Clearly this fat little **** has something against Benitez...
Kop boss is masterminding Dalglish-like challenge for title
By CHRIS BASCOMBE, 27/12/2008
IF LIVERPOOL win the league, nostalgic recollections of Kenny Dalglish holding aloft the Premier League trophy at Anfield will be inescapable.
It was the Kop legend who was in charge when Liverpool lost won the title back in 1990.
But a title surge for Rafa Benitez’s team will have more in common with the Dalglish of Blackburn Rovers — when he expertly guided a ruthlessly efficient but unspectacular side to glory in 1995 – claiming a last-day triumph on Merseyside.
The parallels are evident. A couple of expensively assembled world-class performers and home-grown superstars are elevating the levels of several undistinguished fellow team-mates.
Strengths are overpowering lingering flaws.
While title rivals Manchester United claim all the plaudits, Liverpool continue to plot a path to glory which favours substance over style. United are the side which finds the route to winning easiest. Liverpool’s cautious approach means they’re tougher to beat.
Methodical rather than thrilling: that’s Benitez's Liverpool.
Opponents aren’t scouted for weakness, they’re examined as if in a laboratory.
Rafa has taken the science of football management to an extreme, where even his most passionate admirers condense the beauty of the game into statistics and visual splendour surrenders to getting the job done.
To Rafa’s loyal followers, the art of ‘winning ugly’ is a term of endearment.
It may shortly define an entire football philosophy should Liverpool claim the title.
Perhaps that’s why the neutrals remain cautious of Anfield’s latest new dawn.
By their nature, Liverpool are a complex side which can succeed or fail against any team of any standard.
In mastering the ability to ‘just do enough’, Liverpool will overcome Chelsea at Stamford Bridge but struggle to cut through Stoke, Fulham or West Ham at Anfield.
The qualities which can convince one week can frustrate the next.
You’d fancy them strongly to beat Real Madrid in the Champions League, but wouldn’t bet against defeat to Preston in the FA Cup.
Should Benitez’s side maintain their patchy yet mostly winning formula, treading an awkward path through the league’s sludge of mediocrity while nicking wins against the nearest rivals, the predicted implosion won’t happen.
And for all the negativity which remains, some of it justified, the positive contributions must not be overlooked.
Liverpool’s trump card may be how underestimated they remain.
Steven Gerrard has been the league’s most dynamic performer so far, while Xabi Alonso has put behind summer troubles to find the most consistent spell of his career.
Jamie Carragher is also back to his best, and after living in the shadow of Petr Cech for three seasons, Pepe Reina must surely now rank as the Premier League’s number one, number one.
They have been the foundations for Liverpool’s pre-Christmas surge, and it’s to their credit a campaign played largely without Fernando Torres, and with Javier Mascherano a shadow of his former self, has not been de-railed.
Rafa already knows a challenge won’t be sustained without action in the January market. His side has ground out results despite his massive summer outlay, not because of it.
Left-backs Andrea Dossena and Phillip Degen have been described as ‘disastrous’ purchases.
Rookie striker David N’gog has presented no case for his promotion as a back-up goalscorer in Torres’ absence.
And then there’s the dilemma when Spurs make their anticipated bid to re-sign Robbie Keane.
Despite claiming he’s not planning to sell the £20million man, so unconvinced is Rafa that the Irishman will ever fit into to his system, the compulsion to offload will be irresistible.
The funds would instantly be ploughed back into his squad, ensuring Liverpool head into the second half of the campaign stronger than they began it.
Benitez must also hope the title-challenging form on the pitch continues to be assisted by boardroom truces off it.
On the surface, Anfield should be a picture of serenity as the club satisfies itself with an all-too-rare, prolonged title assault. Rafa has already beaten United and Chelsea, convinced his owners to back him rather than sack him and engineered the first genuine Merseyside title bid for six years.
But scratch a little and there remains the fear bubbling tensions will spill over at any given moment.
It will take little more than a careless utterance in a Press conference, a disagreement over transfer policy, a bank calling in its debts, or another misplaced Yankee soundbite for the dirty linen to be back on display.
Craving
You can’t step inside Melwood without trampling on an egg shell.
Anfield has become consumed by its hysterical craving for its Holy Grail and that could yet be the club’s downfall.
It remains a political landmine, giving Chelsea and Manchester United hope the merest slip will ensure Liverpool self-destruct in the second half of the season.
Liverpool haven’t yet exorcised the demons infesting the club. Keeping them at bay until Christmas represents real progress. If peace and goodwill can last just six more months, the ultimate prize could follow.
Kop boss is masterminding Dalglish-like challenge for title
By CHRIS BASCOMBE, 27/12/2008
IF LIVERPOOL win the league, nostalgic recollections of Kenny Dalglish holding aloft the Premier League trophy at Anfield will be inescapable.
It was the Kop legend who was in charge when Liverpool lost won the title back in 1990.
But a title surge for Rafa Benitez’s team will have more in common with the Dalglish of Blackburn Rovers — when he expertly guided a ruthlessly efficient but unspectacular side to glory in 1995 – claiming a last-day triumph on Merseyside.
The parallels are evident. A couple of expensively assembled world-class performers and home-grown superstars are elevating the levels of several undistinguished fellow team-mates.
Strengths are overpowering lingering flaws.
While title rivals Manchester United claim all the plaudits, Liverpool continue to plot a path to glory which favours substance over style. United are the side which finds the route to winning easiest. Liverpool’s cautious approach means they’re tougher to beat.
Methodical rather than thrilling: that’s Benitez's Liverpool.
Opponents aren’t scouted for weakness, they’re examined as if in a laboratory.
Rafa has taken the science of football management to an extreme, where even his most passionate admirers condense the beauty of the game into statistics and visual splendour surrenders to getting the job done.
To Rafa’s loyal followers, the art of ‘winning ugly’ is a term of endearment.
It may shortly define an entire football philosophy should Liverpool claim the title.
Perhaps that’s why the neutrals remain cautious of Anfield’s latest new dawn.
By their nature, Liverpool are a complex side which can succeed or fail against any team of any standard.
In mastering the ability to ‘just do enough’, Liverpool will overcome Chelsea at Stamford Bridge but struggle to cut through Stoke, Fulham or West Ham at Anfield.
The qualities which can convince one week can frustrate the next.
You’d fancy them strongly to beat Real Madrid in the Champions League, but wouldn’t bet against defeat to Preston in the FA Cup.
Should Benitez’s side maintain their patchy yet mostly winning formula, treading an awkward path through the league’s sludge of mediocrity while nicking wins against the nearest rivals, the predicted implosion won’t happen.
And for all the negativity which remains, some of it justified, the positive contributions must not be overlooked.
Liverpool’s trump card may be how underestimated they remain.
Steven Gerrard has been the league’s most dynamic performer so far, while Xabi Alonso has put behind summer troubles to find the most consistent spell of his career.
Jamie Carragher is also back to his best, and after living in the shadow of Petr Cech for three seasons, Pepe Reina must surely now rank as the Premier League’s number one, number one.
They have been the foundations for Liverpool’s pre-Christmas surge, and it’s to their credit a campaign played largely without Fernando Torres, and with Javier Mascherano a shadow of his former self, has not been de-railed.
Rafa already knows a challenge won’t be sustained without action in the January market. His side has ground out results despite his massive summer outlay, not because of it.
Left-backs Andrea Dossena and Phillip Degen have been described as ‘disastrous’ purchases.
Rookie striker David N’gog has presented no case for his promotion as a back-up goalscorer in Torres’ absence.
And then there’s the dilemma when Spurs make their anticipated bid to re-sign Robbie Keane.
Despite claiming he’s not planning to sell the £20million man, so unconvinced is Rafa that the Irishman will ever fit into to his system, the compulsion to offload will be irresistible.
The funds would instantly be ploughed back into his squad, ensuring Liverpool head into the second half of the campaign stronger than they began it.
Benitez must also hope the title-challenging form on the pitch continues to be assisted by boardroom truces off it.
On the surface, Anfield should be a picture of serenity as the club satisfies itself with an all-too-rare, prolonged title assault. Rafa has already beaten United and Chelsea, convinced his owners to back him rather than sack him and engineered the first genuine Merseyside title bid for six years.
But scratch a little and there remains the fear bubbling tensions will spill over at any given moment.
It will take little more than a careless utterance in a Press conference, a disagreement over transfer policy, a bank calling in its debts, or another misplaced Yankee soundbite for the dirty linen to be back on display.
Craving
You can’t step inside Melwood without trampling on an egg shell.
Anfield has become consumed by its hysterical craving for its Holy Grail and that could yet be the club’s downfall.
It remains a political landmine, giving Chelsea and Manchester United hope the merest slip will ensure Liverpool self-destruct in the second half of the season.
Liverpool haven’t yet exorcised the demons infesting the club. Keeping them at bay until Christmas represents real progress. If peace and goodwill can last just six more months, the ultimate prize could follow.
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