by Ola Mr Benitez » Mon Oct 03, 2005 9:04 am
I have always had failth in Rafa Benitez, I have although sometimes not agreed with everythinh he has done, believed the guy knows football, and knows how to get a result.
However, Rafa Benitez made several mistakes on Sunday.
I, like many other on here, don't have any faith in the 4-5-1 set up we now play. It may work if we had a player like Michael Owen in the team who can picj up the ball and beat a defender, but that is not what Crouch is about. It may work if we had an attacking midfielder who managed to join up with the play and not give the ball away 90% of the time. It may work if our defence was a bit faster and could therefore move up the pitch with a bit more confidence, therefore pushing the whole team up the pitch. BUT RIGHT NOW WE DON'T HAVE THE PLAYERS TO PULL THIS OFF.
Surely at home we should be playing 2 up front. I personally don't think Cisse is anywhere near godd enough, but if he is our only option, I say give him a go. Cisse and Criouch seemed to ask a few more questions when our attack became 2 pronged.
We where playing Chelsea, at home. They have the best defence in the EPL, and we played a target man up on his own. This does not make ANY sense at all.
Benitez and Liverpool unfortunately came totally undone and showed that some of his decisions where tactically inept, when he then took off 2 defenders and replaced them with Sissoko and Cisse. Again wrong thing to do. We where lucky not to have been beaten by even more goals. You can't defend against Chelsea with only 2 natural defenders.
This is still very much a work in progress team, but we seem to have gone back a step this season. We simply don't look like scoring with the current forwards and style of play.
Chelsea, Man Utd and Arsenal are still the big 3. We are no where near as good as them. I think the gap at the top this year will almost certainly be greater than last year, and if we continue in this vain, we will be lucky to make it into the UEFA cup places, never mind the Champions League.
Rafa has got to try and put his own stamp on things, he has to have his team playing his way, but the art of being a good manager in any job is knowing when things are not working and have the balls to change it.
I actually think we where not that different on Sunday as we where on Wednesday, on both occasions we never looked like scoring... ok ok, I know the result was very different, but the main difference on Sunday was, like in the Champions League final we went behind to an early goal and we lost our shape, Fortunately in Istanbul we got back into the game and steadied the ship, getting back to defending well, but on Sunday we never looked like breaking Chelseas defence, and as the game went on I could only see one result.
This is not the time to attack our club, lets get behind them, they need us know more that ever. I hope Rafa does what he needs to do, play attractive attacking football and not get to lost in the tactics game.
A great man once said.. "football is a simple game"... Rafa let not overcomplicate things.
Our job is simple, to support the club, not just parts of the club that are easy to support, but every one who plays a part, that includes ALL players. We are stronger when we are all walking in the same direction. Walk On
off. i dont mind the scoreline, lost is lost and its hurt. i agree with siti zaiton, rafa is stubborn to stick with 4-5-1 and especially with garcia. our defenders must play like chelsea defender- robust and dirty, look they way the handle our players in penalty box........
