Man Utd v Liverpool

Jaime wrote:

Pras Gallagher wrote:By sending Carragher to mark Robben. The glass man will broken in two and so will Real's European dream

Ooooh! Carragher is soooo tough!

It'll be Arbeloa marking Robben.

Stats To Prove Liverpool Boss Wrong

Earlier today I responded to Rafael Benitez’s latest comments about Manchester United. In the past week, this is the third time our club has been spoken about by them, with Carragher and Agger already ‘taking their hat off’ to us.

“Manchester United make €65m a year more than we do and buy three £20m players a season,” said Rafa. “Chelsea must have spent £500m in five years. We have built a team but economically we are way below them and yet we have still managed to compete. In the five years I have been here I have spent less than £40m on Torres and Keane. How are we supposed to compete with them?”

I raised the point that if Benitez had spent his money wisely, then Liverpool would have been easily able to compete over the past few years. As it is, Benitez has wasted millions on total dross.
My observation brought a lot of Liverpool fans over to the blog talking about net spend and money spent and saved. I thought I’d investigate in to their claims. My findings were rather pleasing.

Liverpool Players In Since Summer 2004
Josemi Rey (£2,000,000)
Antonio Nunez (£1,500,000)
Luis Garcia (£6,000,000)
Xabi Alonso (£10,700,000)
Mauricio Pellegrino (Free)
Fernando Morientes (£6,300,000)
Scott Carson (£1,000,000)
Antonio Barragan (£240,000)
Boudewijn Zenden (Free)
Jose Reina (£6,000,000)
Mohamed Sissoko (£5,600,000)
Peter Crouch (£7,000,000)
Godwin Antwi (Unknown)
Miki Roque (Unknown)
Jack Hobbs (£150,000)
Besian Idrizaj (£190,000)
Mark Gonzalez (£1,500,000)
Paul Anderson (Player Exchange)
Jan Kromkamp (Player Exchange)
Daniel Agger (£5,800,000)
David Martin (£250,000)
Robbie Fowler (Free)
Craig Bellamy (£6,000,000)
Gabriel Paletta (£2,000,000)
Fábio Aurélio (Free)
Jermaine Pennant (£6,700,000)
Dirk Kuyt (£9,000,000)
Nabil El Zhar (£200,000)
Jordy Brouwer (Undisclosed)
Francisco Durán (£66,000)
Ronald Huth (Undisclosed)
Álvaro Arbeloa (£2,500,000)
Lucas Leiva (£5,000,000)
Mikel San José Domínguez (£270,000)
Sebastian Leto (£1,800,000)
Fernando Torres (£20,200,000)
Andriy Voronin (Free)
Yossi Benayoun (£5,000,000)
Ryan Babel (£11,500,000)
Charles Itandje (Undisclosed)
Emiliano Insúa (£1,300,000)
Martin Skrtel (£6,500,000)
Javier Mascherano (£17,000,000)
Philipp Degen (Free)
Andrea Dossena (£7,000,000)
Diego Cavalieri (£3,500,000)
David Ngog (£1,500,000)
Robbie Keane (£19,000,000)
Albert Riera (£8,000,000)
Total spend: £189.866m

Liverpool Players Out Since Summer 2004
Markus Babbel (Free)
Danny Murphy (£2,500,000)
Michael Owen (£8,500,000)
Stephane Henchoz (Free)
Vladimir Smicer (Free)
El Hadji Diouf (£3,500,000)
Mauricio Pellegrino (Free)
Alou Diarra (£2,000,000)
Mark Smyth (Free)
Paul Harrison (Free)
Richie Partridge (Free)
Patrice Luzi (Free)
Gregory Vignal (Free)
Igor Biscan (Free)
Jon Otsemobor (Free)
Antonio Nunez (£2,000,000)
Milan Baros (£6,500,000)
John Welsh (Player Exchange)
Josemi Rey (Player Exchange)
Zak Whitbread (£200,000)
Bruno Cheyrou (Undisclosed)
Robbie Foy (Free)
David Raven (Free)
Fernando Morientes (£3,000,000)
Dietmar Hamann (Free)
Antonio Barragan (£675,000)
Djimi Traore (£2,000,000)
Carl Medjani (Free)
Neil Mellor (£500,000)
Jan Kromkamp (£1,750,000)
Chris Kirkland (£3,500,000)
Darren Potter (£250,000)
Stephen Warnock (£1,500,000)
Salif Diao (Free)
Florent S.-Pongolle (£2,700,000)
Danny O’ Donnell (£100,000)
Jerzy Dudek (Free)
Boudewijn Zenden (Free)
Robbie Fowler (Free)
Luis Garcia (£4,000,000)
Djibril Cissé (£6,000,000)
Craig Bellamy (£7,500,000)
Mark Gonzalez (£3,500,000)
Gabriel Paletta (£1,200,000)
James Smith (Free)
Mohamed Sissoko (£8,200,000)
Lee Peltier (Free)
John Arne Riise (£4,000,000)
Harry Kewell (Free)
Anthony Le Tallec (Undisclosed)
Peter Crouch (£11,000,000)
Danny Guthrie (£2,250,000)
Scott Carson (£3,250,000)
Steve Finnan (Undisclosed)
Robbie Keane (£15,000,000)
Total sale: £107.075m
Net spend: £82.791m

Manchester United Players In Since Summer 2004
Tosic (£17m)
Berbatov (£30.75m)
Nani (£17m)
Hargreaves (£17m)
Anderson (£18m)
Kuzczak (£2.5m)
Carrick (£18.6m)
Foster (£1m)
Vidic (£7m)
Evra (£5.5m)
Park (£4m)
Van der Sar (£2.5m)
Rooney (£30m)
Total spend: £170.35m

Manchester United Players Out Since Summer 2004
Nicky Butt (£2.5m)
Luke Chadwick (Free)
Diego Forlan (£2m)
Bojan Djordjic (Free)
Eric Djemba-Djemba (£1.35)
Roy Carroll (Free)
Daniel Nardiello (Free)
Phil Neville (£3.5m)
Kleberson (£2.5m)
Roy Keane (Free)
David Fox (Free)
Neil Wood (Free)
Phil Picken (Free)
Tommy Lee (Free)
Jonathan Spector (£500,000)
Eddie Johnson (Free)
Sylvan Ebanks-Blake (£200,000)
Quinton Fortune (Free)
Ruud van Nistelrooy (£11m)
Luke Steele (Player exchange)
Paul McShane (Free)
Liam Miller (Free)
David Jones (£1m)
Tim Howard (£3m)
Kieran Richardson (£5.5m)
Giuseppe Rossi (£6.6m)
Daniel Rose (Undisclosed)
Alan Smith (£6m)
Gabriel Heinze (£8m)
Phil Marsh (Free)
Adam Eckersley (Free)
Ryan Shawcross (£1m)
Phil Bardsley (£2m)
Kieran Lee (Free)
Gerard Pique (£5m)
Michael Lea (Free)
Ritchie Jones (Free)
Chris Eagles (£1m)
Mikael Silvestre (£750k)
Louis Saha (Undisclosed)
Total sale: £63.4m
Net spend: £106.95m

When taking in to consideration the money spent on players and the money recouped, there is a difference of just £24.2 million between United and Liverpool since the summer of 2004.

The season before Benitez took over, Liverpool were fourth in the league. United finished just one place above them that season.

Liverpool trophies since summer of 2004: 1 Champions League, 1 FA Cup,
Manchester United trophies since summer of 2004: 2 Premiership titles, 1 Champions League, 1 League Cup.

So, there is a difference of just £24.2 million, an average of just £6 million a season, and Benitez wants to know how he is supposed to compete with United? The diffence in spending between United and Chelsea was far greater in the years leading up to our title win in 2007, with Abramovich splashing his cash at a rate United simply couldn’t compete with. That didn’t stop us from competing with them for honours though.
Excuses, excuses from Mr. Benitez.

“He’s crackin up, he’s crackin up, he’s crackin, Rafa’s crackin up!”

Author: Scott the Red

What a fair and balanced way of looking at things



really? This again?

United sold £60m of players, how many of them were getting near the first team?

Compare that with the players Liverpool sold and had to replace.

Then consider that United had a much better squad to start with.

We've had this conversation and the best you could do was compare Rafa to David Moyes, a manager whose career highlight is nearly qualifying for the Champions League proper.

Smart, he didn't include Tevez loan fee or that AM you signed from Serbia. Wasn't Nunez part of the Owen deal?
Rafu and Fabio weren't free deals were they?

it's from a site called the republik of mancunia, it's no wonder Batman comes across as such a c**t when he looks up to the likes of Scot The Red and believes this sort of nonsense.

no mention of the fact that Ruud van Nistelrooy is the only first team regular that they sold, that their inferior net spend is made up mostly by sales of fringe players or kids and their greater spend is on just 13 players.

Perhaps if Liverpool had Giggs instead of Kewell or Ronaldo instead of Smicer then the comparison would be more valid.

He has been a tad tetchy this season, hasn't he? Scott Brown, Michael Dawson, Andy Wilkinson and Emmanuel Pogatetz can all attest to that, while Robbie Savage missed a phlegm ball...



Ronaldo v Scott Brown (November 5)
"I just don't think there should be one rule for the rest of us and another one for Cristiano Ronaldo," said Celtic midfielder Scott Brown after Ronaldo kicked out at his leg with the ball already out of play. Brown admits he used his shoulder to ease the United man off the ball but as the ball bounced out for a throw-in and Brown tried to pull himself to the feet, Ronaldo had a swipe. "It annoys me when I know that I wouldn't have got away with it had I had a boot at Ronaldo," said Brown.




Ronaldo v Michael Dawson (December 15)
"It was petulance," said Alan Shearer on Match of the Day, and we all know how obvious something has to be for Shearer to remark upon it. Dawson challenged Ronaldo and as he jogged away, he got a kick on the ankle for his trouble. Referee Mike Dean didn't see the incident, later watched the video of the obvious infringement, and still didn't recommend a charge. Lucky, lucky boy.




Ronaldo v Andy Wilkinson (December 26)
The Stoke full-back subjected Ronaldo to 72 minutes of the harshest treatment an average full-back can muster for 72 minutes until he was red-carded, but the Portuguese winger failed to even see yellow for a petulant kick - which must have contributed to Wilkinson's final, impetuous challenge. Man City have the right to feel more than a little aggrieved after Shaun Wright-Phillips was given a three-match ban for an identical swipe at Rory Delap.




Ronaldo v Emmanuel Pogatetz (December 29)
Feeling harshly done by when the Austrian gave him a big bear hug in the Boro area, Ronaldo ran towards him at half-time, pushing him in the arm and gesticulating wildly. Unsurprisingly, the Middlesbrough hard man reacted badly and pushed his forehead into Ronaldo's. The fracas continued in the tunnel, with Boro boss Gareth Southgate saying: "I heard a lot of noise and there was some finger-pointing - but that's all."




Ronaldo v Robbie Savage (February 15)
Now that is a no-holds-barred Ultimate Fighting bout we would like to see in a giant cage. Robbie Savage gave Ronaldo a tough opening half at Pride Park and one firm but fair challenge left the winger on his knees. Footage appeared to show Ronaldo spitting in the direction of Savage but the Derby midfielder has defended him, saying: "I've got absolutely no problem with him. Nothing happened."



Sarah Winterburn

He is responding to kicks with kicks in most cases. Not an issue.

* ronaldo/J Lloyd-Samuel incident at OT when the game was 0-0 and full time approaching - one of the worst pens ever awarded in the Prem ?

Rob Styles !!!

* Wes Brown's goal at Blackburn followed a quite blatant body check by Vidic on Blackburn keeper Jason Brown. United were 1-0 down at the time.


* Vidic clear red card at Villa in 0-0 draw - you have to allow for the rest of the game 10 v11 but also the following games where he would be missing through suspension.


* Vidic clear red card at Arsenal on Nasri. Arsenal won but United ran them pretty close in the last couple of mins and had a chance to get something out of the game which they might not have had if Vidic had been off.


* ronaldo clear red card at White Hart Lane on Dawson with the game at 0-0. this was during the "Redknapp revival" and who knows how the game would have finished had Spurs had some time 11 v 10.


* ronaldo red card not given at Stoke. A stoke player then gets red carded for foul on ronaldo and Tevez gets a late winner 11 v 10.

* Rooney not red carded v Chelsea for appauling dissent.

* Rooney not punished for stamp v Aalborg - not EPL, I didn't know it was happening in CL too


* Did I imagine this last one? - 4th official signals 3 mins injury time in Chelsea v United - Rio prof foul on Drogba just outside the box before the end of the minimum stoppage time. Ref blows for full time depriving Chelsea of chance to win game and Rio suspension.

Someone confirm please - that's how I remember it.

* Red card for WBA's Robinson, later rescinded with United only 1-0 up, with a knackered Rio and WBA looking lively



What have you got for Liverpool ?

A dodgy 1st goal at home to Hull and the 1st of Valencia's two Anfield yellows was dubious.


Hardly comparable.

By my reckoning Liverpool are owed 7 more huge refereeing favours than United between now and the end of the EPL season.

I'm sure none of the United fans on here would complain if that was the case




Pierre Littbarski

yawn

L-r d wrote:He is responding to kicks with kicks in most cases. Not an issue.

Yeah. Retaliation is never a red card. Oh, except in most cases. Gerrard and Ronaldo seem to get away with it. Delap and SWP, no dice!