Liverpool in the Pressure Cooker
by rick olivares
by rick olivares
With about a week to go before the 2009-10 season of the English Premier League opened, Manchester United Manager Alex Ferguson baited his counterpart from Liverpool, Rafael Benitez. The Red Devils, 18-time domestic champions and winners of the last three, despite losing attacking midfielder Cristiano Ronaldo to Real Madrid and striker Carlos Tevez to rival Manchester City, had tied Liverpool for the lead in titles and gave Ferguson smug satisfaction to see their rivals “knocked off their bleeping perch.”
The Merseysiders played their best season in the Premier League yet owing to a freefall from January to February this year where they drew seven home matches, United was able to take the lead and win the title by four points. They had their best shot,” continued the Scot. “I don’t see them accomplishing that again this year.”
It has been nineteen years since Liverpool last hoisted the league title and the pressure to regain it is building.
Now that Benitez has lost midfielder Xabi Alonso to Real Madrid, that’s one less of the last three components of their side’s Champions League roster of 2005. And the remaining holdovers are team captain Steven Gerrard and central back Jamie Carragher and as good as the duo are, time isn’t on their side.
With Liverpool in dire financial straights, Benitez has resisted the urge to trade barbs with Ferguson and instead downplayed his team’s chances by saying that winning the league title is only a possibility and not a certainty.
The fifth-year gaffer knows his squad is weakened despite the arrival of defender Glen Johnson from Portsmouth and AS Roma’s playmaker Alberto Aquilani who is on the injury list after ankle surgery.
True enough in their season opener versus Tottenham at White Hart Lane, the Reds were outplayed at the midfield and took a 2-1 loss. The final score could have been higher had former Liverpool striker Robbie Keane fired better volleys at keeper Pepe Reina.
Benoit Assou-Ekotto made the visitors pay with a 25-yard blast after a botched clearance by Liverpool’s defense to open the scoring right before the end of the first half. A great run by Johnson inside the Tottenham box led to a penalty when Spurs keeper Huerelho Gomes brought down the English internationalist. Gerrard promptly blasted home a shot for the tie but before it could reinvigorate Liverpool, Sebastien Bassong headed home a Luka Modric corner shot at the 59th minute that proved to be the game winner. There would be no Liverpool minute – called so for the Reds’ penchant for late match goals – as the Spurs were solid.
It wasn’t until Yossi Benayoun entered the match in the 68th minute where Liverpool found a semblance of order in their attack.
The discombobulation in the midfield makes it even more imperative for Aquilani to return and immediately contribute. In Aquilani, Benítez believes the Italian playmaker can support Steven Gerrard in the attack and leave Javier Mascherano back as the lone holding midfielder. Aquilani’s breakneck pace and superb passing can speed up the attack. And the absence of that kind of game was evident in the game versus the Spurs in the season opener.
"The two players we have signed, they are players with quality," Benítez said of Johnson and Aquilani. "We needed a little bit more quality at right-back and we got Johnson. Trying to find that extra quality is difficult. Aquilani, Andriy Voronin and Johnson are three players with game intelligence and quality going forward that can all help in that manner."
If Voronin can replicate his superb season with Hertha Berlin last year where he scored 11 goals and continue the great poise that he displayed during Liverpool’s pre-English Premier League tune-up matches in Asia and Europe, he will ease the scoring load on Torres and Gerrard. The duo only paired up for 14 matches last year but nevertheless combined for 14 and 21 goals respectively.
And the onus is on Dutchman Ryan Babel and Frenchman David Ngog to contribute significantly this year or else Benitez will be forced to seek some financial help from Liverpool’s beleagured owners Tom Hicks and David Gillett to get some help in the January 2010 transfer window.
In his last statement before the season kicked off, Benitez said, "We know the situation. If you talk about the title, everybody is saying we have to win it [the title] this season. But I don't think so. We have to be realistic, we want to be in the top four and to be contenders. I was asked the same questions this time last year and I said we wanted to be in a good position come January. We were, and we stayed in a good position all the way through to the end of the season. We have to have that same approach this season, taking it one game at a time and seeing where we are at the end of each week. People will say I'm always saying the same thing, but it has to be like this."
The Merseysiders played their best season in the Premier League yet owing to a freefall from January to February this year where they drew seven home matches, United was able to take the lead and win the title by four points. They had their best shot,” continued the Scot. “I don’t see them accomplishing that again this year.”
It has been nineteen years since Liverpool last hoisted the league title and the pressure to regain it is building.
Now that Benitez has lost midfielder Xabi Alonso to Real Madrid, that’s one less of the last three components of their side’s Champions League roster of 2005. And the remaining holdovers are team captain Steven Gerrard and central back Jamie Carragher and as good as the duo are, time isn’t on their side.
With Liverpool in dire financial straights, Benitez has resisted the urge to trade barbs with Ferguson and instead downplayed his team’s chances by saying that winning the league title is only a possibility and not a certainty.
The fifth-year gaffer knows his squad is weakened despite the arrival of defender Glen Johnson from Portsmouth and AS Roma’s playmaker Alberto Aquilani who is on the injury list after ankle surgery.
True enough in their season opener versus Tottenham at White Hart Lane, the Reds were outplayed at the midfield and took a 2-1 loss. The final score could have been higher had former Liverpool striker Robbie Keane fired better volleys at keeper Pepe Reina.
Benoit Assou-Ekotto made the visitors pay with a 25-yard blast after a botched clearance by Liverpool’s defense to open the scoring right before the end of the first half. A great run by Johnson inside the Tottenham box led to a penalty when Spurs keeper Huerelho Gomes brought down the English internationalist. Gerrard promptly blasted home a shot for the tie but before it could reinvigorate Liverpool, Sebastien Bassong headed home a Luka Modric corner shot at the 59th minute that proved to be the game winner. There would be no Liverpool minute – called so for the Reds’ penchant for late match goals – as the Spurs were solid.
It wasn’t until Yossi Benayoun entered the match in the 68th minute where Liverpool found a semblance of order in their attack.
The discombobulation in the midfield makes it even more imperative for Aquilani to return and immediately contribute. In Aquilani, Benítez believes the Italian playmaker can support Steven Gerrard in the attack and leave Javier Mascherano back as the lone holding midfielder. Aquilani’s breakneck pace and superb passing can speed up the attack. And the absence of that kind of game was evident in the game versus the Spurs in the season opener.
"The two players we have signed, they are players with quality," Benítez said of Johnson and Aquilani. "We needed a little bit more quality at right-back and we got Johnson. Trying to find that extra quality is difficult. Aquilani, Andriy Voronin and Johnson are three players with game intelligence and quality going forward that can all help in that manner."
If Voronin can replicate his superb season with Hertha Berlin last year where he scored 11 goals and continue the great poise that he displayed during Liverpool’s pre-English Premier League tune-up matches in Asia and Europe, he will ease the scoring load on Torres and Gerrard. The duo only paired up for 14 matches last year but nevertheless combined for 14 and 21 goals respectively.
And the onus is on Dutchman Ryan Babel and Frenchman David Ngog to contribute significantly this year or else Benitez will be forced to seek some financial help from Liverpool’s beleagured owners Tom Hicks and David Gillett to get some help in the January 2010 transfer window.
In his last statement before the season kicked off, Benitez said, "We know the situation. If you talk about the title, everybody is saying we have to win it [the title] this season. But I don't think so. We have to be realistic, we want to be in the top four and to be contenders. I was asked the same questions this time last year and I said we wanted to be in a good position come January. We were, and we stayed in a good position all the way through to the end of the season. We have to have that same approach this season, taking it one game at a time and seeing where we are at the end of each week. People will say I'm always saying the same thing, but it has to be like this."
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