But the players understand how important the situation is, I have talked to them since they returned from playing for their countries and they know how vital it is to keep putting pressure on United."
Benitez announced contract extensions for Gerrard and Kuyt on Friday, with the prospect of Fernando Torres being among the next in line for new deals and the club also in discussions with Jose Reina, Alvaro Arbeloa and Jamie Carragher.
Benitez said: "We have been working very hard with a lot of players and agents, and the easiest one has been Gerrard.
"It is probably the quickest new deal I have ever been involved in, sometimes they can drag on."
Gerrard added: "This news has given me a boost and hopefully it will help us in our remaining games.
"We have got big matches to play, all of them cup finals as we have to win them all to stay in the title race and go all the way to Rome for the Champions League final."
He explained: "I have been a fan all my life and it will be fantastic at the end of my career to look back and say I have been with Liverpool all the way through."
Liverpool 8/13, Draw 11/4, Fulham 9/2 Your Comments
powzer (Liverpool fan)
"English is my first language can some one explain what sqeaky burn time means. I understand what SAF is saying when he is whinging once again about fixtures. But what is squaky burn time. English please Alex it is the language of your country's owners."
mattsmith (Manchester United fan)
"The rant was personal, nice to see that he is using the word "sir" again though, respect doesn't cost anything."
notsillad (Liverpool fan)
"Yet again Teamtalk talks of Rafa roaring. Utter rubbish, if you watch the interview on the skysports website, he is having a jovial chat with a journalist. At no point does he roar at no point does he even get wound up, he doesn't understand the phrase squeaky bum time and asks for a translation but thats about it. I get fed up of this ridiculous dramatising of everything."
LORDOFLIVERPOOL (Liverpool fan)
"What happens if both Man Utd and Liverpool finish with the same points and on same goal difference? This would be an ideal situation to have the 39th game played abroad."
busbyboy123
"Rafa doesn't that just put on more pressure to your own team? GGMU"
All comments on this story
The Liverpool Your Say main page
The Manchester Utd Your Say main page
The General Your Say main page
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CompetitionsWin some fantastic prizes in the TEAMtalk competition section. All our competitions are free to enter
Team News:
Select your team Arsenal Aston Villa Blackburn Bolton Chelsea Everton Fulham Hull City Liverpool Man City Man Utd Middlesbro' Newcastle Portsmouth Stoke City Sunderland Tottenham West Brom West Ham Wigan Athletic Barnsley Birmingham Blackpool Bristol City Burnley Cardiff City Charlton Coventry C.Palace Derby Doncaster Ipswich Norwich Nottm Forest Plymouth Preston NE QPR Reading Sheff Utd Sheff Weds Southampton Swansea City Watford Wolves Brighton Bristol Rovers Carlisle Cheltenham Colchester Crewe Hartlepool Hereford Huddersfield Leeds Utd Leicester Leyton Orient Millwall MK Dons Northampton Oldham Peterborough Scunthorpe Southend Stockport Swindon Tranmere Walsall Yeovil Accrington Aldershot Barnet Bournemouth Bradford Brentford Bury Chester City Chesterfield Dag and Red Darlington Exeter City Gillingham Grimsby Lincoln City Luton Town Macclesfield Morecambe Notts County Port Vale Rochdale Rotherham Shrewsbury Wycombe Aberdeen Celtic Dundee Utd Falkirk Hamilton Hearts Hibernian Inverness CT Kilmarnock Motherwell Rangers St Mirren
mouse78 (Liverpool) : "...I'm just glad Liverpool are still in with a shout. It was all going against us until the last few minutes. The pressure is back on United and they have a few problems for tomorrow. I don't see Villa being brushed asid..." view full comment View all comments Add a comment Paper Talk: Eriksson eyes Cats postDavid Moyes is Alex Ferguson's choice to succeed him as Manchester United boss, while Sven-Goran Eriksson wants to manage Sunderland.
More from today's press
TT Famous Five: Bad-boy strikersTEAMtalk's Simon Wilkes steps up to the plate to select Friday's Famous Five - and has gone for bad-boy strikers as his chosen category.
Read today's Column
paddy92 (Celtic) : "...Celtic will sign either jordi gomes from espanyol in the summer (currently on loan at swansea,) james morrison from west brom (if west brom are relegated to the championship) or aron gunnarson from coventry city. Strachan will also look to sign a str..." view full rumour View all rumours Add a rumour Related Links
Related Team Pages
Liverpool
Manchester Utd
Don't miss these
LATEST PHOTOSTHE INSIDERWALLPAPERS<A href="http://www.teamtalk.com/football/Gallery_Detail/0,17732,13851,00.html">
Go to the GalleryTEAMtalk Insider: Potters Predictions Download WallpaperBet Now | Casino | Poker | Bingo
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More Stories
British is best, boasts Latics chief
Rafa hails Reds' winning mentality
Pulis: Honest Stoke have work to do
Shearer still sure of Toon survival
Wenger happy with Gunners' balance
No excuses from dispirited Southgate
Hammers boss hails his youngsters
Smiling Sam salutes super Samba
Hart feels for dismissed Johnson
Al's Blue, Baggies and Boro beaten
Benayoun belter sees Reds go top
Gerrard thrilled with 'massive' win
Rovers recovery topples Tottenham
Lovenkrands taken to hospital
Harry: Ref didn't have 'triffic' game
Barry demands 'best display yet'
It's eight games only, insists Shearer
Pompey rule out fresh Sven move
CL glory wouldn't sway Hiddink
Jo wants to go with Toffees flow
Question of the Day
Who did Arsenal play in the 92/93 FA Cup final?
Manchester UnitedLiverpoolSheffield WednesdayEverton
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