Why does Rafa always have to defend his decisions?

Yesterdays press was full of the headline “Benitez defends Johnson move”. But why does Rafa have to justify whom he spends his transfer money on? Would Chelsea need to have defended the purchase of Johnson, had they beaten Liverpool to his signature? The Stamford Bridge club had after all matched Rafa’s bid to sign the player. Would the press have given Carlo Ancelotti or Peter Kenyon a grilling over the defender? How about other managers? Would they dare to question Ferguson’s reasons for any purchase and ask him to justify why? The press appears to hold double standards on the matter. In one extreme they report with delight the transfer of players like Kaka and Ronaldo for a combined total of £140m, while turning the whole saga into a bizarre circus. In the other extreme they question Rafa’s purchases, suggesting the player to be a waist of money.

But this is the latest in a long line of ‘justifications’ for the Liverpool manager: rotation, zonal marking, where to play Gerrard? These are just a small handful of a long line of issues the press feel they should put upon the Liverpool manager.