ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE:HE MAKES a self-deprecating gesture that is portrayed as a lack of humility and has overseen two wildly entertaining games in succession despite being renowned for innate caution. Mixed signals abound for Rafael Benitez, and he has not lost faith in a Liverpool team that has suddenly lost the art of defending. No more lapses, he insists, and Manchester United could still be caught.
Benitez has an explanation for all 11 goals Liverpool have conceded in four matches, although it is remiss to include Blackburn Rovers alongside Chelsea and Arsenal in that sequence when they rarely crossed the halfway line in their 4-0 defeat at Anfield.
He is at a loss, however, to understand why his instructions should be forgotten and human error multiply at a critical juncture in Liverpool’s pursuit of Alex Ferguson’s team.
Benitez and Arsene Wenger had cause to admonish their defences following their enthralling, 4-4 draw on Tuesday night; their players, too. Daniel Agger, one of several off-colour Liverpool defenders that night, said: “I don’t even know how to explain what happened against Arsenal. To score four goals at Anfield and only get one point is just not good enough and we must improve on that.”
Liverpool had conceded just 10 goals all year until their defence began to show uncharacteristic weakness in the first leg of the Champions League quarter-final against Chelsea. It had taken 17 games, a sequence stretching back to the 5-1 demolition of Newcastle on December 28th, for opponents to score the 11 goals Liverpool have now conceded in a fortnight.
“It wasn’t tiredness against Arsenal, it was simply bad decisions,” the Liverpool manager said yesterday, as he discussed tactics rather than Ferguson and Sam Allardyce’s seemingly contrived complaints about the Spaniard’s hand gesture to Xabi Alonso against Blackburn. “Every player can make a mistake, but it is unusual to see three individual mistakes like that in the same game.
“We have to trust the players, as normally they don’t make these kind of mistakes. The fourth goal was our corner, a set-piece when we had time and control. We know how to defend from those positions, but because the players were trying so hard to score we got caught out.
“It’s a positive that all the players were trying to help out and score, but the negative is that each one has a role they should do. The goalkeeper is a goalkeeper, and the striker is a striker. The people who were supposed to be defending should have been defending. The players were all trying to help, but many were in the wrong place.”
Benitez cited the calibre of Arsenal and Chelsea as a contributory factor, but he also admits Liverpool were psychologically suspect during the Champions League quarter-final at Anfield.
“In the first leg against Chelsea (their) first goal made a massive difference in the head of our players, because it was an away goal. For some of the players, it was too much. We then kept attacking and left them too many spaces. That first goal was very important.”
The manager remains adamant, however, that Yossi Benayoun’s stoppage-time equaliser against Arsenal could prove vital in the final reckoning. Experience tells the Spaniard this title race is not over.
“The message is clear: keep going. We cannot give up. To concede the fourth goal to Arsenal was a massive shock to us but we came back again and the point could still be crucial.”
Steven Gerrard will be absent for the fourth successive game today with an adductor strain, although Benitez is certain his captain will return for next weekend’s visit of Newcastle.
He also admitted he cannot stop Fernando Torres and his Spanish contingent taking part in the Confederations Cup in South Africa in June, with all those involved also obliged to play in the club’s pre-season tour of the Far East in July.
“The Spanish players have to go,” Benitez said. “We can’t change the situation. We have to accept it. We have to manage the pre-season as well. It is always the club that has to adapt.”
GuardianService
