Respected football writer Jonathon Wilson asked if "3-5-2 is dead?" he cited Napoli as the main example of a club currently playing the formation. Now Napoli have company in this group with Liverpool under Kenny Dalglish joining them.
The pioneer of the formation was former Argentina coach Carlos Bilardo who led the country to World Cup victory in 1986. The formation was used to accommodate the talents of their most talented player, Diego Maradona. Now Liverpool are using a formation which died out in the late 80's and very early 90's, popular tactical analysis site Zonal Marking pointed out,
"The use of a three-man defence is extremely unusual in the Premier League – this was the first time a true three-man defence has been used in 2010/11 by any side (drawing a distinction between three- and five-man defences), and in that respect, it was a very interesting decision."
But why have Liverpool decided to adopt this formation? I'm hoping by looking at their matches against Chelsea and Stoke respectively, I might be able to answer that.
Against both Stoke and Chelsea Dalglish has elected to start with three centre backs. This is feel is a pretty good response to sides playing with a 4-4-2 especially taking into consideration that neither Stoke or Chelsea play with a withdrawn striker. The theory behind this is that playing with three at the back leaves two centre backs in this case Agger and Carragher marking the two centre forwards leaving Skrtel free to sweep up any loose balls. I think that this three at the back also gives the side to make the most of Carragher and Aggers' passing ability from the back, ensuring that less wasteful long balls are played from the back as they were under Roy Hodgson.
On the attacking side of things it frees up wing-backs Martin Kelly and especially Glen Johnson to attack and give their side the width Liverpool have lacked in past seasons. After the sales of Albert Riera, Yossi Benayoun and now Ryan Babel the Liverpool squad has no recognised wingers. The logical step if you have in side with these deficiencies is to do what Liverpool have done which is to play a formation with none. The abundance of midfielders in the shapes of Raul Meireles, Steven Gerrard, Christian Poulsen, Lucas, Maxi Rodriguez and Jay Spearing also made this decision a practical one.
Another attacking benefit of the 3-5-2 Liverpool play is that they have the standard 3 v 2 advantage in midfield against a 4-4-2. But with so many teams playing the modern 4-5-1/4-3-3 Meireles drops deeper to then give Liverpool effectively a 4 v 3 advantage, like he did against Stoke, leaving Dirk Kuyt as the lone striker.
All in all the formation currently suits the way Liverpool play and reflects clearly the kinds of players they have at the club. But will this be a long term switch? Jonathon Wilson in the Guardian put his feelings across when using Napoli as an example,
"So what, then, of Napoli? If 3-5-2 is ailing, how can their success be accounted for? The answer is that they are quite happy to have, in effect, two liberi. Napoli are not a team who need to take the initiative to the opposition; rather – as happened in the early days of catenaccio – they often sit deep, invite the opposition onto them, and break quickly, using the pace of Ezequiel Lavezzi.
It would not work for everybody – probably not for a top, top club, who feel the onus to take the game on themselves – but it works for Napoli."
The thing is, I feel formations don't determine the way a team plays. With Liverpool there are no liberi (sweepers) and they don't defend with a deep line. They also have what was described as a "foraging foursome to fear" in the Guardian by Paul Hayward. He was referring to a foursome of Andy Carrol, Steven Gerrard, Raul Meireles and Luis Suarez but in the last two games it has been a very effective foursome of Meireles, Gerrard, Maxi and Kuyt. All four have pushed high up the pitch when battling for possession and attacking especially against Chelsea today. This in the end pinned Carlo Ancelotti's side back and lead to them giving away possession in their own third.
All in all the formation change has been a success, but the true test will be when this formation becomes a regular occurrence. Teams will then amend their systems to counter it and try to expose any perceived weaknesses. For now I'm just enjoying this deviation in tactics from the usual 4-4-2 and 4-5-1/4-3-3 we've got used to seeing week in week out in the Premier League.
I don't know what to say... A player who isn't first choice for his country and has only played half a season in the Premier League is being sold for £35million... Is Andy Carroll really worth that much?!
I'm not sure even if he believes he's worth the fee Liverpool paid for him. Is he really worth more than David Villa, Edin Dzeko and Carlos Tevez? Yes I understand that he's homegrown and that the lack of English talent dictates the values in the market but even then, its a ridiculous amount of money.
Fernando Llorente probably the closest comparison with Carroll as your going to get with a foreign player won't be sold for that much by his club Athletic Bilbao to another Spanish club. Even though he has over a dozen caps for World Champions Spain with a goal every other game as his strike rate. He isn't going for the vast sum Newcastle have received.
Carroll is a good player don't get me wrong but he's more of a John Carew than a Dzeko, Torres or Drogba. He wins everything in the air but lacks pace and cant be describe as creative. Yes he's scored some good goals against decent opposition but at the moment he cant be described as a guaranteed success, would you advocate spending £35 million on him?
Liverpool in recent games under Kenny Dalglish have shown signs of improvement. But why has this happened? What is Kenny doing that Roy Hodgson wasn't? Well I hope I might be able to answer that question.
I think that the key difference is the back four. Yes, Liverpool are looking like they pose more of a attacking threat with Fernando Torres scoring 3 goals in four games in Dalglish took charge. I feel this improvement in form stems from the organisation of the defence.
Under Hodgson the Liverpool back four consisted of Johnson, Kyrgiakos, Skrtel and Konchesky. Of this back four there is only one player, Glen Johson who is recognised as a good ball player. The others are known as efficient defenders all know for their combative attributes more than anything else. With Kyrgiakos at the heart of that defence there is also a lack of pace (when Carragher played under Hodgson the same applies). This led to him dropping deeper, which meant that the other 3 had to do the same, to ensure he isn't playing the opposition forwards onside. Dropping deep and not having players you cant play the ball from the back is footballing suicide and can turn games into attack v defence training sessions.
With the defence dropping deeper left space "between the lines" which meant Meireles and Lucas had to drop deeper to cover the space. This basically meant that Liverpool were surrendering large areas of the pitch to the opposition which Kuyt and Maxi would have to cover defensively leaving Torres isolated. Now this would be fine if the team had two traditional holding midfielders and wingers with pace to expose the space the attacking team leaves behind it. For example Manchester City have operated with a similar system this season with Yaya Toure, De Jong and Barry in midfield. The wingers in the side are Johnson and Milner who both have pace and can expose gaps teams leave when attacking them. Liverpool don't have this pace in Kuyt or Rodriguez and Torres is left in 2 v 1 situations far too often with the centre backs. Therefore they don't pose a threat when they are defending deep and are set up to be picked apart by the opposition. This theory was shown in the second half performance in the recent performance against Everton when Agger was injured at halftime to be replaced by Kyrgiakos.
When Kenny Dalglish took over there has been a major change in the defence. The back two consists of Agger and Skrtel neither of whom lack pace and Agger is exceptionally good on the ball. Dalglish has also started playing youngster Martin Kelly at right back and moving Glen Johnson to left back. Now they are playing with one stopper (Skrtel) and three ball players (Agger, Johnson and Kelly). This template is followed by all the top sides in the Premier League for example Manchester United have Evra, Rafael and Ferdinand who are excellent on the ball with Vidic as the stopper.
With this change in the back line it has allowed Lucas and Meireles to be more forward thinking and push higher up the pitch and in turn has led to Maxi, Kuyt and Torres becoming more of a threat in the attacking third of the pitch. This was noted by Zonal-Marking who described the reasons Liverpool won,
"Simple passes combined with good movement from Torres and forward runs from midfielders caught out Wolves’ defence, and Liverpool were comfortable after their second goal, despite a couple of nervous defensive moments."
These deep runs weren't possible under Hodgson as the team was playing far too deeply putting to much pressure on attacking players to defend rather than concentrate on attacking. When players like Rodriguez and Kuyt are expected to defend deeper it leaves far too much space in between them and the goal to make them an attacking threat and leaves Torres isolated. Now with the support of the two wide men Torres is starting to look like his old self by getting on the scoresheet.
Another benefit of a higher line is that Glen Johnson can play to his strengths, under Hodgson his defensive weaknesses were exposed as his teams centre backs kept dragging both full backs deeper putting him in positions around his own penalty where he was uncomfortable. A key aspects of the first goal against Everton was Johnson burst forward even though he was playing out of his natural position he wasn't asked to defend deep and allowed to get forward.
Conclusion
The players bar Kyrgiakos are the same but they are playing with a higher line which I think is due to an improvement in morale and confidence aswell as a tactical/selection change Dalglish has implemented. These changes have led to a more attacking style of play with the side keeping the ball on the floor rather than being pin back in their own half and hitting long balls towards an isolated and demoralised Fernando Torres.
Sunderland, Wigan, Spurs, Blackpool and Everton... All teams who Liverpool have dropped points against after taking the lead. This was during and after Roy Hodgson's tenure as manager two of Kenny Dalglish's three games in charge have ended up with Liverpool dropped points from winning positions.
Aston Villa aren't too good to go down...
Villa have only won 2 out of their last 12 games...
The match was distinctly average made up of long balls, head tennis and generally talentless football. Neither side proved their Premier League credentials. Villa looked toothless bar a few moments from Stewart Downing, Carew lacks pace and work rate and Agbonlahor is better suited to a 100 metre track than a football pitch. They better be looking over their shoulders now they've got Reo Coker and Petrov back in the side no more excuses...
Luka Modric is a world class player...
Darren Fletcher spent most of the game chasing after Modric...
He ran the show against Manchester United, always beating the first man marking him and releasing the ball efficiently. Bale, Lennon and Van Der Vaart are good players but the little Croat was the best player on the pitch in their biggest league game of the season...
Chelsea need to spend some money...
Chelsea can no longer rely on Drogba after his out of Malaria and as a result look toothless...
After threatening an overhaul of the team Carlo Ancelloti held back and it was business as usual with Chelsea. No major changes to their aging first team against Blackburn and a 2-0 victory. Didier Drogba still isn't looking very convincing, I'm not so sure that victory may kick start a title challenge...
Getting two goals against West Ham the Dutchman's return from injury has been long awaited and he seems to have given his side the cutting edge so many say they've been missing. If he can stay fit I think the Gunners can aim for a serious title push...
West Brom scored three and Blackpool scored two...
Ian Holloway's boys have been looking excellent this season. But against Roberto Di Matteo's West Brom side they were beaten 3-2. This doesn't look like a major result but take into consideration that West Brom lost their last five games and now Blackpool have lost four out their five games in January...
With the January transfer window being swung wide open recently and the rumour mill going into overdrive, I feel its time to have a look at the best and worst signings from last time the window was open.
Best Signings
Firstly its time for the best signings, it must be the best feeling for a manager when a signing comes off exactly how you planned it. But as in every season there are some who have been better than expected...
Richard Kingson - Free Transfer (Blackpool)
You cant go wrong with a free transfer. Especially when you sign a full international who has Premier League experience. This season this free transfer was Ghanaian international Richard Kingson for Blackpool. He has spent time at both Sunderland and Birmingham but failed to convince.
Due to an injury crisis manager Ian Holloway handed first team goal keeping duties to him and he has repaid his managers faith in him ten fold. He is now first choice ahead of the highly rated Matt Gilkes.
Half of Europe was looking for an attacking midfielder, Liverpool bought Joe Cole, AC Milan bought Kevin Prince Boateng and Manchester United... Well they gave up and bought lots of strikers. Whilst all this was going on Spurs snuck in under everyone's radars and snapped up Van Der Vaart. To sign a full Dutch international with Champions League experience at the peak of his career for £7.5 million pounds is a bargain in itself, but with the performances he has been putting in for Spurs since his move have rubber stamped his move as a complete success.
He has made 20 appearances 1 of which was as a substitute so far this season and scored an amazing 10 goals. When looking back on when Van Der Vaart was signed his manager Harry Redknapp said "I took a gamble with him because he has had a hamstring problem, and when he gets tired he tends to get injuries. So when he gets a bit fatigued he does tend to do a hamstring or something else, and that's what I was scared of. I probably left him on for 10 minutes longer than I was going to because when he got hold of the ball at least he would keep it." When talking about his performances Redknapp goes on to say "he has been fantastic for us. He's a 15- to 20-goal-a-year man, and he has everything as a player. He's not just a goalscorer, but a fantastic footballer.''
Marouane Chamakh - Free Transfer (Arsenal)
The Moroccan international is another one of Arsene Wenger's gems. Signed for nothing from French side Bordeaux he has played 21 matches and scored 10 goals so far this season. He has also provided Arsenal with an Aerial threat and physical presence up front and Arsene Wenger has said about him that “He has all you want from a typical centre-forward that we have known before in England before. He fights for the club and works hard for the team.”.
Although he has dipped in form recently, I feel that these statistics and the fact that he signed for free might put him up for signing of the season at the end of the 2010-11 campaign.
Javier Hernandez - £6 million (Man Utd)
Signed before the 2010 World Cup by Manchester United, could've already been considered a very good piece of business after his performances in the world footballs biggest stage which led to him scoring two goals at the World Cup.
Since his move to United he has scored some important goals including the winners against West Brom, Stoke, Wolves and Valencia. His goals from the United bench have turned potential draws into wins which makes him invaluable in their hunt for another Premier League title.
Just to show how much of a bargain he has on his hands Alex Ferguson said "I think our scouting people deserve 10 out of 10 for identifying him before the World Cup and I think if we had been trying to negotiate after the World Cup it would have been very difficult," Ferguson also went on to say "I think a lot of teams would have been after him and it would probably have cost us two or three times more,".
Cheikh Tiote - £3.5 million (Newcastle)
After his move from Dutch club FC Twente Tiote has wasted no time in establishing himself as a first teamer for Newcastle United. The skillful and strong box to box midfielder has already drawn comparisons to Michael Essien.
He has injected energy into Newcastle's midfield and has shone in two games particularly against Arsenal and Everton. In the Arsenal game he shackled opposition playmaker Cesc Fabregas and helped his side to a 1-0 win at the Emirates. He was given recognition by The Guardian who covered his performance:
Now its time for those signings which haunt managers throughout the season. Whenever a manager makes a signing there is a spotlight on the player to see if the performances put in the player matches his value. Here are a few that haven't matched their values by quite a long way...
Christian Poulsen - £4.5 million (Liverpool)
He was brought in from Juventus as a replacement for Argentine Javier Mascherano and frankly he's rubbish... He's so rubbish he's spent less than 6 months at the club and he is being linked with Relegation strugglers West Ham...
Mauro Boselli - £6.5 million (Wigan)
He has played 8 Premier League games and he hasn't come close to scoring... Oh yes he has he's missed a penalty.
Signed from Manchester City after the sale of James Milner and he's done a very good job at showing why they froze him out and sold him. So far he has played 581 minutes of football, scoring no goals and has earned an astonishing £1.2 million his troubles or lack of them...
Well he's been so bad this season that his mum had to come out and defend him... And she didn't do that to well either telling Liverpool fans to stop "living off the past" and that the current side is "s**t". Well if that's the case Konchesky is doing a very good job at fitting in at his new club...
Even his current manager and manager from his days at Fulham, Roy Hodgson got the message in Liverpool's last game against Bolton. Konchesky was dropped and didn't even make the squad for the match.
Rumours are that he is already a target for former club West Ham, that's always bad news if you look at their signings in past seasons. One more thing I said earlier "you can't go wrong with a free transfer", well I lied...
Conclusion
Well that was quite a Liverpool heavy flop section, its not been the best of seasons for the Merseyside club who could soon be counting their manager in the flop section. But in a time when teams can't splash out as much as they used to, we're a bit short on flops this season as teams now bother to do their scouting or don't bother signing anyone. With the successes, they could easily turn into flops if they're not careful as there still is the second half of the season to go, penalties to be missed and managers to fall out with, we shall see what happens. As usual thanks for reading....
Yes that's right Stanley Victor Collymore... In my eyes one of the biggest talents lost in English football. He may have been a joke to many at the end of his career but in his heyday he was one of the deadliest forwards in the Premier League.
He started of at Crystal Palace but with Mark Bright and Ian Wright ahead of him in the pecking order he made the move to Southend where he kicked of his career scoring 18 goals in 31 games.
His goal scoring exploits caught the eye of top division side Nottingham Forest. This is where many believe Collymore was at his trouble free best. He helped them to a place in the UEFA Cup and 3rd place in the First Division. These exploits meant he became a target of some of the big guns in English football. Manchester United were rumoured to want him but this move never materialised. At the end of his time with Forest Collymore had racked up 41 goals in 65 league games. With this record it was just a matter of time before a bigger side snapped him up. In this case it was Liverpool who came up with 8.5 Million to sign him.
Collymore was at Liverpool for 2 years, forming a lethal partnership with a young Robbie Fowler. He ended up scoring 26 goals in 61 league appearances. This wasn't as good as his rate for Forest but at Liverpool he wasn't the main goalscorer and provided numerous assists for his strike partner Fowler. In their first season together they scored a combined amount of 55 goals and 47 goals in their second season.
Unfortunately he was diagnosed with clinical depression after his stint at Liverpool which led to a serious decline in his career. Unlike the knee injury that ended Dean Ashton's career or the broken leg ended Alf Inge Haaland's career Collymore's injury was mental and not taken note of like the physical injuries players suffer. But I thought I'd give everyone a reminder of one best players England could've had...
In this week of injustice at Newcastle United Football Club, with Chris Hughton being sacked after two bad results, I was thinking about the other really bad ones that come to mind... Here are a few of my favorites...
Vincent Del Bosque - Real Madrid
This is the man who won every trophy under the sun. He won the Champions League twice and La Liga twice. He also had the Galacticos of Figo, Zidane, Ronaldo and Roberto Carlos playing football light years ahead of their rivals. On the season Real decided not to renew his contract the club got to the Champions League semi-finals and won the league.
Since Del Bosque has left Real the club have employed numerous managers including Fabio Capello and Manuel Pellegrini and won only one La Liga title and no European trophies... Oh and just to prove his class Del Bosque is now a World Cup Winner after his Spain side triumphed in South Africa.
Rafael Benitez - Liverpool
When Rafa Benitez came to Liverpool it had been 20 years since they had won the European Cup. This was far too long for England's most successful club in European competitions. Benitez came and and won it in his first season in an epic final victory against AC Milan.
He also went on to guide them to another European Final on this occasion it was defeat to AC Milan which stopped him from winning the trophy again. In the league up against Manchester United and Chelsea who both have superior finances due to rich benefactors and larger stadiums, Benitez came close to winning the title on one occasion in 2008-2009 when they finished second.
Yes he had a bad season when he got sacked with Liverpool finishing 7th but what made this sacking controversial is that Benitez loved and understood the club. He had the best interests of the club at heart and when most people would've left after relentless pressure from the owners of the club Benitez chose to stay. Upon his appointment as Inter Milan manager Benitez came back to Liverpool and made a donation of £96,000 to the Hillsborough Family Support Group, he didn't have to do this but he did and reaffirmed his affection for the Club and its supporters...
Martin Jol - Tottenham
This is the man who had Spurs challenging for a Champions League place long before Harry Redknapp was the man of the moment at White Hart Lane. He signed the likes of Gareth Bale, Aaron Lennon and Dimitar Berbatov who've all left their marks on the club. He built a squad capable of consistently challenging for a European place.
In Jol's final season at Spurs they lost their first two games and it became public that his job had been offered to Juande Ramos. This was a disgraceful way of treating the man who had led the club to two successive 5th place finishes in the Premier League. In the end Jol found out that he was going to lose his job during a 2-1 defeat at the hand Getafe in the UEFA Cup, via a text message from his nephew...
Gareth Southgate - Middlesborough
Well not a lot of people think of this one. Middlesborough were in 4th place in the Championship after being relegated under Southgate from the Premier League the previous season. They were only one point off the top and had just beaten Derby County 2-0, Southgate was on his way to undoing his failure of the season before, he was called into a meeting by 'Boro owner Steve Gibson and relieved of his role.
If you look at where they were when Southgate was at the helm, challenging for promotion. After Southgates sacking the club Middlesborough finished 11th missing out on the play-off places by 8 points. You can see how far the club has regressed by its current position in the table, 23rd in the Championship with 20 games gone.
Southgate was the man who helped Adam Johnson, David Wheater and Brad Jones into the first team and put Middlesborough's youth academy on the map. It can be clearly be seen that the club has been suffering since his departure.
Chris Hughton - Newcastle United
This is the one everyone's talking about. Mike Ashley has decided to sack the man who got Newcastle promoted from the Championship, spending virtually no money and has guided them to 11th place in the Premier League. He also oversaw the 5-1 battering of their bitterest rivals Sunderland earlier this season. Lately there has been a downturn in the clubs fortunes with heavy defeats to Bolton and West Brom but between those fixtures there was an impressive draw against Chelsea.
The Newcastle job isn't and easy one with the likes of Andy Carroll and Joey Barton making the dressing room a difficult one to control. Hughton has done this and done it well, handling issues such as Carrolls court case and Bartons bust up with Blackburn's Morten Gamst Pederson with little on no fuss made. The man may not be the best or most experienced manager in the Premier League but he didn't deserve to be sacked....
Firstly, I would like to start off by saying that this isn't an attack on Roy Hodgson personally or on his past achievements as a manager. He is one of the most respected and liked managers in the English game. He's managed one of the biggest clubs in Europe, Inter Milan. He has managed two international sides, Switzerland and Finland respectively and both with relative success and we all know how he did with Fulham, Uefa Cup Final and all that... Add to this that he a very nice person. always giving sensible opinions and respect for his opposition unlike some Premier League manager who we'll name on another day...
Okay, so where's my criticism going to come from I hear you ask? Well all you have to do is to listen to some of Hodgson's interviews and its obvious he doesn't have the mentality to be managing a club the size of Liverpool or the mentality to take on Manchester United and City, Chelsea and even Arsenal.
Another one of these incidents occurred after Liverpool lost to Northampton in the Carling Cup. When asked about his clubs perilous position near the foot of the PL table he responded "Things are looking really, really bleak. It has been said that if you are in the bottom three, you are in a relegation fight, and I would have to go along with that". Now you're the manager of a team which has won 18 league titles and 5 European Cups and are now admitting there is a possibility that they may be relegated. This in a league which contains, West Ham, Wolves, Wigan, Blackpool, Fulham and West Brom as possible relegation fodder... Hodgson has also failed to assert his control over transfer rumours. This also involves Fernando Torres, who was rumoured to be a Manchester United target when Wayne Rooney looked like he was about to leave. When questioned on the likelihood of the move materialising he responded by saying "I am not naive to believe there won't be any danger and we will never lose a player like Torres, I understand these things can happen. I don't believe we will lose him, we will do our best to ensure he stays, and I only hope I can do everything in my power to help him return to the very top level we know he has. I certainly hope he will get back very quickly, we want to get him back to form and back to the level we know he can achieve as quickly as possible." This is the talk of manager of an average sized club having one of his players eyed up by one of the giants not of a boss of a top club who doesn't want to sell to a rival.
If you compare Hodgsons reaction to Sir Alex Ferguson's when Real Madrid were exciting themselves over Cristiano Ronaldo. Ferguson came out and criticised Real Madrid regarding any interest they may have in the player involved, confirmed the player is happy and also ended up reporting them to FIFA. Now although the player didn't stay in the long run, but it showed that Ferguson was in charge and wouldn't have another club dictate affairs at his club, Hodgson hasn't done anything like this to show his power at the club.
Now top managers who are used to running big clubs with big ambitions would do whatever it takes to defend their clubs. For example Arsene Wenger has an aversion to seeing events when they involve his players committing distasteful acts, Ancelloti has the habit of having all his pre and post-match interviews sound the same regardless of the result or opposition which removes pressure from his players and finally Alex Ferguson seems to redirect the glare of the media away from the players to the match officials at key times.
These behaviour's aren't commendable qualities in general life but they are Machiavellian attributes that top managers need to hold their own against the media, their rivals and also to gain the trust and support of their players and fans. These are qualities that Roy Hodgson doesn't have and I feel in the long term it will cost him his job...
Now I know that I'm going against the British media, pundits like Andy Gray and the former Texan owners of the club when I say that Rafa Benitez should still be managing Liverpool FC.
When Benitez first came to Liverpool it was off the back of deposing the two great powers of Spanish football, Barcelona and Real Madrid and making Valencia the champions of Spain. He came to an ailing giant of football. His predecessor Gerard Houllier had moderate success winning the UEFA Cup, FA Cup and the League Cup but failed to make Liverpool champions of England.
In his first season Rafa had immediate success winning the Champions League with a Liverpool side made up of Houllier signings and a few acquisitions made by Benitez from La Liga. Following this success I feel that Liverpool fans expected more of the same not realizing that the club was punching way above their weight.
Liverpool as a club are far behind the likes of Manchester United, Chelsea and even Manchester City with regards to finances and facilities. If you start by looking at the size and quality of the stadiums. Both Manchester clubs have far larger stadiums in terms of capacity and Chelsea have invested millions in improving Stamford Bridge. Liverpool are still in Anfield which has a maximum capacity of 45,400 and was built in 1884. With the resources Benitez had available to him in comparison to Manchester United and Chelsea I feel that a European Cup, FA Cup and consistently qualifying for the Champions League is a good return.
I know that critics of Rafa point out signings such as Andrea Dossena, Alberto Aquilani, Robbie Keane and Ryan Babel as major flops. But in response to this I can say Rafa raised the profile of the club, signings such as Xabi Alonso (who Real Madrid were interested in at the time), Javier Mascherano, Fernando Torres, Daniel Agger, Dirk Kuyt and Pepe Reina showed Liverpool had the ambition and manager to attract the top talent from around Europe.
Benitez also improved the performances of Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher. Gerrard wasn't a 15+ goal midfielder before his arrival. Carragher under Houllier was a utility man usually shoved out to left back and not the cornerstone of a European Cup winning defence.
I also feel that the British media have been treating Benitez unfairly. Questions over the tactical shape and quality of his teams has been a major stick to beat Benitez with. On the left is the team Benitez had assembled the season before Christian Purslow became managing director at the club when they finished 2nd. Following his appointment I feel Benitez became an isolated figure at the club.
Many say that Rafa needed to leave the club due to the clubs poor finish and the club needed to progress. If this was the case it doesn't seem to be working. Under Roy Hodgson the club have lost Javier Mascherano, Albert Riera and Emiliano Insua who have been replaced by Christian Poulsen, Joe Cole and Paul Konchesky.
This time last season (25/10/2009) Liverpool were in 5th place in the Premiership after a 2-0 win over Manchester United. At the moment they are 19th with only one win this season recorded this season. Further to this at the peak of his powers Rafa led Liverpool to a 4-1 victory against Manchester United and 4-0 against Real Madrid.
The team which finished seventh under Benitez last season (on the left). Fernando Torres only played 15 league games which is less than half, imagine if Wayne Rooney only played 15 games for Manchester United? Without their talismanic striker Liverpool lacked the goal threat, Torres scored 12 goals in the games he played. This cannot be blamed on Benitez Torres due to the international calender hadn't had a break in two years (Euro 2008 was followed by the Confederations Cup).
I do understand that Xabi Alonso would've been a big miss for the team but it didn't seem to affect the form of Torres. And if you look at the bigger picture Liverpool were just 7 points off 4th place. Although finishing outside the top 4 is a failure but I don't feel there was as much of a gap between Liverpool and the teams challenging for that spot as there is now.
Liverpool's starting line up against Manchester United (bottom left) their biggest match of the season is a far weakened line up with an axis of Poulsen and Meireles, neither of whom have played in the Premier League before. Meireles has come from the weaker less physical Portuguese League and Poulsen was discarded after a disappointing time in Italy with Juventus. Konchesky is another player who I feel isn't a player qualified to play for a major club partnered with Joe Cole on the left. Yes this is the same Joe Cole who Chelsea felt was fit to let go for free and then spend 6 million to buy his replacement from Liverpool in the form of Yossi Benayoun. This clearly shows Roy Hodgson isn't qualified for the job and Liverpool have regressed as a club since Benitez left.
In view of this there are two main reasons why Rafa Benitez should still be Liverpool manager. Firstly, one bad season doesn't make him a bad manager, his previous successes should have bought him more time and secondly the club have been unable to find a better replacement.
