Goal drought doesn't shake Benitez belief
Sep 23 2005
By Chris Bascombe, Liverpool Echo
Hope your club's better runWednesday's game has seen CFC plummet to the depths of ineptness. They advertised, several weeks ago, that a train would run to Liverpool for the match. £58 return, which whilst dear would...
THE SIGHT of Rafa Benitez pictured alongside Real Madrid's football director
Arrigo Saachi is enough to send a chill down the spines of Liverpudlians.
While it's a fair buttumption life at the Bernabeu was a topic of conversation when the duo met on Monday evening, fortunately, fears of an imminent swoop by the Spanish giants can be allayed.
Benitez and Saachi were guests of Italian television as the Liverpool boss was handed the accolade European coach of the year.
Indeed, as the Reds boss talked football with the man whose former AC Milan team he rates as a blueprint for his Liverpool side of the future, Benitez and Saachi were blissfully oblivious to the stories which followed a day later, suggesting a call from Madrid is due.
Football FactOn Tue, 27 Sep 2005 23:04:59 GMT, "Drunken Tramp" So what if the Muslim is a white British person born in Smethwick of white British parents and has converted to Islam...
Of more pressing concern to the Liverpool coach was a goal drought which represents the worst strike rate at the start of the season in the club's history.
The 0-0 draw against Manchester United has provoked as much negativity in some quarters as the tactics both sides used at Anfield a week ago.
The reaction has taken Benitez somewhat by surprise, since a point against a team which has won their last three fixtures at Anfield represents progress.
Anyone expecting a change in approach from the Spaniard in the face of complaints about lack of attacking intent is wasting their time.
"I know we need improvement in attack, but we are better in defence. If you want to build a strong team you must always start at the back," insists Benitez..
"We want to make the defence and the attack better. In pre-season, we scored a lot of goals.
"Now it's true we are not doing so. We need to find the right balance and find some solutions. But to have four clean sheets gives us a lot of confidence."
More astute analysts understand why Liverpool aren't scoring so many goals. Despite Benitez's best efforts, he has no wingers and no proven goalscorers in his squad.
He's currently trying to create a system which best serves those players he's got, while also trying not to undermine the squad's confidence too much by admitting it's not as strong as he'd like.
For now, particularly against the best teams, the 4-5-1 system is sure to persist, although Benitez refuses to accept he's employing a wholly defensive strategy.
"The quality of the players is the most important thing. You must know what you have and work with it," he says..
"The formation depends on the players you have and who you're playing. We play 4-2-3-1 a lot. People say it's 4-5-1 when you don't have the ball.
Chelsea play similar, but for them it becomes 4-3-3 when they have the ball and attack. But the system isn't that important. The players' move-ment is what makes it work.
"You don't score a lot of goals just by playing a lot of strikers. What you need is a lot of players who are capable of getting into the box.
"In the Champions League, Chelsea used Robert Huth as a striker in the last 10 minutes. They had four players as strikers at the end. Did that mean they scored goals?
No. They still couldn't score.
"Tell me, how do Chelsea win their matches? They control the game in defence first and then they have good forwards to build attacks. They win most games 1-0 or 2-0. United and Arsenal do the same. They defend properly first and don't allow their opponent many opportunities. That's what we're trying to achieve.
"We have the defensive part better now, but for sure we must improve more in attack. It can take time to get the balance right but at this moment we are heading the right way. I know we can beat anyone.
"Manchester United have conceded only once this season but when they came to Anfield they were afraid of what we could do to them. They paid us a lot of respect.
"We know we need to win more games, but the first thing you must do is control the game in order to make chances."
The topic of the week is hardly new to Benitez. He's heard it all before in Spain.
"In my first season in charge of Valencia we went 13 games without losing a match. There were seven draws in those games. Everyone spoke about the number of games we drew and how the team needed to win," he said.
By May, there were fewer complaints.
"At the end of the season, we were league champions," added Benitez.
