Rafa Benitez has to sort out Liverpool wing woes
RAFA BENITEZ believes the Spanish card game 'mus' is the best in the world.
Perhaps he will now consider the more English attractions of Monopoly.
Because four times already this season the Reds boss has played his Get Out of Jail Free card - but many more performances like last night's and the phrase about passing 'Go' could be muttered in Texan boardrooms.
Liverpool have relied heavily on luck, and their two world class talismans in a worryingly shapeless start to the season.
One of those talismans is now missing for at least a fortnight, while the Reds surely exhausted their reserves of good fortune in two legs against the impressive and unfortunate Belgians of Standard Liege.
After more than 208 minutes of tension filled football, Dirk Kuyt's shin finally secured Liverpool's place at the top table of European football.
But few Reds fans inside Anfield last night were left with any confidence for the more testing challenges to come.
The need for Steven Gerrard to undergo surgery was a big post-match story, perhaps one Benitez hoped would deflect headlines away from another poor performance.
If he got his wish with the back page screamers, the analysis from the stands will be more critical.
Benitez has the admirable Javier Mascherano to fill the gaping hole left by his skipper, but the Reds boss appears no closer to finding the wide boys he has craved ever since he arrived at Anfield.
Yet again a lack of quality on the flanks was painfully apparent.
It eventually took the arrival of an untried youngster, Nabil El Zhar, and a Dutchman who prefers to operate down the middle, to introduce some urgency and some penetration down the flanks.
El Zhar was denied a cast-iron penalty by weak Swiss referee Massimo Busacca, before Ryan Babel produced a peach of a cross for Kuyt's matchwinner.
But neither are long-term options for those crucial wide positions.
On last night's evidence neither are the anonymous Yossi Benayoun nor the wonderfully willing, but limited, Dirk Kuyt.
Antonio Nunez, Luis Garcia, Harry Kewell, Mark Gonzalez, Bolo Zenden - all have come and gone in the forlorn search for width.
Jermaine Pennant's absence from the last three senior squads suggests he may soon join that list.
Which means Albert Riera could be the most significant arrival at Anfield since Fernando Torres swapped La Liga for the Premiership.
In cold, statistical terms, Liverpool have made a stunningly successful start to the season.
Four games, three wins and only one goal conceded . . . but you know the old saying about lies, and damned lies.
If Carragher and Gerrard's double act against Middlesbrough was a late show, that was nothing on last night's nerve-shredder.
After two entire evenings of unsatisfactory action, just two minutes remained between the Reds and a penalty shoot-out when Babel finally proved the value of wide players whipping in crosses at Anfield.
Kuyt, a player previously unable to pass water, shinned a shot past Aragon Espinoza as Bonfim Dante fatally lost concentration for the second time in this qualifying round tie.
In the first leg the Brazilian wasted a penalty kick.
Last night he adopted the John Arne Riise policy of defending crosses, swinging his wrong foot at the ball, and the Dutchman pounced.
If there are consolations to be gleaned from Liverpool's recent performances, it is the knowledge that Rafa historically has an early season wobble to cope with.
Last season it came in the home displays against Birmingham and Marseille.
Twelve months earlier it was a Goodison derby which rocked the Reds, while a year earlier United and Chelsea inflicted early season woe at Anfield.
But each time the Reds responded impressively.
Benitez has an impressive record of identifying deficiencies and putting them right.
The worry at present is that everyone can identify the areas in which Liverpool are struggling.
And the time in which to rectify that problem is fast running out.
Oh for some real Monopoly money to splash on a couple of wingers between now and Monday night.
Older/Newer
« Vote your footy legends into Hall of Fame | Liverpool 1, Standard Liege 0: All too sub Standard! »
0 TrackBacks
Listed below are links to blogs that reference this entry: Rafa Benitez has to sort out Liverpool wing woes. TrackBack URL for this entry: http://www.liverpoolbanter.co.uk/cgi-bin/mt421/mt-tb.cgi/22848
It's not just the wingers that are the problem - the team is misfiring.
I'm sorry to say this but the problems stem from Benitez's massive ego and belief that he is bigger than the club.
The squad is divided with Finnan, Alonso and others angling for moves. The performances this season have been very weak, even though we have been fortunate enough to get wins, how long until our luck runs out?
Last night was awful. The players were all poor with the exception of Pepe. £12m was on the line as was the club's reputation. In the end a lucky hoof from one of our worst players swung it.
I want to hear who should be stepping into the manager's shoes now? For my money it's either Erikson or preferably Mancini who did great things at Inter. He could rescue our season and bring us silverware once more.
This article is absoloutely true.We have not got the quality and pace on the flanks to match the likes of man utd,chelsea and even arsenal.Arbeloa,aurelio,kuyt and benayoun are not fast and this means that they rarely attack the opposition full backs and put in dangerous crosses for the likes of torres,keane and gerrard to attack.Comparing us to the likeas of man utd,chelseas and arsenals full backs.evra,w.brown,bosingwa,a.cole,sagna and clichy all possess lots and lots of pace.If we do not get the flanks sorted out then realistically,we have no chance of winning the premier league.
Postmodernist you haven't got a clue about football, have you?
Eriksson? Mancini?
New owners and a new chief executive is what we need.
Actually I do.
The buck stops with Benitez and a third season winning nothing at all would not be acceptable.
It's not about who bankrolls the team otherwise we would consistently be far ahead of Arsene Wenger.
You've bought Benitez's rabble rousing hype but you haven't thought about the fact he hasn't delivered the project by his fifth year; that is a team genuinely capable of challenging for the title.
It's clear Keane isn't £20m worth of player just as it's clear Kuyt won't scare any defences. Money has been spent and very poorly.
Why not Mancini? Titles in Italy impress me. Flowing football impresses me. As for Erikson - he overachieved at Man City - and with the additional backing a big side like Liverpool has he could deliver - just as he did at Lazio.
Winning nothing does not impress me. Benitez didn't win anything last season. He didn't win anything this season. This is his team in its entireity and they struggle to win against a Sunderland team and against a Middlesborough side. They then fail to impress against a weakened Belgian team playing at Anfield over two legs.
The portents are there. Winning ugly might be title winning behaviour but struggling against the also rans certainly isn't.
As for the owners - they've saved the club from splashing out money on Barry when Alonso takes care of that role. They need to curb the manager wasting money - if he then speaks to the media about his misgivings then it is the manager who is in the wrong.
The club and the city need to stop blaming others. It's time to identify who is responsible and it is Mr Rafa Benitez.
We need goals, they come from players who can get forward, beat players, shoot, play killer balls. It's clear that Kuyt, Voronin, Benayoun, Aurelio, Pennant and co are not up to it yet we are carrying their wage bills and getting nothing in return.
Rafhina, Bentley, Van der Vaart, Nasri, Queresma, SWP, & Arshavin have all been available for similar prices that we offered for Keane and Barry.
Because we need more central midielders. And Riera... well. He's got Gonzales written all over him.
Early days maybe... it doesnt stop them seeming dark.
Watching Liverpool over the last few years has been hard work, it's just dull football, Rafa complains a lot that he doesn't have much money, look at what Wenger has done at Arsenal with less money. I think it is time for Rafa and the team to get the finger out and start to entertain as well as win. I can't understand the treatment of Finnan and Crouch over the last year, Finnan is easily a better full back than the rubbish that was on display last night. It's a bit early in the season to be getting too worried, but if this continues something has to be done, the ownership crisis certainly hasn't helped matters either.
I think it's time that the owners showed the courage to bring in a new manager with the skills to win Liverpool FC the title.
Benitez has had his chance and he hasn't succeeded. We need a winner in charge and the performances this season, last season and the season before that show Liverpool aren't a team of winners.
Roberto Mancini looks the best prospect of making a team of overpaid show ponies into a team of hungry winners.
We desperately need wingers. Instead of Reira I would have tried for Diego Capel, he proved to be a very good left winger and clicked well with the Spanish National side and with Torres/Alonso. He's still also around 20 years old.
We badly need a right winger....
Rafa cannot continue to fill in the blanks with Kuyt, Benayoun etc. They are second strikers and very good ones! They have come to the rescue when our primary striker/s failed.
Keane is a good player which I did even suggest at the beginning of the transfer window on other forums. I now think it is a lot of money and not well spent. Keane is another 'Torres' style player, and it is not the first time that both players find themselves in the same area of the pitch, leaving other vital areas blank. A quality winger would have done us much more good.
Lastly it is our tactics we take the game to the opponents, we never let them play and counter attack. When we do we are so slow - back pass the ball and kill the advantage of the couter attack.
I beleive this is all down to Rafa style. Torres will perform better in open areas.
Okay certain things to remember here guys we have lacked width since well John Barnes in his halycon days. McManaman was most effective for us when he was given licence to do what he wanted so in my book was never a true winger for us. We know we need width but are there really any good wingers out there? I keep hearing Joaquim and Quaresma but this is real life not a computer game, Joaquim has been found out and Quaresma is hugely overated, he spent a lot of the time on the Anfield turf when Porto came last year. In this forum bobs mentions Rafhina, SWP, Bentley, Nasri and Arshavin, problem is that they are full back, not good enough (hence why he went back to City), probably not good enough, we'll leave Nasri for a minute and hugely overpriced.
Of course if Rafa had got his way we'd have had Dani Alves, Malouda and maybe Nasri, didn't Rafa try to get him in the Cisse deal? However LFC have been undermined for the past decade by having the chief executive formerly known as Rick Parry. Coco has been nothing short of a disaster for Liverpool, simple question for all you agreeing with the 3 stooges about Barry why didn't Parry step in and say you're having a laugh at that price with Diouf and Diao? Barry was overpriced and I thought not as good as Xabi (although if Xabi continues to play the way he is then Rafa was right) but nowhere near as overpriced as the 2 Senegalese spit alot and who?. Despite the gloom, and by god we've been poor, we've got what we wanted in terms of results so far and I know I'd take another 25 scrappy victories right now. Things aren't perfect we know that and Rafa has stuffed certain things up, the Finnan situation baffles me, and as for Degan and Dossena! However we continue to play catch up with very little money actually ploughed in by Waldorf and Stadler so Rafa ploughs around the bargain basement for the most time hoping his £5-£8 million buys produce unpolished diamonds whilst the top 2 continue to pay at least £8 million for players, and more often than not over £15 million. It's a big disadvantage and people like Postmodernist need to realise this, don't quote Wenger to me he spent heavily at first when he came and introduced a youth system that took 5 or 6 years before it showed anything, Rafa has quietly been turning the youth system round here as well but it'll take another 2 or 3 seasons to bear fruit. If you look at where Rafa has the nail on the head everytime it's when he's spent big on a player, Reina (£7 million was and still is big for a keeper), Mascherano and Torres, we can't judge Keane yet, give him a season, he's always been a notoriously slow starter to the season, and you can see what I mean. The problem is that those type of buys tend to the execption for us yet nobody blinks if man u or chavski do it. Until that problem is solved, i.e get someone in who will splash the cash when needed, it will be difficult to compete with the top 2 yet alone beat them.
Andy some of your comments stack up, many do not.
For example do you honestly believe all of Benitez's big signings have succeeded? Morientes was a big signing and was unveiled to a fanfare. He didn't succeed.
As for putting the blame at Parry's feet - why should he step in to say that the manager is wrong. The manager should use his judgement effectively.
I'm glad you acknowledge Rafa Benitez has made mistakes. He has an expensive side but they play no better than some of the basement teams.
You say he buys low hoping to find a diamond - I'll use Wenger as an example to show how it can be done effectively. Also I could use Man U as an example of getting players young and developing them - or Middlesbrough. The problem is that the side don't produce homegrown talent now. Promising British teenagers realise that they would be better off playing for other sides that will give them a genuine chance.
I don't know whether you think Benitez should be replaced by a better more shrewd manager.
I think the last two years have shown we are not a team that are good enough. The evidence, well the empty trophy cabinet says it all.
Benitez has distracted people by pointing at Parry and before that the American owners as the reason for the on field problems. However he is responsible for the on field performances and they are not good enough.
Therefore the solution is to change Benitez for a more competent manager.
well,i am not usually one for writing in but i think we are making a big mistake if we go after riera. he flopped at city so why do we think he will succeed with us.