Benitez: The Best Man for the Most Challenging Job

[Guest Anders Honoré]

When Rick Parry signalled two years ago that Liverpool needed investment to make the next step up in our sporting ambitions, he cited the resources of a club like Chelsea necessitating this step. And two years later, it appears his judgement was accurate. Chelsea has won the league two years in a row in a supremely convincing manner.

 

Whilst investment has so far been unforthcoming, Parry did take another significant step towards the number one spot that summer when he appointed Rafa Benitez. Arguably one of the finest tacticians in European football, he has wasted no time in demonstrating that if there is anyone capable of winning back the Championship crown for the Reds, he is the man for the job.

 

Taking a team struggling to finish 4th two years in a row to winning the European Cup in his debut season, it was nonetheless marred by concerns over his guile in the premiership. His team suffered from the transition in tactics and personnel in the league and the gap between us and the top only widened from the seasoned before as Benitez’s team finished with 58 points, the worst tally since finishing 7th in 1999.

 

He showed however that he is a man who learns from his mistakes as he finished this season with an impressive tally of 82 points. Not only registering a record number of clean sheets but more importantly closing the gap from the top to 9 points, compared to 37 points the season before. A far sight from the finish that two years before had been declared a success by Gerard Houllier as they stumbled into 4th place more so due to the incompetence of our competitors than the brilliance of his team, who finished 30 points behind league winners Arsenal.

 

That we, despite this impressive total, finished 3rd behind Chelsea and Manchester United only shows that while we may have the most capable manager at the helm in decades, he is also facing arguably the greatest competition for the championship in decades. Winning the league has never been harder.

 

Finishing with more than 90 points for two consecutive seasons, Chelsea will continue to set the bar for achievement and with the virtually unlimited resources at their disposal, there is little chance that they will lower it anytime soon. With Mourinho at the helm, they have a natural winner who by now must wonder what it is like not winning leagues year in and year out.

 

And whilst Manchester United has faced criticism and even ridicule for the quality of their side, the midfield being lambasted as the worst in decades, the fact that they nonetheless were the last to fall from the title race and finished with 83 points, a total Ferguson has won several titles with in the past (2003 at the latest), only goes to show that rumours of their demise are vastly exaggerated. No doubt they will seek to strengthen the midfield to complement what is arguably the best strike force in the league and a solid defence.

 

Arsenal have suffered this season, but Wenger need look no further than Benitez to see that it is indeed possible to overturn such a deficit in just one season, as they finish outside the top two for the first time in Wenger’s tenure.

 

In examining the competition we face, Benitez is up against three managers who have not only won the league several times, but all of them have broken records respectively in point tallies, consecutive wins, clean sheets and number of undefeated games to do so. They are managers who can boast of being the most successful managers in the history of their respective clubs. They have not just won championships; they have been exceptional champions at one point or another.

 

Benitez likewise will have to build an exceptional team to compete. With the defence tightened to become one of the best in Europe and a midfield that can boast of the same, the obvious deficiencies are up front, where only Peter Crouch has delivered performances acceptable for a club with designs on the title. Despite this, Benitez’s ‘crushing machine’ has shown itself capable of grinding down the vast majority of teams in the league.

 

One aspect of the Premiership that he has not yet proven himself the master of however is consistently beating our direct competitors. Registering double losses in the league to Chelsea, a draw and defeat to Manchester United and a loss away to Arsenal, these are games that are worth more than just 3 points, as they offer the only chance available to take points away from our rivals. Had the home defeat and draw against these teams been converted to wins, we would have found ourselves just one point off Chelsea at the top. We might not have won the league, but the fact is our league challenge ended effectively on February when we lost 2-0 at Stamford Bridge.

 

In his first season, his team was found wanting not only from the change in tactics but from discovering that he simply did not have a squad equipped to cope with his unwavering policy of squad rotation. This was rectified in his second season and now, Benitez faces what is perhaps the hardest step to make: To add that extra bit of match-deciding quality to the first team that can mean the crucial and often miniscule difference between the top teams. Houllier failed in dramatic and catastrophic style to make that very step in the summer of 2002. A time when he had, up until that point, gone from strength to strength, albeit not at the same pace Benitez has in his two year tenure, having already topped Houllier’s best ever point tally in the premiership. With a manager like Benitez in charge, there is every reason to believe we will continue on an onwards and upwards curve. But likewise, there are no two ways about it: The curve will have to be a steep one to win the title.

 

2006-05-09

[Herbie von Smalls]

ten words or less?

[Coyler]

ten words or less?

Benitez: The Best Man for the Most Challenging Job

[Herbie von Smalls]

Benitez: The Best Man for the Most Challenging Job

yeah, i read that bit

[Coyler]

yeah, i read that bit

It goes on to entirely refute that premise, though.

[Herbie von Smalls]

It goes on to entirely refute that premise, though.

maybe he should've set up a different premise. or was it booby-trap posting?

[cymrococh]

was it booby-trap posting?

no, it was banders.

[Kahnee]

ten words or less?

 

Benitez good, Mourinho good, Wenger good, Ferguson good, title tough

[Puskas]

ten words or less?

There is no spoon.

[Guest Anders Honoré]

There is no spoon.

 

I am glad someone got the message.

[Ginu]

great piece

[usualsuspect]

great piece

 

Agreed. Especially the bit about our challenge effectively ending in Feb. after the 2-0 loss at SB.