Rafa Benitez will know if Steven Gerrard is fit for Liverpool's battle with Chelsea if the player looks him in the eye and gives him the nod.
Gerrard, the English heartbeat of the Liverpool team, remains a doubt with a painful neck injury for the first leg of the "all-English" semi-final in which Liverpool attempt to knock out their bitter rivals for a third time in five years.
And Liverpool boss Benitez is trying hard to hide his concern beneath a smile and a few jokes - not the Spaniard's usual public style.
But this, apparently, is the Benitez mood at the moment - despite being caught in the crossfire of the damaging feud between the club's American owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett which is rocking Anfield.
Dependent on how the feud works out, Benitez could still be on his way at the end of the season, especially after the much-publicised "secret" meeting between Hicks, Gillett, chief executive Rick Parry and former Germany coach Jurgen Klinsmann earlier this season.
But Benitez, who insists he loves being at Liverpool and wants to stay, must be comforted by the knowledge he could probably have the pick of Europe's top clubs should he be back on the jobs market in the summer.
He had talks with Liverpool officials last week and claims: "Things seem a little better now but really we have been talking too long about these matters and I want to concentrate on football if it is possible."
And after the little matter of sending out a shadow side to defeat relegation-haunted Fulham 2-0 at Craven Cottage to practically ensure a fourth place finish in the Premier League, Benitez's football focus shifted firmly to Tuesday night's dust-up with Chelsea.
He has declared that centre-back Sami Hyypia will be fit to play despite coming off at Fulham with a head injury at half-time. And so will dominating midfielder Javier Mascherano even though he "is feeling several injuries" after a bone-crunching series of confrontations at Craven Cottage.
But being without Gerrard for such an encounter with Chelsea is almost unthinkable and Benitez admitted: "With a neck injury you never really know. We've had problems like this with a few players before and they did not play.
"I'll talk to the doctor and we will decide if he can play. If you ask the player he will say yes, of course, but Steven wanted to play against Fulham and he couldn't because when I talked to him his neck wouldn't let him look me.
"He is a bit better now than when he did it in training. We were doing patterns of play and crossing - and every cross seemed to go to him. He was heading the ball so much and after a while he couldn't move his head any more."
Even without Gerrard and £25million striker Fernando Torres, Liverpool won at a canter and Benitez said: "It's clear that the the squad is stronger this year than before, I have been saying this for the whole season.
"But I won't say we've got any psychological edge on Chelsea going into Tuesday night's game.
"They are aware we are a good team and that I would rest some players (against Fulham) but they have had a few extra days to rest and have great qualities, too.
"Clearly, I think we go into it fairly even. Chelsea were in the final of the Carling Cup, they are in the semi-finals of the Champions League and they are still in the race for the (Premier League) title. We have a lot of respect for them.
"The players will be the key to the result, more so than the managers. I don't often feel under pressure - and if I do have problems then I think about people who, in general life, are in worse positions than us."
Benitez claims his team's task will be made no easier against Chelsea's much-maligned new boss Avram Grant.
He said: "I don't think Chelsea under Grant are much different than Chelsea with (Jose) Mourinho - except maybe at a press conference.
"I saw them play Everton on Thursday night and they looked pretty much the same as always."
He added: "When you talk about Champions League or cup competitions it is just one-off games and perhaps the manager can do something with tactics or the style of football to make a difference.
"But when you talk about a competition that lasts nine months you need a big squad and maybe Chelsea, Manchester United and Arsenal are a little bit better than us there.
"Grant is doing his job well if you look at their results, but for me Roman Abramovich has always been the key for Chelsea.
"At the end of the day the key players can be a massive difference in games like Tuesday's game but also the whole team has to work very hard."
Gerrard, the English heartbeat of the Liverpool team, remains a doubt with a painful neck injury for the first leg of the "all-English" semi-final in which Liverpool attempt to knock out their bitter rivals for a third time in five years.
And Liverpool boss Benitez is trying hard to hide his concern beneath a smile and a few jokes - not the Spaniard's usual public style.
But this, apparently, is the Benitez mood at the moment - despite being caught in the crossfire of the damaging feud between the club's American owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett which is rocking Anfield.
Dependent on how the feud works out, Benitez could still be on his way at the end of the season, especially after the much-publicised "secret" meeting between Hicks, Gillett, chief executive Rick Parry and former Germany coach Jurgen Klinsmann earlier this season.
But Benitez, who insists he loves being at Liverpool and wants to stay, must be comforted by the knowledge he could probably have the pick of Europe's top clubs should he be back on the jobs market in the summer.
He had talks with Liverpool officials last week and claims: "Things seem a little better now but really we have been talking too long about these matters and I want to concentrate on football if it is possible."
And after the little matter of sending out a shadow side to defeat relegation-haunted Fulham 2-0 at Craven Cottage to practically ensure a fourth place finish in the Premier League, Benitez's football focus shifted firmly to Tuesday night's dust-up with Chelsea.
He has declared that centre-back Sami Hyypia will be fit to play despite coming off at Fulham with a head injury at half-time. And so will dominating midfielder Javier Mascherano even though he "is feeling several injuries" after a bone-crunching series of confrontations at Craven Cottage.
But being without Gerrard for such an encounter with Chelsea is almost unthinkable and Benitez admitted: "With a neck injury you never really know. We've had problems like this with a few players before and they did not play.
"I'll talk to the doctor and we will decide if he can play. If you ask the player he will say yes, of course, but Steven wanted to play against Fulham and he couldn't because when I talked to him his neck wouldn't let him look me.
"He is a bit better now than when he did it in training. We were doing patterns of play and crossing - and every cross seemed to go to him. He was heading the ball so much and after a while he couldn't move his head any more."
Even without Gerrard and £25million striker Fernando Torres, Liverpool won at a canter and Benitez said: "It's clear that the the squad is stronger this year than before, I have been saying this for the whole season.
"But I won't say we've got any psychological edge on Chelsea going into Tuesday night's game.
"They are aware we are a good team and that I would rest some players (against Fulham) but they have had a few extra days to rest and have great qualities, too.
"Clearly, I think we go into it fairly even. Chelsea were in the final of the Carling Cup, they are in the semi-finals of the Champions League and they are still in the race for the (Premier League) title. We have a lot of respect for them.
"The players will be the key to the result, more so than the managers. I don't often feel under pressure - and if I do have problems then I think about people who, in general life, are in worse positions than us."
Benitez claims his team's task will be made no easier against Chelsea's much-maligned new boss Avram Grant.
He said: "I don't think Chelsea under Grant are much different than Chelsea with (Jose) Mourinho - except maybe at a press conference.
"I saw them play Everton on Thursday night and they looked pretty much the same as always."
He added: "When you talk about Champions League or cup competitions it is just one-off games and perhaps the manager can do something with tactics or the style of football to make a difference.
"But when you talk about a competition that lasts nine months you need a big squad and maybe Chelsea, Manchester United and Arsenal are a little bit better than us there.
"Grant is doing his job well if you look at their results, but for me Roman Abramovich has always been the key for Chelsea.
"At the end of the day the key players can be a massive difference in games like Tuesday's game but also the whole team has to work very hard."
No comments:
Post a Comment