UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUEThe Liverpool manager is often at his best when eking out thin resources, writes Kevin McCarra
RAFAEL BENITEZ often seems conservative and even glum. Compliments are handed out so sparingly the Liverpool manager must suppose they are a natural resource on the brink of exhaustion. Experience has deepened the wariness in his character and Benitez had been sacked twice by lower-division clubs in Spain before making his breakthrough.
Even then, Valencia had been spurned by other candidates before they arrived at his name well down the list. Adversity seems natural to Benitez. That is just as well, considering the circumstances Liverpool face tonight. It would be an achievement to take a draw in Lyon, although such a result would probably still leave his side struggling to get out of Group E.
The immediate challenge is to keep some hope alive. Liverpool have prospered under Benitez in the Champions League precisely because of a survival instinct. He won the trophy at his first attempt with Liverpool, but it tends to be forgotten that there was a brush with elimination in the group stage of the 2004-05 campaign.
With 10 minutes to go at Anfield, Olympiakos were drawing 1-1 and on the verge of knocking out Benitez’s side. Liverpool wriggled free with an 80th-minute goal from Neil Mellor before Steven Gerrard added another. It was the only time Mellor ever scored in European competition and his career total for the club was six.
Benitez, were he the romantic type, could invoke more recent exploits. Liverpool arrived at the Velodrome for the last group fixture in December 2007 with just seven points but went through to the last 16 thanks to a 4-0 rout of Marseille. The line-up included not just Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres, but also gifted creators such as Harry Kewell and Yossi Benayoun.
While the means are more restricted today, Benitez has often been at his best when eking out thin resources so the disadvantages in Lyon will not disconcert him. Memories of last month’s match with Claude Puel’s side at Anfield may even perk up the Spaniard, despite the fact Liverpool were beaten 2-1.
Adversity had been extreme there, with Gerrard forced to go off in the 25th minute and Torres unable to take part at all but Martin Kelly had a laudable debut at right back, Benayoun opened the scoring and there were chances to polish off Lyon before the visitors struck twice in the later stages.
Puel has unease of his own, judging by the accounts of indiscipline and bickering within the camp. In addition, Lisandro Lopez, the apparent replacement for Karim Benzema, who moved on to Real Madrid in the summer, was ineffectual at Anfield and did not complete the game. Benitez will not be without hope this evening and the numerous blows he has taken have landed him in a situation to which he is well-adapted.
Ambition had been coercing the manager into a flamboyance that is not his natural state of mind. With Liverpool splitting champions Manchester United and Chelsea in the league last season, he had scant option but to take the next step and search for the expressiveness that might bring his side to the head of the table. Circumstances mean any such approach has to be suspended for the moment. Glen Johnson, the overlapping right back, is not even with the party in Lyon and while the attacking midfielder Alberto Aquilani has travelled, he has so far been limited by injury to one outing of about a quarter of an hour at Arsenal.
Benitez is restricted to familiar faces and methods, but at least he is dealing with known quantities. While the vacancy at right back is hard to fill, it would surely be folly to shunt Jamie Carragher into that area. The manager needed no reminder of the defender’s particular expertise but the player was at the root of Liverpool’s win against United 10 days ago. Carragher thrives when blocking in or around the penalty box and there was pressure of that sort to be endured in the 2-0 victory.
It was no mystery adversity should bring out the best in him. The centre back becomes more uneasy the closer he gets to the halfway line. He will not be averse to siege defending tonight.
The Liverpool side as a whole will have to be tight-knit. They achieved that in the defeat of United when, then as now, they had no Gerrard but could call on a semi-fit Torres. Lucas Leiva was outstanding that day and such less-celebrated footballers will have to come to the fore. The encouragement of the Anfield stands may be absent this time, but the strategist Benitez will be gladdened by the knowledge Lyon are scarcely so formidable as United.
Guardian Service
