Apologies if it's been posted already but some very interesting reading: http://www.independent.ie/sport/soc...-not-helping-the-liverpool-cause-1665755.html Rafa Benitez is the Samuel Beckett of football, his peers torn between awe and distaste for his work. He seems destined to forever teeter on the line separating madness from genius, like a drunk on a high wire. In Europe, he is Rommel. In the Premier League, Captain Mainwaring. Rafa's Liverpool pass from certainty to confusion with almost practiced ease now. You can't trust them, but you can't quite disregard them either. This week, they play Real Madrid and Manchester United. They look set to evict the former from the Champions League and, barring an unlikely Old Trafford success, concede defeat in their domestic pursuit of the latter. This is Rafa's world, bad news always hard on the shoulder of good. He gets up peoples' noses because, sometimes, it's like he's playing Gandhi on the line. Liverpool could score a winning goal four minutes into added-time next Saturday and he'll still be like Charles Mitchell reading the 1960s news. Rafa doesn't do giddy. He is impetuous as a cloud. This self-control is interpreted by some as a badge of infinite wisdom, by others as little more than an actor's conceit. I know supporters who live in dread of the day he leaves Liverpool, others who would celebrate his departure like a lotto win. That's what he does to his congregation, he divides them. Tingles For every one who still tingles with memories of the '05 Champions League final and the '06 FA Cup final, there's another who carps that Rafa's tactics gave AC Milan a head-start of three goals and West Ham a head start of two. It's as if he accidentally set a blaze, only to rescue a sleeping baby from the burning building. Rafa worships function. When he was a kid, you suspect he must have read a lot, played with train sets and been scrupulously well behaved. If he played Subutteo, he'd have put everything back in the box without a parent's nagging. There is something of the puritan in him. If he has committed sins in his life, I doubt they'll draw the wrath of St Peter. Rafa's crimes -- you just know -- would be of fashion, not passion. His teams reflect that. The current cliche is that he doesn't trust flair and there is evidence to sustain it. It seems to me that the first thing Liverpool do when they buy a winger is tie him into a system. They school him in defence. You almost have to go back to Steve Heighway for the last Anfield wide-man to skin a visiting full-back. Alex Ferguson, by comparison, empowers his wingers. From Kanchelskis to Giggs to Ronaldo, he has a history of offering them licence for boldness in possession. At United, a winger is given freedom. At Liverpool, he is given a zone to defend. This difference in philosophy feeds the sense that Benitez's natural caution is stifling Liverpool; that their play is just a grim, industrial grind, while United's shines as the quintessence of ambition and beauty. This, of course, overlooks one small detail. Benitez and Ferguson don't shop in the same places. How could they? Whether or not Fernando Torres plays at Old Trafford next Saturday, the three most expensive players on the field will all be in United shirts. Indeed, two of them, Rio Ferdinand (£30m) and Dimitar Berbatov (£31m), cost the kind of money that Liverpool have never countenanced spending on a single player. Eight years ago, Ferguson was paying the kind of money for a striker (Ruud van Nistelrooy) that Liverpool paid for Torres five seasons later. United spent £28m on Juan Sebastian Veron that same summer. Veron's fee made him the most expensive footballer in English football history. The following year, Ferdinand was signed as the world's most expensive defender. In 2007, Ferguson's summer spending rose close to £50m for three players, Anderson, Nani and Owen Hargreaves, none of whom have yet to be conspicuously successful. True, United reaped a wonderful harvest from the '92 FA Youth Cup-winning team but, by and large, they spend on an entirely different level to Liverpool. And good luck to them. They can afford to with regular home attendance figures that run 30,000 higher than what Anfield can accommodate. I read a statistic recently that, if United eventually conclude a permanent deal for Carlos Tevez, the full cost of their current squad will stand at £226m. Liverpool's stands at £127m, less -- incidentally -- than either Manchester City or Spurs. No question, Benitez has made some risible buys. And his treatment of Robbie Keane spoke of a graceless obstinacy that many will be only too happy to see backfire before season's end. Latterly, too, he seems to spend much of his time playing internal politics while his team just wheezes and splutters. And his mid-season outburst against Ferguson seemed about as wise as prodding a sleeping cobra with a toothpick. But, as United prepare for Liverpool's visit next Saturday, bear in mind that they paid pretty much the same for Michael Carrick that Rafa paid for Torres. What Fergie wants, he gets. What Rafa seeks, he goes to war for. He may be eccentric, complex and, routinely, infuriating. But, even grappling with delinquent owners, Benitez today is also the man most likely to wrest the Champions League trophy from United. Maybe, like Beckett, it will take the long lens of history to give him his due.
It is a good article and it is true that Rafa could be the main man in Europe to stop United (although surely Barca have to be considered too) but the point about the wingers being trained mostly on defending shouldnt be over looked - babel is a good example - i remember an article with him early in his career with us and he was saying how rafa had just coached him on positions he should take up when the opposition ahd the ball and coached him on defending which he ahd never really done before in Holland - perhaps his attacking play has suffered because of such coaching!
That would also explain Rafas disinterest in buying a right winger. Kuyt has no natural attacking ability in him therefore will never be caught bombing up the touchline or be caught out of position as his main job is stop the opposition and attack when he can.
Good article but just to be pedantic i didnt like this bit-"You almost have to go back to Steve Heighway to find the last Anfield winger to skin a visiting full back".I take his point but HELLO - Digger ****ing Barnes!.......and McManaman in fairness.
Or alternatively, Babel could just be crap!!!! He's had a few chances up front in the last few weeks where he definitely made no attempt to track back or had no zone to patrol. He was still rubbish!
Babel will come good, keep the faith! If it's any consolation Fulham spent £11.5M on Steve Marlet a few years back!
Absolutely agree with that!! I question Rafa's judgement every time I see him lose the ball. Then I watch Torres, Skrtel, Agger, Mascherano, Alonso and accept that he gets it right more often than wrong.
Great article. Strange to see it coming from the Indo. Clearly written by a fan of LFC but good to see a positive spin on Benitez for once.
And General what about when you see Dossena, Riera, Kuyt, Ngog or int he past when you saw any number of players really.....