Stop the rants please, Rafa

RAFAEL BENITEZ could open a supermarket with the amount of sour grapes coming out of Anfield at the moment. Why does he do it? As if the “fact” tirade a few months ago wasn’t bad enough, he now insists that “If Man Utd have more points, it only means they have more points, that’s all, nothing else.”

Well, not really. It means a great deal more than that to be perfectly honest. First and foremost, the league table doesn’t lie, so if United have more points than Liverpool, it means they have been the better side.

Benitez also fails to mention that United are due to play a second successive Champions League Final next week; a competition that his own side were knocked out of at the quarter-final stage. What about the Carling Cup? If my memory serves me right, United won that competition back in February after a penalty shoot-out against Spurs. FA Cup? True, United didn’t win this; they narrowly missed out, losing to Everton in the semi-final’s on penalties; Liverpool were eliminated by the same opposition back in round 4.

Liverpool have certainly made great strides this season, but the reality is that they have failed to win a trophy since their FA Cup triumph in 2006. A fact their manager would do well to remember.

Johnson proving he's no baby

PORTSMOUTH right-back Glen Johnson, has broken a club record by scooping all nine awards at the end-of-season prize-giving ceremony.

Johnson has come on in leaps and bounds since his move to Fratton Park from Stamford Bridge; He always had potential, but Jose Mourinho felt his constant lapses in concentration would ultimately prove costly for Chelsea, and so sold him.

Tony Adams didn’t get much right down on the South Coast. However, it’s no coincidence that Johnson’s resurgence came about after working closely alongside the former Arsenal defender, and his place in Fabio Capello’s 2010 World Cup squad looks a certainty if he continues in his current vein.

Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez is said to be weighing up a £10m bid in the summer. You can almost feel the Chelsea hierarchy kicking themselves from here.

Boro's plight paints sorry picture

FANS of Newcastle, Sunderland and Hull City are in for a torrid afternoon this Sunday, as their respective teams try to avoid relegation to the Championship. Middlesbrough, on the other hand are all but gone, and for English football on the whole, their demise paints a sad picture.

In an era where looking abroad seems the obvious answer to any problem, Boro’ continue to look a little closer to home. In Steve Gibson they have a young, English Chairman, who would do anything for the club he has supported since he was a boy. Gareth Southgate will be the first to admit that he has made some mistakes, but ultimately, he is a young manager that has tried to do things the right way, and his time will come.

On the pitch, few clubs, if any, can field as many home-grown players as Boro’, and it is probably this lack of experience that has cost them in the end. The town is one of the poorest in the country, which is often a factor in the high number of empty seats on view at the Riverside, and it will be hit hard by relegation.

Let’s just hope that, for the sake of English football, Gibson, Southgate and co can regroup and head for the dizzy heights of the Premier League in the next few years; if anybody deserves a second chance, it’s Boro’.

Leeds in need of a lift

LEEDS UNITED, as a club, have never been the most popular; you only have to read David Peace’s The Damned United for the reasons why. However, you would have to have a heart made of stone not to feel for the supporters at present.

37,000 packed into Elland Road last week to see their side eliminated from the League 1 play-off semi-final by Millwall; the likes of AC Milan and Juventus struggle to attract crowds of that size regularly in Serie A.

A few years ago, it was a shock to the system to see Leeds’ name alongside the likes of Millwall and Scunthorpe when the fixtures were released. Now, sadly, it is just the norm. This once-great club are in danger of becoming known as one of British football’s lesser-lights.

Turn it in, Tim

CAN somebody please explain why Setanta choose to persist with the most biased, clueless football pundit ever to grace our screens? Tottenham coach Tim Sherwood makes no attempt to hide his loyalty to the club that pay his wages, or even make balanced, well-thought arguments when trying to make a point.

His continual use of training ground lingo is an embarrassment, and quotes like “Newcastle are a bigger club than Chelsea” do nothing to enhance his standing. When asked recently to name his manager of the year, he plumped for, yes, you guessed it…Harry Redknapp. You couldn’t make it up.