Meddler Benítez muddles along thanks to Benayoun

Steve Bierley at the JJB Stadium
Monday October 1, 2007
The Guardian

Continuity has been the key element, the touchstone, of virtually all successful teams, and it is impossible not to wonder what Bill Shankly or Bob Paisley would have said or thought about the way Rafa Benítez is attempting to juggle his way towards Liverpool's first league title since 1990. The chances are that neither would have been complimentary. As much as there was to admire individually against Wigan, there was an inherent lack of cohesion and, if the former Chelsea manager Claudio Ranieri was the tinker man, then Benítez is in danger of being remembered at Anfield more for his meddles than his medals.

He will not be budged, and Peter Crouch has let it be known that he is decidedly unhappy with the rotation of strikers that has currently spun him into oblivion. Benítez's antennae are fine-tuned to the increasingly sharp probing of his system. "All the players in a top side must be patient and keep working. I have a lot of confidence in my strikers but you cannot come away from home with four of them. They cannot play every game . . . especially with my idea, no?"

Benítez smiles. He knows full well that his "idea", his insistence on fresh legs for fresh causes, will forever remain the nub of controversy until the Premier League title is won. The shield that protects him is having won the Champions League; the amount of money now at his disposal may be his undoing, with the pressure having risen in a direct ratio to the money spent. Each miss by Fernando Torres, and they were numerous against Wigan, was accompanied by the tapping of mental calculators. So how much has each goal cost so far? Benítez was unconcerned. "If he has chances, normally he will score."

In defence of change on this occasion, Benítez had only to point to his second-half substitution that saw Yossi Benayoun replace Fabio Aurelio, and then go on to score the deciding goal with wonderful close control and flair.

"I brought him here for these kind of games," the Liverpool manager said of the Israeli international, bought for £5m from West Ham in the summer. "When you are trying to find a solution, you need players of creativity and quality, and Yossi gives us that.

"Now we have better players and we can change the game. I was calm in the second half because the team was controlling the game. It is always difficult to leave players out of the squad, but all of them need to understand that I am looking for fresh legs and quality. The situation is much better than one or two years ago. We are in a better position."

Benayoun was proof of that, although why John Arne Riise, patently uncomfortable and largely ineffective, was made to play on the left side of midfield at the beginning was less easy to fathom. Once he had dropped into his full-back position, Liverpool looked altogether more balanced, although for those who remember the days of Barnes, Beardsley, Rush, Dalglish and Hansen, this current side, for all that it has cost, bears no comparison.

When Steven Gerrard motored forward, Wigan were like chickens with a fox in the coop, yet for so much of the match he posed little danger or threat. Wigan continue to miss Emile Heskey badly, with strikers Julius Aghahowa and Marcus Bent playing too far apart to ever pose a constant threat on goal, however, this was far better home performance than their previous dire draw against Fulham. "If we keep playing like this we will get results," said Chris Hutchings, though when he described Wigan's next match, away to Manchester United, as "another tough one", the resultant laugh was understandably more than a touch strained, for only three points now separate Wigan from the bottom three clubs.

The rigid discipline that Paul Jewell instilled has been partly sacrificed for a greater attacking urgency by Hutchings and, although Benítez felt his side controlled the game, Liverpool's defence had many anxious moments, with Jason Koumas and Paul Scharner making late and dangerous runs on goal. Wigan might have had a penalty had not Scharner been already flagged for offside, while Bent was convinced he was onside when he beat José Reina with a fierce shot in the second half. Then came Aghahowa's awful miss in added time.

It was a performance that will have given Hutchings considerable encouragement, even though it counted for nothing, but he knows too well it must be reproduced against the Premier league's lesser lights if Wigan are to survive in the elite. Liverpool may rotate; Wigan must guard against an uncontrollable spiral.

Man of the match Jason Koumas (Wigan Athletic).