Carragher talks up 'Rafalution' - Independent

The Independent on Sunday, 19 Sept 2004
Carragher talks up 'Rafalution'
Scouse survivor acknowledges the importance of a Spanish accent. By Steve
Tongue

As Spanish accents increasingly replace French ones around the corridors of
Anfield, it is reassuring to hear one of the Premiership's enduring
rivalries, between Manchester United and Liver-pool, being discussed in
authentic Scouse tones.

Apart from a clutch of hopeful youngsters, Steven Gerrard and Jamie
Carragher are the only local lads left in the dressing room, and it is up
to them to make sure the new Spanish Armada takes on board the implications
of a fixture like tomorrow's.

Asked last week if players such as Josemi, Xabi Alonso and Luis Garcia
understand the nature of the occasion, Carragher responded in his rat-a-tat
Mersey brogue: "If they don't, they'd better hurry up! They watch a lot of
Premiership games on television and will be aware that Man-chester United,
along with Everton, are our two main rivals. They're massive games, the
first you look for on the fixture list to sort your tickets out. And we've
got a decent record at Old Trafford over the years. We'll have to ask Danny
Murphy if he'll come back for the game.''

Murphy, with his astonishing record of winning goals against United, has
flown south to Charlton, further diluting local influence. Consolation for
the Kop is that the new Liverpool manager, Rafael Benitez, appears to have
secured some gifted Spanish replacements for the many underachievers he has
loaned out or sold.

As befits a full-back, Josemi is safe, if less spectacular than the
exciting pair in front of him. Alonso in central midfield wants to go
forward, whereas Dietmar Hamann's natural instinct is to move the ball
sideways; he specialises in killer passes inside a defender to exploit the
pace of Djibril Cissé or Milan Baros, though the latter has lost his place
to Garcia, the slender little link-man signed from Barcelona with a touch
of Kenny Dalglish about him.

Carragher, installed at the back alongside Sami Hyypia, says of the
newcomers: "They've only played three or four games and will take time to
adapt, but they're good players. Alonso's passing is very good and Luis
Garcia was probably man of the match against West Bromwich Albion last weekend.

"As for the manager, every-one has a different way of doing things. He's
brought in a lot of new players and got rid of a lot, so that's the biggest
change, in personnel. Gérard Houllier was successful to a certain extent
and Benitez has proved in Spain that he's successful, so hopefully he can
bring that here.''

As a contemporary of Rio Ferdinand, who has graduated with him from
England's youth teams to the senior squad, Carragher will offer a genuinely
warm handshake to United's prodigal son before kick-off tomorrow. "I wish
him all the best because of what's happened, which is unfortunate. He'll
cope very well, no problem about that. He's a happy-go-lucky type of lad
and I'm sure he'll be fine.

"I was out for half that time last year with a broken leg and that was bad
enough. Obviously, I had little targets to aim at, but he's just been
training when it seems like there's no light at the end of the tunnel. At
the end people say the time has flown by, but probably it hasn't flown for
him, it has probably seemed twice as long.

"He's a top player, he proved that at the World Cup and probably came out
of it as the best centre-half in the world, which was proved in his price
tag when moving to Man United. I think he'll be a big bonus for them coming
back. Last season they missed him in the second half of the season and you
saw that in their results.''

Taking on a United team marooned in mid-table will be a new experience for
Carragher, even after more than 300 games for Liverpool. He is not
expecting the current malaise at Old Trafford to become permanent: "By
their standards it's been a disappointing start, but they always come on
strong in the second half of the season. To be fair, they've got an injury
list and the players they're missing are big players. There's a long way to
go, it's just that the start Arsenal and Chelsea have had makes it look so
much worse.''

It will be a timely test. In Premiership visits to Tottenham and Bolton,
Liverpool have not shown the vim of recent home victories over West
Bromwich and Monaco, both of which had supporters using long-forgotten
words like "entertaining'' and "attacking''. Tomorrow, however, three
points by any means will do, as what Merseyside is calling the "Rafalution"
goes on.