SOCCER ANGLES:Rafael Benitez needs the fans' patience and faith for Liverpool's four games in 10 days. Ten days that could shake Liverpool's world
FROM THE day in 1959 that Bill Shankly walked into Anfield to take charge of a struggling Second Division club that had one water tap at its training ground and the momentum of a pond, the motto at Liverpool has been “one game at a time”. This principle, along with others, gradually evolved into something we came to know as The Liverpool Way. It got Liverpool moving and it kept them doing so.
Given that Liverpool’s next match is against Manchester United tomorrow, a core principle is not in danger of corruption. This is a fixture of high definition.
But just in case there are Liverpool followers too squeamish to think about what happens immediately after United, it seems a duty to point out it is Arsenal away. Admittedly this game is in the League Cup but nevertheless, after four defeats in a row and with United looming, Rafael Benitez must have peered at the fixture list and made one of those strangely co-ordinated hand and facial gestures we have come to know.
Then he may have looked down one more game and seen that a trip to Fulham next Saturday comes after Arsenal. Craven Cottage is one of those genteel homes that can lure the big four into defeats, as Arsenal and United discovered last season.
Having averted his gaze, if Benitez returned to the list after Fulham, he would have noted that it is the return trip to Lyon four days after that. So, United at home followed by Arsenal, Fulham and Lyon away. Four games in 10 days. Ten days that could shake Liverpool’s world.
There is a theory, of course, that Liverpool could shake Rafa from his position should the current run of four defeats be extended from what might now be considered a worrying blip into something approaching a crisis.
Such supposition is why Shankly stressed one game at a time. It can lead you into a land of speculation and conspiracy and ultimately that can be rendered irrelevant by something as unforeseen as last Saturday’s beach ball at Sunderland.
This may have helped explain Benitez’s calm yesterday as he looked forward to United. The reality is that he should be paddling like mad to keep a nervous-looking squad’s confidence afloat but the inability to influence “outside agencies” such as beach balls as well as his managerial experience produced what was at least on the surface a degree of ease. Golden handcuffs may help in this regard.
Benitez has made mistakes. There have been too many average players bought and there have been episodes such as Xabi Alonso’s departure and Robbie Keane’s coming and going that smack of oddness. Repeatedly, from players former and present, comes the mantra that Rafa could do with a bit more humanity in his dealings with them.
It now feels tired to say that more than five years after he succeeded Gerard Houllier, Benitez is still over-reliant on Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres. But, if not Benitez, then some of the pair’s team-mates are too reliant on the duo. And the truth endures: Benitez is too – understandably. They aren’t bad. Benitez made the point yesterday that last season Liverpool beat United at Anfield without Torres or Gerrard – though Gerrard came on as a sub and United were without Cristiano Ronaldo.
And if neither Gerrard nor Torres are fit tomorrow then Javier Mascherano, Dirk Kuyt and Yossi Benayoun are going to have to deliver individual displays of fierce energy and creativity.
And if they do, then Liverpool’s chance is a good one. All but forgotten in the red balloon hysteria of last weekend was that had Gary Cahill placed his header a yard further from Van der Sar it was it would have given Bolton a deserved 2-2 last-minute draw at Old Trafford.
United’s previous Premier League game was a 2-2 draw at home to Sunderland that relied on a last-minute own goal by Anton Ferdinand. If Liverpool supporters are moaning about their results this season, then United’s are groaning about their performances.
Such is the hype, a Liverpool victory would be seized upon as such a sign of optimism that the beach ball would be laughed about. Who’d care about the League Cup, they’d be four points behind United. And didn’t Benayoun score the winner at Fulham in April? And Liverpool won in Marseilles last season did they not? Lyon is hardly as hostile.
Suddenly the spotlight might switch onto some of United’s indifferent efforts and away we go again. This repeated frenzy of scrutiny is not conducive to the encouragement of patience or faith. Benitez is in need of both – the fans can take out their frustrations on the owners – because, not taking one game at a time, Liverpool’s cause is in for some test over the 10 days that follow.
Hoolahan hitting high standard
ELLAND ROAD on Monday night. The old bear pit erupted when Jermaine Beckford delivered an injury-time winner just seconds after missing an injury-time sitter. Norwich City players slumped to the turf when that happened. They were entitled to their dejection. Norwich had dragged Leeds, the last unbeaten team in England, all across their home patch and central to their domination was a diminutive figure who has already passed across Giovanni Trapattoni’s radar, Wes Hoolahan.
Hoolahan has been capped by the Italian – once, at Loftus Road – and with the squad needing that element of unpredictability in the absence of Stephen Ireland and Andy Reid, Hoolahan might just be a contender. There is a leap from the third division of English football to a World Cup play-off against France. But then Martin Rowlands was a leap of faith for the last squad. Just a thought.
European giants show weaknesses
THEY WERE talking about the Real Madrid–AC Milan match as being the “derby of Europe” before it unfolded on Wednesday night. The drama will serve to heighten that impression next time the two meet – the week after next. But did you see the goalkeeping? Iker Casillas looked as if he has taken a Petr Cech-style bang to his confidence, while Milan’s Dida dropped the ball to allow Raul to score.
Sometimes you think English sides are not all they’re cracked up to be, but they seem organised and reliable compared to some of the play at the Bernabeu. Could be another season when three of the four semi-finalists are from the Premier League.
