[lfc-news] Benitez tactics have started to pay off - Post

Liverpool Daily Post, 4 Jan 2005
Benitez tactics have started to pay off
By Mark Lawrenson, Daily Post

LOOKING at Liverpool's half-term report, I'd say that is a positive one too - although not as good as Everton's.

Given the situation and squad he inherited in the summer, Rafael Benitez has had to earn his money so far and at times he has struggled to impose his desired tactics on the team, especially away from home early on.

As the season has progressed however, they have looked better and better, even with the injury problems they have had.

Playing either 4-4-2 or 4-4-1-1, which I believe is the Spaniard's favourite formation - they now look capable of giving anybody a game and I believe they will push on for the fourth Champions League position.

My reason for saying this is the way he has got the team playing - aggressively and positively, with the emphasis on pressurising the opposition, with and without the ball.

Liverpool fans will tell you they have grown up watching that kind of style, but under Gerard Houllier, they stopped doing that and Anfield did not like it. Just seeing the players go after their opposite numbers lifts every supporter, especially when Liverpool continue in the same vein when they have the ball, moving it intelligently and purposefully.

One of the reasons they have been able to increase the tempo of their game has been Xabi Alonso, who can't come back quickly enough. The Spaniard looks a class player.

There haven't been as many players performing to their maximum as at Goodison Park, but the ones who have have been nothing short of brilliant.

Obviously one of them is Mr Liverpool - Steven Gerrard - who looks better and better in every game. Jamie Carragher has come into his own at centre back and Milan Baros also looks better than he has before, despite his injuries.

I would also add Benitez himself to the list of stand out performers. Given all the knocks he has had to withstand this season, with Michael Owen leaving, the injuries, the poor decisions, he has kept his focus on what he can control - motivating the players and getting the team to play how he wants.

He will now be turning that focus on to bringing in the players he wants, with Fernando Morientes top of the list. Don't believe any of that nonsense about the new manager in Madrid keeping the striker. It is the chairman who buys and sells players, they're just trying to up the price.

That won't work on Benitez, who projects an air of calm, efficient achievement which I think has transmitted itself to the players already. You only have to look at them to see they believe in what he is doing and where the club is going.

To me, that destination is fourth place in the Premiership and in the Champions League, who knows? As long as no-one under-estimates Leverkusen, then the stage could be set to go on to the final rounds.