Friday, May 04, 2007

Champions League Musings

"Disrupting opponents like Milan is Rafael Benítez's specialist subject and could get him the result that United missed out on."
Why Benítez could succeed where Ferguson failed

To me this epitomises the problems with Rafa as a big club manager. He made his name at Valencia playing third fiddle to Real and Barca, and thus had to tailor his teams to beat those opponents. His ability to find exploit favorable matchups serves him well in cup competitions (see: Crouch v. Essien). However a matchup approach will only take you so far at a big club. Rafa has the quality in his squad to put out a winner every week but instead of focusing on finding his best lineup and letting his players get a feel for each other he juggles his team. Liverpool under Rafa have never displayed the kind of team chemistry that we've seen out of Man United, Chelski or Arsenal in the last 3 years and I think that until he changes his approach from focusing on his opponents weaknesses to focusing on his own team's strengths Liverpool will never find the kind of consistency they need to win the league.

"Should Chelsea and United consider sacrificing their war at home for victory in Europe?"
Fighting on two fronts draws the sting from United and Chelsea

No comments: