By: Steve McMahon
Thursday August 30, 2007
With the dust settling on Liverpool's excellent Champions League defeat of Toulouse, not to mention their handy start to the BPL campaign, I can't help but wonder how Rafa Benitez is going to keep everyone of his strikers happy.
Peter Crouch, Dirk Kuyt, Andriy Voronin and Fernando Torres have already shone at some point this season, and there’s little doubt that Rafa now has a fine balancing act to do if he is to maintain the peace.
Crouch has already said about the size of Liverpool's squad and the potential difficulties faced when players miss out on some games and play in others. There's little doubt that it's a problem.
As a former professional footballer, I know that I wouldn't be happy being in the team one minute and then on the bench the next, there's just no consistency to it and that's what the annoying thing is.
Let's face it, if you're a decent professional you want to play every single week, but now it seems to be all about squad rotation - it's something that I have never and will never buy into. I believe that a manager should always, in general, play his best team.
Even with Liverpool going strong on all fronts whilst playing with their starting eleven, I think that Rafa has a priority and that's the Premier League.
In the past few years he has been really focusing on winning in Europe, but now he realises that the BPL really is the one and Rafa seems determined this year to give it a good go.
It's now 18 years since Liverpool won the title in 1990. I was in the team then, and for a club of Liverpool's size to have to wait that long to win England's most prized trophy is simply not good enough. Hopefully this time around, they can make a real fight of it.
Of course, one of the reasons why Liverpool have failed to maintain their winning ways is the massive influx of money the game in England has seen. Manchester United and Chelsea have both spent loads of cash to get their momentum going and have since reaped the benefits.
At last though, after several seasons when the playing field was far from even, things are starting to get on a more equal footing. Other teams in England, and Liverpool are one, are seeing money being spent on them, and it's made the whole thing a lot closer to call.
Getting back to Liverpool and the Champions League, I can see all of England's representatives doing well in the competition this season, and for me that's a reflection of how strong the BPL is.
In short, it's the best league in the world.
There's nothing to match it for the excitement, for the pure adrenalin rush and skill levels that you get. I know that both Spanish and Italian football are more than decent, but for pure entertainment you really can't beat what's on offer in England.
I can't wait for the next slice of action this weekend!
Thursday August 30, 2007
With the dust settling on Liverpool's excellent Champions League defeat of Toulouse, not to mention their handy start to the BPL campaign, I can't help but wonder how Rafa Benitez is going to keep everyone of his strikers happy.
Peter Crouch, Dirk Kuyt, Andriy Voronin and Fernando Torres have already shone at some point this season, and there’s little doubt that Rafa now has a fine balancing act to do if he is to maintain the peace.
Crouch has already said about the size of Liverpool's squad and the potential difficulties faced when players miss out on some games and play in others. There's little doubt that it's a problem.
As a former professional footballer, I know that I wouldn't be happy being in the team one minute and then on the bench the next, there's just no consistency to it and that's what the annoying thing is.
Let's face it, if you're a decent professional you want to play every single week, but now it seems to be all about squad rotation - it's something that I have never and will never buy into. I believe that a manager should always, in general, play his best team.
Even with Liverpool going strong on all fronts whilst playing with their starting eleven, I think that Rafa has a priority and that's the Premier League.
In the past few years he has been really focusing on winning in Europe, but now he realises that the BPL really is the one and Rafa seems determined this year to give it a good go.
It's now 18 years since Liverpool won the title in 1990. I was in the team then, and for a club of Liverpool's size to have to wait that long to win England's most prized trophy is simply not good enough. Hopefully this time around, they can make a real fight of it.
Of course, one of the reasons why Liverpool have failed to maintain their winning ways is the massive influx of money the game in England has seen. Manchester United and Chelsea have both spent loads of cash to get their momentum going and have since reaped the benefits.
At last though, after several seasons when the playing field was far from even, things are starting to get on a more equal footing. Other teams in England, and Liverpool are one, are seeing money being spent on them, and it's made the whole thing a lot closer to call.
Getting back to Liverpool and the Champions League, I can see all of England's representatives doing well in the competition this season, and for me that's a reflection of how strong the BPL is.
In short, it's the best league in the world.
There's nothing to match it for the excitement, for the pure adrenalin rush and skill levels that you get. I know that both Spanish and Italian football are more than decent, but for pure entertainment you really can't beat what's on offer in England.
I can't wait for the next slice of action this weekend!
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