Liverpool fans were brought back to earth by Man Utd`s victory at Anfield, but many fans, myself included were expecting too much too early from a team still being rebuilt after nearly two decades of neglect.
Much has been said recently about Rafa Benitez`s future at Liverpool, but let me lay my cards on the table now, i believe if we let the canny Spaniard leave Anfield for any reason it will set us back another two decades in our hunt for that ever elusive Premiership title.
I have not agreed with a lot of his decisions, i believe he over-rotates our players ,and as good as Dirk Kuyt is and we always hear how hard working he is, most of his hard work is defensive although we have the most formidable central midfield in not just England but in Europe so why does one of our strikers spend so much time and energy following players all the way to our penalty box and then leaving Torres all alone up front when the break does come, please have a little more faith in our defence. Torres works hard and defends from the front but he knows that his main job is to score goals and anything else is just a bonus for the team but defending from the front seems to be Kuyt`s main occupation, Crouch has his problems but he realises that his first priority is goals and he really should be playing more.Rafa does need to be more adventurous because our defence is good and we will score more goals than we concede.
Some of Rafa`s signings have been questionable, but he has always showed his ruthless side and quickly got rid of his mistake signatures at the first opportunity.
But what Rafa does give us is a clear plan. He has swelled the youth ranks from the finest that could be found from all over Europe and beyond, building up the most enviable list of young talent that can be found in England, which also signals that, given his choice he is in this for the long haul.
Despite the recent loss to the fiercest enemy of all Man Utd, Liverpool under Benitez are heading in the right direction and are improving all the time under his stewardship and will only get better and better when the new players signed in the summer get more settled. Football changed the day Roman injected his Rubles into the game, now there are no quick fixes to winning the Premiership, Liverpool are basically outgunned by the financial muscle of Chelsea and Man Utd so we have to follow Arsenals`s blueprint for success in buying young players and letting them come through the ranks and then spending our money on top quality to get a blend of players that makes us true competitors once again.
For a team to win the Prem for a consistent period of time a winning mentality is built up in that squad and as players get older that mentality is passed on to the younger players so at the beginning of the season they actually believe that they will win the league and only by some mishap they wont. Man utd have that mentality, Liverpool were their fore bearers, but when Graham Souness sold the spine of the Liverpool team, he also sold that winning mentality and we have never been able to recover it.
Given time Rafa will accomplish that `WE WILL WIN´thinking into the Liverpool camp but he needs time, he is at an disadvantage because of the other clubs financial clout, but he has not held up his hands and said that its too much of an uphill battle, instead he has staked his reputation on transforming every level at the club, starting with the youth to provide a decent chance of producing our own gems and maybe just maybe by buying a few of the best and mixing them with our own prospects we may just get that winning mentality back again, and once again bring the league back home but it will not be easy and patience is needed, but without patience we may just lose the one man that can go against all the odds and money that the other clubs have and lose the chance to once again put Liverpool Football Club at the pinnacle of English football.
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