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EPL title slowly slipping away from Liverpool |
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Written by John ST
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Tuesday, 15 January 2008 |
Liverpool’s title ambitions are waning. Mathematically, the battle to
claim their first league championship in more than 17 years is far from
over but you can sense the despondence when good, old Benitez decided
not to pump up their hopes any more.
Against Middlesbrough, a team barely keeping afloat, Liverpool mustered their third consecutive draw, and leaves them twelve points behind Manchester United and Arsenal.
Midway into the first half, Middlesbrough skipper George Boateng scored from close-range and broke the deadlock with his first goal of the season. It was even-stevens when Torres equalized with a stunning 25-yard finish 20 minutes from time. Boro wasted a great chance to increase their lead when Stewart Downing’s shot was denied by the post.
They remain in relegation danger after just two home wins all season. Manager Gareth Southgate, rebuffed the speculation linking Downing with a 12-million-pound transfer to Tottenham Hotspur.
He added: “We were good value when we went ahead, and had we got the second when we hit the post we would probably have gone on to win. But when you look at it I think Torres cost about as much as our whole squad of 16, so we can’t be too disappointed.”
In a way, yes, Middlesbrough were lacking a player of Torres’s class in their rank and file, who can craft goals from half-chances and win matches single-handedly. Even if Torres cost as much as the entire Boro squad, it is still money well spent for Liverpool when compared to the other signings by Benitez. This is already Torres 17th goal of the season and to that end, he has repaid a substantial portion of his hefty transfer fee.
Liverpool may be disappointed but getting a point is better than being empty-handed. They do not deserve to lose if only for their spirited display and desire in the final 20 minutes. After a promising opening 10 minutes, Liverpool lost the plot for an hour. Key players like Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres were bereft of dynamism and the team drifted in wonderland.
But as in so many matches, when people least expect them to, Liverpool roared back to life and showed why they were former champions of Europe. In the last 20 minutes, with Ryan Babel introduced on the left, the Reds stretched a previously compact Middlesbrough to breaking point with his pace and energy, and there was suddenly an urgency that offered much hope.
The problem now is to maintain the same determination and hunger in every match once they stepped onto the pitch and not wait until they are backed into a tight corner. That will require a rethinking of Benitez’s philosophy else they can only succeed in cup competitions but remain the also-rans in the Premier League. The Boro match saw them adopting a cautious counter-attack approach when a direct style will be more effective.
These days, Benitez prefers to take it by the game instead of thinking how to mount an unlikely title challenge. He said: “In our position you can’t think about the leaders, you have to think about the next game. You can talk and talk but at the end of the day you must win out there on the pitch.”
The only thing keeping Benitez’s job untouchable is his impressive track record in the Champions League. Ironically, despite Liverpool’s pedigree in Europe, there is absolutely no guarantee of them featuring in the competition next season if they do not distinguish themselves soon. The top ten is packed like sardine and any slip-ups can have dire consequences.
Everton, Aston Villa and Manchester City are all on the same points (39) as Liverpool. Interestingly, Liverpool are closer to 10th placed West Ham than third placed Chelsea. This simply implies that closing the gap with the leaders is increasingly tough but it will not take too much effort to tumble all the way down to mid-table.
Benitez’s hopes of ending Liverpool’s domestic title drought have not been helped by his uneasy truce with American owners George Gillett and Tom Hicks. It is a strained relationship which has seen the Anfield club linked with potential new managers amid reports suggesting former German national coach Jurgen Klinsmann recently turned down an offer to take charge, instead opting to join Bayern Munich.
Benitez shrugged-off the uncertainty, and he insisted: “I don’t find the constant speculation that surrounds the club difficult to deal with. I’m just concentrating on the next game because you can’t do anything at all about that speculation.”
The players are also peeved by the distraction over their manager’s future. Sami Hyypia, a veteran in his ninth season at Anfield, said: “The players hope, if there are some arguments, that they can be sorted out. We seem to be becoming like Newcastle. Every time we pick up a paper, there seems to be something new.”
Deep down, Benitez must be slighted that the owners had offered his job to someone else whose achievement at club level is ziltch. While the American owners will not make the first move to sack Benitez, without consecutive victories from the Reds, he will always be in a precarious position.
It is Villa this week at Anfield, and it will be a tough battle which will determine the owner of the fourth spot in the league table. However, I have a suspicion that Benitez has lost a bit of fighting spirit. With no support in the transfer market and his job up for grabs (behind his back and subsequently disclosed by the owners), not many managers can be motivated in such circumstances.
Don’t be surprised if Benitez turned up at St James Park, the offer is attractive, transfer kitty is at his disposal and he should be able to steady the ship there. But long term, he is expected to play attractive football which is beyond him, so he will have to seriously consider whether it is worthwhile forsaking the Anfield fans for the barcodes.
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