The long running feud between Sam Allardyce and Rafa Benitez continued over the weekend following Liverpool’s ill tempered win against Blackburn, the Reds beat Rovers 2-1 to claim a vital three points in their quest for Champions League Football. Benitez though was unable to help himself in the post-match press conference as he once again criticised Blackburn’s style of play and pointed the finger firmly at the Manager, the long running feud dates back almost six years when Benitez first arrived in England. It was August 2004 when Rafa took his Liverpool side to the Reebok Stadium to take on Sam Allardyce and Bolton, Liverpool were peppered with long balls and were defeated 1-0 in a physical encounter. Sami Hyppia took an elbow to the face from Kevin Davies during that match which resulted in a broken nose and Rafa was bewildered at the style Bolton incorporated.

Benitez had not seen that type of match in Spain and has been unable to fathom the way Allardyce sets his teams up ever since and that was the case on Sunday. Blackburn could conceivably have had two men sent off at Anfield over the weekend and Rafa was once again enraged, he mocked Allardyce following the match saying that Barcelona would look to copy that style soon! It was a scrappy match that Liverpool just edged but the Blackburn boss may have felt his side deserved a point looking at the balance of play, Allardyce is renowned for playing a direct style of football against the big teams and it has proven relatively successful over the years. His Bolton side were famous for turning over Arsenal a number of times and he is employing the same tactics with Blackburn.

Allardyce immediately jumped to the defence of his team as expected but there is clearly no love lost between the two, there seems to be somewhat of a culture clash in terms of style and at the moment neither man looks willing to back down from their beliefs.

The most important part of the day though for Benitez was the three points which were crucial with Man City and Spurs  also picking up three points, the chase for Champions League Football looks set to go down to the wire but with Fernando Torres fit again then Liverpool will fancy their chances. Blackburn meanwhile will need to be careful over the next couple of months as they could well find themselves in a relegation battle, Allardyce knows that the fans will tolerate his style of football while the team are winning and should results dip then he will find himself in trouble. He is reasonably safe in his seat at the moment according to the Next Premier League Manager to be Sacked Betting but a couple of bad results and Big Sam could find himself in a touch of trouble.

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