If what Rafa Benitez says is true and the Premiership is the main focus this year for Liverpool Fc, then the team he sent out to face Portsmouth on Saturday was very poor judgement by the Liverpool boss.
This was the first real test of Benitez`s resolution of where his priority`s really lie, the league or the Champions league, and he seems to have been willing to risk the Premiership points in order to have a fresh team for the Champions league game against Porto.
I understand that in nowadays game, due to the amount of games the top teams will play in a season, rotation is a must to save players from burnout later in the season, but Benitez went totally over the top in last Saturdays game at Fratton Park. Too many first choice players were not started, Steven Gerrard, Dirk Kuyt, Fernando Torres and John Arne Riise are probably at the moment first choice starters in midfield and attack and having four of your six normal starters in midfield and attack being rested at the same time is just to big of a change in the team and weaken`s the team too much, and especially if you think about the opposition, Harry Redknapp`s team`s are always well organised and this Portsmouth team is one of his best, and i believe Benitez did not recognise what a threat Portsmouth actually are and thought that sending out a second string team would be enough to see them off. How very wrong he was, believe me Liverpool were incredibly lucky to leave Fratton park with a point. Pepe Reina saved a penalty and how Portsmouth missed two gaping goal chances must have given Harry Redknapp nightmares.
I hope Rafa has learned something from this, that with the new influx of huge tv money all established Premiership teams have strenghtened and now there are very few easy games in the Premiership , and as good as the Liverpool squad is now, Liverpool will lose a lot of points this season if we see more of this overkill on rotation.
All Liverpool fans agree that the Premiership has to be the priority this season and i believe if Gerrard and Torres had started this game then we would still be on the top of the table right now as when they came on we suddenly became the best team on the pitch, but instead we have been overtaken by Arsenal, and are on the same points as Manchester United and Chelsea.
I know most of you will say not to worry as its so early in the season, but this truly is an opportunity lost to consolidate our place at the top of the table but instead we find ourselves in the familiar position of looking up at some other team at the peak of the table.
Some may say that i am being over critical of Rafa Benitez, but i firmly believe that three premiership points are more important than beating Porto in the Champions league, and i just wished that Rafa Benitez felt the same, because if he had we would surely be still at the pinnacle of the League today.
I have been pretty critical of Benitez in this article because i think he has lost Liverpool two points with his team selection, but i still believe he is the best chance of Liverpool once again reclaiming that very elusive league title, as long as he realises if he has to gamble in future, please play the best possible team for the Premiership game, and take that gamble to Europe.
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