Source: Telegraph
iverpool and Rafael Benitez must focus on results
If the manager loses focus, then so do the players, and you start to slip into trouble.[LNB]If I were Rafael Benitez I would tell my players on Monday night that, regardless of how well Manchester United are playing, they are better and that, with one good result against Everton, the advantage could shift back in their favour.[LNB]If the talk at Liverpool is only about what Benitez is telling Sir Alex Ferguson, or about the wrangle over his contract, that spells danger for the team. Everton will look at Liverpool's resilience, and the fact that they have lost just once in the Premier League, and conclude that they are a strong side. What Liverpool have to do in response is to strike a balance, to put in impressive performances in their next few games and ensure that discussion about contracts is eradicated.[LNB]The emphasis will be on Benitez's comments off the pitch only if the results are bad. Liverpool must recognise that they are still in a great position: they are the biggest threat to Manchester United and they need to learn, in dealing with pressure and the fear factor, that they must stick together and not let anything stand in their way. At a moment like this anything Liverpool can do to help themselves could prove mightily important because, after one bad result or bad performance, you would not believe how rapidly confidence can drain away.[LNB]United are in the ascendancy because of the way they are playing, particularly their tendency not to leak goals and to sneak late winners. Liverpool's players would have been mentally affected by the result at Bolton on Saturday, looking at Dimitar Berbatov's goal and thinking, "They have done it again". But if you are going to win a championship you have to be prepared to fight. A large proportion of the Liverpool team have not experienced this position before, but they have to stand up and be counted.[LNB]By contrast, United are the modern-day masters at lasting a season, in the way Liverpool were in the Seventies and Eighties. They represent a frightening prospect for Liverpool, as having won the title last year, they are playing like champions again at the right time and have discovered tremendous strength in depth. [LNB]I had thought, when Jose Mourinho was in charge, that Chelsea would dominate English football for the foreseeable future, but it has not worked out like that.[LNB]What Mourinho did not accept, ultimately, is that he should be denied total control over all aspects of the playing side, and I do not believe that Benitez should either. Therefore, I can understand if he is disappointed by Liverpool's latest contract offer, because the problem seems to be that if the club have £20 million to spend then he will not have the final say on who they buy. But I am with Benitez: managers need to decide who they are going to bring in; any other way is unworkable. He should have control over the Liverpool academy because in this respect he is only looking for the privileges that Ferguson already enjoys.[LNB]It is up to the Liverpool owners, to chief executive Rick Parry and to Benitez himself, to put the matter to bed as soon as possible, to remove the added pressure on the players. If Liverpool win five games on the trot all the controversy will go away. If not, then critics will start to point to it as an explanation for why their championship challenge is faltering.[LNB]These types of issues do not seem to arise at United, mainly, I think, because Ferguson has learnt that there is a way of winning the title. Liverpool have not done it for 19 years and anything that takes them away from their challenge to put that right would be hugely detrimental to their challenge.[LNB]As for Kaka, the football world has officially gone crazy. It is the end of football as we know it. You can have the 11 best players in world but if you haven't got a team then you haven't got a lot: we saw this at Old Trafford last week with Chelsea's defeat to United. Divisions at the club between players at Manchester City earning £25,000 a week versus £500,000 a week cannot be good for team morale.[LNB]Robinho has given us some magic moments this season. If City bring in another Brazilian like him it could be great but the chances are it will end in tears.[LNB]
