Very good piece from James Lawton

[Snookie]

Well thought out and reasoned piece from James Lawton in today's Independent. The last line sums up perfectly what I thought of the game.

 

 

James Lawton: Merseybeat finally finds its own rhythm

Published: 07 November 2007

 

If this had happened to another team you might have said they had rampaged into the heart of a crisis and won. But Liverpool's coach Rafa Benitez doesn't do crisis... or the building blocks of a team's confidence.

 

He has periodic reassessments of his available strength. They can come as frequently as twice a week, depending on the time of the season. Who knows, one day a Liverpool team which has a life and a rhythm of its own might just emerge. Last night one happened in spite of itself – and left a spellbound crowd dreaming of a new phase in the club's history.

 

In the meantime everything depends on the chemistry produced by strangers in the night and here the big mea culpa of Jamie Carragher on behalf of himself and his team-mates – "blame me and Steve and not Rafa" he was said to have declared – was suddenly redundant.

 

Liverpool at times dovetailed much less than perfectly, but by early in the second half they were unrecognisable as the team who for so much of this season have come on to the field in search of introductions as much as veins of golden form. Their conquerors in Istanbul, Besiktas, were promptly swept away.

 

Whether this proves a foundation for the avoidance of the embarrassment of failure at the group stage remains a significant question as the American ownership apparently flinches at rising costs for the proposed new stadium at Stanley Park, but for 90 minutes there were again a few certainties at the home of the team who, it had becoming increasingly difficult to recall, had appeared in two European Cup finals in three years.

 

Benitez, who early in the game resembled a puppet-master nervous about the movement of each of his marionettes, relaxed to the point of retiring from the technical area for several minutes on end. Entirely coincidentally, perhaps, the less he bombarded them with staccato hand signals, the more Liverpool seemed to touch the mythic status of a team doing what comes naturally in the company of team-mates whose next move they could anticipate.

 

This reached a wonderful apotheosis in the 69th minute when Steven Gerrard hammered home the fifth goal after two breath-taking one-twos, the first with Javier Mascherano, the second with Andriy Voronin. Here was the kind of cohesion you get with more than occasional contact with players whose every little instinct you need to know.

 

Gerrard's goal, it is true, came long after the Turks had laid down their scimitars, not that they had wielded them with any great flourish at any point of the game – and certainly they had been cowed into deep submission by the time Yossi Benayoun completed a hat-trick that England coach Steve McClaren must hope has not left him spent of all potency when the Russians arrive in Tel Aviv later this month. However, Gerrard's strike, coming at the end of such a burst of fluency, signalled the surge of belief which has been such a crucial need from so early in the season.

 

Here was the blazing argument for a settled team grooved into a way of playing that doesn't make every new game a journey into the unknown, and when Ryan Babel came on and seemed not to be able to stop scoring, the point could scarcely have been more spectacularly underlined.

 

Peter Crouch, the neglected folk hero, was the first to make the point that he hungered for something like a prolonged run into the team. He played with a vigour, and an optimism, of a man who believed that he had been given all that he needed: a chance to operate along the peaks and the valleys of one whole game, and soon enough he had struck a blow at the Turks, who had played prettily enough until the first serious rise of pressure.

 

His opening goal – he would score a second at the climax of this extraordinary Liverpool breakout – was a statement about what can come from extraordinarily committed players who are given the chance to be part of something more permanent than the tactical sketches on a super coach's notepad.

 

Benitez has racked up formidable achievement at Anfield. He is a man who has carried Liverpool to the peaks of football, but here we had a glimpse of what can happen when a team is given its head.

 

Gerrard, Crouch, Benayoun and Voronin all produced exceptional performances, but it was Mascherano who perhaps produced the most compelling evidence of a player operating at peace with himself and his role. He was endlessly productive, both in the tackle and the pass – here was a central, consistent theme of easy accomplishment.

 

Benitez has more of this at his disposal than he sometimes suggests. Last night this was not so much an escape from crisis as a glimpse at what all the Anfield yearning has been about.

 

Source: here

[D.Boon]

Read that earlier and its utter rubbish. He says last night was an example of why Rafa should not rotate despite the fact that there were the usual amount of changes. If we had lost he would be saying it was because of the changes.

 

Lawton is garbage some times

[David Hodgson]

Read that earlier and its utter rubbish. He says last night was an example of why Rafa should not rotate despite the fact that there were the usual amount of changes. If we had lost he would be saying it was because of the changes.

 

Lawton is garbage some times

 

 

It's really well written and mainly insightful.

[johngibo YPC]

Read that earlier and its utter rubbish. He says last night was an example of why Rafa should not rotate despite the fact that there were the usual amount of changes. If we had lost he would be saying it was because of the changes.

 

Lawton is garbage some times

 

agreed. Don't understand it all

How did last night prove rotation is wrong?

[jimmylibel]

Read that earlier and its utter rubbish. He says last night was an example of why Rafa should not rotate despite the fact that there were the usual amount of changes. If we had lost he would be saying it was because of the changes.

 

Lawton is garbage some times

 

Yep. And the other recurring theme of Lawton's in that article is that we succeeded because the reigns were taken off the players - neglecting to mention that it was said reigns that have gotten us to 2 European Cup finals in the last three years.

[jimmylibel]

It's really well written and mainly insightful.

 

It's well written but is there one insight in that whole article?

 

It's basically Ant with a thesaurus.

[Marvin]

It is rubbish. The sub-text is that the performance was in spite of Rafa not because.

[TheLa]

Read that earlier and its utter rubbish. He says last night was an example of why Rafa should not rotate despite the fact that there were the usual amount of changes. If we had lost he would be saying it was because of the changes.

 

Yep, thought exactly the same thing when I read it.

 

"Look, we (the media) were right all along. If Rafa stops arsing about with the team, Liverpool can beat anybody 8-0.

 

We're great us journo's aren't we. Much smarter than any football manager, that's why we spend our time sat on our arses writing for s***e rags"

 

It might as well say, Liverpool won 8-0 in spite of Benítez not because of him.

[Guest petelfc]

I think last night proved that rotation isn't the problem, it's the mentality and approach. Ok, the opposition wasn't much cop, but we went out with a real desire to play good football, which was the foundation for our good start to the season.

[honourablegeorge]

It's really well written and mainly insightful.

 

Do you think it's well written? I f***in' hate it. The way he takes ten sentences and mercilessly crams them into one using a handful of commas and a total disregard for readability really pisses me off.

[RedBilledChough]

agreed. Don't understand it all

How did last night prove rotation is wrong?

Bizarre, isn't it? That article would only make sense if Rafa had fielded an unchanged team last night.

[D.Boon]

Do you think it's well written? I f***in' hate it. The way he takes ten sentences and mercilessly crams them into one using a handful of commas and a total disregard for readability really pisses me off.

 

Lwton loves the look of his own words thats for sure. Its a nothing article he has shoe horned into a rotation piece..............again

[yellow jumper]

Here was the blazing argument for a settled team grooved into a way of playing that doesn't make every new game a journey into the unknown, and when Ryan Babel came on and seemed not to be able to stop scoring, the point could scarcely have been more spectacularly underlined.

 

this paragraph let's the piece down, but i don't think he's really damning benitez, on the contrary.

[cymrococh]

this paragraph let's the piece down, but i don't think he's really damning benitez, on the contrary.

that paragraph doesn't actually make any sense at all.

[honourablegeorge]

No excuse for gibberish liek this:

 

"Whether this proves a foundation for the avoidance of the embarrassment of failure at the group stage remains a significant question as the American ownership apparently flinches at rising costs for the proposed new stadium at Stanley Park, but for 90 minutes there were again a few certainties at the home of the team who, it had becoming increasingly difficult to recall, had appeared in two European Cup finals in three years."

[Stevie H]

unusually poor from lawton. reads as if he didn't watch the match.

[honourablegeorge]

Probably went to the game but his face was stuck in a thesaurus for most of it.

[Diarmuid]

Dunphy was saying something similar after the game last night, proof this article is a load of b****x, I think.

[Rimbeux]

I think last night proved that rotation isn't the problem, it's the mentality and approach. Ok, the opposition wasn't much cop, but we went out with a real desire to play good football, which was the foundation for our good start to the season.

 

 

Agree with that.

 

 

 

 

There's a few ideas/thoughts thrown up in this piece.

 

 

Players have not been playing as though they knew each others game

 

Players have been playing as if on a leash

 

Benitez has a more capable team than he thinks

 

Benitez has not been giving his team the best chance because of selection and caution

 

 

There's a debate in all of them

Edited November 7, 2007 by Rimbeux

[honourablegeorge]

We've been s*** because we couldn't string two passes together.

 

Last night, we strung together about a million passes.

 

Formations, rotations and all that crap is irrelevant. What we need is the bloody football.

Edited November 7, 2007 by honourablegeorge

[Rimbeux]

We've been s*** because we couldn't string two passes together.

 

Last night, we strung together about a million passes.

 

Formations, rotations and all that crap is irrelevant. What we need is the bloody football.

 

 

For me the difference is movement and playing as a team, everyone taking responsibility to make themselves available and find a man, something we've not been doing, and when we started again would dramatically improve us, having us stringing together proper passing moves that create chances and control the game.

 

People want to know why that's been missing, the answer might be in all that crap and other little avenues.

[Marvin]

I think it happens when players don't have confidence. Its not that they don't want to do it or are not trying but when confidence is low the movement off the ball suffers. Goals get the movement going again as players confidence is restored. Look at how confident Babel looked last night - same as against Derby.

[Rimbeux]

I think it happens when players don't have confidence. Its not that they don't want to do it or are not trying but when confidence is low the movement off the ball suffers. Goals get the movement going again as players confidence is restored. Look at how confident Babel looked last night - same as against Derby.

 

 

True it's confidence, but also intent. It was there before we scored yesterday, a real determination from back to front not to waste possession, a real determination to give the man on the ball options and support.

[pipnasty]

True it's confidence, but also intent. It was there before we scored yesterday, a real determination from back to front not to waste possession, a real determination to give the man on the ball options and support.

 

I mentioned this last night and it is still the one of the things that really stands out from the performance. It was good to watch and you could see the players becoming and more confident in posession as the game went on.

[owenthomas]

We've been s*** because we couldn't string two passes together.

 

Last night, we strung together about a million passes.

 

Formations, rotations and all that crap is irrelevant. What we need is the bloody football.

exactly.. it helped greatly that there was some excellent movement on all parts of the pitch too - particularly from Benayoun..