Rafa shows Wenger he lacks spine to win

David Mellor
9 Apr 2008

No doubt about last night's big winner - Rafael Benitez. Once again the podgy Spaniard's cunning plan succeeded; take it easy in the Premier League and reserve your real efforts for the Champions League.

Liverpool will never be real champions under Benitez but, by conserving their energies, they could well win the Champions League again. They are well organised, tough, up for it and in Fernando Torres have arguably the most accomplished goal machine in Europe.

The last 10 minutes at Anfield got them through against Inter Milan and the final 10 did for Arsenal again last night. Arsene Wenger can whinge all he likes about bad penalty decisions but in the final analysis Arsenal were not good enough, the squad looked tired and lacked the strength in depth to overcome losses like Eduardo and Tomas Rosicky.

And, of course, they lack a British spine. Wenger is great at bringing on young, mainly foreign talent, but he has forgotten at his peril in recent years the need to find successors to tough locals like Tony Adams and Martin Keown.

An Arsenal with a John Terry, a Steven Gerrard, a Frank Lampard or a Jamie Carragher would have been a very different proposition at Anfield.

As it is, the Gunners have now won only two of their last 12 games and have been reduced to potless also-rans.

Does Wenger have a tinge of regret about chucking away the Carling Cup and FA Cup? If he doesn't, he should.

Now to dear Avram Grant. Well, he won again and that will be enough for some. But not to anyone who knows about football.

Fenerbahce were second rate at best, but for long periods last night Grant's Chelsea contrived to make them look good. And with a bit of luck, the Turks could have really embarrassed Chelsea.

After Michael Ballack's early goal, Chelsea should have finished the game before half-time. But, typically, they did not. Instead they struggled and won ugly. Basically, the only way Grant knows. And now for the third Liverpool-Chelsea semi-final encounter and the Reds will start favourites for the first time. Liverpool will fancy their chances to reach the final and it won't bother them that this time the second leg will be at Stamford Bridge.

On European nights, Benitez is transformed into a master tactician. Can Grant, the oldest work-experience boy on the planet, match him? I hope so, but it's hope without a great deal of expectation. In a Premier League run-in, where Manchester United's stumble against Middlesbrough threatens to keep their game at the Bridge a real showdown, the question is not only whether Grant is up to it - we know the answer to that one already - but whether Chelsea's training staff can compensate for their chief's mediocrity.

The rumour mill suggests the players don't respond well to Dutch martinet Henk Ten Cate, nor does he have a comfortable relationship with fellow first-team coach Steve Clarke. Chelsea's ineptitude from set-pieces and poor defending at corners suggest a malaise that spreads beyond Grant into the heart of the training set-up.

It is almost inconceivable United will fail to overcome Roma tonight, which puts three English clubs into the last four. Some will say they are not really English, but so what.

Inter, who are running away with Serie A, often play with just one Italian - Marco Materazzi. What matters is the quality of the competition, not the nationality of the players, and this is the season where the Premier League should finally prove it is worthy of its reputation as the world's best.

Politics plays wrong game

The Chinese have been tormenting the Tibetans for half a century, but it is only thanks to the Beijing Olympics that their inhumanity is again back in the headlines.

When I was in politics the argument among politicians was always about keeping politics out of sport. But now it is the other way round.

What should really concern politicians is how to keep sport out of politics. Such is the potency of the Olympics and similar events, and so clumsy has been the Chinese propaganda campaign, that the 'Free Tibet' demonstrators have had a blizzard of publicity they could only have dreamed about a few months ago.

By the way, why were 14 Chinese bullyboys allowed to intimidate British citizens with impunity while ostensibly defending the torch in London last weekend?

Their activities were entirely unacceptable, and the Met should have removed them. Of course, they didn't. Indeed, they ended up protecting these heavies from an increasingly angry crowd. Yet another dismal performance from the boys in blue.

Bahrain race sets the pace, unlike Hamilton

And last weekend may be significant as it showed the Constructors' Championship is now a three-horse race.

BMW looked good and Robert Kubica, of course, got pole; McLaren will be disappointed that not only did Lewis Hamilton flunk but also Heikki Kovalainen, and there was Ferrari one-two.

Off the track, I can't accept Niki Lauda's negative assessment of Hamilton. I saw him on the morning of the race and he looked relaxed.

My mate Digby Jones [the former chief executive of the Confederation of British Industry] travelled down in the lift with him, and being Digby he couldn't resist a chat. "What do you feel like on a morning like this," Digby asked. "Just like you - another day at the office," was Hamilton's reply.

Clearly, it turned out to be an appalling day at the office, so the curse of Big Dig strikes again. Maybe Ferrari should ensure he greets Lewis every Grand Prix morning.

The problem with F1 as a spectator sport is the intolerable noise and that it is almost impossible to know whether a car is first or 21st without access to a TV screen.

Which is why for most of the people I was with, the second practice day, when grid positions are allocated, was much more fascinating.

But it is hard not to admire the ruthless efficiency of F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone on occasions like this. Everything is directed by him, from the design and designer of the track to the catering team flown in from Germany.

Which makes it all the more extraordinary that he is still clinging on to Max Mosley, who has come under pressure to quit his role as president of the FIA following allegations about his private life.

Stevie plea

Steven Gerrard was getting some stick at the weekend from a red-top for refusing to talk to the BBC because of some perceived slight from my old chum Adrian Chiles.

I don't know about you, but I think it would be no bad thing if Stevie G never spoke to the BBC again, or any other station for that matter. After all, he's never got much to say beyond cliches. And if he could persuade all his mates to join the boycott, so much the better.