Liverpool strikers think they're playing football -- but in fact they've been playing a bizarre game of Rafa Roulette under the Benitez regime.
The Reds manager doesn't seem to mind whether his players score goals or fire blanks, because he has shown a fiery impatience with his hit men since he took over in 2004.
Benitez has often baffled fans and players with his rotation policy but when it comes to strikers, he has often rotated them right out of the club altogether, and Ireland captain Robbie Keane is only the latest in a long line of front players to find themselves out in the cold.
A £20.3m signing from Tottenham Hotspur and an established Premier League striker, Keane expected to be given an extended run in the Liverpool side.
Instead, he has found himself repeatedly substituted and, more recently, ignored and left on the bench.
Clearly, the Dubliner is bewildered and frustrated by his treatment. However, should he reflect on the Anfield transfer records, Keane might well consider he's wasting his time when he checks the list of forwards that have left the club on Benitez's watch.
Neil Mellor (Who?), Florent Sinama-Pongolle, Milan Baros, Fernando Morientes, Djibril Cisse, Craig Bellamy, Robbie Fowler, Andriy Voronin and Peter Crouch have flared across the Anfield skyline only to see the sun set on their Liverpool careers.
In fairness, Benitez has delivered in Europe, but it remains a deep wound that Liverpool have not claimed a league title since season 1989-90.
Significantly, the players entrusted with hitting the net regularly have not delivered quite enough under Benitez's leadership.
That begs the question: Is the quality no longer there or has Benitez failed to give strikers the chance to flourish?
It must be remembered that, ever since the days of Bill Shankly, Liverpool's successful sides featured awesomely-talented first-choice strikers who were feared the length and breadth of England.
Roger Hunt, Ian St John, Kevin Keegan, John Toshack, Ian Rush and Kenny Dalglish -- these were wonderfully-effective practitioners of the striker's art.
In later years, Fowler and Michael Owen became Kop favourites but they never emulated the heroes of the 60s, 70s and 80s by winning a league title.
Incidentally, the front players in the 1989-90 squad were Dalglish (player-manager), John Aldridge, Peter Beardsley, Ronnie Rosenthal and Ian Rush -- but leading scorer that season was midfielder John Barnes with 22 goals.
The Reds manager doesn't seem to mind whether his players score goals or fire blanks, because he has shown a fiery impatience with his hit men since he took over in 2004.
Benitez has often baffled fans and players with his rotation policy but when it comes to strikers, he has often rotated them right out of the club altogether, and Ireland captain Robbie Keane is only the latest in a long line of front players to find themselves out in the cold.
A £20.3m signing from Tottenham Hotspur and an established Premier League striker, Keane expected to be given an extended run in the Liverpool side.
Instead, he has found himself repeatedly substituted and, more recently, ignored and left on the bench.
Clearly, the Dubliner is bewildered and frustrated by his treatment. However, should he reflect on the Anfield transfer records, Keane might well consider he's wasting his time when he checks the list of forwards that have left the club on Benitez's watch.
Neil Mellor (Who?), Florent Sinama-Pongolle, Milan Baros, Fernando Morientes, Djibril Cisse, Craig Bellamy, Robbie Fowler, Andriy Voronin and Peter Crouch have flared across the Anfield skyline only to see the sun set on their Liverpool careers.
In fairness, Benitez has delivered in Europe, but it remains a deep wound that Liverpool have not claimed a league title since season 1989-90.
Significantly, the players entrusted with hitting the net regularly have not delivered quite enough under Benitez's leadership.
That begs the question: Is the quality no longer there or has Benitez failed to give strikers the chance to flourish?
It must be remembered that, ever since the days of Bill Shankly, Liverpool's successful sides featured awesomely-talented first-choice strikers who were feared the length and breadth of England.
Roger Hunt, Ian St John, Kevin Keegan, John Toshack, Ian Rush and Kenny Dalglish -- these were wonderfully-effective practitioners of the striker's art.
In later years, Fowler and Michael Owen became Kop favourites but they never emulated the heroes of the 60s, 70s and 80s by winning a league title.
Incidentally, the front players in the 1989-90 squad were Dalglish (player-manager), John Aldridge, Peter Beardsley, Ronnie Rosenthal and Ian Rush -- but leading scorer that season was midfielder John Barnes with 22 goals.
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