Rafa shows understanding of 'Liverpool Way'

Rafa Benitez' reaction to the match-saving penalty won by David Ngog against Birmingham this week proves that the Liverpool boss really is one of football’s good guys.

"It clearly wasn't a penalty," said Benitez when asked about Ngog's dive over Lee Carsley's challenge.
 
This from a man who has enjoyed about as much good fortune recently as that woman who dropped out of the work's Lottery syndicate just before its numbers came up to the tune of £45milloon.
 
Could you imagine what the answer would have been if Arsene Wenger, Sir Alex Ferguson or any other Premier League manager had been asked the same question in the middle of the same kind of run of wretched form that Liverpool now find themselves in? 
 
Wenger would have turned into Mr Magoo, Fergie would have rollocked the referee for not sending Carsley off and failing to add another 10 minutes of injury time.
 
Everyone else would have come out with the same old claptrap that these things even themselves out over the course of the season.
 
Not Rafa. There is an endearing honesty about him that makes him the perfect Liverpool manager.
 
When he was asked about Liverpool's owners a few years ago he gave an answer that he knew would land him in serious trouble with his employers. But it was the truth.
 
When the subject of Ferguson's influence on English football was brought up, he came up with an equally forthright response. A response that many shared but no-one dared to voice.
 
Everyone connected to Liverpool like to believe they're a breed apart, that they have a class that others can only envy. They call it the Liverpool way.
 
That's why ex-players like Ian St John and David Fairclough have given Ngog short shrift this week.
 
In perhaps his darkest hour as a manager, Rafa Benitez showed he is made from the same stuff.
 
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