England World Cup winner Roger Hunt has hit out at Rafael Benitez's selection tinkering, claiming the Liverpool manager has gambled with the club's future participation in the Champions League.
A desperately disappointing Premier League campaign saw the Reds finish seventh, failing to build on 2008-09's second-place finish, unable to replace Xabi Alonso at the hub of midfield and suffering with injuries to their leading lights that exposed a chronic lack of depth in the squad.
This thinness of resources made Benitez's insistence on rotation inexplicable to many, who felt Liverpool could only win consistently with their best eleven on the pitch - a suspicion perhaps confirmed by the club's dismal season.
"I have been a big fan of Benitez but I have told him that he makes too many changes," Hunt told the Sunday Times.
"There is nothing worse for a player than playing well and yet knowing that you are going to be subbed.
"Call me old-fashioned, but I believe you play your best team all the time: that is what Bill Shankly used to do.
He added: "it will be even harder now to get back into the top four, especially with teams such as Tottenham and Manchester City.
"It won’t be easy for Liverpool."
A desperately disappointing Premier League campaign saw the Reds finish seventh, failing to build on 2008-09's second-place finish, unable to replace Xabi Alonso at the hub of midfield and suffering with injuries to their leading lights that exposed a chronic lack of depth in the squad.
This thinness of resources made Benitez's insistence on rotation inexplicable to many, who felt Liverpool could only win consistently with their best eleven on the pitch - a suspicion perhaps confirmed by the club's dismal season.
"I have been a big fan of Benitez but I have told him that he makes too many changes," Hunt told the Sunday Times.
"There is nothing worse for a player than playing well and yet knowing that you are going to be subbed.
"Call me old-fashioned, but I believe you play your best team all the time: that is what Bill Shankly used to do.
He added: "it will be even harder now to get back into the top four, especially with teams such as Tottenham and Manchester City.
"It won’t be easy for Liverpool."
No comments:
Post a Comment