Rafa needs to go - the Reds aren't even the best team in their own city


City remain unbeaten at Eastlands, but their football stinks

The Kop will scream their support and the banners, packed with Scouse humour, will denounce their American owners while glorying in the management of Rafa Benitez.

Why? Benitez has won the European Cup and reached another final, but he can't understand the Barclays Premier League and while he remains manager, Liverpool will always be competing for fourth, instead of first.

They go into Monday's game with Aston Villa in sixth – not even the best team in their own city, let alone the country.

The best football being played in the European City of Culture is by Everton, whose manager David Moyes has spent a good deal less than his Spanish adversary. Something like £100m less.

Players such as Tim Cahill and the improving Joleon Lescott continue to flourish and though they may not have Liverpool's flamboyance or a goalscorer to compare to the swagger of Fernando Torres, they are advancing rapidly.

Meanwhile, Benitez whinges at a lack of investment, complains at the management style of his bosses... and then draws at home to Wigan.

Jurgen Klinsmann was a clumsy alternative, showing the star-loving nature of the Americans, but they could be onto something when they are looking to replace Benitez.

• A first thought on Fabio Capello. You would think that £6million would buy the FA a coach who stays until the end of matches.

• If the definition of a 'big club' is the size of its gate, then only the crowds at Newcastle, Manchester City and Tottenham were bigger than the attendance at Leeds United this weekend.

A league higher, did you notice too that Sheffield Wednesday attracted a gate of more than 30,000. And it got me thinking of an inspiring idea.

How about the top two from each division go up and the bottom two go down, with the final promotion and relegation place decided by average attendances?

It would attract supporters whose attendance at their club would have a direct influence on success and it's one way of getting rid of Wigan. With a bog of a pitch like theirs, they do not deserve to be among the elite.

• Number of players named in the last England squad against Croatia, who scored in the Barclays Premier League at the weekend? None.

• Would you rather get into bed with Sven Goran Eriksson, or Kevin Keegan?

We know Sven can play away (two cheap jokes in two paragraphs), but after watching another dour-counter attacking performance from Manchester City at their smart stadium, does he know how to play at home?

City remain unbeaten at Eastlands, but their football stinks: Ten men behind the ball and hoping to catch the opposition on the break - football born in Italy, played by an international cast and advocated by a Swede.

No wonder Elano and Martin Petrov look like they're on a beach already, it's not exactly the factory of fun, is it?

Newcastle might wish to swap places with City's league position, but whose fans will be enjoying their football more come the end of the season?

• Do you think that deep inside the snarling, gesturing, boot-chucking, hairdryer-blasting Sir Alex Ferguson there is a nice man waiting to get out? No, me either.

HATCHET JOB

This column will pay particular attention to football's dark side. Today: Shola Ameobi's elbows. If bad tackles earn red cards, what about shoving the point of your elbow into a Bolton defender? And then doing it again just to make sure. Ouch rating: 8.

THEY SAID

'Kevin will have the place rocking like Real Madrid,'

-Michael Owen, News of the World

THEY MEANT

'S***! I wish I hadn't written that book'