It is nearly a year ago since Liverpool had their little resurrection.
Coming out with play not seen since their 90s days, they managed to absolutely slaughter top teams Manchester United and Real Madrid.
Just a few days ago, however, they suffered defeat at the hands of lower-level team Wigan, in a humuliating 1-0 loss. Fans were not happy with Liverpool manager, Rafael Benitez.
This totals 9 losses since the season start, and now, even though Liverpool have been very supportive of their manager, it seems as if Benitez can do no more. There has seemingly been little to no noticeable improvements recently.
The real question is: Is this as far as he can carry Liverpool?
We Never Learn From Our Mistakes
It’s coming ever-sooner to Benitez’s 6th season at the club, and to be honest, he seems to be getting progressively less effective.
The same can be said for old manager, Houllier, who in the 2001 lead the team to victory.
However, every season after that seemed to disappoint, and live up to expectations, which eventually led
to his resignation. The fans seemed to only care about whether or not he could win the cup.
Houllier was forced to resign after much criticism about his tactics not being of the ‘liverpool way’, and also, of how he dealt in transfers. It seems to apply to Benitez aswell – people aren’t really feeling the way he manages is ‘Liverpool enough’.
In retrospect though, Benitez does seem to be following in Houllier’s footsteps, performing well in the early years, and worse in the later years.
But then again, if you look at the current Liverpool line up, which features man-beasts such as Fernando Torres, you can’t say that Benitez hasn’t been able to build a very powerful team, and as a technicality, if you were to view all his players individually, the general consensus would be that the team is amazing.
Before A Baby Was Born
Think to 9 months previous though – Liverpool had just finished the season on a record high note. It was looking extremely well until Xabi Alonso‘s sale disappointed, and then, a quick defeat by the Spurs knocked their confidence.
It’s like they never really recovered from that, and they’ve remained on a low morale for all this time.
In addition to that, their consistency is poor.
Sure, the crowd loves how Liverpool manages to do flashy comebacks, and pull off elaborate shots, but there’s also the periods where these things are absent.
And when they are absent, there’s not much Benitez can say to redeem himself.
For example, in the recent Wigan match, the side seemed to lack everything a good manager should provide – Confidence, Morale, and Tactics. In all honesty, it was poor play.
If the team is losing faith in Benitez, then I think we are all granted the right of doing the same.
Low-Fat Alternatives
Are there any other options really for Liverpool?
I suppose there is, but not many are really that practical.
I’m sure all the fans would love to see someone like Kenny Dalglish come in and inject life to the club, but realistically, he’s been out of the managing game for ten years since he left Celtics, and trust me, ten years is a long time to have not done anything.
Realistically however, maybe big name managers like Jose Mourinho are on the cards. It seems likely, and his name always pops up in those articles about this very topic. Very controversial also, seeing as he was formerly Chelsea‘ manager.
The real problem is that Benitez is just losing popularity. Popularity he can only gain from success.
If he were to suddenly climb the tree of success, and reap it’s fruit for Liverpool, I have without a shadow of doubt that he would be sitting his backside comfortably on the manager’s chair.
But unless he can suddenly magic his way into victory, he’s going to remain fiddling.