Scousers should be thanking Middlesborough, because they performed nothing less than a mercy killing last saturday afternoon. In reality Liverpool's 'title challenge' has lasted about four weeks longer than normal, mainly to the disarray that has existed within Chelsea and Arsenal this season. Fortune favors the bold and a team with a defensive mindset will rarely win any league. Just look at the points last season compared to this - they've hardly improved at all. The fault for this lies squarely with Rafael Benitez. He's been at Anfield for five years. This is his team. WIth the amount of money he's spent, Liverpool should be doing better. I find Rafa's transfer policy to be akin to throwing buckets of paint at a wall and hoping that it will somehow be judged a work of art. Lucas is a total flop, Babel often a liability, not to mention Degen, Dossena, N'gog and all the other players he's had through the revolving door at Anfield.
In any case Benitez's overall tactics really baffle me, Everyone knows Boro's best player, give or take, is Downing.......so why the f**k play Skrtel and El Zhar on the right?! It's just crazy, what is he actually trying to prove? Regardless of who wins what this season, can someone explain why he did that? His negativity is astounding. Benitez once said "when you start the game you are 0-0 so half the job is done". That says it all - he obviously still doesn't realise it's THREE points for a win and only ONE for a draw. Just a week or two ago he said something like "we cannot even afford draws any more". The fact that he thought there was a time when they could afford them speaks volumes.
His approach to man management is also diabolical. The players Benitez gets the best out of are esssentially solid, but unspectacular: Mascherano, Carragher, Alonso... two obvious exceptions being Torres and Gerrard, who are simply allowed to get on with it, as the team figureheads. When he buys "flair" or creative attacking players, he ruins them. He seems incapable of inspiring confidence in his players, as displayed by not playing Benayoun just as he starts looking like a matchwinner. Look at the treatment of Keane, who had been struggling with his confidence since signing, but just at the moment he started scoring goals and looking more settled, he was benched. He's managed to do the same thing with Babel, who I believe was regarded as one of the hot young prospects in world footbal prior to Liverpool signing him. Also witness Agger, a very good defender AND passer - who seems to be distrusted by Benitez because of the second attribute. If you compare Sir Alex or Arsene Wenger's approach to such players and you have the answer why Liverpool are so poor to watch, and will never win the title under Benitez.
Robert Vard
