Rafa Benitez had taken so much flak this week that it was a wonder Mohamed Al-Fayed had not accused him of being part of the conspiracy to murder Princess Diana.
The moronic daubing of Melwood apart, much of the criticism aimed at Benitez appeared justified, the pathetic humbling by Barnsley seemingly applying the penultimate nail in a coffin containing Rafa’s Anfield career which could have been hermetically sealed by a poor result at home to Inter Milan on Tuesday.
Yet once again Benitez proved himself to be the consummate tactician on the European stage, engineering a superb victory on another memorable night at Anfield.
He deserves to take the credit for fielding an attacking formation which applied sustained pressure to the superbly-marshalled Italian defence, which culminated in the breach of the tiring 10-man rearguard in the last five minutes of Tuesday’s match.
The patience exercised by Liverpool as they probed for a weakness, while guarding against a potentially fatal breakaway away-goal, was absorbing.
For once, the substitutions were finely-judged and timed, the introduction of Crouch adding a further burden onto the weary backline shorn of the belligerent Materazzi in time for it to have a positive effect, rather than being the cue for a desperate launching of hopeful crosses into a packed penalty area. In short, Benitez got it right.
So in berating Benitez for his failure to date to mount a credible title challenge, are we failing to sufficiently acknowledge his mastery of this competition and the rewards it has brought to the club, and the joy to us supporters?
It appears that winning the league has assumed Holy Grail status amongst the fans, and understandably so, but should that lead to a state of denial about the achievements of Benitez on the biggest stage?
I sense that many supporters are beginning to progress through the five stages of Grief (Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression and Newcastle Supporter) during which unrealistic expectations cause sufferers to focus on failures and become blind to other, perceived less important, successes.
For Newcastle, of course, this means avoiding relegation; for us, winning the Champions League.
I thought I would never feel the experience of those wonderful European triumphs of the late 70s and early 80s again in my lifetime, only for Istanbul and Athens, along with clashes with Juventus, Barcelona and Chelsea, to add to my collection of treasured memories.
Do we really want to risk throwing all this away to gamble on an alternative who might possibly deliver a league title?
Whatever your views on this, let’s not indulge ourselves in Soviet-style revisionism which denigrates the achievements of previous administrations. Gerard Houllier suffered from this in the latter stages of his tenure, with some fans belittling his five-trophy haul in 2001 as ‘lucky’ or won in poor style.
Benitez’s triumphs in Europe are to be admired not disregarded, and should be a source of pride for every true Red brought up in an environment in which Liverpool were one of the most respected teams in Europe.
So the next time you hear yourself saying “the Champions League is all right, but it’s the league we really want”, just reflect on similar sentiments expressed by Newcastle and Man City supporters in the past based on exaggerated expectations of league success, shortly before they changed managers and were relegated.
And just thank your lucky stars that you can experience nights like Tuesday, with the strong possibility of more to come.
The moronic daubing of Melwood apart, much of the criticism aimed at Benitez appeared justified, the pathetic humbling by Barnsley seemingly applying the penultimate nail in a coffin containing Rafa’s Anfield career which could have been hermetically sealed by a poor result at home to Inter Milan on Tuesday.
Yet once again Benitez proved himself to be the consummate tactician on the European stage, engineering a superb victory on another memorable night at Anfield.
He deserves to take the credit for fielding an attacking formation which applied sustained pressure to the superbly-marshalled Italian defence, which culminated in the breach of the tiring 10-man rearguard in the last five minutes of Tuesday’s match.
The patience exercised by Liverpool as they probed for a weakness, while guarding against a potentially fatal breakaway away-goal, was absorbing.
For once, the substitutions were finely-judged and timed, the introduction of Crouch adding a further burden onto the weary backline shorn of the belligerent Materazzi in time for it to have a positive effect, rather than being the cue for a desperate launching of hopeful crosses into a packed penalty area. In short, Benitez got it right.
So in berating Benitez for his failure to date to mount a credible title challenge, are we failing to sufficiently acknowledge his mastery of this competition and the rewards it has brought to the club, and the joy to us supporters?
It appears that winning the league has assumed Holy Grail status amongst the fans, and understandably so, but should that lead to a state of denial about the achievements of Benitez on the biggest stage?
I sense that many supporters are beginning to progress through the five stages of Grief (Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression and Newcastle Supporter) during which unrealistic expectations cause sufferers to focus on failures and become blind to other, perceived less important, successes.
For Newcastle, of course, this means avoiding relegation; for us, winning the Champions League.
I thought I would never feel the experience of those wonderful European triumphs of the late 70s and early 80s again in my lifetime, only for Istanbul and Athens, along with clashes with Juventus, Barcelona and Chelsea, to add to my collection of treasured memories.
Do we really want to risk throwing all this away to gamble on an alternative who might possibly deliver a league title?
Whatever your views on this, let’s not indulge ourselves in Soviet-style revisionism which denigrates the achievements of previous administrations. Gerard Houllier suffered from this in the latter stages of his tenure, with some fans belittling his five-trophy haul in 2001 as ‘lucky’ or won in poor style.
Benitez’s triumphs in Europe are to be admired not disregarded, and should be a source of pride for every true Red brought up in an environment in which Liverpool were one of the most respected teams in Europe.
So the next time you hear yourself saying “the Champions League is all right, but it’s the league we really want”, just reflect on similar sentiments expressed by Newcastle and Man City supporters in the past based on exaggerated expectations of league success, shortly before they changed managers and were relegated.
And just thank your lucky stars that you can experience nights like Tuesday, with the strong possibility of more to come.
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