In all my experience of looking over Liverpool fans’ opinions on the web, I’ve very rarely seen such unfounded comments as I have seen about our performance on Saturday. Fans can be so fickle at times: apparently, Rafa should be sacked; Cisse should be sold; Morientes just plain shot; Zenden put in the reserves and Garcia extradited to Spain. Also, I’ve read that Rafa should not play the tactics that he did on Saturday and that the tactics suggested by these fans on message boards must be adhered to. Because they know more than him.
Nonsense. Utter, utter nonsense.
Honestly, this week, most have been far too harsh on our team and our manager; when games don’t go all your way, then a fan needs to show some restraint and seriously wait to think about the situation until way after the match. I’ll admit to being annoyed at times on Saturday, which Red wasn’t? However, the team has accumulated the maximum amount of points possible and also kept another clean sheet in the Premiership. This is all after an international week in which our players have been in action, some for 80 minutes or more, whereas those in the Sunderland squad (mostly) were not, and could prepare for an Anfield battle with much greater efficiency than Liverpool could realistically hope to.
Last season, we won very few games after an international break, causing Rafa to state publicly after the Champions League final that it was something we needed to greatly improve upon. I see a victory against Sunderland, who are compact, good defensively and quick on the break, as the beginning of that improvement. Rafa also admitted at the end of last term that he had learned an awful lot about English football, and he would be bringing in a team which is far better prepared for matches this time round. On Saturday, there were certainly signs of that education from Rafa.
He played 4-5-1, looking for some width and crosses for Morientes. The idea behind using Alonso, Gerrard and Sissoko all in the same midfield is quite simple: Sissoko will sit back and win any loose balls whenever called upon, hence winning us possession frequently; Alonso can then use that possession with class and graft, whilst also protecting the midfield defensively alongside Momo when not on the ball, leaving Steve Gerrard to thunder around the pitch in an almost free role, able to be expansive and adventurous with the ball whenever he wants to be.
There’s no doubt in my mind that Gerrard is not a defensive midfielder like Alonso and Sissoko. Sure, he began there as a kid, but during his development through the Liverpool ranks, he has become better and better at attacking, especially last season when he chalked up a true attacking captain’s amount of goals and assists. Benitez knows that in order to get the best out of Gerrard, he must give him protection, and the idea of three central midfielders is borne of this.
In Spain, passing is always the keystone to a team’s performance. The manager came in last season and attempted to make us pass it around the opposing team in every game; however, it didn’t work at times when teams were just too numerous in defence to actually work it around.
Arsenal experienced those problems against Chelsea this weekend, and the truth is that sometimes you need something different in the Premiership. Playing the 5 across the middle allowed us to dominate the midfield, and several long balls were played in an attempt to vary our attack.
Without such tactics, we could become stale as months-old bread last season, like in the home and away fixtures against Birmingham. Maybe Saturday was overkill and we used too many long balls, but all Benitez would point out is that essentially, we got the job done.
This season, Peter Crouch will be sniffing around in order to latch onto such long balls – and he can also very ably play it along the floor too. Yet another example of Rafa progressing tactically in the Premiership was his purchase against the odds. When we are playing well on the deck, he can contribute, and when we need that little bit extra, he can light the way in attack by winning long balls and even scoring headers.
Morientes is still struggling with form and confidence in this role, but is by no means running out of time just 2 games into the season. Both players will prove to be successes given ample time.
On Saturday, I know that it wasn’t pretty. It can’t be against teams who want to stick 10 men behind the ball and then defend until possession is carelessly given away. Yet we still scored, hit the post, had a goal ruled out and managed to miss a chance which Cisse, 99% of the time, would have put away. Morientes also should have scored in the opening minutes. These chances taken, and we would have won very handsomely indeed; missed, and according to some, it’s a disaster.
Garcia lacks his usual self belief, probably because he is constantly played out of position as a winger; same with Cisse. The mistakes we made on Saturday will be scrutinised by the boss and those players who had poor games will be told, or just dropped.
All the same, it was a game which we won, and that’s the most a team can do. Rafa has successfully negotiated an international break comeback, and has shown a willingness to change the tactics when he thinks it is necessary, even if he knows we won’t be knocking the ball around fluently and fluidly. Momo Sissoko looked sensational once more and we’ve conceded no goals at the back. Hey, we’re even a point ahead of Arsenal! They, to me, are yet more signs of very positive early Red progress.
Three Men and a Boy Wonder
Djibril Cisse is on his way, Fernando Morientes is on his way and Milan Baros is on his way. Think the Liverpool staff has gone a bit mad?
Well, no, because only one of those three will be sold. However, at the moment a lot of home truths do appear to be leaking from the Liverpool base camp. Firstly, Rafa is quite obviously not satisfied with Djibril Cisse. Marseille have come out with a wild goose story about Benitez informing his French frontman that Michael Owen may be returning and Cisse reacting badly, telling his manager that he’d rather leave than play on the right wing constantly. The thing is, the story rings true.
Don’t forget that while Cisse may have had his introductory press conference with Rafael Benitez, he certainly wasn’t a part of his Liverpool legacy. The £14 million cash splashed out on the Auxerre man was splashed around by Houllier, not the current manager, leading immediate eyebrows to be raised: why would a club go through with a massive-money transfer when the new manager didn’t particularly want the player in question?
With Benitez using Cisse on the right wing instead of up front, maybe we have our answer - the transfer had been rubber-stamped for some time and Rafa was told he’d be getting him anyway. Now, either through his match performances, or through his training, Cisse has simply not filled Benitez with a confidence which would make him play him down the middle week-in-week-out.
Its observable at times that he isn’t a natural finisher, nor does he have many assets other than tremendous speed. This simply may not be enough to make Rafa want to keep him at Anfield.
Milan Baros, as I have stated before, is tactically woeful. He’s strong, skilful, fast, even a good finisher at times, but he’s never going to be the finished article. That’s why clubs such as Barcelona, Real Madrid, even our top three, have stayed firmly away from the Baros transfer activities.
He can’t really head it, can’t particularly pass it and doesn’t have a commitment to the Red cause – as shown last season when he told, yes, told Benitez that he’d be leaving for Valencia. That move fell through and now he’s staring down the barrel of mediocrity with Aston Villa; his lively substitute performances are a sign of desperation, praying that the boss will change his mind about selling him to a mid-table club.
As for Morientes, he won’t be sold. He’s one of Rafa’s favourites and is attempting still to come to terms with the harsh life of the Premiership, in which the Spaniard is kicked, fouled, bullied, shoved over and pulled down right in front of the referee’s eyes: no free kicks are ever given. But the boss has faith in Morientes, and he’d know better than anybody after his time in Spain that the bloke is a class act and can score goals with every part of his body, in every way.
So why are we so desperate to sell one of our centre-forwards? Guessing as I am, I presume it’s because Benitez desperately wants to buy Michael Owen back, and needs to make room for him at the club. The manager himself has stated that top clubs need 4 top strikers; let either Cisse or Baros go and we’re left with 3.
Owen is definitely earmarked as the one who will score us 20 goals a season and to be that fourth man, the ideal partner for Peter Crouch, even Fernando Morientes. At the moment, he’s on his Owen over in Madrid, but if Liverpool do manage to sell one of their strikers within the next week, then I wouldn’t be surprised to watch as the Boy Wonder returns to Anfield, probably to a hero’s welcome from the all-forgiving fans.
A Nob on the Right?
Finally this week, the talk of the right wing has increased. With the centre-back position very quietly being filled by Benitez, I doubt we’ll know who the new defender will be until very near the end of the transfer window. However, it seems we may be in for a right winger sooner that we thought.
Nobby Solano is old. The Peruvian is also fully capable of doing a job for us on the right for a season for two, and bringing him in as part of the Baros-Villa deal would be a stroke of genius from Liverpool. He’s underrated in the extreme, and Solano would make sense if we were a bit short of funds for the wing.
His purchase may not be exactly what we need at this time, but it would make moves for a new centre forward and centre back much more affordable for Benitez. The transfer is obviously some way off happening, but if we do get Nob, then underestimate him at your peril: he can cross, shoot and pass better than any right wingers we have at the moment – well, actually, we don’t have any, but surely that makes the argument stronger.
He’d make an excellent addition to the squad and give us a bit of that flair we desperately need going forward at times. Obviously, somebody younger would need to be drafted in next year, but then we’ll have more money to spend from the Champions League and television exploits.
Let’s hope Rafa makes it happen, because it does make sense.