Absolutely. I would say though, let's wait until the Man U game. If he loses that he really has no excuses left.
Absolutely. I would say though, let's wait until the Man U game. If he loses that he really has no excuses left.
Absolutely. I would say though, let's wait until the Man U game. If he loses that he really has no excuses left.
Absolutely. I would say though, let's wait until the Man U game. If he loses that he really has no excuses left.
Absolutely. I would say though, let's wait until the Man U game. If he loses that he really has no excuses left.
This summer's transfer strategy
Rafael BenÃtez has purposely avoided conflict with Liverpool's owners, George Gillett and Tom Hicks, this season but there are signs diplomacy over their budget restrictions is beginning to wane as pressure mounts. "We signed three players and we wanted four," he said before Lyon. The fourth, it is safe to assume, was a forward. Not signing quality cover for Fernando Torres, and being so short of strikers that David Ngog started the critical game against the French and Andriy Voronin was reluctantly brought back from loan at Hertha Berlin, is proving catastrophic
Handling senior players
It is an exaggeration to say BenÃtez is a completely cold fish with players; sometimes he offers congratulations before pointing out their tactical failings. Even in Istanbul. That detachment is viewed as a positive when results go well, but presented as a weakness when they don't. A request that "senior players take the responsibility and take us forward" after defeat to Aston Villa did not sit well with its intended targets. Outside the dressing room, however, few dispute that BenÃtez was right
Trusting the owners
Protracted contract negotiations concluded in March with BenÃtez in control of transfer policy, the youth set-up and being promised around £20m to spend this summer above whatever he raised through sales. Hicks and Gillett had sold their master tactician a dummy. As summer progressed it materialised that the improved contracts given to Steven Gerrard, Torres, Dirk Kuyt, Daniel Agger, Yossi Benayoun and José Reina were coming out of BenÃtez's transfer budget. Yet another reason for the Spaniard to rue the day David Moores accepted the Americans' higher bid for his majority shareholding
Poor signings
While BenÃtez has been restrained on some transfers – such as when he discovered he had less than £2m for a new central defender late this summer, hence Sotirios Kyrgiakos – he has squandered plenty. Inexpensive errors such as Josemi, Antonio Núñez and Mauricio Pellegrino were excusable as he overhauled the squad and concentrated resources on Xabi Alonso, Javier Mascherano or Fernando Torres. But to be six seasons into the job and have a squad utterly reliant on two players, one inherited, while £11m Ryan Babel was left on the bench against Lyon is damning
Control of the youth academy
Martin Kelly was exceptional against Lyon on Tuesday, though not only in the sense of his impressive full debut. It is a rarity to witness a home-grown, local teenager being deemed worthy of consideration under BenÃtez and the dearth of talent coming through is why the Spaniard copied Arsène Wenger's global recruitment policy. The issue prompted a fallout with Steve Heighway, revered by Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher, but many would argue this summer's radical overhaul of the academy system was long overdue
Distracted by events beyond his control
Gérard Houllier's presence at Anfield on Tuesday served as warning of what can happen to Liverpool managers who lose sight of the bigger picture. BenÃtez was the refreshing antidote to the stale odour of Houllier's final years when he took charge in 2004. Out went a fixation with statistics or United's greater spending power as a means to defend poor performances and an obsession with ex-Liverpool players turned media pundits. That is creeping back
Too passive over international call-ups
The Liverpool manager frequently complains about international commitments and their repercussions but rarely prevents his players, even those carrying slight injuries, from joining their national teams. Unlike, for example, Manchester United, Liverpool players do not often develop sudden, mysterious problems ahead of an international week. Torres suffered three injuries with Spain last season that may have cost Liverpool the title. Spain and England had qualified for the World Cup before their recent qualifiers, but Gerrard and Torres travelled with slight injuries and returned far worse
The 'list of facts' against Ferguson
Few managers would dispute the truth in BenÃtez's accusations against "the Ayatollah" in January – just not in public – with the list representing years of simmering frustration and arguably extended by events at Old Trafford this season. It was also a deliberate tactical ploy by the Spaniard, designed to heighten pressure on United ahead of their home game with Chelsea and as Liverpool looked to extend their Premier League lead at Stoke. Results that weekend ensured it backfired badly and BenÃtez has been hostage to the outburst ever since
Xabi Alonso's transfer
Or, rather, dealing with it. Getting £30m for a player who wanted to join Real Madrid, double what BenÃtez had been hawking him around Europe for the previous summer following two mediocre campaigns by the Spanish midfielder, was decent business. Replacing him with Alberto Aquilani, an Italy international who may well re-energise Liverpool but has been injured since March, was a risk that has heightened with every defeat. Liverpool could not afford patience this season and Aquilani's absence, coupled with Javier Mascherano's poor form, has brought an overreliance on Lucas Leiva; not the disaster many claim but a squad player all the same
Taking on too many internal battles
It is over five years now of being frustrated with Liverpool's transfer dealings, waiting for new investment, being caught in the middle of a divided regime when it finally came, seeing his job offered to Jürgen Klinsmann, falling out with trusted lieutenant Pako Ayesterán, involved in an internal power struggle with former chief executive Rick Parry and all the while seeing United, Chelsea and now Manchester City improve relentlessly. Many scraps were unavoidable, many were self-inflicted, and it is not alarmist to suggest that BenÃtez is looking battle-weary
Absolutely. I would say though, let's wait until the Man U game. If he loses that he really has no excuses left.
[/quote]This summer's transfer strategy
Rafael BenÃtez has purposely avoided conflict with Liverpool's owners, George Gillett and Tom Hicks, this season but there are signs diplomacy over their budget restrictions is beginning to wane as pressure mounts. "We signed three players and we wanted four," he said before Lyon. The fourth, it is safe to assume, was a forward. Not signing quality cover for Fernando Torres, and being so short of strikers that David Ngog started the critical game against the French and Andriy Voronin was reluctantly brought back from loan at Hertha Berlin, is proving catastrophic
Handling senior players
It is an exaggeration to say BenÃtez is a completely cold fish with players; sometimes he offers congratulations before pointing out their tactical failings. Even in Istanbul. That detachment is viewed as a positive when results go well, but presented as a weakness when they don't. A request that "senior players take the responsibility and take us forward" after defeat to Aston Villa did not sit well with its intended targets. Outside the dressing room, however, few dispute that BenÃtez was right
Trusting the owners
Protracted contract negotiations concluded in March with BenÃtez in control of transfer policy, the youth set-up and being promised around £20m to spend this summer above whatever he raised through sales. Hicks and Gillett had sold their master tactician a dummy. As summer progressed it materialised that the improved contracts given to Steven Gerrard, Torres, Dirk Kuyt, Daniel Agger, Yossi Benayoun and José Reina were coming out of BenÃtez's transfer budget. Yet another reason for the Spaniard to rue the day David Moores accepted the Americans' higher bid for his majority shareholding
Poor signings
While BenÃtez has been restrained on some transfers – such as when he discovered he had less than £2m for a new central defender late this summer, hence Sotirios Kyrgiakos – he has squandered plenty. Inexpensive errors such as Josemi, Antonio Núñez and Mauricio Pellegrino were excusable as he overhauled the squad and concentrated resources on Xabi Alonso, Javier Mascherano or Fernando Torres. But to be six seasons into the job and have a squad utterly reliant on two players, one inherited, while £11m Ryan Babel was left on the bench against Lyon is damning
Control of the youth academy
Martin Kelly was exceptional against Lyon on Tuesday, though not only in the sense of his impressive full debut. It is a rarity to witness a home-grown, local teenager being deemed worthy of consideration under BenÃtez and the dearth of talent coming through is why the Spaniard copied Arsène Wenger's global recruitment policy. The issue prompted a fallout with Steve Heighway, revered by Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher, but many would argue this summer's radical overhaul of the academy system was long overdue
Distracted by events beyond his control
Gérard Houllier's presence at Anfield on Tuesday served as warning of what can happen to Liverpool managers who lose sight of the bigger picture. BenÃtez was the refreshing antidote to the stale odour of Houllier's final years when he took charge in 2004. Out went a fixation with statistics or United's greater spending power as a means to defend poor performances and an obsession with ex-Liverpool players turned media pundits. That is creeping back
Too passive over international call-ups
The Liverpool manager frequently complains about international commitments and their repercussions but rarely prevents his players, even those carrying slight injuries, from joining their national teams. Unlike, for example, Manchester United, Liverpool players do not often develop sudden, mysterious problems ahead of an international week. Torres suffered three injuries with Spain last season that may have cost Liverpool the title. Spain and England had qualified for the World Cup before their recent qualifiers, but Gerrard and Torres travelled with slight injuries and returned far worse
The 'list of facts' against Ferguson
Few managers would dispute the truth in BenÃtez's accusations against "the Ayatollah" in January – just not in public – with the list representing years of simmering frustration and arguably extended by events at Old Trafford this season. It was also a deliberate tactical ploy by the Spaniard, designed to heighten pressure on United ahead of their home game with Chelsea and as Liverpool looked to extend their Premier League lead at Stoke. Results that weekend ensured it backfired badly and BenÃtez has been hostage to the outburst ever since
Xabi Alonso's transfer
Or, rather, dealing with it. Getting £30m for a player who wanted to join Real Madrid, double what BenÃtez had been hawking him around Europe for the previous summer following two mediocre campaigns by the Spanish midfielder, was decent business. Replacing him with Alberto Aquilani, an Italy international who may well re-energise Liverpool but has been injured since March, was a risk that has heightened with every defeat. Liverpool could not afford patience this season and Aquilani's absence, coupled with Javier Mascherano's poor form, has brought an overreliance on Lucas Leiva; not the disaster many claim but a squad player all the same
Taking on too many internal battles
It is over five years now of being frustrated with Liverpool's transfer dealings, waiting for new investment, being caught in the middle of a divided regime when it finally came, seeing his job offered to Jürgen Klinsmann, falling out with trusted lieutenant Pako Ayesterán, involved in an internal power struggle with former chief executive Rick Parry and all the while seeing United, Chelsea and now Manchester City improve relentlessly. Many scraps were unavoidable, many were self-inflicted, and it is not alarmist to suggest that BenÃtez is looking battle-weary
Absolutely. I would say though, let's wait until the Man U game. If he loses that he really has no excuses left.
Torres suffered three injuries with Spain last season that may have cost Liverpool the title. Spain and England had qualified for the World Cup before their recent qualifiers, but Gerrard and Torres travelled with slight injuries and returned far worse
Absolutely. I would say though, let's wait until the Man U game. If he loses that he really has no excuses left.