You're starting to get sleepy

After long and careful consideration I have come to the almost definite conclusion that Rafa Benitez is a closet hypnotist.

There is simply no other explanation for the fact that he can still do no wrong in the eyes of Liverpool fans despite presiding over a 3-0 defeat to arch-rivals Manchester United last week.

I remember the day, with some fondness to be honest, when that was the sort of result which would have Liverpool supporters marching in the streets, demanding managerial blood. And rightly so.

But today's Red army seems to be a much more relaxed, easy-going, almost Valiumesque bunch whose tolerance levels have shot through the roof.

Over the past few days, I have spoken to Liverpool fans from a variety of walks of life and, when it comes to the boss, I have struggled to find a dissenting voice among them.

Fair enough, I appreciate that Rafa has not been an unqualified failure, especially in European terms. But, and let's be brutally honest here, domestically he has proved to be about as much use as a wooden airbag.

One FA Cup aside, his four years at Anfield have been a barren wilderness in terms of trophies and Sunday's mauling - and that is what it was - at Old Trafford showed the gulf in class between Liverpool and the teams they need to emulate is growing, not reducing.

Yet, instead of pointing the finger of blame in the direction of their manager, it is owners Hicks and Gillette who seem to be the fall guys for the club's failure.

It is almost as if it has become fashionable on Merseyside to blame the Americans, irrespective of where the fault actually lies.

But there must come a time when the penny drops and the fans come to terms with a harsh reality: irrespective of the fact there are two muppets running the club, it is the manager who buys the players, decides on the tactics and picks the team.

You could argue that he hasn't been given the resources to challenge at the top, but I would argue that down at Highbury, Arsene Wenger, despite having spent less, is achieving much more. And I wouldn't be wrong.

And this, ladies and gentlemen, is why I can only conclude that Benitez has somehow managed to lull all Liverpool supporters into a mass trance.

What is it about him that makes these fans who are normally so passionate for success, so relaxed with his failure? Is it his cute, lispy Spanish accent? Maybe his attractive facial hair? His snappy continental dress sense? I really don't know.

But there has to be some fundamental reason why, despite his constant failure to deliver the Holy Grail of the league title, the fans steadfastly refuse to turn against him.

I am not, for one second, suggesting that managers shouldn't be given time to achieve success. They most certainly should. The modern culture of firing your manager after 10 games in charge just because he hasn't won them all is ludicrous.

But, equally, four years is more than enough time to start delivering results. And that is something that Liverpool under Rafa's guidance haven't been doing. Fact.

Of course Rafa should not be fired instantly. The team is still in with a chance of Champions League glory and winning that might be just what the doctor ordered in terms of mounting a serious challenge for the title next season. But, then again, I seem to recall saying exactly the same thing three seasons ago when they won it for the first time under the Spaniard. And that theory has long since evaporated in a puff of logic.

Today Liverpool face Everton in a match that will go a long way towards determining who finishes fourth and claims the crucial final Champions League slot.

The very fact that we are talking about Liverpool fighting for fourth place yet again tells the whole story. It is not, and should not be, what this once great club is all about.

And, when push comes to shove, that can only be blamed on one man. Not the owners, not the players, not the groundsmen, not the tea ladies. Just the manager.

It is Benitez who spent most of a season playing Gerrard out of position. It is Benitez who picked the team against Barnsley. It is Benitez who hasn't realised Kuyt and Kewell should be playing for Darlington.

Maybe defeat in the Merseyside derby will get the fans to wake up and smell the coffee. Sadly it will probably just lead to yet more anger being directed stateside at tweedledum and tweedledummer.

Although I have no problem with that, I genuinely feel the fans need to start looking a little closer to home for the real source of their continued domestic mediocrity.

They should sit down with Rafa and get him to explain why, after four seasons, the club is still no closer to adding to its record number of title.

Just avoid making eye contact while he is doing so...

The boys done good

In the past, any game involving Malta and eight goals would generally have seen our local heroes on the end of a jolly good spanking.

How many times have we seen the boys in red trudge off at the end of a match having been outplayed and outclassed by superior footballers?

So how incredibly refreshing it was on Wednesday when it was Malta handing out the thrashing rather than receiving one. For once our national team got to play the role of 'S' rather than 'M'. It doesn't matter who the opposition is, scoring seven goals at international level is a magnificent achievement. And one of which we should be rightly proud.

To be honest, I tuned into the match on television not with any great expectations. Friendly matches coming in the middle of the domestic season are generally nothing to get too excited about.

Throw in Lichtenstein - a team that makes Malta look like giants of European football - and you don't have a recipe for top class entertainment.

But watching the way Fitzel's team tore apart their opponents was a joy to behold. The football was flowing, the confidence oozed through every wonderfully constructed move.

Although it would be unfair to take anything away from the team as a whole, it would be equally wrong not to single out Michael Mifsud for special praise. The Coventry striker became the first player in our country's history to score five goals in an international game and, despite his diminutive size, he stood head and shoulders above his opponents.

It surely can only be a matter of time now before Michael gets the call from the Premier League, and displays like that can only help him as he plots his route to the top of the game.

As far as the team as a whole one concerned, it would be criminally unfair if this win were to raise expectation levels too high. Much sterner tests are ahead in the months to come when qualifying for the 2010 World Cup starts.

But for now let's just sit back and enjoy the fact that we have - at least for the moment - become the whippers instead of the whippees.

Your say

"How right you were about the Olympic Games. Under pressure from Western governments, the International Olympic Committee has tried to award the sporting event to a country in a way as to make it change its policy on human rights. That is the only reason I can see for doing so.

"As you stated in your article it has not gone according to plan and has instead only served to make the situation worse.

The human rights activists are seizing this opportunity to state their case, but China is now even more afraid of bad publicity and is making sure the activists are silenced quicker than before and harder than before.

"Having the Olympics in Beijing was not the solution to a human rights problem that has been rumbling on for decades.

It would have been much more advantageous to hold the games somewhere else and to tell countries like China they can't participate until their human rights record improves.

"As the situation has unfolded everybody is now a loser. Only the media are winning with lots to report about."

B. Borg, via e-mail

"China has no right to host the Olympic Games and it should never have been allowed to do so. By holding this sporting event in China the Olympic committee has basically told the Chinese that whatever they do to people in their country does not matter because they will still be able to form part of the rest of the world. It was the wrong decision from the very start."

Gemma Smith, via e-mail

sportscolumnist@timesofmalta.com