Þjálfaraflækjur

Mjög góð grein í [Independent](http://sport.independent.co.uk/football/news/story.jsp?story=526336) um Benitez.

Benitez og forseti Valencia áttu fund á föstudaginn og í greininni segir:

>The meeting broke up and it was reported that Benitez was more likely than ever to leave. Then, overnight, it transpired that Orti was perhaps willing to contemplate the departure of Pitarch if it meant the coach stayed. Talks, sources say, will reconvene tomorrow and are delicately poised.

>It is a worrying development for Liverpool. Last Monday they sacked Gérard Houllier, safe in the knowledge they had landed their number one target, Benitez. The chief executive, Rick Parry, despite the reluctance to remove Houllier, felt happy as he left for a family holiday, and the local newspaper, the Liverpool Echo, by nature cautious, felt confident enough to splash that Benitez was on his way.

>The odds are that he probably will still move and, excitingly, it appears he plans to bring the playmaker Pablo Aimar and the defender Roberto Ayala, a perennial Real Madrid target until Walter Samuel signed. They are names to quicken the pulse of Liverpool fans and ones which would appease the criticism from within the dressing-room from the captain, Steven Gerrard, and the striker Michael Owen, whose contract negotiations have reached a delicate stage. Owen is one of Benitez’s main champions – the way Valencia disposed of Liverpool in European competition left a deep impression.

Einnig segir þar:

>Interestingly, other Liverpool players, chiefly Gerrard and the midfielder Danny Murphy, have made plain that their first choice is Alan Curbishley and they would prefer a British coach after six years under Houllier. The Charlton Athletic manager does have a get-out clause in his three-and-a-half-year contract, signed in February, if approached by certain named clubs, including Liverpool, which would allow him to leave for modest compensation.

Bíddu, bíddu! Danny Murphy? Hverjum er ekki sama hvað Danny Murphy finnst?

Las reyndar í annarri grein að Gerrard litist vel á að fá Benitez til liðsins.

Líka athyglisverðar kenningar í [þessari grein](http://sport.independent.co.uk/football/news/story.jsp?story=526337) um Houllier. Hann hélt nefnilega einsog svo margir að Didier Deschamps myndi hæta hjá Monaco og fara til Juventus. Þá sá Houllier sér leik á borði og hafði samband við Monaco og lýsti yfir áhuga á þjálafarastarfinu þar.

Þetta breyttist hins vegar allt á föstudaginn þegar Juventus kom öllum á óvart og [réðu Fabio Capello](http://www.canada.com/sports/soccer/story.html?id=E59BB940-4CFD-44D0-8C09-04B3C5135108). Deschamps, sem hafði verið í viðræðum við Juventus varð alveg brjálaður og ætlar nú sennilega að vera áfram hjá Monaco, sem þýðir að Houllier þarf að leita lengur að nýju starfi.