THE hardest thing to do in testing times, when adversity and animosity is mounting in equal measure, is stick to your guns.
It’s all too easy to fly off the handle the moment something is not going how you want it and it is a sad indictment of the way football is in this day and age that everything must either be black or white – grey areas no longer exist.
Win a couple of games and certain managers immediately find themselves feted as a tactical genius, hailed for breathing fresh life into teams that had gone stale; it’s why Chelsea are back in vogue and why Carlo Ancelotti is getting rave reviews at Stamford Bridge.
Lose a few, though, and the opposite is true; those who see results betraying them have their odds in the ‘sack race’ cut by the day, find headlines in certain sections of the media becoming more and more sensational and discover they are the hottest topic on phone-ins.
Nobody, it seems, wants to look for reasons why a situation might not be going as planned. Quite simply, when a team is failing to win, somebody must carry the can and that person, invariably, is the man charged with team selection.
With that in mind, then, it was both inevitable and predictable Liverpool’s failure to see-off Birmingham City on Monday night left Rafa Benitez stuck in the middle of the storm that has been swirling around him for the past month.
The Racing Post’s back page on Wednesday, for instance, led with a banner which proclaimed “Beleaguered Rafa clinging to job” and how Irish bookmakers Paddy Power had slashed his price on being the next Premier League boss to go to 3/1.
Now before we go any further, Paddy Power, it must be remembered, have recently had their betting partnership with Liverpool cancelled and, upon hearing that news, promptly drew up a market regarding which Reds’ player would have their house burgled.
Fortunately, the vast majority of those who turn up at Anfield every other week are a much more rational bunch and it explains why there have been no signs of public mutiny during a run which has yielded one win in nine games.
There was no booing following the draw nor was there any dissent after the second half collapse at Craven Cottage; when Liverpool conceded a last-minute goal in Lyon, the players were cheered back onto the field.
Critics will say this is a group of supporters blindly following their manager but that, of course, comes from the school of thought which demands knee-jerk reaction – something which is not The Liverpool Way.
There is a reason why the Reds have fallen off the pace in the Premier League and find their aspirations in the Champions League hanging by the flimsiest thread and that, quite simply, has been a catastrophic injury list.
Benitez, remember, has yet to pick his strongest side from the start in any game this season and it is going to be another month at least before he gets the opportunity to pick the Liverpool team he really wants.
Granted a fully-fit squad, it’s safe to assume the identity of the ‘A team’ would be Pepe Reina in goal with a back four in front of him consisting of Glen Johnson, Jamie Carragher, Daniel Agger and Fabio Aurelio.
Javier Mascherano would then provided a protective shield for that quartet behind a midfield of Steven Gerrard and Alberto Aquilani; Dirk Kuyt and Yossi Benayoun should patrol the flanks with Fernando Torres then being left to fire the bullets.
Do you think that eleven would win only one in nine games? Draw your own conclusion but if Benitez had been able to call upon them all consistently during the past month, it is doubtful he would now find himself under siege.
Reassuringly, he still has the complete backing of the board and the amount of hours he has spent at Melwood in recent days, searching for reasons why results have dipped, shows he is not letting the barrage of criticism affect his daily routine.
Yes, it’s true to say he has bought some players who are not good enough to improve this team and that there is an element of Liverpool’s support which fears Benitez has taken the team as far as he can.
It has, of course, been a miserable start to the campaign but until the treatment room empties, it is too early to make definitive judgements – and that’s why it is vital to keep things in perspective at this moment in time.
It’s all too easy to fly off the handle the moment something is not going how you want it and it is a sad indictment of the way football is in this day and age that everything must either be black or white – grey areas no longer exist.
Win a couple of games and certain managers immediately find themselves feted as a tactical genius, hailed for breathing fresh life into teams that had gone stale; it’s why Chelsea are back in vogue and why Carlo Ancelotti is getting rave reviews at Stamford Bridge.
Lose a few, though, and the opposite is true; those who see results betraying them have their odds in the ‘sack race’ cut by the day, find headlines in certain sections of the media becoming more and more sensational and discover they are the hottest topic on phone-ins.
Nobody, it seems, wants to look for reasons why a situation might not be going as planned. Quite simply, when a team is failing to win, somebody must carry the can and that person, invariably, is the man charged with team selection.
With that in mind, then, it was both inevitable and predictable Liverpool’s failure to see-off Birmingham City on Monday night left Rafa Benitez stuck in the middle of the storm that has been swirling around him for the past month.
The Racing Post’s back page on Wednesday, for instance, led with a banner which proclaimed “Beleaguered Rafa clinging to job” and how Irish bookmakers Paddy Power had slashed his price on being the next Premier League boss to go to 3/1.
Now before we go any further, Paddy Power, it must be remembered, have recently had their betting partnership with Liverpool cancelled and, upon hearing that news, promptly drew up a market regarding which Reds’ player would have their house burgled.
Fortunately, the vast majority of those who turn up at Anfield every other week are a much more rational bunch and it explains why there have been no signs of public mutiny during a run which has yielded one win in nine games.
There was no booing following the draw nor was there any dissent after the second half collapse at Craven Cottage; when Liverpool conceded a last-minute goal in Lyon, the players were cheered back onto the field.
Critics will say this is a group of supporters blindly following their manager but that, of course, comes from the school of thought which demands knee-jerk reaction – something which is not The Liverpool Way.
There is a reason why the Reds have fallen off the pace in the Premier League and find their aspirations in the Champions League hanging by the flimsiest thread and that, quite simply, has been a catastrophic injury list.
Benitez, remember, has yet to pick his strongest side from the start in any game this season and it is going to be another month at least before he gets the opportunity to pick the Liverpool team he really wants.
Granted a fully-fit squad, it’s safe to assume the identity of the ‘A team’ would be Pepe Reina in goal with a back four in front of him consisting of Glen Johnson, Jamie Carragher, Daniel Agger and Fabio Aurelio.
Javier Mascherano would then provided a protective shield for that quartet behind a midfield of Steven Gerrard and Alberto Aquilani; Dirk Kuyt and Yossi Benayoun should patrol the flanks with Fernando Torres then being left to fire the bullets.
Do you think that eleven would win only one in nine games? Draw your own conclusion but if Benitez had been able to call upon them all consistently during the past month, it is doubtful he would now find himself under siege.
Reassuringly, he still has the complete backing of the board and the amount of hours he has spent at Melwood in recent days, searching for reasons why results have dipped, shows he is not letting the barrage of criticism affect his daily routine.
Yes, it’s true to say he has bought some players who are not good enough to improve this team and that there is an element of Liverpool’s support which fears Benitez has taken the team as far as he can.
It has, of course, been a miserable start to the campaign but until the treatment room empties, it is too early to make definitive judgements – and that’s why it is vital to keep things in perspective at this moment in time.
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