Sam Wallace: Benitez the forward-thinker must stop overlooking clear and present dangers
Liverpool's season hung in the balance, but the fervour for strategy gripped Benitez again
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'When you are near the top of the table, maybe it's not as bad as people may think' Rafa Benitez on Liverpool's trophy drought
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Outside Anfield on match days they sell T-shirts adorned with Rafael Benitez's face and the catchphrase "Rafa is boss. This is a fact, no?" It is a take on his unique brand of English but also it references Rafa's peculiar brand of logic, especially the forward-planning to which he so stubbornly adheres.
Benitez is the man who prides himself on being one step ahead: while his players are celebrating a goal; he is using the break in play to reorganise his defence. While everyone else is thinking about Saturday's game; he is thinking about next Wednesday's match. If the world was to witness the Second Coming, Rafa would shrug and clear a space in his diary for the Third.
The trouble with Benitez's forward-planning is that sometimes he is too clever for his own good. Never more so than when, with the score at 1-1 and 27 minutes remaining, he substituted Fernando Torres against Fulham on Saturday afternoon. He did so with a team already missing Steven Gerrard and Glen Johnson. Not to mention a squad that was without Daniel Agger, Martin Skrtel, Fabio Aurelio, Albert Riera and Alberto Aquilani.
If ever there was a time to gamble on Torres, then this was that moment. But Benitez is wedded to his system, to his unshakeable belief in the plan he has already decided. And so, regardless of the game, Benitez thinks thus: Torres is not completely fit, we must protect him, therefore he must come off. This is a fact, no?
But Torres was not struggling to the extent he could not carry on. On the contrary, this was a player whose bemused reaction to his substitution suggested he was ready to play on. The match was on a knife edge, the situation had changed and once again Liverpool's season hung in the balance. But the fervour for strategy had Benitez in its grip again.
On Saturday he did not make the Torres substitution, or even those of Yossi Benayoun and Dirk Kuyt, in order to beat Fulham, he did it in order to keep them fit to play Lyons on Wednesday when Liverpool must preserve their ebbing life in the Champions League. Even as every instinct on Saturday screamed out that Torres should stay on the pitch, Benitez stuck with the master plan.
Benitez will not live in the moment. Rather he prefers a constant strategising for the future, no matter how much it costs him in the present. He seems able to make any sacrifice, as long as he can console himself that his actions mean he has a marginally better chance for the next match in four days' time. He is the eternal hedger.
There would be no surprise if his team put on a heroic performance against Lyons and won the game, probably with a goal from Torres. But what would that mean in the great scheme of things? The euphoria from the victory against Manchester United has already gone. They have lost five league games; they are out the Carling Cup and they are hanging on in Europe.
The similarities between Liverpool's league form now and Arsenal at roughly the same point last season are telling. Arsenal faced United in early November, having lost in the league to Fulham, Hull and Stoke and with Arsène Wenger looking like he might be on the brink of meltdown.
Against the odds they beat United 2-1 on 8 November with a performance that showed they could live with the champions; a performance that was not unlike Liverpool's eight days ago.
Having done so, Arsenal promptly threw it all away by losing their next two league games. From the manner in which they were flicked aside by United in the Champions League semi-finals come April/May it was evident that the result back in November was nothing more than an anomaly for both teams.
It is remarkable that for all Benitez's professorial qualities, his strange lack of temper and his tendency towards the bland post-match comment, his time at Liverpool has been characterised by extraordinary brinkmanship. His teams are capable of concealing so many problems with one thrilling performance. Sometimes, like Istanbul in 2005 or the FA Cup final in the following season, they go from disaster to triumph in the space of a single game.
Yes, Benitez is capable of the brilliant result. He is capable of amazing us all with a victory over Real Madrid, or United, and modestly treating it as if it were no more than he expected. But the essential question is what direction are Liverpool heading in? This team that included Andrei Voronin, Sotirios Kyrgiakos and Philipp Degen on Saturday? The answer is that they are getting worse, not better.
In his sixth full season at Manchester United, Sir Alex Ferguson won his first league title, having finished second the season before. This is Benitez's sixth full season as Liverpool manager and the chances of him winning the title now are more remote than they were last season. He has produced a team of undoubted qualities, but not a team to win the Premier League.
Liverpool are more of a cup team. They reflect their manager who, for all his rigid adherence to strategy and forward-planning, has produced a team whose results steadfastly refuse to obey their master's logic.
Strudwick builds bridges in wake of Stamford battle
In the pictures of Gary Neville's argument with the police officer from the Merseyside force at Anfield eight days ago it was heartening to see one person from Manchester United trying to defuse the situation. That was Tony Strudwick, the fitness coach, whose evidence over the infamous "Battle of Stamford Bridge" in April last year – United's post-match ruck with the groundsmen – was described by an FA commission as "exaggerated and unreliable". Good to see Strudwick has learnt his lesson. Perhaps United should abolish their post-match warm-downs – they seem to cause more problems than they solve.
Insurance policy plays Russian roulette with Danny's World Cup
Remember Danny, the Portugal international signed for £25m by Zenit St Petersburg who scored against Manchester United in the European Super Cup final last year?
He has recovered from a ruptured anterior cruciate ligament sustained in May but the club's insurance policy has prevented him from playing. The terms of the policy mean that he is not permitted to play within six months of sustaining his injury. If he did so, and was injured again, the insurer would not pay out. As a result, the club will not even let him train with the first team. Danny says his World Cup squad place is now in serious jeopardy.
You may not think English football is perfect. But at least we are not yet at the point where a club are having their team picked by that dog from the Churchill insurance adverts.
Winding down Rio's wind-ups
Fabio Capello has banned the England World Cup song and surely he will do the same if Rio Ferdinand proposes another edition of his World Cup Wind-ups television programme. The time for "merking" is over; Rio needs to concentrate on "marking" people instead.
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Comments
When Liverpool beat United, they decided to agree Benitez was good, and kept away from criticizing for a whope week.
Now that Liverpool have problems, the vulture culture is in full speed again.
Shameless; don't you have a conscience, OR SOMETHING BETTER TO DO?
Frankly, in absolute financial terms LFC earn more per game in the Champions League than in the Prem - much more, thus its importance. It's a cash cow! The League remains the most important, of course, but has a lot more games where things can happen: my advice is if you're convinced that any club yet to do so will not lose five games in the league this season, get down the bookies as the odds are bound to be good on that one with any of them, given what's happened thus far in the Prem.
As a fan I am not blind to LFC's failings on the pitch - a forward quartet of Kuyt, Voronin, Ngog and Babel is pitiful, relegation material, but Benitez's hands have been tied for two years in the transfer market (net spend: £2m) as LFC have suffered and continue to suffer shoddy ownership/upper management issues. This has resulted in a squad not strong enough to cope with injuries to its major talents; I would even concede that the other three clubs in the old Big 4 can cope better with an "injury crisis" than LFC and that while this is mostly due to the financial resources available to buy quality players Rafa has also made some bad signings in the past, and wasted money - not much, but some has been wasted away on poor players.
However, the fact is that if you add the cost of assembling a squad PLUS the cost of running it ie salaries for players and managers and then apply those combined totals to final places in the Prem over recent years ie the Benitez years, you'll find an almost exact correlation of tables, with those who spend the most at the top. FYI both Chelsea and Man Utd spend 2-3x more than Arsenal, who themselves spend slightly more, yes, than Liverpoool. Now Man City are in this upper echelon, and any fool can see that if you follow the money it will only be a short matter of time before they are a Champions League club. If not this season, then next season - if the cash flow keeps going as it has been at Eastlands. By the way, contrary to what Michel Platini thinks and wants, there will be immense TV pressure ie money to have 5 Prem sides in the CL in future years - mark my words!
Also for the record, everyone would agree that Wenger is a fantastic manager (How he does all this while still acting in "Engrenages" aka "Spiral" is beyond me!). However, since Benitez has been at LFC he has outperformed Wenger, with a Champions League win on top of matching Wenger's achievements of CL runners-up and FA Cup winners.
I'll finish by copying an idea posted by someone else, for another paper's comment section, last week. It's this: take Everton as of today. They sack David Moyes and bring in, say, Roberto Mancini. Now we fast forward five seasons to 2014 and look back on Mancini's achievements. He has taken a club that had spent most of the previous decade at a Europa cup level, and took them into the Champions League season after season. Not only that, but Everton have won it once, finished runners-up once, and have an average reach of Quarter-Final over the 5 seasons. Further, Everton finish in the top four in the League each of those seasons, improving their points total year on year. They have also won the FA Cup, and the youth team and reserves are winning trophies they had never won before. All this on an average net spend of less than £25m per season - and of that spend, £26m is invested in one player who would fetch at least double that should he be sold immediately. So, what would everyone be calling Roberto Mancini?
Genius.
Exactly.
The internet sports article is often ridiculed or usurped by a sharper sense of perspective through a well thought out riposte in the attached comments...in this case the comment from gbelt makes a complete mockery of the main article through nothing more than sound logic and greater intelligence...Bravo
Look here: http://transferleague.co.uk/
Secondly, how has Benitez outperformed Wenger when he has failed to win the league in six years in charge?
In his first 6 years, Wenger delivered the League title 3 times, including his first in his first full season in charge.
Mr Gbelt, it appears you are the Know Nothing.
However, there is still a generation of football fans that goes to watch Liverpool every week who remember when they dominated English and European football during the 70s and 80s.
I would argue that there lies the solid reason why the weight of expectation is far greater on Benitez, and why Wenger, for intance, has had it easier.
I could have gone on: regarding this decade Benitez also has two Spanish league titles and a UEFA cup final win to his credit - so I can think only of Ferguson and Mourinho as having been more successful 2000-2009 in terms of major trophies won - both of whom, excepting Porto's win, have done so managing clubs with a lot more financial clout than LFC or Valencia.
However, Wenger has been incredibly astute in the transfer market (Vermaelan and Arshavin just this year), and I would agree with those who would say that Arsenal's squad is a lot stronger than LFC's at this moment in time.
2: Re the transfer league. I have seen this league used in arguments before. The Net spend is useful but imperfect and is easily skewed by, say, one big transfer out or in eg Ronaldo. A £40m profit on Torres would make a huge difference, obviously; likewise a £50m spend by MUFC in January would too.
What should be obvious to anyone is that both Chelsea and MUFC have had much more expensive squads than LFC for many seasons now. Chelsea have usually had at least six, sometimes eight or even ten players earning the kind of money only Gerrard and Torres have ever earned at Anfield. I'm pretty sure no other player at Anfield makes £100K+pw. If you think Babel has been a waste of money, consider Schevchenko.
BUT it's when you put these together - transfer fees of the current squad plus salaries paid - that the truth is told. Looked at as money equals points MUFC and Chelsea are supposed to finish 1st and 2nd every time in the Prem, and MUFC are supposed to be in the Champions League final playing Real Madrid every time. Anything short of that is failure! Now that's not how football is, as we know, thank God! but as a rule over time money wins trophies wins money which wins more trophies ...
Frankly, I wish LFC were in Arsenal's position off the pitch. Without starting on a whole other discussion, Gillett & Hicks were supposed to be injecting the cash for LFC to compete with the rest, via funds for transfers and future revenue from a bigger stadium. This has not happened - I doubt it ever will with this duo. Should LFC be knocked out at the group stage of the CL this winter and fail to qualify for the CL next May, the club will be stifled in the transfer market by increasing interest payments on the money G&H borrowed to buy the club; this may happen even if they do make it through both these hurdles.
I predict that barring the sale of Torres it will be an awfully long time before LFC spend £20m+ on another player, let alone £30m+ which is, it seems, the minimum going rate for top players these days. Dark clouds are gathering at Anfield, but it's not Benitez's fault.
http://www.redandwhitekop.com/forum/ind
Yes, Man City have spent more in the past 12 months than Benitez in five years!
If Liverpool fans are happy with Rafa, I am sure all their competitors are.