Benitez – A Legend In The Making

Sorry for the long delay between blogs but sometimes sex, drugs and rock n roll gets in the way of my blogging. Anyway I’ve finally managed to climb down from the ceiling after our great Champions League quarter -final victory over the Gunners. What a magnificent match and yet another fantastic European night at Anfield on Tuesday, it was the best game that I’ve seen in years. Of course, it takes two great teams to play a great match and in that regard I think we have to salute Arsenal for more then playing their part. However, and despite the fact that it seems to have escaped the notice of most of the media, I thought it was pretty clear that the best team won in the end.

The majority of the media coverage before, during and after the game seemed to have been almost entirely focused on the Gunners and in some cases I felt they only stopped short of almost demanding an apology from us for daring to beat them. I would readily agree that Arsenal play a good brand of football that is very easy on the eye and I think it would be fair to say that we would be behind them in that regard, that’s not to say that we don’t play some decent football ourselves at times but as I alluded to in an earlier blog, I think Wenger tends to focus more on the art of the game while Rafa tends to focus more on the science.

So while their style of play may win them many admirers, you sometimes need a bit more then just pretty football to be successful in the big games that come around at the business end of the season. Qualities such as character, heart and bottle, and in those regards we are definitely ahead of the Gunners and I think this was clearly demonstrated over our recent trilogy of clashes with them.

Because I think if asked to give an honest opinion on which side played the better football overall in the three games, most people would say Arsenal. But if those same people were asked which of the sides worked harder, defended better and played more as a team, then I think most people would say Liverpool were the better side in each of these areas.

At the end of Tuesday’s game all Wenger could do was moan about the penalty his side weren’t awarded in the first game and while I would agree that it should have been a penalty, such things while very frustrating, happen to all teams over the course of a season and you’ve just got to put it behind you and get on with it.

The truth is that his side had about another two hours of football to play after this incident in which to get the job done and they failed to do so. Liverpool on the other hand, went behind in the tie on three occasions over the two legs but our players never let their heads drop and fought their way back each time and eventually deservedly won the tie by scoring 5 times with four excellent goals and one very well taken penalty.

But this is the kind of stuff that you just don’t read or hear in the media. It seems to me that as far as the vast majority of these clowns are concerned there are some people in the game, namely Ferguson and Wenger, who can never do anything wrong and there are others, such as Rafa Benitez, who can never do anything right and are rarely given any credit.

I know that when we Liverpool fans complain about such things people often accuse us of having a chip on our shoulders but I really don’t care about that crap because some of the anti-Liverpool and particularly the anti-Benitez stuff that I’ve seen in the British media almost since he joined the club, has been really quite shameful and at the very least incredibly unfair.

For example, we constantly hear these media morons spouting off this bullshit about why Rafa didn’t play Torres more during the season when the truth is that when fit, Torres has played more games for us this season then Ronaldo has played for the mancs. Then of course is the fact that when Ferguson decides to rest some of his players, it often gets referred to as him making “strategic changes” to his side but when Rafa does the same it suddenly gets referred to as “tinkering”.

My point is that this almost constant sniping and sneering by many members of the media towards Benitez is bang out of order and other top managers seem to be almost treated with kids gloves in comparison. I know some will say we should just ignore these media idiots but this kind of slanted coverage is not just unfair, but it can also really intensify the pressure on the bosses shoulders.

I suppose the fact that the mancs won the Premiership last season and are in a good position to retain it this season, and are (surprise, surprise) many peoples favourites to also win the Champions League as well, means that we will no doubt have to put up with Ferguson being spoken about with such reverence for a long time to come. However, he’s not the only one and Arsene Wenger also seems to enjoy the love and unwavering support of the media, most definitely in comparison to our boss, but in his case I find it a lot tougher to take because in my view any fair analysis of the two men shows that during his time in the English game, Benitez has proven to be the better manager.

I would certainly agree that Wenger has a great record at Arsenal in an overall context, but what the media seem to conveniently overlook is the fact that his record in recent years pales in comparison to our boss. When Rafa first arrived at Anfield, he inherited a pretty average squad of players from Gerrard Houllier but in contrast to this, Wenger had already enjoyed much success with a very strong established squad that he had spent years building. So I think its fair to say that he had a very big head-start on his Spanish counterpart.

However, in the four seasons since then Arsenal have gotten to two major finals but have won absolutely nothing, while Liverpool under Benitez have won 5 pieces of silverware including a Champions League and an FA Cup, and have also appeared in another Champions League final, a League Cup final, the World Club final and let‘s not forget we are still in with a strong shout of adding another Champions League to this collection this season.

Of course, Rafa also receives a lot of criticism because Liverpool haven’t as yet managed to seriously challenge for the Premiership since he’s been at Anfield, but even in this regard his record is at least equal to Wenger’s. In his first season with us, we finished 25 points behind Arsenal but the following season saw a remarkable turnaround and we finished 15 points above them. Last season, we dropped a lot of points in our last few league games because we were resting a lot of our players ahead of the CL final, but we still managed to finish ahead of them on goal difference, and this season we are currently 8 points behind them but the way they are going at the moment this gap could well get a lot closer.

Besides all of this, there is another couple of myths peddled in the media about Wenger, his record in the transfer market and his record at developing young players, that don’t really stand up too well under scrutiny. In regards to the transfer market, thanks to the big returns he managed to get by selling on players such as Anelka, Vieira and Henry etc over the years, its true that his net spending since he’s been at Arsenal is actually showing a profit, but who cares? Afterall, this is meant to be a football league not an accountancy league and I would much prefer to have silver in the trophy room rather then sitting in the bank.

Wenger does have a good record of identifying and bringing in some excellent young talent to Arsenal but his record at bringing in established players for his first team, isn’t anywhere near as good. Rafa has signed a few dud’s in his time at Anfield but these were relatively inexpensive signing that were shipped out quickly and in almost all cases made a profit. But Wenger has signed a fair few duds of his own and spent a vast fortune on players such as Wiltord, Jeffers and Reyes etc, who all turned out to be expensive flops. Yet another fact that seems to have been conveniently swept under the carpet by the media.

Then we come to the current young Arsenal side that he has developed and that has brought him almost universal praise. Don’t get me wrong, I think he deserves a lot of credit for his young side and the quality of football that they play but what I find quite annoying is that Rafa has also done an awful lot of excellent work in this area but so far, his efforts have been almost totally ignored.

In terms of the average age of the current Gunners side, I think its interesting to note that had Sami Hyypia not played in our recent games against them, then the average age of our side would have been only marginally higher then theirs. And if there are games where Carra and Sami aren’t in our side, which is quite a likely scenario next season, then the average age of our first team is actually lower then theirs.

But it doesn’t end there. Outside of the first team, during Rafa’s time at Anfield, Liverpool have won the FA Youth Cup two years in a row, a few weeks ago our young reserves went to America and won the Dallas Cup and earlier this week they won the reserves league for the first time in about 20 years. Recently we saw Plessis as the first of this collection of young players, making his first team debut and there are at least another 5 or 6 of these players that will be almost certainly challenging for a place in our first team over the next season or two. But while Wenger enjoys an almost unending stream of praise for his work with young players, Benitez’s efforts have so far gone entirely unrecognised.

So I think if you put aside the love affair the media seem to be having with the Gunners boss and judge both men purely on their records and their achievements over the last 4 seasons, I think its very clear that Benitez is way ahead of Wenger. But of course the facts that I’ve written in this blog, don’t get written in the newspapers and don’t get spoken of on TV, because the media is full of hypocrites, too lazy or just too plain stupid to report them.

It’s not that I expect these dickheads to suddenly start throwing roses at our boss, its just that I think it’s a shame that almost none of them have the decency to give him a little bit of credit. Whatever about his achievements in past seasons, this season he was under the most intense pressure both on and off the pitch before Christmas and considering the ongoing turmoil at the club and the disgraceful behaviour of our two idiot owners, I think it is a remarkable achievement that he has managed to turn things around and take us back into the driving seat for fourth place and into the semi-finals of the Champions League.

A lesser manager may well have crumbled in such circumstances, but Benitez is a bit special and if anything, he seems to thrive on pressure. So while these reporters and so-called “experts” always manage to piss me off with their inane and often misinformed opinions, I am content in the knowledge that Rafa will have the last laugh because while the media sneers, The Kop cheers, and that’s the place where Legends are made!

Anyway I’ve rambled on for long enough so just a quick word on tomorrow’s game. I was very happy to see our little neighbours drawing with Birmingham and this gives us an opportunity to once again open up a 5 point gap on them if we can get a win against Blackburn tomorrow. I think the team Rafa selects for the game will largely depend on how well our players have recovered from our tough Champions League victory last Tuesday. Ideally I think he might want to return to the formation that has served us so well recently and bring in Lucas or maybe even Plessis to replace the suspended Mascherano. Anyway, I think we should be playing with confidence and we should be too much for Blackburn at Anfield, so my money’s on a 2-0 win.

Keep the Faith

Written by Gerry on April 13th

http://www.thisisanfield.com/kopblog/#164

Haven’t We Been Here Before?

As Fulham are scrapping for their lives at the bottom of the table, I expected they would give us a fairly tough time on Saturday but as things turned out, it was a very comfortable win for our second string and for a lot of the game it seemed like little more then a training session for them. I think its time for the FA to start introducing drug tests for managers as well as players, because their boss Roy Hodgson stating afterwards that Fulham had matched Liverpool for the majority of the game had me thinking that he must have been smoking a bit of wacky backy.

It’s difficult to say too much about the game because it was pretty easy for us and we weren‘t really tested. The team all played well, a great goal by Peanut, nice to see Crouchy scoring another, good performance by Lucas and man of the match Mascherano, that’s about it really. The best thing about the game is that the win has all but sown up fourth place for us and we managed to pick up the points while resting 7 or 8 of the players that are likely to start in the first leg of our Champions League semi-final with CSKA London at Anfield on Tuesday.

Semi-finals between ourselves and the chavs are almost becoming regular annual events, just like the Eurovision Song Contest, the Grand National or Gary Neville’s bath day. This will be the fourth major cup semi between the sides in four years and the third in the CL. We’ve won all the previous games and I don’t see why this one should be any different.

Both sides are having a few problems off the pitch at the moment. Of course, we have our problems with our idiot owners and I hope Tom Thicks decision to attend tomorrow nights game doesn’t act as a distraction for our supporters. But the chavs have a few problems of their own and their manager Fester Grant is under immense pressure amidst strong rumours of unrest in their dressing room. It’s a strange situation considering they made it to the League Cup final, have put in a decent challenge for the Premiership and have made the semi’s of the CL, but if we beat them in this tie, Fester will almost certainly be out of a job, tough shit Fester.

Having the second leg at Anfield has served us well in the past but even though we have to play the second leg at Stamford Bridge on this occasion, I still fancy us to beat them again. As ever, they will no doubt be a tough nut to crack and its sure to be a very tight couple of games. They are strong physically, sound defensively and with Drogba, Anelka and Cole etc, they’ve got a pretty decent attack and although that may sound a bit daunting, its worth remembering that this is essentially the same side that we have beaten in our previous encounters.

I’m not dismissing them by any means, but we have got the better of them over two legs in the past and while their side has pretty much remained the same, ours has been improving all the time. In recent months our newer players have adapted and blended in well to the team, we have found a formation that is working well for us and suits the players, and, with the exception of the manc game, we have been playing the best football we have ever played under Rafa. So there’s no reason why we shouldn’t go into this tie with plenty of confidence.

I reckon the boss will revert back to his preferred line-up of Reina, Carra, Hyypia, Skrtel, Aurelio, Kuyt, Masch, Alonso, Babel, Gerrard and Torres, and keep Crouch on the bench should we need him. The problem with having the first leg at home is that we won’t be able to be too adventurous for fear of conceding an away goal but it would be certainly useful for us to carry a lead into the second leg.

I think they will be worried about Torres and perhaps the pace of Babel, which may lead to us getting a few free-kicks around their area and this might prove to be our best avenue for goals. If we pick up a goal or two from a dead-ball or even a penalty, I’ll be well pleased. So with my fingers, toes and everything else crossed, my money’s on a 2-0 win for The Reds.

Keep the Faith

Written by Gerry on April 22nd, 2008

http://www.thisisanfield.com/kopblog/#164

Down, But By No Means Out!

Maybe I’m in the minority, but while I was very disappointed with the manner of our 1-1 draw with CSKA London in the first leg of our Champions League semi-final at Anfield on Tuesday, I can’t say that I am as devastated by it as some fans seem to be.

Some of the fans that I’ve met since the game seemed to be so depressed by the result that it forced to rethink my logic in case I had missed something, but even after that rethink I still find myself very much of the opinion that while we may be down, we are by no means out of this tie and I am still very optimistic about our chances of getting to the final in Moscow.

Before I get to that, a word on John Arne Riise. Regular readers of this blog will be aware that Riise has often frustrated the hell out of me at times this season and I think he will move on in the summer. That said, I felt a little sorry for him on Tuesday. It was a bloody stupid decision for him to try to head a ball away that he could have easily cleared with his right foot, and it undid a lot of good work by the team, but sometimes shit happens!(click here)

Own goals are always real sickeners, just as they have been in the past when players such as Gerrard, Carra and Hyypia have all been unlucky enough to score at the wrong end. Riise’s OG was doubly disappointing given the timing of it and the importance of the game but I think at the final whistle it was clear to see that there was no-one more devastated by it then the lad himself. Some of the stuff I’ve heard said about him since then has been a little over the top and unnecessary in my opinion.

While his career as a Liverpool player may be coming to an end, let’s not forget that he has given the club many years of great service and scored many great goals for us, including his famous thunderbolt against the mancs that inspired one of our most famous songs. With Aurelio out of the second leg it seems extremely likely that Riise will take his place, but he has huge big game experience and I’m sure he won’t let anyone down. I think it would be a delicious irony if he manages to get us a goal in the game and I wouldn’t bet against it, so let’s give the guy a break.

I was actually very disappointed even before the OG went in because I felt we were heading for a 1-0 win when we really could and should have been at least 3 goals ahead given the amount of chances we had in the game. Particularly in the first 20-25 minutes of the second half when we really had them on the rack and they were there for the taking. Had we put away some of those chances then Riise’s OG wouldn’t have been as significant, so maybe he is not the only one that we should be frustrated with.

I don’t want to seem to be too flippant about things, but we could waste our energy moaning about bad luck, Riises OG, Drogba’s shameful performance or the inept referee who let him away with it and seemed to turn a blind eye to a lot of their fouls throughout the game, but lets leave that stuff to the Arsene Wengers of this world. The beauty of these Champions League games is that they are played over two legs, so while we may be frustrated with some of these things from the first leg, we’ve got another 90 minutes to put things right and I believe that we will.

I’ve heard some people say that we have a mountain to climb in the second leg, but that kind of talk really makes me laugh, for a couple of reasons. Firstly, when it comes to climbing mountains, we are surely the Edmund Hillary of the football world. While there’s no doubt Istanbul was our Everest, there have been many, many more mountains put in our path and successfully traversed by us for as far back as I can remember, in fact it could be said that we specialise in them and we would certainly be undaunted at the prospect of facing another one.

Secondly, and perhaps most importantly, is the fact that while I accept that we face a difficult task in our game next Wednesday, in comparison to the many other mountains we have climbed over the years, I would consider our trip to Stamford Bridge with a 1-1 score-line to be little more then a mole hill. It’s not that I’m over confident about our prospects in the game, its just that I’ve seen us come back from far worse situations over the years.

A lot has been made about the chavs unbeaten home record and that under Rafa, we have failed to win nor even score a goal there, but the only interesting thing that I find about those stats is the fact that they will count for absolutely nothing when we face them next week. In our previous visits there our primary goal was not to lose and if a draw could be achieved it was seen as a good result. This time its different and not only because we’ve got Fernando Torres with us now, but also because this is the first time we will go there knowing that we must score to achieve a win or at least a high-scoring draw to progress to the final.

As I said before our second leg tie with Arsenal in the last round, I think a 1-1 score-line can be a tricky one for the home side. I say this because we will be going there looking for at least one goal and even if the chavs score first, our task will essentially remain the same, but if it should work out that we score first then that will immediately swing the tie in our favour and they will be the side under pressure.

There is also the fact that the chavs have a must-win game against the mancs tomorrow, while we travel to Birmingham and can afford to rest practically our whole side ahead of the second leg. But besides all of these things, I think the biggest ace we have up our sleeves is the fact that while the chavs may have the advantage going into Wednesday’s game, we have a manager who is the most brilliant mind in European football. Opposing fans may sneer at this claim but his record in European competition both at Liverpool and at Valencia, speaks for itself and I fancy him to find a way to turn the tables in this tie.

I’m sure CSKA London will try to create an intimidating atmosphere at the Bridge by putting out their little plastic blue flags on the seats as they’ve done before, but they’ve got no chance and I’m sure it won’t be long before the Reds fans take the place over. But it won’t be just the fans taking over the Bridge, I think the players have a good chance of doing the same. We were by far the better side in the last game and there’s no reason why we won’t be again on Wednesday, and I think if we get half the chances we got last Tuesday we’ll take at least a couple of them. We can do this, we will do this, believe it!

Keep the Faith

Written by Gerry on April 25th, 2008

http://www.thisisanfield.com/kopblog/#164