From The Times
We do not know if Rafael BenÃtez has voted yet in the Liverpool fans’ poll that asks, with a straight face, “should we field a weakened team on Sunday?†But we can be sure that Sir Alex Ferguson will regard it as the most outrageous supporter survey since the Manchester Evening News asked its readers “should Fergie be sacked?†shortly before he embarked upon the 1995-96 season that brought them the Double.
Field a weakened side against Chelsea? Concede the game and effectively gift the Barclays Premier League title to Carlo Ancelotti’s team? What about integrity and fair competition?
These will be Ferguson’s thoughts. The intriguing question is whether he will dare to air them before Sunday and risk the charge of the most appalling hypocrisy.
Liverpool’s line-up on Sunday can be decided by only one man, and BenÃtez may want his strongest possible team if he is looking over his shoulder at Everton and/or truly believing that fourth place, and qualification to the Champions League, is still achievable. With each Premier League place worth at least £750,000, he might weigh up the income (although it is questionable whether he will be around to spend it).
But it is equally plausible that he could wake up on Sunday morning with very little to play for in the domestic campaign — and perhaps with the Europa League final to save his players for.
Should Everton fail to win away to Stoke City on Saturday, Liverpool will be guaranteed a top-seven finish and entry into Europe. And if Tottenham Hotspur beat Bolton Wanderers at White Hart Lane, also on Saturday, then the idea of fourth would seem out of reach except to the greatest optimist. Liverpool would be stuck.
In that case, giving a break to a few players against Chelsea would be quite normal practice and might pass with little comment except for the fact that, this being a potential championship-deciding afternoon, it will cause a mighty hullabaloo about integrity and fairness with the added spice that United are attempting to overtake Liverpool and win a record nineteenth English championship.
There would be plenty to discuss on the subject, including the history of weakened teams, which goes back beyond 1971, when Bill Shankly’s Liverpool were fined £7,500, and farther still than 1970, when Don Revie’s Leeds United were docked £5,000 for fielding reserves.
This season it flared up as a contentious issue when Wolverhampton Wanderers were handed a suspended £25,000 fine for making ten changes against United, the first time a penalty had been imposed for such a breach for 17 years. The fine was an attempt by the Premier League to make a statement about how much weakening was acceptable, but an unconvincing one. In the era of rotation, it remains a harder case to prove. As for the moral argument, that horse long since bolted.
Ferguson, for his own sound reasons, was among those who let open the stable doors by deciding that what is best for United outweighs all other considerations. When other clubs have hoped United might give a game their full attention, he has not always been able to oblige. Some Manchester City fans still have not forgiven him for the team he picked back in May 2001, that included Michael Stewart, Luke Chadwick and Ronnie Wallwork, for the visit of Derby County. “We saw their team and thought we had a little chance,†Jim Smith, the Derby manager, said.
He was proved right. Derby celebrated the most unlikely victory at the home of the champions, securing their top-flight status at City’s expense, and the joking between Ferguson and Smith at the final whistle still rankles among blue die-hards.
Then there was the resting by Ferguson of senior players including Roy Keane, Wayne Rooney and Ruud van Nistelrooy at home to West Bromwich Albion towards the end of the 2004-05 season, and the improbable draw at Old Trafford that helped Bryan Robson’s side to safety.
Most notoriously, Neil Warnock will never shed the bitterness he feels having seen Ferguson rest more than half his first team against West Ham United on the final day of the 2006-07 season. Carlos Tévez scored and Sheffield United were relegated.
Ferguson was looking after United in every case, and will make no apologies for that. Few neutrals condemned him for it. No doubt he will be equally understanding when questions about BenÃtez, integrity and team selection are put to him before Sunday.
BREAKING NEWS: Liverpool team to face Chelsea just in. 1 Ken Dodd, 2 Cilla Black, 3 Bob Carolgees, 4 Sonia, 5 Jimmy Corkhill, 6 Derek Hatton, 7 Mimi Maguire, 8 Holly Johnson, 9 Sinbad the window cleaner, 10 Spit the dog and, of course, 11 Lucas Leiva.
