He's really important on and off the ball at the moment. He's improved a lot in that and does these kind of things very well. Just watching his goal on the weekend and a few other moments, he's pressing really high when Liverpool lose the ball and understanding exactly what the team does. But Jürgen Klopp may also do the same because he's also a very good coach. I'm sure he'll come with a tactical surprise for Wednesday – that's Rafa. We'd never have it right because there was always one surprise.Įspecially with the derby games, he had something special in the team, something special tactically. In the dressing room the day before, the players would always try to guess what the team would be. Rafa never made his team clear the day before a game. In the derby we've been talking about, I was surprised when he took off our captain, Steven Gerrard, after 72 minutes when it was poised at 1-1.
He always had just a little surprise with his line-up. He was always very well prepared tactically for these games. He just wants to do his job and to be successful. It'll certainly be strange to see Rafa managing against Liverpool in a Merseyside derby. Rafa Benitez may have a derby-day surprise up his sleeve With the relief and adrenaline, I just remember sliding over towards our fans. But thankfully it was perfect enough to score. I don't think I hit my second penalty perfectly and Howard went the right way and got something on it. He'd have to go very early to keep it out but normally Howard was not that type of goalkeeper. I always thought that if I hit it well enough there would be no chance the 'keeper would save it. I scored the first one and then the second one comes around and it's like, 'What am I going to do – use the same corner, the other side or the middle?' I just had a very comfortable feeling about that same corner. We had this like iPad thing (they were just coming in) and he showed us the last five penalties against Tim Howard – the direction he dived and where he'd go with a right-footed penalty taker etc. Rafa and his team were always well prepared for games. It's a real mind game when you're taking a second penalty in the same game. Obviously I took the first penalty – an important equaliser after Sami Hyypia's own goal – but it was so intense when we were awarded another one in injury time. You take it.' I was more than happy to do so. When we were awarded the first one Voronin came to me and said, 'I'm not feeling comfortable. He was like, 'The opponent doesn't need to know who's going to take the penalty.' I wasn't meant to be on duty that afternoon.Īndriy Voronin was the No.1 penalty taker for the game and I was second on the list. Rafa started me and always changed his penalty takers before each game. I wasn't playing as well as I normally was and my father had passed away a couple of months before.
It was a tough period for me around that time. Of course, I think my best Merseyside derby was our 2-1, incident-filled win at Goodison in October 2007 when I scored two penalties, including the injury-time winner. I'm glad I could continue with that knack when I moved to Liverpool.īut Everton v Liverpool were always special games, with red cards, tough tackles (yes, including my own against Phil Neville), drama and incredible atmospheres. I was used to playing against Ajax for Feyenoord and I used to score a fair few goals in those ones, too. That journey, around 10 minutes or so, was just brilliant, seeing the people – red and blue – on the streets and the atmosphere building nicely. We always used to come together at Melwood and then board the team coach to Goodison. My record at Goodison reads: four wins, two defeats and three goals scored. Then again, that's probably only because we won a lot of games there and I scored a fair few. And as strange as it is to say, I also loved playing at Goodison Park.