Benitez offers a soft target for spoofers

[Maldini]

The queue of so-called experts lining up to criticise the Liverpool manager leave Aidan O'Hara mystified

 

 

Sunday October 07 2007

 

TO hone his 'hair-dryer' technique of motivation, Alex Ferguson used to practice shouting by going behind the stands and screaming in a rage at nobody in particular. So the legend goes anyway.

 

It doesn't matter that Ferguson has dismissed the story as a myth, that he pondered legal action only to be told there was no point, the fact is that the tale stuck because Alex Ferguson and 'hair-dryer' just go together.

 

Think Jose Mourinho, think Special One; Claudio Ranieri, tinkerman; Rafael Benitez, rotator; the degree of truth in the labels rarely matters, but once they are cemented, they become the stick with which critics are comfortable using to beat them.

 

Rafa and rotation -- the words just go together so well that it seems a shame not to use them as a reason for Liverpool's current crisis that has seen them plummet to fourth, fourth, in the Premiership; and a mammoth three points behind second-placed Porto in their Champions League group with just the four games remaining to save themselves. It's the sort of crisis that today's opponents Tottenham aspire to.

 

There's no doubt that Liverpool have not played particularly well for just over a month since they hammered Derby 6-0 at Anfield, but losing for the first time in a season in October is hardly worthy of such a hysterical response.

 

After Wednesday's defeat and poor performance, one English paper (which would not be the most welcoming to foreign managers on any day) claimed Benitez had been humiliated against Marseille and also accused the Spaniard of "letting Liverpool fans down" by not having the Premier League (or the "holy grail" as it was understatedly described) as number one on his agenda. Yes, this is the same team that, if it wins its game in hand, will go second in the table.

 

In the Champions League, Benitez made five changes to the team that beat Wigan, although he played Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres, Liverpool's so-called marquee players in both. Elsewhere, from the previous week's league game, Ferguson changed four players as United beat Roma and Avram Grant switched five as Chelsea beat Valencia.

 

Benitez argued, with some justification, that his "big players" had not played well and he will expect a reaction today against Tottenham. But without Xabi Alonso, who coincidentally has not played since that game against Derby, Liverpool do not have a player who can control the tempo of a game.

 

Gerrard is undoubtedly capable of having seismic impacts on matches with a stunning goal or crunching tackle, but still gives the ball away with a regularity that, were he playing in Spain or Italy where conceding possession is a sin, would not be tolerated. Yet some pundits continue to point the finger at Benitez for not utilising Gerrard properly, with one of Sky's 'experts' even claiming at the start of the season that "Benitez is still learning the English game."

 

In his latter days at Liverpool, Gerard Houllier complained that the number of players from Liverpool's glory days who have infiltrated the airwaves made it almost impossible for him to please everybody.

 

Benitez is too savvy to come out with such a claim directly (he also couldn't care less what any of them think) but with a first XI of pundits in Clemence, Lawrenson, Hansen, Thompson, Molby, Redknapp, Souness, Whelan, Houghton, Aldridge and Barnes (leaving Rush, Walsh and Gillespie on the bench), most of whom seem to cite Liverpool as their specialist subject, it would be easy for Benitez to be riled by some of the rubbish that is spouted about his team.

 

During the highlights package, such as it was, of Liverpool's goalless draw against Birmingham, one of the aforementioned experts froze a moment late in the game when Gerrard launched a 60-yard pass over the head of 6' 7" Peter Crouch, and pointed out earnestly that "had Torres been playing, with his pace, he might have got on the end of that because the defence was pushed up". At his quickest, Jesse Owens doped up on EPO wouldn't have had the speed to reach that particular pass, but instead of blaming Gerrard, which might prove unpopular, the focus switched to Benitez again.

 

Many of those who pass judgment on such a rotation policy are former players who, in one breath insist that it would be impossible to get away with the drinking culture of their era because of the levels of speed and fitness required in today's game, yet in the next breath criticise a manager for not playing the same players every week. With such a rationale, the likes of Gerrard, if he was unlucky enough not to get injured for a rest, could then be faced with around 60 games in a nine-month period and would probably then be pilloried if he wasn't up to scratch for an international tournament in the summer.

 

While they have certainly suffered with the absence of Alonso in terms of the Spaniard's creativity, off the pitch the loss of his compatriot and former assistant manager Pako Ayesteran seems to have had an adverse affect on the players.

 

Ayesteran was known to be a conduit between the players and Benitez as well as the "fitness coach" which the manager rather dismissively described him as on Friday. Benitez added that he spoke to the players every day in training about "every small detail", but the team's lack of flair over recent weeks suggest the players may be suffocating under such a perfectionist outlook.

 

In 152 games, Benitez has only named an unchanged starting line-up once, and that number is unlikely to be added to today as Liverpool aim to maintain their league record of not conceding from open play.

 

A quick glance to the opposition's bench, however, should put Liverpool's problems in perspective. Defeat against a Liverpool team supposedly in crisis would push Martin Jol closer to the exit door, while his team could end today propping up the table should other results go against them.

 

A manager with a penchant for rotation, a mis-firing and unhappy England striker and an ordinary European performance have put the spotlight on Benitez. With similar problems, the wrong result today could turn the lights out for Jol.

Edited October 7, 2007 by Maldini

[MFletcher]

A very good article indeed.

[nrkintheuk]

Excellent article, I can only assume it hasn't attracted much response because it makes sense!

 

Where's it from??

[jimmylibel]

Was in college with Aidan. Good Red!

[John am Rhein]

Was in college with Aidan. Good Red!

 

And by the sounds of it something pretty rare - a journalist who knows what he's talking about.

[realtarragona]

I read that as poofters

[Beardsley]

The queue of so-called experts lining up to criticise the Liverpool manager leave Aidan O'Hara mystified

Sunday October 07 2007

 

Yes, this is the same team that, if it wins its game in hand, will go second in the table.

 

Spot the error.

[JohnnyH]

Spot the error.

 

It wasn't an error at the time of issue but another average performance by us has now seen it to be incorrect.

[Beardsley]

It wasn't an error at the time of issue but another average performance by us has now seen it to be incorrect.

 

Guess I need to read the finer details before I open my gob

[Coyler]

Guess I need to read the finer details before I open my gob

Nope, you're right. It was speculation on his part as at that stage United had already won on Saturday morning and had played two games more than us, and Arsenal had yet to play on Sunday morning (making our game against Spurs a game in hand on them). Or else it should have read "games".

[The Hitman]

I read this as:

"Benitez offers a soft target for poofters"

[Maldini]

Excellent article, I can only assume it hasn't attracted much response because it makes sense!

 

Where's it from??

 

The Sunday Independent (Irish)

[Magic8Ball]

Benitez added that he spoke to the players every day in training about "every small detail", but the team's lack of flair over recent weeks suggest the players may be suffocating under such a perfectionist outlook.

 

Hmm, interesting