Ferguson Blasts Benitez As Liverpool Ready For Classic Tie

Manchester United boss Sir Alex
Ferguson claims Rafael Benitez
was fortunate not to lose his
job at Liverpool before the end
of last season.
Ferguson's side face a new-look
Liverpool at Old Trafford today
bidding to register a convincing
win after a number of below-par
displays at the start of the
season.
Victory against their biggest
rivals, now under the guidance
of Roy Hodgson, would be a
timely lift for United, and
Ferguson turned up the heat
ahead of the contest by insisting
Benitez was only given a stay of
execution at Anfield due to his
contractual situation.
The Spaniard, who penned a
new five-year deal at Anfield in
2009, eventually left the club in
June having guided the reds to a
disappointing seventh-placed
finish in the top flight.
"I wasn't surprised at all that
Liverpool changed their manager
in the summer. I think everyone
expected it even though Benitez
had signed a new contract,"
Ferguson said in quotes reported
by The People.
"That was the only complication
about it. If he hadn't signed a
contract the previous season
then I am sure he would have
gone before the end of the last
season.
"But the fact he had signed a
new contract brings its own
complications in terms of
compensation and that type of
thing, so they waited.
"Obviously, the directors at the
club had come to the stage
where they had to discuss the
manager's future because of the
performances. Then I think
everybody expected it to happen
and for him to go."
Meanwhile, Ferguson has
criticised his players for lacking
concentration after dropping
costly points in recent league
matches against Fulham and
Everton.
"To lose two points in added
time once is perhaps bad luck,
but to do it twice this early in the
season is just downright careless
and it has to stop," Ferguson
said.
"I think back to that great
quartet of strikers - Dwight
Yorke, Andy Cole, Teddy
Sheringham and Ole Gunnar
Solskjaer - who all had a
ruthlessness and concentration
that saw them determined to
finish off games.
"It's a quality our present team
must acquire and I want the
players, both up front and at the
back, to reflect on their powers
of concentration - or lack of - and
work on that aspect of their
game."