Rafa Benitez The man who doesnt know when to speak

Rafa Benitez looks set to be sacked by Inter Milan hardly six months into his tenure after issuing a back me or sack me ultimatum to his Italian bosses. And with every passing hour, it looks more and more likely that the European champions are going for the latter.

It is hard not to feel sorry for Benitez, unless of course you are a bitter Liverpool fan or a jubilant Manchester United one. The Spaniard has got immense quality but unfortunately he lacks the understanding that gifted managers around him have the ability to know when to open their mouths.

Rafas gaffes have partly contributed to making him one of the most ridiculed managers not only among the fans but also among the press. No one can quite forget his FACT rant directed out of the blue at Sir Alex Ferguson and the motivations for that are best known to the Spaniard.

The problem with Rafa is that he just simply does not understand when he needs to speak out. My nan had told me as a kid it is not what you speak that matters as much as when you speak it. Unfortunately, for Rafa this advice looks to have been lost amidst all the Facts.

His latest outburst after leading Inter to victory in the Club World Cup was as ill-timed as it was ill-conceived. In the aftermath of your team celebrating being crowned world champions, the last thing you expect a manager to say is we need new players, I was promised three new arrivals but no one ever came. Now I ask the club to back me one hundred percent, by which I mean in the transfers.

No, no, no. You just do not do that, especially not to a club run by the scariest looking President since General Franco gave up running Real Madrid. Massimo Moratti is not a man to be played hard ball with, he may have looked like an idiot to the p! ublic fo r the first ten years of his regime but over the past five he has become accustomed to success and loads of it.

Rafa has not provided that, not yet anyway. While a Club World Cup is by no means an achievement to be belittled one has to look at the quality of opposition the team were up against. Rafas Inter currently lie seventh in the table, 13 points behind leaders AC Milan and though they have two games in hand, it is not an achievement to be bragging about.

Worse still, Inter under Benitez have lost seven times this season that is one more loss than the team encountered in the whole of last season under Jose Mourinho. FACT. They were decimated by Tottenham in the Champions League and in their games against Serie As big sides viz. Milan, Roma, Juventus, Lazio the team has a record that reads 0W, 2D, 2L. FACT.

Now at such a time for Benitez to say back me or sack me might have been his most foolish move ever. If Inter had failed to pick up the Club World Cup, there was no doubt that Rafa was going to be fired. In fact this victory was supposed to be his last lifeline. And what does he do? Toss it straight back and claim that he needs to have a ship come pick him up or he is off. Madness.

I was actually positive that Rafa will help Inter turn the corner in the new year as most of their squad has now recovered from injuries. But I think, he has now talked himself into more trouble than necessary. There is only one way out of this discussion and that means one of the two parties has to look foolish. And Massimo Moratti is not a man who likes looking stupid, not anymore, anyway.

Picture: Getty Images

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