I hate to admit this but it is probably the end of the road for Liverpool’s title dreams, regardless of the result of this weekend's “do or die” clash with Man U.
Someone has to take the blame.
Some would point to the squabbling American owners, George Gillett and Tom Hicks. Others would say Benitez is a bad coach. Players often get the blame for playing badly. In the game against Sunderland last weekend, a beach ball was blamed for the loss.
Professional football is all about money. And money has been made available in abundance to Benitez since he came aboard five years ago. In total, he has spent £230million and the only good buys in my opinion are Fernando Torres, Glen Johnson, Pepe Reina, Xabi Alonso and Javier Mascherano. The rest are good byes. Ryan Babel came with a lot of promise but the promises have not been kept.
Tactics. I’m not a football coach so my views are probably as good as Victoria Beckham’s but I find it extremely strange that Dirk Kuyt, a proven striker (he was a 20-goal a season striker in the Dutch league) is being played as a winger/midfielder, even in the absence of Torres. Many have pointed out the shortcomings of Lucas but yet his name appears in the first team sheet, every week. I smell a hint of favouritism here.
Why did Benitez give up on his pursuit of Gareth Barry? Man City got him for only £12million. Why didn’t he replace Crouch and Keane with a world class striker, or at least play Kuyt up front with Torres? Why is the team still depending solely on Gerrard and Torres? Hyypia needs to be replaced preferably with someone with more quality than an unknown Greek defender (Sotiris, please prove me wrong). Why did he give up on Michael Turner?
What happened to the youth system? Why aren’t there any notable names emerging from the ranks? Apart from Emilio Insua there isn’t any young player Liverpool can claim to have successfully nurtured. Hopefully with King Kenny back in the fold, we can see more Owens, Gerrards, Fowlers and Carraghers coming through the ranks.
With the present resources, this would be my team:
GK – Reina
RB – Johnson
LB – Insua
CB – Carragher
CB – Skrtel / Agger
CM – Mascherano
CM – Gerrard
CM - Aquilani (?)
AM – Benayoun
Someone has to take the blame.
Some would point to the squabbling American owners, George Gillett and Tom Hicks. Others would say Benitez is a bad coach. Players often get the blame for playing badly. In the game against Sunderland last weekend, a beach ball was blamed for the loss.
Professional football is all about money. And money has been made available in abundance to Benitez since he came aboard five years ago. In total, he has spent £230million and the only good buys in my opinion are Fernando Torres, Glen Johnson, Pepe Reina, Xabi Alonso and Javier Mascherano. The rest are good byes. Ryan Babel came with a lot of promise but the promises have not been kept.
Tactics. I’m not a football coach so my views are probably as good as Victoria Beckham’s but I find it extremely strange that Dirk Kuyt, a proven striker (he was a 20-goal a season striker in the Dutch league) is being played as a winger/midfielder, even in the absence of Torres. Many have pointed out the shortcomings of Lucas but yet his name appears in the first team sheet, every week. I smell a hint of favouritism here.
Why did Benitez give up on his pursuit of Gareth Barry? Man City got him for only £12million. Why didn’t he replace Crouch and Keane with a world class striker, or at least play Kuyt up front with Torres? Why is the team still depending solely on Gerrard and Torres? Hyypia needs to be replaced preferably with someone with more quality than an unknown Greek defender (Sotiris, please prove me wrong). Why did he give up on Michael Turner?
What happened to the youth system? Why aren’t there any notable names emerging from the ranks? Apart from Emilio Insua there isn’t any young player Liverpool can claim to have successfully nurtured. Hopefully with King Kenny back in the fold, we can see more Owens, Gerrards, Fowlers and Carraghers coming through the ranks.
With the present resources, this would be my team:
GK – Reina
RB – Johnson
LB – Insua
CB – Carragher
CB – Skrtel / Agger
CM – Mascherano
CM – Gerrard
CM - Aquilani (?)
AM – Benayoun
CF – Kuyt
CF – Torres
CF – Torres
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