Tony Barrett piece from the offal.

[Baresi]

On Saturday night a name rang around the Mastella Stadium in Valencia for the first time since May 2004. That name belonged to Rafa Benitez as the home fans sang in union "Come back Rafa, come back Rafa".

 

It says everything about the esteem in which the Liverpool manager is still held in Valencia that more than three years after he departed the La Liga side he remains the man the fans would love to see running their club.

 

With a pair of league championships and a UEFA Cup won during his stint at the Mastella we shouldn't be surprised that Benitez is still revered there.

 

Breaking the Real Madrid/Barcelona duoploy marks him out as an iconic figure in the Mediterranean city and seeing as the La Liga title has eluded Valencia ever since Benitez's departure it was always likely that absence would make the heart grow fonder.

 

In England, meanwhile, the very same Rafa Benitez is finding his ability to turn Liverpool into genuine title challengers questioned and, on occasion, his methods ridiculed whenever results go against his side and sometimes even when they don't.

 

The criticism of Benitez comes at a time when Liverpool are unbeaten in the league and lie just four points off first place. I repeat, when Liverpool are unbeaten in the league and just four points off first place.

 

The stick with which the Liverpool manager is being beaten most often is rotation. Apparently, if you listen to his critics, teams which rotate do not win the big prizes.

 

Well, it certainly worked in Spain so rotation cannot be dismissed as a failure all that easily.

 

"Ah," say the critics, "that's all well and good but football in England is different to Spain and it'll never work here".

 

The case for the defence could easily centre on the fact that Benitez has already guided Liverpool to domestic success in the FA Cup (not to mention that continental triviality that is the Champions League).

 

It might well pain him to do so, but in this case Benitez could quite easily point to Manchester United's Premiership triumph last season.

 

In the 2006/07 season, Sir Alex Ferguson used a total of 23 players en route to the title. At Anfield, Benitez used six more.

 

Significantly, five of those selected by Benitez only featured in Liverpool's last three games of the season when the focus had shifted from domestic to continental pursuits with key first team players making way for youngsters as the Champions League final loomed.

 

So, for the most part of the season, Benitez and Ferguson utilised squads of an almost idenitical size.

 

When it comes down to rotation, the two managers both made constant changes to their sides throughout the season and looked on track to record an almost identical number of changes until Liverpool secured their place in the following season's Champions League and Benitez began to make more and more changes in a bid to assess the quality of his younger squad players and the club's priority shifted to that meeting with Milan.

 

So, again, both Benitez and Ferguson used rotation. The difference? United won the title and Liverpool didn't.

 

This season, the criticism of Benitez's methods has grown more and more ridiculous with every passing week. So much so that their are now people far less qualified who feel they have the right to tell the Liverpool manager what his team should be.

 

Sensationalism is masquerading as analysis and it has got to stop. By all means question Rafa Benitez but it has to be done with perspective.

 

Trophies aren't handed out in October and we will all only know if the Reds boss' system will pay dividends come next May.

 

But if you have doubts about whether Benitez's methods should be accepted then consider the words of another of Valencia's favourite sons, centre forward David Villa.

 

In a recent interview, Villa was asked how Valencia had managed to be beaten by Chelsea in last season's Champions League quarter finals despite having gone 2-1 up on aggregate at home.

 

His answer was revealing: "It is very simple. We had a very small squad last season so the manager (Quique Sanchez Florez) could not rotate as much as he would have liked.

 

"By the end of the season we had played a lot of games, too many games, and we were tired and carrying injuries and when Chelsea came back we had nothing left to give."

 

It is this kind of endemic exhaustion that Benitez is trying to avoid at Anfield.

 

Rotation is new to the English game and in a country as insular and naturally conservative as this one it was always going to be viewed with suspicion.

 

But it is all too easy to blame all a club's ills on a selection process when results go against it. When Liverpool were beaten by Marseilles last week the usual suspects again argued that the defeat was caused by rotation.

 

This was despite the fact that physically the Liverpool players were at their highest level for several weeks. They were fresh and the occasional rests they had been given were the reason for this.

 

The problem was, their physical attributes were fatally undermined by a lack of confidence which meant their technical and tactical skills simply did not function.

 

It was a bad, bad performance but to lay the blame for it at the door of rotation is lazy in the extreme.

 

Just three seasons ago, the very same critics claimed that every single goal Liverpool conceded from a set piece was caused by this new fangled zonal marking system that Benitez had brought with him from Valencia.

 

Now, no-one even talks about it. The reason why? Liverpool hardly ever concede a goal from a set piece anymore while other teams which use more traditional man-to-man marking systems continue to concede them on a much more regular basis.

 

So the message is simple - support the manager and support his methods. Let the critics have their say but never lose sight of the fact that we have one of the most tactically astute coaches in European football who has a record of success that few can get near and most envy.

 

Oh, and his Liverpool team is still unbeaten in the Premiership as autumn kicks in.

 

Those fans at the Mastella know all too well that Benitez is a special manager - that's why they still sing his name - so let him get on with the job in hand at Anfield and let's see where we end up in May.

[Dirk]

Is rice, Tony. Except we are 6 points off the top, so I don't know if that article was written before both Arsenal and ourselves played on Sunday. That said, most of the points made are reasonable and a 6 point gap isn't something that is particulalrly worrisome yet, especially when Arsenal are yet to play any of the main challengers.

[JER]

Great piece. I tend to turn off when the experts come on Sky, as I know their football knowledge begins and ends with rotation. If Rafa wanted to leave he would have the top clubs in Europe wanting him, that is all we need to know.

[robslappa]

It's the the games he's choosing to rotate in the baffles most people. Torres doesn't play start against Portsmouth and Birmingham in the league and then plays against Reading in League Cup and Gerrard was supposed to be knackered from England duty yet he also played a part in the Reading game. I can't for the life of me understand it.

[G Richards]

Good article. Small point - aren't we six points behind?

[rome 84]

It's defo six points.

Never be surprised at mistakes in his copy;)

[cochcaer]

Good piece, far better than Tomkins and his 00.45% stats book.

[rome 84]

Good article. Small point - aren't we six points behind?

 

It's been changed now Mr Richards. Well spotted.

[Christianlfc]

I hate the word experts. Especially when Phil Thompson is talking about rotation or Jamie Redknapp, Both played some parts in liverpool squads of the past that weren't anywhere as good as the squad we have now. We'll speaking for thommo as an assistant manager and not a player.

[G Richards]

I think the zonal marking thing is a good analogy. When Rafa was bringing that in there were many people in the media who were lining up against it. Ally McCoist and Andy Townsend slated it, saying "I've never seen the space score a goal. You don't mark the space, you mark the man."

 

It all sounded so reasonable, but Rafa knew what he was doing. He deserves any benefit of the doubt, and the many failed managers who see fit to comment in the media should not dissuade a top football man from doing the job as he sees fit.

[Mr Moustache]

Rotation doesn't arse me - every manager does it some extent now. Pissing about during games does though such as Saturday with Kuyt and Yossi - making 3 changes in positions for one sub.

 

I still think Rafa over analyses the opposition in the Prem. Europe this is 100% the right tactic however in England most of the other teams are shit so why we spend time tinkering with players during games to nulify opponents baffles me.

[Mr Moustache]

I think the zonal marking thing is a good analogy. When Rafa was bringing that in there were many people in the media who were lining up against it. Ally McCoist and Andy Townsend slated it, saying "I've never seen the space score a goal. You don't mark the space, you mark the man."

 

It all sounded so reasonable, but Rafa knew what he was doing. He deserves any benefit of the doubt, and the many failed managers who see fit to comment in the media should not dissuade a top football man from doing the job as he sees fit.

 

Well said. What the fuck do MCoist and Townsend know anyway? Like they've been really successful coaches themselves.

[Dirk]

A fool doesn't understand the genius. Whereas the genius knows he's a fool.

[Dirk]

 

And people need to stop believing anything Paul Merson and his ilk have to say on the game. Few of them have even tried to be managers, and even less had any success at it.

 

Here's a baseball article about how the best baseball managers were shite players and how the better players rarely become decent managers. Baseball is also the home of rotation. It's a similar idea but from the aspect of a different sport.

 

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20071009&content_id=2258390&vkey=ps2007news&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb

[G Richards]

Thanks for the baseball article, Dirk. That was a good read. It is interesting how many top managers in the Premier League were not playing superstars (though they obviously played at a much better level than the man in the street).

[Dirk]

It's certainly an interesting idea, and one I've heard before, more than once. It might even have something to do with the mindset. (You'll know more about that).

 

In general, does a player that has failed to make the top grade have more desire to succeed at management because it's their last chance at footballing glory? It's possible that a certain type of personality might distinguish successful players from unsuccessful players. Are there specific behavioural charecteristics that set apart a successful player from an unsuccessful one? Does reduced playing time allow a player to be more studious, as mentioned in the article? Is an unsuccessful player more likely to seek the counsel of their coach and manager as a way of improving their game, thus they are taught specifc methods which a successful player might not, a poorer player may be more inclined to study training and coaching methods as a way of improving their own game? I don't have definitive answers, just some questions.

[bigmacbrownie]

Interesting read. I suppose it shows the quality between the two sides last year and possibly the bad form of our players this term early on. As he kept emphasising though was the fact that we're not dead and buried yet. If we work hard after the international break we can get ourselves back into a rythmn and put the shits up whoever we play.

[RedinSweden]

Excellent piece and I have been saying these things all along. Except more crapply. We are only six behind, but close to United and above Chelsea. We will get back on track and all the nay sayers and doom and gloomers will be blown away.

[Skidfingers McGonical]

Good thread this Dave L, really adds a bit of sense to the curent status of the FF at the moment.

 

What worries me is that too many people will still listen to Andy Gray and his Sky era media pals and still look at it from the wrong angle. This adds a really good arguement to the debate and I would ssupect there are still people who would disagree sonstructivly seeing the reasoning behind what was written.

 

Or a slanging match between 4 or 5 posters will enthrall and send the thread of course into the darkest depths, deeper than Atlantis.

[El Rojo]

I agree with the gist of the main article, even if it's understandably LFC-tinted.

 

However, I think the Everton and Arsenal games will either validate or make void the points within it.

 

270 minutes to make or break our season right there if you include the Besiktas meat in the sandwich.

[Rashid]

Barret sounds like Paul Tomkins and he has forgotten something. The problem at United last season was the spate of injuries towards the end of the season which forced team selection and he also forgets to draw comparisons with rotation each teams best players and see how that stacks up. Of course every manager rotates but noone is obsessed with it like Rafa is. Just look at the team Fergie started at Pompey and the one Rafa started at Pompey and draw your own conclusions.

[Rashid]

The fucking world seems to be obsessed with rotation. It's not the British way. So it's wrong. And it's the reason everything else in the world is wrong. The world revolves around rotation.

 

In fact I think we should start calling "rotation" "revolution".

 

What do you mean "British way"... how often do you think Barcelona rotate?

[Owen]

Barret sounds like Paul Tomkins and he has forgotten something. The problem at United last season was the spate of injuries towards the end of the season which forced team selection and he also forgets to draw comparisons with rotation each teams best players and see how that stacks up. Of course every manager rotates but noone is obsessed with it like Rafa is. Just look at the team Fergie started at Pompey and the one Rafa started at Pompey and draw your own conclusions.

 

Reina, Agger, Carragher, Finnan, Gerrard and generally Alonso very rarely get 'rotated'. Torres will be included in that, but he's being eased into the league and team. Perhaps he's a victim of his own early success - if he'd been struggling in the matches he'd played, no-one would be complaining.

 

Sorry Rash, but that shouldn't even be up for debate.

 

Which leaves the likes of Riise, Kuyt, Pennant, Crouch, Momo etc - players you don't rate - as those being 'rotated', so what's the problem?

[Skidfingers McGonical]

Barret sounds like Paul Tomkins and he has forgotten something. The problem at United last season was the spate of injuries towards the end of the season which forced team selection and he also forgets to draw comparisons with rotation each teams best players and see how that stacks up. Of course every manager rotates but noone is obsessed with it like Rafa is. Just look at the team Fergie started at Pompey and the one Rafa started at Pompey and draw your own conclusions.

 

And look at the result they got there too. A draw like oursleves. How did you react to the slating of the zonal marking when it all kicked off back then?(I forgot about all that myself, I actually thought it was a good idea and it has been proven)

 

United where only affected in Europe with the injuries they suffered, we also lost some players to injury last season, that where pivotol in our run in, Lil Luis and Fabio to name two. So I don't quite see what you mean on that, I understand the rest of the point, (I don't agree mind)just not the part about the inuries they had and for that reason alone was why Fergie rotated 6 players less than Rafa, we played a bout 6 players that would not normally start a game when qualification was garaunteed for the CL.

[7dalglish]

I think that's unfair Rashid, Paul Tomkins would take 6 or 7 pages to get to the point that Tony Barrett did.