Les, if we judged everyone on one game them Arsene Wenger would be just as poo as Benitez because his team got utterly outplayed for about 105 minutes at least in the same week.
PSV caused Milan a hell of a lot of problems by attacking them more or less all out. I would buttume that is why Kewell was played, perhaps the peice of poo would of liked to of showcased himself in the biggest european stage but that wasn't to be the case for whatever reason.
Going a goal down within a minute is something that was probably one of the biggest disasters that could happen to a team in a cup final - it hits your morale, you have to decide how to go about changing the game and at what point. Liverpool weren't without chances and Milan seemed to be carrying a fair amount of luck (the foul that led to the free kick for the first???? The handball in the penalty area just before Milan scored their 2nd?????). Sure Milan had a goal chalked off but could you really blame the linesman for being wrong when you only had one chance to view it from pitchside?
The first half display was shocking, probably more shellshocking that just plain crap, it was obvious the teams heads had dropped after the 2nd goal but did Benitez really need to make a change then with 6 minutes till half time?
Milan were playing with an 8 man defence after they scored their opener, this drew the Liverpool back line up to high and that became evident as half time approached - this was highlighted by the lack of attacking Cafu and Maldini done in the first half. The biggest person though was lack of a presence on Kaka, the midfield was far too often giving him way too much time.
So what can we say about Ancelotti? This is the 2nd time in 2 years he has had his team lose after having a 3 goal lead in the champions league.
Tactical genius' get beat sometimes, they get outplayed sometimes but Benitez did make a change that gave Liverpool a competing chance, he did change the tactics and it proved to be a winning move.
Sure we can say he should of started with Hamman but the german had hardly played much football since returning from injury, did he want to use him from the start or use him as a sub?
At the end of the day Liverpool won and it is the mark of something good that a team can come back from 3-0 to draw level or win at that level.
There is a long way to go but Benitez record goes back beyond just his Liverpool management. His record is pretty good.
Ren
