fuck off, la rafa.

RAFAEL Benitez, before I try to make sense of your latest comments, I'll tip my hat to you for a few things.

See what you did to Nando, Rafa!

Firstly, despite what the critics say, you actually have changed Liverpool into an English Premiership title-challenging side this season.
I'd also like to believe you'll be wiser and can do better next season if you don't beat Sir Alex Ferguson and his Manchester United side eventually in May.
But to say now, that Fernando Torres' injuries (he's been limited to 11 starts till before this morning's game against Sunderland) have almost cost your side the season?
That's true, too, but it's time to look in the mirror, Rafa, and admit that you're to blame for this.
Destiny was in your hands. Sure, things could have been different had Torres not been injured so often.
And if there are signs of your top striker suffering an injury spell more than once, start preparing the reserves.
Who were your best striker reserves in order of ability -right from the start - before you started experimenting with them and judging them?
Robbie Keane.
Then, er...the real strikers that are David Ngog and Nabil El Zhar, who would make only Championship sides a division below fear them.
Not forgetting your other last resorts (please take a deep breath before reading on) like using inconsistent striker-turned-winger-turned last resort deep-lying forward Dirk Kuyt, midfielder-turned-last resort deep-lying striker Yossi Benayoun, and winger-turned-aimless sprinter Ryan Babel.
Deep breath please, again.
So by turning Keane into a striker-turned-winger-turned-benchwarmer-turned-confused player, before selling him back to Tottenham Hotspur by the second half of the season, you sold yourself short on this one, Rafa.
In football these days, you surely know that the law of averages dictates that the more games you play, the more players you need.

Top team
Especially if you're the manager of a top team like Liverpool where your top players have to play at least 60 games a season for club and country.
It's simple mathematics.
If your best players can miraculously stay fit the entire season, like Arsenal did with a thin squad during their Invincibles era in that glorious 2003-2004 season, great news. But that was a one-off.
Even Arsenal's manager Arsene Wenger has been struggling to repeat that feat since.
If you're not a magic healer, 'thicken' your squad.
Your rival who's pulling away - Ferguson - knows this.
When Wayne Rooney is injured, there's Dimitar Berbatov.
When Berbatov is injured, there's Carlos Tevez.
But when Torres is injured? Er, Kuyt?
Or how about impact sub Ngog and leave all of us groggy instead?
You don't win the English Premiership title - week in, week out - with an injured top striker, and nothing but a bunch of no-pedigree forwards. Rafa, time to blame yourself first, before conducting your inquest into your team's recent slide.