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Liverpool must look to shake the Houllier habit
Rafael Benítez must be allowed to spend big in the transfer market if he is to stop his team suffering a familiar slide.
Kevin McCarra
January 9, 2007 01:18 AM
Rafael Benítez is not given to histrionics and even when he lambasted Bolton's style the other week it still sounded like a speech he had been rehearsing in the shaving mirror. Immediately after the glory of Istanbul there was an impression that his mind had turned to fine-tuning the pre-season training plans. He never gets carried away, but frustrations were apparent after the FA Cup defeat to Arsenal.
The Liverpool manager was not rebelling or making a futile attempt to put pressure on the board but there was a regretfulness when he said, with other clubs' buying in mind, "If you have £10m, OK, you can get this one." The manager is unlikely to be spending that sum on a single player this month, unless he first offloads current squad members. "If you don't have the money you have to work harder," he accepted.
He has a particular gift for preparation and it was a coup for Liverpool to recruit such a person. In his third season on Merseyside, however, the Spaniard has a realistic view of the task ahead. The implication that Arsenal are big spenders was inappropriate, but it is understandable that he should look wistfully at Arsène Wenger's fully developed youth programme.
All Benítez can do for now is press on with his painstaking approach, hoping to counteract the higher levels of talent at the clubs seen as his Premiership rivals. He can devise a strategy, as he confirmed while beating Manchester United and Chelsea on the way to taking the FA Cup last season. The knockout tournaments suit him best, with the apotheosis coming in the 2005 Champions League.
Saturday's FA Cup tie was no such galvanising occasion. For half an hour there was a possibility that the holders would grind down Arsenal, but Benítez's team were not their meticulous selves in defence. Once they had been breached, the Anfield line-up turned into a collection of dogged triers rather than the tough, resourceful unit they can be. Steven Gerrard has the potential to be a game-changer but Arsenal had merely to stop him and did so on this occasion.
These sides face each other again tonight on the same field in the first leg of the Carling Cup semi-final, but taking that trophy would not be fulfilling for a manager who seized the Champions League and then the FA Cup during his first two seasons with Liverpool. Too many of his players are just short of the top level. Regulars guess that three at most would make the first team at Manchester United, Chelsea or Arsenal. Benítez would probably not dispute that verdict with any genuine vehemence.
He has arrived at a difficult moment in his tenure. There are aspects to please him and for all the lapses in away games Liverpool hold the best home record in the Premiership. With one defeat in the past 10 league matches, even the travels are going far more smoothly than they were. Benítez, none the less, will wonder about his long-term destination.
A strong finish is needed if Liverpool, who last claimed the title 17 years ago, are not to collect fewer points this season than they did last, and there will not be many more European sorties to take the mind off that if the Champions League tie with Barcelona goes as most pundits predict. Failed efforts to close the gap in the Premiership lead to exhaustion, as people at Anfield understand perfectly. Gérard Houllier inched Liverpool into the runners-up berth in 2002, seven points behind Arsenal. Two years later they came fourth, 30 points adrift of Wenger's men as Arsenal regained the title.
Benítez dreads repeating that Houllier pattern. He has a good squad, but cannot depend on it outdoing itself whenever a major occasion arises. Results against United and Arsenal in the current campaign have been chastening. Liverpool do need a squad in which the ability is spread more evenly and, although Benítez generally buys well enough for odd exceptions, such as the surprisingly ineffective Fernando Morientes, to be overlooked, he cannot afford the exceptional talents.
He is bidding in a very different marketplace from United, let alone Chelsea. None the less the present Anfield board, bearing an overdraft of about £80m, has done all it can for him. Benítez must pray for the Dubai International Capital group to complete its takeover in the next month or so. The manager will then have to plead eloquently and persuade DIC that it is no more than common sense to fund major transfers that avert the danger of stagnation at Liverpool.
Rafael Benítez must be allowed to spend big in the transfer market if he is to stop his team suffering a familiar slide.
Kevin McCarra
January 9, 2007 01:18 AM
Rafael Benítez is not given to histrionics and even when he lambasted Bolton's style the other week it still sounded like a speech he had been rehearsing in the shaving mirror. Immediately after the glory of Istanbul there was an impression that his mind had turned to fine-tuning the pre-season training plans. He never gets carried away, but frustrations were apparent after the FA Cup defeat to Arsenal.
The Liverpool manager was not rebelling or making a futile attempt to put pressure on the board but there was a regretfulness when he said, with other clubs' buying in mind, "If you have £10m, OK, you can get this one." The manager is unlikely to be spending that sum on a single player this month, unless he first offloads current squad members. "If you don't have the money you have to work harder," he accepted.
He has a particular gift for preparation and it was a coup for Liverpool to recruit such a person. In his third season on Merseyside, however, the Spaniard has a realistic view of the task ahead. The implication that Arsenal are big spenders was inappropriate, but it is understandable that he should look wistfully at Arsène Wenger's fully developed youth programme.
All Benítez can do for now is press on with his painstaking approach, hoping to counteract the higher levels of talent at the clubs seen as his Premiership rivals. He can devise a strategy, as he confirmed while beating Manchester United and Chelsea on the way to taking the FA Cup last season. The knockout tournaments suit him best, with the apotheosis coming in the 2005 Champions League.
Saturday's FA Cup tie was no such galvanising occasion. For half an hour there was a possibility that the holders would grind down Arsenal, but Benítez's team were not their meticulous selves in defence. Once they had been breached, the Anfield line-up turned into a collection of dogged triers rather than the tough, resourceful unit they can be. Steven Gerrard has the potential to be a game-changer but Arsenal had merely to stop him and did so on this occasion.
These sides face each other again tonight on the same field in the first leg of the Carling Cup semi-final, but taking that trophy would not be fulfilling for a manager who seized the Champions League and then the FA Cup during his first two seasons with Liverpool. Too many of his players are just short of the top level. Regulars guess that three at most would make the first team at Manchester United, Chelsea or Arsenal. Benítez would probably not dispute that verdict with any genuine vehemence.
He has arrived at a difficult moment in his tenure. There are aspects to please him and for all the lapses in away games Liverpool hold the best home record in the Premiership. With one defeat in the past 10 league matches, even the travels are going far more smoothly than they were. Benítez, none the less, will wonder about his long-term destination.
A strong finish is needed if Liverpool, who last claimed the title 17 years ago, are not to collect fewer points this season than they did last, and there will not be many more European sorties to take the mind off that if the Champions League tie with Barcelona goes as most pundits predict. Failed efforts to close the gap in the Premiership lead to exhaustion, as people at Anfield understand perfectly. Gérard Houllier inched Liverpool into the runners-up berth in 2002, seven points behind Arsenal. Two years later they came fourth, 30 points adrift of Wenger's men as Arsenal regained the title.
Benítez dreads repeating that Houllier pattern. He has a good squad, but cannot depend on it outdoing itself whenever a major occasion arises. Results against United and Arsenal in the current campaign have been chastening. Liverpool do need a squad in which the ability is spread more evenly and, although Benítez generally buys well enough for odd exceptions, such as the surprisingly ineffective Fernando Morientes, to be overlooked, he cannot afford the exceptional talents.
He is bidding in a very different marketplace from United, let alone Chelsea. None the less the present Anfield board, bearing an overdraft of about £80m, has done all it can for him. Benítez must pray for the Dubai International Capital group to complete its takeover in the next month or so. The manager will then have to plead eloquently and persuade DIC that it is no more than common sense to fund major transfers that avert the danger of stagnation at Liverpool.
