Gerrard: Benitez made mistakes
By Henry Winter
Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard has hailed Rafa Benitez as an "outstanding" manager, lauding the Spaniard's "clever" handling of Jose Mourinho's mind games and his "tactical masterstrokes" against Chelsea and Barcelona in Europe.
Gerrard does, however, highlight "mistakes" he believes Benitez made on the night that led to Craig Bellamy's golf-club attack on John Arne Riise in Portugal and during this year's Champions League final when he felt Peter Crouch should have come off the bench earlier. Steve Heighway's departure as Liverpool's Academy director also angered Gerrard.
One of the performances of last season came at the Nou Camp on Feb 21 when Liverpool tore into the then European champions. "Rafa's game plan was to shock Barcelona," Gerrard writes in the paperback update of his autobiography out next week. "Barcelona felt Liverpool would be really negative. Rafa did the opposite."
Benitez's command to his players was simple: "Go for the jugular." The Liverpool manager ordered his team to attack Barcelona down the flanks, and use Bellamy's pace to embarrass the hosts' centre-backs, Carles Puyol and Rafael Marquez. Bellamy and Riise both scored in a famous victory.
advertisementGerrard claims that the media fuss over Bellamy's spat with Riise "fuelled our motivation" to excel in the Nou Camp. Benitez had taken the players away to Portugal to prepare for Barcelona. "We worked so well, doing double sessions, that one day Rafa called us together and announced, 'because you are training so well, go out, and have a meal and enjoy yourself'," Gerrard writes. "The manager is big on team spirit and he thought a night out would do us good. 'But I want you all back by midnight', he added. I felt immediately that this was a bit of a mistake on Rafa's behalf. If the manager had just left the time open, the players would have come in at a sensible hour. We went out quite late, which meant we were always going to struggle to meet Rafa's deadline. He should have given us more leeway. The decision came back to haunt him.
"When the karaoke gets started, all sense gets drowned out. I was partly to blame." Gerrard, the captain, failed to order the players back to the hotel, and things began to get out of hand between Bellamy and Riise. "I did notice a bit of handbags between Riise and Bellamy, which led to a bigger incident later on when Bellamy hit Riise with a golf club," he writes.
Gerrard's admiration for Benitez grew the following morning when the Liverpool manager summoned the players together. He criticised everyone for not coming in on time. He then fined Bellamy and Riise, encouraging them to shake hands and move on. "Rafa was brilliant," Gerrard says. "The manager's handling of the situation was spot-on."
The Liverpool captain once observed that his aim in life was "to get a 'well done' off Rafa", but his manager's refusal to toss garlands around cannot mask his brilliance in setting up a team for a European tie. Barcelona were greeted with "another tactical masterstroke from Rafa" as Liverpool sat deep, stifling Ronaldinho and company. Eidur Gudjohnsen scored late on, but little was seen of Barcelona's vaunted attacking strength.
Liverpool's semi-final with Chelsea was preceded by a rare outburst from Benitez, attacking Mourinho's presumption that he was the 'Special One'. "Straight in. Bang. Take that, Jose. He went to town on Jose. By stating that Liverpool's fans were the real Special Ones, Rafa was being really clever."
The Kop was at its fervent best when Mourinho's men visited. "Chelsea walked into a wall of noise," Gerrard adds. "And a classic sting." Benitez had worked his players on a special free-kick routine, and when Gerrard cut a free-kick back to Daniel Agger, Chelsea were caught out.
"Rafa had really done his homework on Chelsea," Gerrard writes. "While watching tapes of them, we noticed that when defending set-pieces in wide areas, they backed off. If you piled a lot of bodies into the box, distracting John Terry, Ricardo Carvalho and Michael Essien, the pull-back was on. The manager drills us on dead-ball situations, day in, day out."
Agger's goal, and subsequent penalties, took Liverpool to the European Cup final against AC Milan. "Rafa came up with the right game-plan in Athens," recalls Gerrard, citing the manager's decision to swamp Milan's midfield with a 4-5-1 formation.
Liverpool fell behind despite dominating, and Gerrard writes: "In the second half, I expected some subs sharpish. I trust Rafa. The manager clearly had belief in the players who were on, but I was surprised Crouchy did not come on earlier. Not just Crouchy, any sub. We needed something different."
Liverpool lost and Gerrard admits he is "still numb" but he believes that with the new American owners - "classy guys with sharp business minds" - handing Benitez "the finance to strengthen, we can go from a good team to a great team"
As for Heighway, Gerrard observes that: "Steve is irreplaceable. No one works better with the kids from eight to 18.''
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