Wednesday, December 05, 2007

Results Serve To Further Strengthen Rafa Benitez's Hand

It seems Tom Hicks was right after all. Rafael Benitez should focus on coaching and training his team – because he seems to be doing a pretty good job of it at the moment.

And all in all, this approach will only help Benitez if his simmering confrontation with the Americans boils to the surface again.

The best thing he can do now is to keep quiet and concentrate on getting Liverpool another three points at Reading on Saturday and taking them through to the Champions League knockout stages with victory in Marseille in a week’s time.

All of which would give him not only more points and more progress, but more bargaining tools when Hicks and Gillett make their way over the pond in two weeks’ time.

With the small matter of re-financing the stadium, you can hardly blame the duo for not exactly waving open cheques at Benitez even as January gets ever closer.

But the manager shouldn’t be worrying about this. He needs to put all his energies into getting his side into a position whereby it will be impossible for him not to be backed financially.

Imagine how the conversation will go if Liverpool beat Manchester United at Anfield in a fortnight and really prove how serious they are as title challengers this term.

Would you like to look Benitez in the face and tell him he can’t have what he wants to put the finishing touches to the squad he will need to see out the second half of the season?

No, and neither will Tom Hicks. He will if he has to and he was right to do so when this feud was made public.

But he will be wary that anyone who isn’t fully behind Benitez at Anfield these days is in a pretty lonely place – last week’s march to Anfield before the Porto game proved that. Benitez doesn’t need petty press conferences to make that point. At the moment, the only point he needs to make is through his players and they are doing a fine job of that.

Especially when he picks the right ones, and that was exactly what happened against Bolton on Sunday.

Peter Crouch up front with Fernando Torres works a treat because they are the two Liverpool strikers who give defenders the most problems.

Crouch is one of those forwards that you just have to watch. You can’t afford to take your eyes off him and the way he occupies opponents is perfect for Torres.

The Spaniard likes to roam free and into slightly wider areas and someone like Crouch up there enables him to do it.

He scored on Sunday and he hit a hat-trick when he played up front with Crouch a Reading in the Carling Cup. No coincidence.

It’s back to the Madejski Stadium again on Saturday and, while Benitez might want to have someone a bit deeper like Kuyt or Voronin away from home, I’d like to see him go for it a bit more.

With two out-and-out centre-forwards like Crouch and Torres you might leave yourself wide open, especially in a 4-4-2. But I think Reading are worth taking the risk against.

Liverpool are safe enough at the back these days and if you are a bit vulnerable the answer is simple. Just outscore them.

It will mean another victory on the pitch and perhaps, more significantly long-term, victory for Benitez in the boardroom.

After all if Liverpool keep winning this week it will only strengthen his hand.

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