Five key areas for Rafael Benitez to address
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SHOCKED ... Xabi Alonso
XABI ALONSO is shocked by Liverpool's sorry start to the season but insisted: Do not blame me.
The midfield playmaker, now at Real Madrid after a £30m move, is seen by Anfield diehards as the missing link following defeats by Tottenham and Aston Villa.
Even more so as his replacement, Alberto Aquilani, will not be fit for six weeks.
Fans point to the fact that during Alonso's four seasons with the club, spanning 143 Premier League games, Liverpool's win rate with him in their line-up was 59 per cent against 49 per cent without him.
Alonso, 28, said: "Liverpool's bad beginning in three matches is not normal but I believe my exit has not been that decisive.
"Players are not that indispensable and these are only the first moments of the season. I am convinced the team will recover."
Barcelona want Kop outcast Albert Riera.
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ahahahaha
alonso manages to subtly slap rafa in the face
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I wonder why Rafa even paid so much for Alberto Aquilani who is suppose to be Alonso's replacement... He can't even play for 2 months... And by the time he can play I am not sure how much damage has been done to the season already...
Rafa's transfer policy really leave a lot to be desire... He is reported to have the biggest squad in the EPL and yet no youth players coming through all these years he has been there... I just wonder who and what he has been buying all this time... But unfortunately this time got no Parry to carry the bucket anymore...
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Originally posted by zocoss:
I wonder why Rafa even paid so much for Alberto Aquilani who is suppose to be Alonso's replacement... He can't even play for 2 months... And by the time he can play I am not sure how much damage has been done to the season already...
Rafa's transfer policy really leave a lot to be desire... He is reported to have the biggest squad in the EPL and yet no youth players coming through all these years he has been there... I just wonder who and what he has been buying all this time... But unfortunately this time got no Parry to carry the bucket anymore...
yea.. at least chelsea have stoch and maci
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LOST ... Rafa's all at sea without Xabi
TWO defeats in three games and Xabi Alonso appears an even more accomplished player. Yet Liverpool's poor start to the season - including a first loss at Anfield in 32 matches - goes far deeper than Alonso's £30million departure to Real Madrid.
Far deeper, also, than the scorn heaped on Lucas for his display in the 3-1 reverse against Aston Villa on Monday night, topped by a gloriously-taken own goal.
What we are seeing here is Rafa Benitez paying the price for over-reliance on Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres. Jamie Carragher, who has played almost 600 games for the club and more than 50 in eight of nine seasons, has also had to shoulder enormous responsibility.
Yes, three of the five goals Liverpool have conceded this season have been from free-kicks and corners and, yes, Carragher has twice been outjumped for goals by Spurs' Sebastien Bassong and Villa's Curtis Davies.
But there's only so much one man can do. Yet after defeat by Villa, manager Rafa Benitez claimed: "Our senior players must take more responsibility."
How much more blood, though, can Benitez get out of these three particular stones? Gerrard has scored 45 goals in two seasons and Torres 51 - despite the Spaniard having two spells out injured in 2008-2009. Yet when they struggle - as Gerrard did against Villa in an off-key display - so do Liverpool. Carragher aside, there is no one to look to for inspiration.
Sure, Torres is not helped by his constant whingeing - with even his manager telling him to stop arguing with defenders. Though this is highly ironic as it was Benitez's inability to button his own lip during his rant at Alex Ferguson last season that prompted a run of 11 dropped points in seven games that cost Liverpool the title.
Physician, heal thyself. So when Benitez talks of senior players taking responsibility you presume he is also including the supporting cast. Then again, who was responsible for signing Lucas, Andriy Voronin, Albert Riera, Ryan Babel, David Ngog and Nabil El Zhar?
And who, initially, was responsible for undermining Alonso, the player whose passing ability made Benitez's 4-2-3-1 formation work and whose positional play released Gerrard to forage up front just behind Torres? Benitez's public pursuit of Gareth Barry rebounded. Alonso responded with the sort of form that exposed Benitez's folly in even considering releasing him.
But the damage had been done with the player deciding he had no future at Anfield. The result? Liverpool lost Alonso to Real Madrid, were gazumped by Manchester City for Barry - and have no one to fill his boots. Alberto Aquilani, their £20million signing from Roma, is certainly no like-for-like replacement.
Instead, Benitez is hoping the Italian, an attacking midfield player, will take the goalscoring pressure off Gerrard and Torres.
Yet his scoring record is a moderate 13 in almost 100 games for Roma and Triestina. He is injury prone - missing large chunks of the last three seasons and currently facing six weeks on the sidelines following an ankle operation. If he is that fragile in Serie A what will he be like in the Premier League?
That is one for the future. The more pressing demand for Benitez is coming up with the answers to the criticism that followed Monday's defeat. That there were too many square balls from Lucas and Javier Mascherano. That there was no width and general surprise that Glen Johnson didn't get down the line and into crossing positions more.
That Lucas is out of his depth, Gerrard, Dirk Kuyt and Yossi Benayoun off-form and, very unlike Liverpool, that too many players went missing. The general consensus is the side would be far better served with a central-midfield pairing of Gerrard and Javier Mascherano and a reversal to 4-4-2. But who plays alongside Torres? Robbie Keane, perhaps? Peter Crouch or Craig Bellamy? Torres apart, Benitez has never got his strike force right.
The facts - and we know what a stickler Benitez is for them - show Liverpool have already lost as many games as they did all last season.
So already they are up against it, three games into a campaign in which they hoped to break their 20-year title drought.
There can be no slip-ups over their next four games against Bolton, Burnley, West Ham and Hull prior to a trip to Chelsea.
And there can be no flogging of their thoroughbreds or else they will turn into dead horses in a year where Torres will have played the Confederation Cup, Premier League AND World Cup.
It's time for the rest of the squad to accept responsibility. Whether they have the character remains to be seen.
But since he bought them, Benitez knows where the ultimate responsibility lies.
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it's not about xabi lar
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Originally posted by limpper:
it's not about xabi lar
its about that reebok ball right
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maybe its time for benitez to play the playerrs in their usual positions
gerrard partners mascherano in the middle
left and right wings will be taken by riera and benayoun
and kuyt + torres can go up front.
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Originally posted by kopiosatu:
maybe its time for benitez to play the playerrs in their usual positions
gerrard partners mascherano in the middle
left and right wings will be taken by riera and benayoun
and kuyt + torres can go up front.
The Air force. Above all?
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Originally posted by Shao Wei:
its about that reebok ball right
it's about rafa.
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in a way it something to do with xabi but liverpool fans please dont blame him. i think you all should blame rafa.
liverpool fourish in a 4-3-2-1 system in which alonso take up the creative midfielder role and gerrard in a more attacking role.
with xabi gone, rafa will revert back 4-4-2 or 4-3-3 system in which gerrard will become the creative midfielder role which he is isnt really that potent and could get any goals.
there isnt anyone who can replace xabi in liverpool, so rafa change formation lor. changing formation take time to gel. either it work wonders, or it will suck big time!!
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Five key areas for Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez to address
The noises emanating from Anfield may be bullish, but the feeling is one of despondency.
Test of character: Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez faces a raft of early-season challenges after a poor start to the campaign
Three games, two defeats and six points adrift of the Premier League's pace-setters are hardly the criteria Liverpool would have wished for at the start of the season they were supposed to end their 20-year wait for the title.
Yossi Benayoun has insisted that Rafael Benítez's players still think they "can win the title", the Israeli adamant that "we believe we are strong enough, even if maybe we cannot lose any more games".
Glen Johnson, equally defiant, remains convinced their rivals "will drop points, because the likes of Aston Villa and Tottenham can beat anybody".
Yet that should not detract from the scale of the problems facing Benitez and his squad.
Outplayed at White Hart Lane and out-thought at Anfield for the first time in 18 months, Liverpool must find an answer to their mounting problems if they are to live up to their pre-season billing as champions in waiting.
1 The numbers game
As Benítez pointed out on Monday night, it is inherently flawed to suggest that Liverpool, who finished second last season, are suddenly incapable of competing for a slot in the top four simply because their side are much the same as they were last year.The loss of Xabi Alonso aside, Liverpool are not exactly a shadow of their former selves. Alvaro Arbeloa has been upgraded for Glen Johnson and Benítez's first XI on Wednesday – plus the injured Fabio Aurelio, Daniel Agger and Alberto Aquilani and substitutes Ryan Babel and Albert Riera – still provide a spine as good as any in the country.The problem lies in the outlying areas. Liverpool's bench is populated by promising youngsters and substandard squad men. As he cast his eye over his substitutes on Wednesday, it is hard to believe that Benítez would feel he had the firepower to turn the game around.
Benítez, it has been noted, is alone among managers in that he only ever wins. If Liverpool lose, the blame inexorably shifts to the club's owners, Tom Hicks and George Gillett, for not providing their manager with the requisite financial support.
Culpability, though, must be shared. Benítez has only been able to spend what he has raised, but his decision not to cash in on the likes of Andriy Voronin and Andrea Dossena has deprived his side of the infusion of quality it needed.
2 The missing midfield
One player who was sold this summer, Alonso, has achieved by leaving what he failed to do during his five years on Merseyside: demolishing the myth of Liverpool as a two-man team.
For half a decade, Alonso was Liverpool's secret heartbeat, dictating the pace and tempo of their play. Few noticed, preferring instead to highlight the contributions of Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres, perpetuating the idea that without their strike duo, Liverpool would struggle. As soon as Alonso left, though, the obituaries poured in, stating that Benítez's two-man team would be bereft without the Basque.
The Liverpool manager is right to suggest that how keenly Alonso's departure will be felt can only be judged when Aquilani is fit. There remains the possibility that by the time he is, though, too much ground may have been lost in the title race.
3 The missing midfielder
Before Aquilani appears, Liverpool must learn to live within their means. Benítez's side have yet to adapt their style to deal with life after Alonso.
Lucas Leiva, much-maligned and much-improved, has borne the brunt of the criticism, but in truth the Brazilian international has been among Liverpool's best players in the nascent campaign. The problem is more one of structure than personnel.
Like his midfield partner, Javier Mascherano, Lucas is used to playing deep, coming short for his defenders to pick up the ball and begin attacks. Lacking the passing range of Alonso, though, he has found himself playing sideways more often than forward, a situation exacerbated by Gerrard seemingly fitting in against Aston Villa as an auxiliary striker.
Feeling the heat: Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard experienced a tough summer and it could be an explanation for his slow start to the new season
4 Steven Gerrard
The Liverpool captain is usually immune to criticism, but his performance against Aston Villa was among the worst he has produced under Benítez. All players are entitled to off nights and it is testament to Gerrard's consistency that his lows are so noticeable.
His display, though, brought back memories of Basle in 2002, when the midfielder was substituted at half-time after a listless showing which he has since admitted was due to personal problems. The parallels with a sluggish start to this season are obvious.
Gerrard has had a difficult summer, and it would be understandable if the stress of his trial has affected his performances. That there is nobody available to take the weight of expectation from him is an indictment of Liverpool's strength in depth.
5 Set-pieces & Zonal marking
Benítez, whenever he chooses to leave England, is unlikely to want to hear the words 'zonal marking' ever again. The statistics over the last five years prove that the manager's favoured system is no more or less flawed than man-to-man marking, yet there is room for concern that all five of the goals conceded by the Spaniard's team this season have come from set pieces.Little or nothing could be done about Ashley Young's penalty, Lucas's own goal or Benoit Assou-Ekotto's thunderbolt, of course, but the fact the fouls central to each goal were unnecessarily conceded means all three were thoroughly avoidable.Benítez has built his success on a sound defence but his side have now looked vulnerable from set pieces for more than a year. Zonal marking may or may not be to blame, but the Spaniard is open to criticism until he finds a solution.
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Originally posted by kopiosatu:
maybe its time for benitez to play the playerrs in their usual positions
gerrard partners mascherano in the middle
left and right wings will be taken by riera and benayoun
and kuyt + torres can go up front.
This is a good and effective line up.
But knowing Rafa, he likes to be too creative and won't stick to boring line ups.
Yes, he needs to slot Lucas somewhere in there too.
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liverpool currently have one problem. it's rafa benitez
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im still adjusting myself.. we might see more defeats
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i guess we'll...
tottenham, aston villa, man city are clubs who are moving forward at a rapid speed.
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I think Pool's owners need to change Rafa... I don't know whats it is, its quite hard to pin-point where the problem is... But whenever Rafa speaks, the players like cannot perform... or they get nervous or something...
And the players he brings to the club... To date, I think only Torres & Alonso will go down as good Rafa buys in all these last 5 over years... And its not to say he didn't have money to spend... It was reported he has spent as much as United... But the Ronaldo sale will bring that sum down a lot from United's point. He is lucky he had Gerrard and Carragher there all along...
But their next few games are more easier ones so at least it will be a good time to regroup and get things right again...
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no no, it's not just rafa's ways that doesnt suit. the yanks too. the yanks did more damage in fact
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Originally posted by zocoss:
I think Pool's owners need to change Rafa... I don't know whats it is, its quite hard to pin-point where the problem is... But whenever Rafa speaks, the players like cannot perform... or they get nervous or something...
And the players he brings to the club... To date, I think only Torres & Alonso will go down as good Rafa buys in all these last 5 over years... And its not to say he didn't have money to spend... It was reported he has spent as much as United... But the Ronaldo sale will bring that sum down a lot from United's point. He is lucky he had Gerrard and Carragher there all along...
But their next few games are more easier ones so at least it will be a good time to regroup and get things right again...
i will add in mascherano into torres and alonso's group as well. ppl like dirk, lucas, dossena are ?.? to me
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Originally posted by zocoss:
I think Pool's owners need to change Rafa... I don't know whats it is, its quite hard to pin-point where the problem is... But whenever Rafa speaks, the players like cannot perform... or they get nervous or something...
And the players he brings to the club... To date, I think only Torres & Alonso will go down as good Rafa buys in all these last 5 over years... And its not to say he didn't have money to spend... It was reported he has spent as much as United... But the Ronaldo sale will bring that sum down a lot from United's point. He is lucky he had Gerrard and Carragher there all along...
But their next few games are more easier ones so at least it will be a good time to regroup and get things right again...
He likes to pay less for more players instead of just focusing on 1 or 2 top quaility buys.
I suspect he is a shopoholic in this sense.
He just wants to buy and buy players.
And when they are played sporadically and don't perform, they are sold off/loaned to other clubs etc.
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But Lucas is the special case though.
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Actually, I feel the fans shouldn't blame the yanks... Its rather unfair cos its really not their fault how I see it... They have given Rafa a lot more say on how the club is run, Rafa has spent more money since they took over compare to before they came... And they don't get involve with team selections as well... That why Lucas keeps playing... lol.
Its always easy to blame the people you don't like but we have to be realistic here... Like i see one Pool fan said... The strategy, the backroom personal, the coaches, the player selection all he controls... So I guess the buck has to stop at Rafa's door lor.
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Originally posted by charlize:
But Lucas is the special case though.
Well, maybe there is something special about Lucas...This Lucas is fast becoming like Arsenal's Cygan... United's Richardson... and Chelsea's... Hey Chelsea don't have one their own fans don't like... lol
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Originally posted by charlize:
This is a good and effective line up.
But knowing Rafa, he likes to be too creative and won't stick to boring line ups.
Yes, he needs to slot Lucas somewhere in there too.
ball picker is a position too right?
or maybe the fella selling shrimp sandwiches to the fans...
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kuyt is still ok to me
i rather have a fella who has no talent but causing disruption to the other team
than to have a supposedly talented fella who doesn't help the team at all (babel)
but kuyt is already playing out of position... so if there is any other place i would like to see him in, its his original position.
torres can be lazy and attack occasionally, let kuyt chase all the defenders down.