The Spaniard had a clear idea of what he expected of his players and few were coming close to matching those expectations. It was Benítez’s only outburst during a rollercoaster campaign that has warranted many, but three months on from that surprising tirade few would argue that it has not had the desired effect, Liverpool finishing the league season against Aston Villa yesterday with their second- lowest points tally since the inception of the Premiership 13 years ago.
At least Benítez has reason to be optimistic. He knows that he will have money available to strengthen the squad in the summer, regardless of the fact that Liverpool are unlikely to be playing in Europe’s premier club competition next season, and has a nucleus of players — Jamie Carragher and Xabi Alonso included — around which to build a team. Only the potential defection to Chelsea of Steven Gerrard, the captain, who was rested against Villa, threatens to throw a spanner in the works, although Benítez, meticulous in his planning, no doubt will have prepared for that eventuality, too. But if Benítez needed further ground for encouragement against a limited if willing Villa team, it came in the form of Djibril Cissé.
Cissé has endured a torrid time at Anfield since signing for £14 million from Auxerre in the summer, missing six months of the season with a broken leg, but the France forward finally put the memory of that horrific injury behind him yesterday when he scored twice to take his tally for the campaign to five and stake a claim for a place in the starting XI to face Milan in Istanbul.
Having been tripped in the area by Mark Delaney after Thomas Sorensen had saved Harry Kewell’s stinging shot, Cissé got back on his feet to power the resulting penalty beyond the Villa goalkeeper. It was his first goal since scoring in the 3-0 victory against Norwich City on September 25. Seven minutes later, he struck again, nonchalantly sweeping Antonio Núñez’s pull-back from the right byline past a hapless Sorensen.
Benítez refused to say whether he would start with Cissé or Milan Baros, the Czech Republic forward, against Milan and did not rule out the possibility of playing both, even though Baros’s days at Anfield look to be numbered. “Both can run, dribble and shoot and now we have two options,” the manager said. “It was a good game for him (Cissé) and he was really happy afterwards.”
Insipid before the break, Villa were inspired for spells after it and pulled back a goal in the 67th minute when Gareth Barry turned in Nolberto Solano’s knockdown. John Arne Riise then thumped a drive against the crossbar before Luke Moore squandered a good chance to draw the visiting team level when he headed against the bar.