Everton defender Alan Stubbs is the latest Blue Boy to stick his oar in mere days before the Merseyside derby, claiming that Rafa hasn’t brought Liverpool’s Lord of the Rings-esque title quest any closer to a resolution. With Liverpool being out of form of late, and buoyed by the fact that double-agent Hara-Kiri Kewell is back in the Liverpool fold, Stubbs also started talking a bit of smack, he thinks Everton could grab all three points, and rise to level with their red rivals in the table. Stubbs told the Liverpool Echo:
“The thing about Liverpool is that I don’t know if he (Benitez) has found his best team. I don’t know if he has found the balance he’s looking for. He keeps saying he will pick players who are looking good in training. I think sometimes you get training-ground players who don’t do it in a game. And sometimes you get players who aren’t good in training but are much better in a match situation.”
Stubbs took a swipe at Liverpool’s manager for the infamous “small club” jibe and Stubbs commented on those in the red side of the city who have tried claiming that they don’t have a big enough budget to win the title. Stubbs said:
“We don’t see ourselves as a small club, not at all. If they feel they are that much bigger than us, they should have been getting better results. Like winning the League. When you spend that much money, £40-50m, you would expect to be closer than they have been.”
Zing!