Late heroics fail to hide flaws amid Rafa ruptions

“WE WON and that’s the main thing.” Get used to that little nugget, it doesn’t seem to be going away.

Infinitely preferable to “got what we deserved”, and while we certainly weren’t outplayed, as widely reported, Saturday was not a particularly edifying spectacle until the late heroics.

At least the air is clear around L4. Rafa had his little talk with Parry and all is well. Anyone believing that should steer clear of magic bean salesmen.

It’s amazing how the manager comes out of each strop smelling of roses. That he played a part in the latest debacle seems to pass people by.

It wasn’t enough he made an insultingly low bid for Barry before Villa’s last season ended, almost guaranteeing future difficulties, but now there are rumours of him convincing Hicks we could make a profit on the ‘swap’ with Alonso.

When this turns out to be palpably absurd and the Americans start asking questions, all hell breaks loose. They become interfering know-nothings with no right to tell a genius who he can buy, despite their initial impressions coming from him! Nice work, if you can get it. Making out they’ve only just discovered Barry was overpriced was also a snide trick. Everyone knew that from the start.

It’s a shame the season didn’t begin a week later. We could have enjoyed Liverpool fans demanding managerial transfer autonomy whilst facing Diouf AND Cisse. Now that is irony for the connoisseur.

Of course the air has not cleared at all. It remains pungent, putrid even. The press is being ‘briefed’ from at least three different angles and agendas, ensuring there can never be real harmony here.

United speak of Best-Law-Charlton and sometimes we’ll counter with Hansen-Souness-Dalglish, but when it comes to Holy Trinities Liverpudlians of a certain age cite Bob Paisley, John Smith and Peter Robinson.

With those men at the helm Liverpool were a domestic and European powerhouse, virtually unbeatable. Not a single individual at the club nowadays can hold a candle to them, but if they were only singing the same tune, things would improve dramatically.

I wasn’t happy with Rafa’s small but significant role in last season’s hateful atmosphere and more are coming round to this way of thinking. Some now believe he has pulled this stunt once too often. He was never going to quit because he’d lose millions, but such talk never fails to scare us to death and supplies succulent titbits for an already manipulative media.

With five minutes to go on Saturday the dread of losing was nothing compared to the fear of the firestorm that would have followed. All our games have lacked cohesion and focus. There were bound to be problems accommodating Keane and the Boro game saw one or two glimpses of an understanding developing with Torres.

But there is such a paucity of talent on the flanks that his signature and the pursuit of Barry seem wilfully obtuse. If Torres continues to show more threat when left to his own devices, as he did for the final months of 2007/08, the initial thrill of signing Robbie may wane. The lad needs a goal.

Babel made a comical return, coming on as sub and not receiving the ball for 10 minutes. When he did he fell flat on his face and sparked another Boro counter — and that’s the best winger we have.

The opposition was unspectacular but effective, causing us numerous problems. It has become a recurring theme and may continue tonight.

We weren’t helped by Mike Riley’s attempt to throttle the ‘Respect’ campaign at birth, ignoring the opposition’s basketball prowess as well as refusing to add on much time despite continually pointing at his watch. Maybe he was trying to sell it? The last-gasp winner was consequently so much sweeter.

Alonso’s corner kicks were even worse than Gerrard’s and his passing was often appalling.

Mascherano can’t return soon enough. We’ve taken maximum points in his absence and while we frown about performances we won and that’s the main…oh, you’ve heard it?