[lfc-news] Hansen: Now for the hard part - Telegraph

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Daily Telegraph, 6 Dec 2004
Benitez has won over the fans; now for the hard part of bringing back
continued success
By Alan Hansen

Rafael Benitez has done a great deal to change Liverpool during the six
months he has been in charge, but if there was ever a week to measure the
progress of his team then it is the one that awaits him now. Champions
League survival is at stake against Olympiakos tomorrow, then they meet
Everton in the Premiership at Goodison Park on Saturday.

The draw against Aston Villa on Saturday has not detracted from the great
result Liverpool achieved against Arsenal the previous week. It was a
tactical triumph, and a performance that showed the commitment that Anfield
demands from Liverpool players. Other than Patrick Vieira's goal, Arsenal
barely had a shot on target.

But the reaction to victory also showed how far expectations at Liverpool
have fallen. The fans have simply been happy to watch a team who play
attacking football and score goals, something they have been deprived of
for some time. The vast majority of supporters are satisfied that Benitez
is delivering the right style of football, and for the time being that is
quite enough.

Liverpool's Spanish manager has taken on a really hard job. He did not just
inherit a side who were out of the top three, he got a side who were miles
away from finishing top in the Premiership. There were serious doubts
within the crowd, doubts that Liverpool would ever get back to playing the
kind of football for which the club are famous. And in Benitez, many
thought that Liverpool had appointed a cautious, defensive coach.

That was the reputation that he arrived with from Valencia, but he seems to
understand that Liverpool fans need to see their team play a certain way.
There has been enough evidence to show that Liverpool are now an attacking
side to pacify those fans who had lost faith under Gérard Houllier. Benitez
has the fans on his side - now for the hard part.

He has to get through to the next stage of the Champions League, by beating
Olympiakos 1-0 or by two clear goals, and he has to try to establish
Liverpool's superiority over Everton, still third in the Premiership. But
beyond that the rebuilding process is looking even more daunting with the
long-term injury to Djibril Cisse.

The hardest part of football, I have said many times, is not the success
but the continued success. Somewhere along the way Liverpool lost the knack
of replacing great players with other great players. I played in four
different sides in my 14 years at the club and some teams were better than
others but they were all good. Replenishing sides successfully has been Sir
Alex Ferguson's skill in the last 10 years.

He brought Manchester United great success, but one of the legacies of the
Houllier era is a group of players who the club cannot shift.

El-Hadji Diouf is a prime example. They paid £10 million for him in 2002.
Today they would be lucky to get a fraction of that price and yet now, more
than ever, you need a full squad to have any chance of winning a trophy.

In the 1977-78 season, the Liverpool side who won the First Division did so
with about 13 players. Now you need two players for every position and not
just an adequate back-up. You need two internationals for every position.
Building that size of squad, with so many players so hard to sell, shows
the scope of the task facing Benitez.

The frustration at Liverpool's under-achievement came to a head this week
with the criticism of chairman David Moores at the club's annual meeting.

There is huge pressure in modern football on the administrators of clubs
and they are granted no respite from it. The problems the club have
experienced have upset Moores and I believe, as I said after last year's
difficult annual meeting, that he deserves better.

What can any club ask of their chairman? That he supports the manager
through difficult times and gives him money to spend. There is no Liverpool
manager who can say that he has not been given Moores' backing through
difficult times.

He does make money available, as he did this summer to allow Benitez to
sign Xabi Alonso, and he backed Houllier much longer than many outside the
club.

The rewards for success and the penalties for failure are huge. The most
important aspect of football success always used to be the team on the
pitch, but it has now become the size of the squad and the depth of the
resources available.

The chairman of a football club is always a useful scapegoat, but Liverpool
fans should try to remember that Moores has always dealt fairly with the
managers he has employed.

The most important part of all this is that Liverpool should not become a
relic. The club should not be allowed to fade like an old museum exhibit
whose glories are distant and whose achievements are historical. It is more
than 14 years since the last league title and there is plenty of work to do
to claim that status back. This particular regime, however, cannot afford
to get it wrong.


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