As recently as November 20, Rafa Benitez restated his belief that “the priority for this season is the Premier League.” Liverpool fans who watched their manager raise the white flag on Saturday, substituting Steven Gerard while trailing 3-1 at Reading, might have trouble believing the Spaniard.
Glory and not money is driving Liverpool’s European ambitions, their boss says. Yet would Liverpool be better off going out to Marseille tomorrow night? It would at least force them to prioritise their “priority”.
Reading manager Steve Coppell suggested as much before his side’s victory, saying:
“Their demand is to win the league. If they finish fourth then they will have failed. I have always said what will decide the title race will be the effect of Europe and key injuries. Those two factors, when you get to March, might work in Liverpool’s favour if they are not in Europe.”
The performance on Saturday certainly had fans wondering what was going on.
Red Cauldron said, “How Liverpool looked so impotent yesterday, it was pure baffling. Many questions will be asked as usual … how he (Benitez) had a ‘captain-go-round’ when they are 3-1 down. Seemed like a pre-season friendly attitude to me.”
Benitez said he was trying to protect players:
“It is an important week for us now and we have the Champions League match to look forward to. We must approach it with confidence and try to win. Only then can we think about Manchester United because you know my idea is to take one game at a time. The target is now Marseille.”
One can’t help but feel his ‘one game at a time’ attitude should extend beyond the 70-minute mark, regardless of circumstance.
PHOTO: Benitez gestures during Liverpool’s defeat by Reading at the Madjeski Stadium, December 8, 2007. REUTERS/Eddie Keogh
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16 comments so far
You can’t always being “late” to pursuit your goals… Liverpool always facing same problems, it’s not just luck and determination, u cant rely on that, u just can’t.
What i’m trying to say that this time, The Kop wont have the chances to go through. Marseille will play safe and soft. A goal from Mamadou Niang, will seal their step into next round ….
- Posted by Andy GultomI agree it might be a trickier match than a lot of people suspect. I understand what Padraic is saying but I still think another Champions League final would be better than a league title, however long Liverpool fans have had to wait. And there’s no saying that if they go out on Tuesday the season won’t just unravel.
- Posted by KevLiverpool just have more chance of winning the champions’ league than the premiership. They have proved that raising their game for the odd knockout fixture pays off, whilst sustained excellence in a season-long league is out of the question.
- Posted by Wesh GothLiverpool look to me to have a big enough and good enough squad to challenge in both competitions. What they need is confidence, so I think the last thing they want is to go out on Tuesday. They also need to play their best players a bit more important, but that is another story.
- Posted by LondonI’m not a Liverpool supporter, but if I were, I would have enough faith in the side to have a good run in the knock-out stages of the Champions League that I wouldn’t want to accept getting knocked out at this stage.
- Posted by three up frontI dont understand what makes Liverpool different than other EPL clubs involved in the Champions League. I think what it comes down to is that Rafa doesn’t know exactly what he is doing. They have too many good players to be struggling. They are the club version of the English national team. Top teams competing on 3 or 4 different fronts need a coach with forsight, something Rafa seems to be lacking.
http://www.futbolink.wordpress.com
- Posted by wrcBad formation and bad tactics cost the three points on Saturday. The game could have gone either way, the disappointment was that having gone behind we were pretty impotent when trying to score.
He rested Hyppia for the game on tuesday and played Hobbs and to be honest it’s really refreshing to see a british kid come up through the ranks so I’m not going to argue with that. His big mistake was playing 3 central midfielders, what the donald was going on there!!…especially as has he had two wingers on the bench.
Undoubtedly Benitez’s main focus is Europe and at the moment he has the support of the supporters. If we don’t look like winning any silver ware this year though I don’t know how long it will last.
- Posted by JimWG - I agree with your point about Liverpool’s inability to keep up good form for the length of a season.
There will be a lot of unhappy players should they get knocked out this Tuesday, or maybe whenever they are knocked out (providing they don’t reach the final). Benitez has purposely built a big squad of about 22 players to fight for both trophies but obviously it isn’t working. If they have to concentrate soely on the Premiership then only half of these players will be able to play every week, and obviously this is going to cause a lot of frustration.
If results go the wrong way I think Rafa could be out a job, mainly due to the fact that he also doesn’t have the best of relationships with the chairmen. It’s a shame because even though I’m not a big fan of his, he has a good record and hasn’t exactly ‘failed’ at Liverpool - it’s not easy to win the Premiership!
- Posted by Betfair KidLiverpool deserve to still be in just as much as the next team. Everyone knows how well they work under pressure. Who has the right to say if they do or dont anyway. The facts are, they are still in and thats got to count for something. They have won more times then any other british team, and i believe they have more in them yet. I quess alot is going to ride on tomorrows game
- Posted by NicoleMy answer is Yes to the blog entry title.
In my ideal world, this is how it goes…
No doubt that Liverpool will give 100% to EPL and the CL. But imagine you can only choose 1 competition to give 110%. Liverpool will choose the EPL.
Same goes for Arsenal, Man-U & Chelsea.
Chelsea is a team in transition. Being even slightly shaky in this day and age of the EPL won’t get you to #1. So maybe a knockout competition will suit them.
Arsenal & Man-U; while Arsenal hasn’t really expressed specific interest in the CL, I can bet you that when the time comes and they realise that they can win the CL for the 1st time ever in their history, their 110% will be in the CL.
Man-U on the other hand, Ferguson’s desperation to grab a 3rd CL trophy isn’t a secret.
At the end of the day, it’s a matter of priorities and the EPL isn’t what it was pre-millenium. Everything is so tough, standards are so high all around now that you can only choose 1 major trophy.
- Posted by Five Timesthe answer for the title is NO! liverpool are a good team with a long honorable history. in the Benitez era, they always showed winning mentality. they have a much better squad than previous seasons which are capable to focus on two events. the problem is Benitez seems to confused about his starting eleven.
i can understand why Benitez substituted his skipper when they trailed against reading. the marseille game is a do or die game and needs 100% concentration mentally, tactically, and physically while the epl still has a lot games to play. losing 1 game in the epl won’t hurt so much while losing from marseille will be the end of the world for the fans.
http://footballwijaa.blogspot.com
- Posted by cahyo wijaaCan you have the best of both worlds with this current squad? If Liverpool go through tonight, they’ll probably have a good run, reaching the semis or another final but it will undoubtedly come at a cost.
If Benitez adopts such bizarre tactics on the eve of this game, he’ll surely do the same for a last 16 against Barcelona, a quarter against Milan or a semi against United. His squad evidently isn’t good enough to ‘protect’ players for ‘big’ European nights.
It basically comes down to this, would Liverpool fans prefer a run at a sixth European Cup or a serious attempt at winning a first leauge title in almost two decades? Because I’m sorry but on Saturday’s evidence you can’t have both.
- Posted by Padraic HalpinIf Liverpool score first, they’ll win at Marseille. The momentum will surely lift Liverpool to win Man U at home, and followup with win at Chelsea. As a Liverpool fan for 30+ yrs, Benitez is one of the best coach in Liverpool and certainly in the world now. If he get sacked, the player exodus will follow. We can kiss any CL or PL for the next 5-10 yrs.
- Posted by kelvin limSighs of relief all round!
- Posted by Kevin Fylanhttp://football.uk.reuters.com/european/ news/L11118718.php
Why couldn’t they have played like that against Reading as well? I think the answer to the question is yes, they would haev been better of losing .They’ll go out anyway against Real Madrid (or whoever) in the next round
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