For the last 17 years Liverpool fans have been starving for success in their league but unfortunately for them it hasn't happened.
The best they've seen in that period was a second place finish in the 2001/02 season. Although, they eventually finished 2nd in that season their title chances had faltered midway through the season, after leading the league, up until December that year. Since then they haven't even mounted a serious challenge on the title, having to settle, for battling it out for a spot in the top 4 to qualify for the champions league.
This year however Liverpool fans are optimistic that they genuinely believe that this will finally be their season (again!!). But for once their belief isn't foolhardy.
Rafa Benitez has finally assembled a squad that should challenge for the title. He's acquired someone in Fernando Torres who can guarantee him 20 goals a season (provided he gets the chances). He's also got Steven Gerrard who is rated as the best central midfielder in the world. They also have probably the most solid back 4 in England right now. This might sound crazy, but in my opinion Rafa's the problem.
He is too adamant with his rotation policy. The guy rotates his best player for the sake of rotation. Even if a guy gets a hat trick he still might end up on the bench in the next game. Another thing is that Rafa's system won't work at all times. He always sets up "not to lose" instead of "trying to win". This fine difference is what separates him from the Wenger's and Fergie's of this world, who always try and instruct their teams to take a game by the scuff of its neck. Facts back it up. In the last 3 games against Portsmouth, Birmingham and Wigan they've had 3 very unimpressive displays in which they had a couple of 0-0's and a narrow 1-0 win. Now that's hardly championship form. This is with more or less a full strength squad barring Xabi Alonso's metatarsal injury, while their rivals our inflicted with a spate of injuries.
Unless Rafa starts adopting a more adventurous system against the lesser teams, they will get caught out, and they among the big three, (yes big three and not four) will be most vulnerable to drop points. Along with that he has to play his best 11 in each and every game regardless of their opposition. You simply cannot rest Torres or Gerrard in the league.
But this is very unlikely to happen because he never has and may well never will back down from this rotation policy of his.
So the only way Liverpool might well be in the running for the Barclays Premier league towards the sharp end of the season is if their rivals start faltering.
Nathaniel Warner is currently a mainframe freelance writer and loves writing about all things soccer. Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Nathaniel_Warner |
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