Liverpool…oh my god, what has Benitez done!
The price to pay for perfection is very, very heavy.
There has been plenty of criticism for Rafa in the past 3-4 months, with Liverpool showing awful away form (the sort of form normally associated with mid-table club) and no signs of fixing their problems.
Benitez promised that Liverpool would fix their form by November, but November is almost over and Liverpool are in mired in 9th place, feeling lucky that Fulham lost and hoping that Wigan lose today.
Liverpool are 16 points behind Manchester United, 13 points behind Chelsea, but only 4 points behind Arsenal and 5 points behind Portsmouth. The Premiership is a two-horse race, and Liverpool now have to play for 3rd and 4th place scraps with Arsenal, Portsmouth, Everton, Bolton and Aston Villa.
Rafa Benitez, in his quest for perfection at the helm of Liverpool, is learning, first hand, the problems encountered in a league that actually improves every year. He’s learning (actually, Liverpool and its fans are learning) that rotation does not always work, and that it takes special type of players to make it work, that it works only when there actually are matches day in and day out and that players are being rotated because of sheer exhaustion and not becuase you want to find your best team.
Fact is - Liverpool are in a mess. They need to start playing their best 11 day in and day out until the key players - Gerrard, Carragher, Alonso, Reina - start performing. They need (as much as I hate to say this) Crouch on the pitch from the start, because he is, for all his faults, still likely to create chances and make assists if not score himself. Kuyt needs Crouch, not another headless chicken like himself that Bellamy is.
Keep Bellamy on the bench, make him an impact player, use Garcia in Europe and Crouch in the Premiership. Play Gerrard in the center, Pennant on the right (the boy will learn, or he doesn’t, stick Garcia there), Gonzalez on the left (Aurelio, anyone?), and get this bunch a few games together.
The top teams - United, Chelsea, Arsenal - they don’t switch around the good players. United played full strength away to Sheff Utd - FULL STRENGTH against relegation fodder, are we’re top of the table!
Liverpool benched their best striker from last year in a game they HAD to win.
Theories and tactics and strategies are all good, but results matter, and right now Benitez can’t inspire his team to put down Boro, let alone a real team, like Everton 
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Discussion - 16 Responses
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Aren’t you tired of this? Refa this, Rafa that, are u better than him as a coach?
Ahmed, just chill out mate, here’s a forward thinking mantra for you to study. There’s lots of football including cup runs to come. So what if we don’t win the league, so what if we don’t come 4th or above. Rafa is trying to build a strong young squad and doesn’t need knee jerkers pandying up to the media’s every whim. Who cares if fleet street try at every turn to belittle Rafa and stir up hype to knock the confidence of our supporters, We are Liverpool, we are not owned by the media, we do not have to answer to any other club fan and we certainly do not have to prove ourselves to anyone.
Calm down, sit back, relax and let the Master do his work
I totally agree with these comments.TOTALLY.
One problem though Rafa is the manager and not us.The Liverpool board employed him to manage the BEST club in europe if not the world(but I’m one eyed).
At the moment we look sluggish(understatement?),I’m holding my breathe and hoping we’re going to get out of this,and look back and laugh.
WE HAVE TO KEEP THE FAITH though,Liverpool is our team,we take the good with the bad and “SUPPORT” our side to the end.Remember “When you walk through a storm…………”
Liverpool are still for ever
Reasonable argument but you’re simply regurgitating what Andy Gray says every single week.
You’re right, Liverpool are poor at the moment. Well done for noticing.
Why to rotate players where no other club in the premiership make that . Liverpool players are better than Portsmouth for example , if you know what i meen .
Mate u said that we need to play our full strength team, but listening to fans i don’t think anyone really knows who the best 11 are.
The key players do always play JC, SG, alonso, Reina, Finnan Riise when fit, at the moment we’re not playing well and that may be in part because these guys aren’t on top of their games, but we will improve we’ve shown in matches how good we can be, The squad is still young just keep the faith.
C’mon you Reds
The problems with liverpool are basic and can be easily fixed but for some reason Rafa isnt willing to admit his tactics arnt working. Ahmed you got it spot on mate, with playing certain players in certain matches, and yea fux apparently we all are better managers than Rafa. Think about this, for the 2 left sided postions he has warnock,riise,aurelio,zenden,kewell,gonzalez and for the right he has finnan and pennant. There are some major imbalances in the team and anyone who saw the game last night against Borough will see the balls Gerrard put in from the centre. There is no one linking up play when Stevie G is playing on the right and thats the cutting edge Liverfool are lackign right now. So someone please tell Rafa to suck it up, admit his rotation policy isnt working and to play players in their right fucking positions. And Rushback i dont know if you listen to anything other than Rafa’s excuses but less than a week ago Rafa’s own agent said he preffered the italian league and he thought it suited him and it was a big possibility he might leave if the right offer came. So much for for devolping the youth system and future.
Hi Rushback, how’s it hanging
I’m beginning to feel that the biggest issue is that the Liverpool squad are less fit than their main competitors. We don’t dominate the pitch physically the way Chelsea do, and our players do not have the sort of pitch coverage that Arsenal and ManU manage. Even the frequency with which players get injured suggests that the fitnes component of the training regime is not yet properly tuned.
I agree perfectly with these facts!! Damn with this rotation shit and lets play the best 11, with 2 wingers and 2 good strikers, give the bad ones some rest till others really get tired of scoring
This article is a personal view - and just that. There isn’t a lot of evidence just ‘punditry.’
Fact is I don’t think anyone should judge Rafa until he has at least had as long as Gerard Houllier. He worked wonders with a poor squad in winning the CL, and then a good premiership season and FA cup last year. In doing so he raised the level of expectation.
This season may well turn out to be our ‘plateau’ where we see limited progress and some players, come the end of the season will move on. The new signings this year (Kuyt aside) have struggled for consistency and Rafa has indicated to the board this year that the squad still needs improving.
How can you say ‘Fact is Liverpool are in a mess’ when we have a fantastic home record and have qualified for the next stage of CL, and the next round of the CC (with almost a second string). It’s fundamentally wrong as any true supporter would agree.
The problem however is, our away form but I defy you to name a season when we have been to Goodison, Old trafford, Stamford bridge and Arsenal before mid November. So although we have dropped points and confidence is low away from home it’s a slightly skewed way of looking at things. The margin of error is much smaller now, but there are still so many points to play for.
The Gerrard debate is pointless too. He is a key match winning player - think Ronaldinho, Zidane, Figo - all great players that start(ed) a match on the wing - but rarely do they stay there but it gives them the freedom to do what they like and where! Think about it - right midfield does not mean right wing. By doing this, Rafa frees up SG so he cause the most damage without worrying about defending.
The fact is Liverpool p*ssed all over Boro, only poor finishing and good goalkeeping denied them a win.
Your comments are clearly poorly thought through! You are obviously a supporter of another team trying to stir up trouble.
It’s true. Rafa was hired to manage the best team in europe. Except in the Premier League.
Hey Come on.
We must accept that the football of Liverpool is not that strong to match the other teams in Premisership. We must admit that they cannot afford getting let alone the Championship, even any other cups that they are in to fight for. Benitez was dreaming when he got the Champions league by chance and thinking that Liverpool will get other cups easily as well. They did not get the crown like Barcelona did last year. It was different. Purely by Chance. Also, the players are not aggressive enough like those of man Utd or Chelsea. Forget the League. In two years time, Liverpool will be erased out of history coz probably Man Utd would be the league winners for the 19th time. Shame on Liverpool. Be strong and then you talk.
hei kenny, if u said liv won the CL purely by chance, that’s mean Arsenal managed to get in to lastyear CL final also due to chance? Then y ManU n Chelsea don’t have any “chance” at all for so many years?
hei..This is football..football result is unpredictable.. every team also have chance to win or lost..or else then i doubt people will be interested in watching this..
Mind u Rafa don’t have enough money to buy the player he desired. Just imagine Pennant is the no 4th or 5th choice in his list (1st Alves, 2nd Joaquin, 3rd Simao..) n some of the new comer are yet to settle in EPL..
It is not fair to judge him or try to compare him with Fergurson or Arsene. they both worked in Arsenal and ManU >10 years already..whereas Maorinho have unlimited fund to spend and still yet to win CL..
so..don’t jealous, mind your own club!
rafael benitez is one of the best managers in the world in his first season at liverpool he won the champions league that says it all