Half-term report: Not bad, but need to do better

redeagle · Jan 6, 2008

Half-term report: Not bad, but need to do better
6th January 2008

It says a lot about expectations at Liverpool, and the requirements for the remainder of the season, that two wins and two draws over the holiday period, from two home games and two away, is seen as some kind of disaster. I remember when averaging two points a game was what you aimed for.

And now there’s more talk of BenÃtez being a “dead man walking”. The atmosphere, and the pressure, surrounding the club is starting to make it seem impossible to succeed, with its undermining influence ** unless some kind of siege mentality can be summoned. Any poor result has the spectre of a larger failure looming, and that’s only going to prove detrimental.

Jurgen Klinsmann ** a great player ** is again being liked with Rafa’s job, but what has he done as a coach/manager? Really, it baffles me to see him linked with top jobs.

I thought top clubs had moved away from appointing figurehead players as managers? Klinsmann took Germany to the semi-finals of the World Cup. But he did so on German soil, with the fans behind the team. Even England make the semi-finals of tournaments held in this country; South Korea did the same on home soil. How does a career of managing half a dozen competitive games (as Germany were automatically at the Finals) qualify Klinsmann for a job like managing Liverpool?

What is he like at buying players? What are his tactics? How does he man-manage? Does he stick around long, especially when the going gets tough? There is a gulf of difference between BenÃtez’s proven knowledge and ability and some rookie who’s done virtually nothing in the job, and never managed a club. He could be great, and he certainly has charisma, but where’s the evidence he can manage a top club? I know this is only paper talk, but if there is even 0.01% of truth in it, I’ll despair.

There’s a lot of doom and gloom around, and it’s understandable; another year without a title challenge ** or so it seems. I think the Reds can get back in amongst the title race with a few wins on the spin, but not to the point where a real challenge can be made; there’s just no margin for error, and hasn’t been for a few weeks now.

All of the top teams had bad games over Christmas, but United sneaked one more point from their four matches, despite a deserved defeat at West Ham and a poor home performance against Birmingham. And Chelsea got the kind of luck, with Kalou’s offside goal, that Liverpool were not blessed with.

The Reds deserved to win all four games based on possession and clear-cut chances, although the Derby and Wigan displays were clearly substandard. The Reds could have used more luck, but also more inspiration. Having been leading, the Wigan game felt more like a defeat.

These days, drawing against teams like Wigan and Birmingham is as bad as it gets at Anfield; it’s not great, obviously, but prior to BenÃtez arriving, the Reds lost home games to Bradford, Watford, Charlton, Manchester City, Southampton and Leicester, and to some of those teams on more than one occasion. I’m not suggesting that by not being as bad as that, the Reds are therefore ‘great’, but it’s worth remembering those true low points all the same. These days, only the top sides come away with all three points.

BenÃtez’s team performed much, much better away at Man City, in the most one-sided 0-0 draw in history. I think it was the first ever time I’ve ever seen a supposed top side defend like that at home: acting like they were a Conference side with the bus parked in front of the goal, but still offering some kind of implied threat, with a lot of pace to hit on the counter.

I wrote a lot about Rafa’s tactics and methods in Above Us Only Sky, and nothing has really changed my opinion: while Arsenal, Chelsea and United may do things differently, there’s nothing inherently wrong with how Rafa works based on the examples I discussed. Two years ago Ferguson had “lost the plot”, and Wenger has also had a lot of criticism for not altering his thinking on certain issues, but once a team starts winning again, it all gets forgotten. (Maybe psychology and motivation are areas where the Reds could improve.)....
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read more here

http://www.paultomkins.com/blog.html

some interesting points.

IrishKop.com

Half-term report: Not bad, but need to do better

redeagle
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Half-term report: Not bad, but need to do better

redeagle Expand Collapse Well-Known Member

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redeagle
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