Sorry if already posted:
Benitez needs to focus on quality not quantity in bid to
Friday October 27th 2006
PEOPLE are asking Rafa Benitez the wrong questions in their bid to get to the bottom of Liverpool's current lack of form.
They're asking him if rotating his squad so frequently is doing more harm than good. I'm not sure if it's too relevant an issue. The real problem is that the players he has just aren't good enough.
Rightly or wrongly, any Liverpool team will always be compared with the legendary league winning selections of the past. And I honestly believe that from the current squad it's only Steven Gerrard that would have figured in the great sides that I was lucky to be a part of.
Of the rest, I'd say the only one to come close would be another Scouser in the shape of Jamie Carragher and while Xabi Alonso was very impressive last season, he's been a shadow of himself since the World Cup. His season hasn't even started yet.
A lot of the other players haven't been playing well this season but the issue could simple be that they're just not good enough in the first place. Certainly, the summer signings don't appear to have made Liverpool the serious title contenders that some believed they would be at the start of August.
Dutch striker Dirk Kuyt works hard and perhaps it's too early to be judging him. And you could say the same about Craig Bellamy but from what we've seen you would be sceptical about considering him a really top player. It's the same with Jermaine Pennant, Mark Gonzalez and some of the other new faces.
Last weekend's dismal showing against Manchester United was depressing. I really couldn't believe how many times Liverpool were softly giving away possession in the centre of the park.
When I came to Liverpool first, the simplest message we got, which came down from Bill Shankly, was that when we got the ball, all we have to do is make sure we get it to a red shirt.
Sure, Liverpool were doing plenty of that last Sunday but the only problem was that Manchester United were wearing red. It's the lack of real football brains in the current squad that Benitez has assembled which would worry me.
I can not understand why he keeps playing Luis Garcia away from home. He doesn't have strength and he doesn't have passing ability. The Spaniard is a liability for such tough games.
Just look at the situation now - down in 11th place needing a miracle to get back into the picture, with the title already out of the equation. In 1981-82 we were 12th at Christmas and still managed to win the league.
But that was a dressing room which included guys like Phil Neal, Alan Hansen, Phil Thompson, Graeme Souness and Kenny Dalglish. There's no one of that calibre to drag them out of their current mire.
We could go away from home in games, to places like Bolton and Blackburn, and come up against sides that would try and kick us for the first 60 minutes. The difference was we had the fight to get through that and eventually they would give up. Then our ability would come through and we would win the game.
This Liverpool side doesn't have the fortitude to cope with that 60 minutes and that's why they haven't a chance of winning the league with this squad.
In his defence, Benitez says that they had a worse start last season and they came back to qualify for the Champions League and win the cup. And that's fair enough. But already we're at a situation when that's probably the most they can achieve again unless they produce something special in Europe.
In any top club, they look for progress from year to year but Liverpool appear to have stalled. They've spent a fortune in the summer but they're still where they were this time last year.
They might have players who are good enough to produce it for the odd big occasion. Collectively, however, they don't have the strength to make that last over the course of the season. He can rotate the squad because they've got quantity. It's the quality that they're missing.
Ronnie Whelan
Benitez needs to focus on quality not quantity in bid to
Friday October 27th 2006
PEOPLE are asking Rafa Benitez the wrong questions in their bid to get to the bottom of Liverpool's current lack of form.
They're asking him if rotating his squad so frequently is doing more harm than good. I'm not sure if it's too relevant an issue. The real problem is that the players he has just aren't good enough.
Rightly or wrongly, any Liverpool team will always be compared with the legendary league winning selections of the past. And I honestly believe that from the current squad it's only Steven Gerrard that would have figured in the great sides that I was lucky to be a part of.
Of the rest, I'd say the only one to come close would be another Scouser in the shape of Jamie Carragher and while Xabi Alonso was very impressive last season, he's been a shadow of himself since the World Cup. His season hasn't even started yet.
A lot of the other players haven't been playing well this season but the issue could simple be that they're just not good enough in the first place. Certainly, the summer signings don't appear to have made Liverpool the serious title contenders that some believed they would be at the start of August.
Dutch striker Dirk Kuyt works hard and perhaps it's too early to be judging him. And you could say the same about Craig Bellamy but from what we've seen you would be sceptical about considering him a really top player. It's the same with Jermaine Pennant, Mark Gonzalez and some of the other new faces.
Last weekend's dismal showing against Manchester United was depressing. I really couldn't believe how many times Liverpool were softly giving away possession in the centre of the park.
When I came to Liverpool first, the simplest message we got, which came down from Bill Shankly, was that when we got the ball, all we have to do is make sure we get it to a red shirt.
Sure, Liverpool were doing plenty of that last Sunday but the only problem was that Manchester United were wearing red. It's the lack of real football brains in the current squad that Benitez has assembled which would worry me.
I can not understand why he keeps playing Luis Garcia away from home. He doesn't have strength and he doesn't have passing ability. The Spaniard is a liability for such tough games.
Just look at the situation now - down in 11th place needing a miracle to get back into the picture, with the title already out of the equation. In 1981-82 we were 12th at Christmas and still managed to win the league.
But that was a dressing room which included guys like Phil Neal, Alan Hansen, Phil Thompson, Graeme Souness and Kenny Dalglish. There's no one of that calibre to drag them out of their current mire.
We could go away from home in games, to places like Bolton and Blackburn, and come up against sides that would try and kick us for the first 60 minutes. The difference was we had the fight to get through that and eventually they would give up. Then our ability would come through and we would win the game.
This Liverpool side doesn't have the fortitude to cope with that 60 minutes and that's why they haven't a chance of winning the league with this squad.
In his defence, Benitez says that they had a worse start last season and they came back to qualify for the Champions League and win the cup. And that's fair enough. But already we're at a situation when that's probably the most they can achieve again unless they produce something special in Europe.
In any top club, they look for progress from year to year but Liverpool appear to have stalled. They've spent a fortune in the summer but they're still where they were this time last year.
They might have players who are good enough to produce it for the odd big occasion. Collectively, however, they don't have the strength to make that last over the course of the season. He can rotate the squad because they've got quantity. It's the quality that they're missing.
Ronnie Whelan
) but doesn't have the attitude everytime he plays.
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