KopTalk.com Forums Football Liverpool FC Forum Collymore: Sack Rafa!

Why Liverpool must replace Rafa Benitez with Jose Mourinho in the summer.

By Stan Collymore

Saturday February 28 must go down as the day Manchester United effectively retained their Premier League title - without having to kick a ball.

My Call Collymore phone-in was bombarded by Liverpool fans exasperated by the 2-0 defeat at Middlesbrough.

I have the ultimate respect for Anfield manager Rafa Benitez for turning the club into a force in Europe again. But he is absolutely not the man to take them forward next season to challenge Manchester United for a 19th title.

And I think that when chief executive Rick Parry goes this summer, Benitez should follow him through the exit door.

Liverpool's chances of finally landing the title for the first time since 1990 looked good when they won at Chelsea last October. But since Rafa's rant about United boss Sir Alex Ferguson in early January, Liverpool have stuttered badly.

The problem has been a genuine lack of quality as they have spent money on players who wouldn't get into Manchester United's side.

Apart from Fernando Torres and Steven Gerrard, there is very little creativity, imagination and guile in Liverpool's team - and they are just too darn negative.

Benitez's tactics may work at Real Madrid in the Champions League, where you can shut up shop and nick a 1-0 win like they did last week, but not in the Premier League where anybody can beat anybody.

The biggest challenge for Liverpool is to create another dynasty to rival the ones set up by Bob Paisley and Bill Shankly.

And I think the only man who can do that is former Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho, whose Inter Milan team now top Serie A. I realise he isn't popular on Merseyside but Mourinho has absolute self-belief and I firmly believe he should be the next Anfield boss.

I would urge Liverpool not to delay and to start putting the feelers out now for the Portu-geezer.

Liverpool have missed on out Nemanja Vidic and Cristiano Ronaldo in the past by not being decisive enough, but this is one decision they should not stall on.

With the political battles at Anfield, luring Mourinho from Milan will not be easy. But I hope there is a big broom to clean up Liverpool this summer and sweep away Parry, Benitez and of course the club's American owners.

I hope any new owners stump up the money required to transform the club and then keep their heads down - unlike the Yanks.

And my first signing would be Mourinho. Players respond to him and he has a proven track record in the Premier League and Europe.

Benitez's track record is in Europe after winning the 2005 Champions League and reaching the 2007 final so it is a no-brainer for me.

Stick to beating up women and dogging Stan, seems to be what you're best at.

Day i listen to anything that waster has to say about this club is the day i've given up.

Stan has lost his head... He makes me think for the ex football players, who call themselves experts, but keep on talking rubbish...

I put it down to this global economic crisis; Stan's obviously getting low on funds if he's prepared to write crap like that! He'll be trying to sell his bottom next!

i seen this in the paper and didn't waste my time with it he chats woffle all the time on 5 with the euro cup coverage

if collywobble says rafa should be sacked then that alone should be enough to tell everyone that rafa should NOT be sacked - collymore is clueless - if he hadn't played footie he would have been licking windows somewhere

Makes me laugh when he talks about players being a waste of money.

Cant think of too many bigger disappointments in a red shirt than Collymore

He really lacked the mental strength and application yet had a lot of natural talent!

A waster who has never achieved anything in the game.

One problem we have is, whether Collymore spouts rubbish or not is... That the fans are clearly dividing in their support of Rafa. That is the path to oblivion one way or the other.

I still think the vast majority of LFC fans back Rafa although you are right there are a lot more people discontent with Rafa than there has been before.

Its the press that is the issue as they are in feeding frenzy mode and fans feed off that.

Exactamundo mate. But, Rafa himself has used the press to air his views which is also wrong. Liverpool need to buckle down back to the tradition at which our club was built on and keep it in-house. If he can't honour that himself then he needs to be fair to the fans and leave. I understand his frustration, but the fact remains that rafa has derailed our league season pretty much single handedly by putting extra pressure on himself n the team since his outburst via press and baffling decisions ever since.