Life's a beach for Lyon as Liverpool and Rafa Benítez reach another crisis point

20 October 2009 11:53
Follow thedailybung on twitter and tweet us your thoughts. All the cool kids are doing it, apparently... THE DAILY BUNG'S LUNCHTIME HEADLINES Related Articles * Emile Heskey texts enrage Fabio Capello * Crouch hits dance floor * Rafael Benítez backs 'beach ball' referee * Gerrard's return is crucial, says Agger * Walcott fears for World Cup place * Eriksson to stay at County, says Trembling Emile Heskey is not the first person to wake up in a morning with cause to regret a couple of furtive and ill-judged text messages. Though the occasional Aston Villa striker has perhaps risked even more than his own dignity and a sense of self loathing as is usual in such a circumstance, with his World Cup place now less sure than it was after being caught fiddling with his phone during an England team dinner in strict contravention to Fabio Capello’s rules. -- Theo Walcott’s rice paper brittle joints have been compromised again – this time under a bone crunching but legitimate tackle from Birmingham City’s Liam Ridgewell – leaving the Arsenal forward with a few weeks on the sideline to sweat over his England place. -- And Sven Goran Eriksson will test Notts County’s patience and the Swedish FA’s financial muscle when the latter comes courting the former about being their new national team manager. --- THIS IS ANFIELD Time was when teams rolled up at Anfield and were beaten before they took to the field, bent double by the weight of history and intimidated by the fervour of the crowd. Not any more. Liverpool’s troubled season reaches yet another crisis point tonight when Lyon come to visit without a care in the world. The mess Rafa Benítez’s team are in is underlined by the fact that, if striker Sidney Govou is to be believed, the French side are about as relaxed about the whole thing as Dimitar Berbatov on a hand crafted sun lounger holding a strawberry daiquiri in one hand and flicking through the Little Book of Calm. “It’s not a test for us,” said Govou, leaning back on his chair and placing his slippered feet on the desk in front of him. “It’s just the continuation of the Champions League. But it’s a massive game for them. It’s more important as a game for them than it is for us.” And he’s right. Should Liverpool – still without Fernando Torres who is suffering from an acute case of dead rubber qualification twang, an ailment from which Steven Gerrard has thankfully recovered – lose tonight it will be the first time they have recorded four straight defeats since 1987. And that was when they were actually genuine title contenders. With a match against Manchester United at the weekend, defeat there as well would effectively end their season before you can say 'Alberto Aquilani’s only three weeks from a debut, honest'. The defeat to Fiorentina in their last Champions League game was self inflicted, with the type of defending that would make Owen Coyle consider making changes. Liverpool’s recent success in Europe was built on a rock solid defence but the obsessive organisation that characterises Benítez’s sides appears to have deserted them. Even more unsettlingly, Benítez himself appears to have changed. A one man winter of discontent last year he has steadfastly refused to criticise that unhelpful referee who – like every single one of us – didn’t know that a goal from a beachball on the pitch shouldn’t stand. He’s even claiming that he is good mates ‘n’ that with his players, even though he apparently greeted the news that Torres was to be a father with a riotous discussion of the forward’s movement in scoring off a corner the weekend before. Strange times indeed. But dangerous ones also. Lyon are no mugs, despite missing out on the French title for the first time in eight years last term. And the Anfield crowd is likely to be as nervous as the young lad who gleefully hoyed that inflatable on to the Sunderland pitch walking through Stanley Park late at night disguised as Gary Neville. Benítez himself isn’t ready to throw in the beach towel just yet, however. “People are talking about this week killing our season, but I believe it can change everything in a positive way," he said. “If we can win these two games, we can still be challenging and set ourselves up for a much better second half of the season, when we should have Aquilani fit.” Convinced? No, me either. Follow thedailybung on twitter and tweet us your thoughts. All the cool kids are doing it, apparently...

Source: Telegraph