Liverpool’s Midfield
June 20th, 2007 by EoinContinuing my analysis of the Liverpool squad I today turn my attentions to the Midfield. The engine room, the heart beet, the creativity, the shield for the defence, and let’s not forget the wingers. It’s all in today’s look at the squad Benitez has assembled.
Center-Midfield
I thought I’d start with the center of midfield as it is the easiest to analyse. In Steven Gerrard, Xabi Alonso, Javier Mascherano and Momo Sissoko, Liverpool have four central midfielders that would walk into just about any team in the World. They are truly top class. The trick for Benitez is to keep them all on his books and to keep them all happy.
Half of that job is almost complete now that Gerrard and Alonso have signed their contract extentions, but there seems to be a delay with Sissoko’s contract and Mascherano is only on loan for the next 12 months, although a fee has been agreed should Liverpool decide to buy him. Keeping them all happy will be a job that takes all of Benitez’s skills as a manager, but it might be as simple as those who perform play.
Despite the high quality of player in this position there was a lack of goals from them last season. Gerrad’s 11 was a healthy figure but nothing compared to the 20 plus he scored the previous season. Alonso is capable of many more goals than he has produced so far and the pressure must be put on him to score. Mascherano can scroe a few goals a season whil Sissoko seems to lack confidence in front of goal. Assists must also be increased but I believe that we have the right players in the squad for this position.
Of course Benitez didn’t feel he had enough headaches and added the highly rated Brazilian Lucas Leiva to his squad this summer. His reputation promises goals, asisits and tackling but being only 20 and coming straight from South America I think he should be given next season to adapt.
Right-Wing
Right-wing is one of the areas I want Liverpool to strengthen the most. Sure they need goals up front as a matter of some urgency but if you create better supply then the strikers you have will score more. Gerrard playing on the right-wing is not the answer. Considering the squad of players available for the last 3 years I agreed that he was most useful to the team out there, but you don’t get the best out of Gerrard when he is wide-right and there are better right-wingers out there. And yet there have been very few right-wingers linked to Liverpool so far this summer.
I wrote Jermaine Pennant off a long time ago, and if I’m honest I never really gave him a chance. He clearly wasn’t the number one target (Alves was the priority last summer) and he needed time to settle, despite playing in the same league as he did with his former club, Birmingham. His form improved near the end of the season and I was impressed with his displays in the latter rounds of the Champion’s League. Now that I want to keep him, I still feel that he is a squad player rather than first choice right-winger. Luis Garcia is not a right-winger for me, so in my eyes Liverpool have one right-winger on their books and he’s not first choice.
Roma’s Mancini is the only name that has been linked publicly so far. From the little I have seen of him he looks a skilful player who likes a few tricks, likes to take players on, can put crosses in and scores goals. Aaron Lennon would be my personal choice but I don’t think he’s within price range. There aren’t a glut of right-wingers out there of the standard Liverpol would need. Maybe Pennant will continue to surprise me and find some consistancy in his crossing and his performance. I would still like to see a second right-winger signed.
Left-Wing
The left-wing has been a problem area for Liverpool for some time. I am not, however, as worried about it as I am the right-wing. Bolo Zenden has left and Mark Gonzalez is near to completing his departure to Spain or Portugal. Even if no more left-wingers come in Harry Kewell – a player who has infuriated me to the point of hatred on many occasions – looked good near the end of the season and John Arne Riise provides an option for the left-wing that I really like.
Having said that I’d cash in on Kewell if anyone offered £3m or more and I’d sign another 2 left-wingers if the money was available. Florent Malouda is still an option. 
The reports are saying that either he isn’t first option or the money isn’t available to complete the transfer yet. I choose to believe the first theory as in previous seasons Benitez has lined up his second (or lower) choice option first before trying to push his first choice deal through. Just look at Pennant last season. So if not Malouda then who? David Silva of Valencia seems the favoured option. Simao Sambrosa’s name has come up again and since he can play left or right, he would be an excellent signing. Sambrosa and Silva with Kewell given one last year to prove himself and both wings are sorted. Seems to easy doesn’t it? One thing’s for sure, Benitez wouldn’t have let Gonzalez go so early if he wasn’t confident of bringing in a new left-winger. Just why Benitez has put more priority on the left than the right I do not know but I’m sure it will all become clear soon. 
In terms of exits I have no problem with Zenden going, I wouldn’t have a problem with Garcia or Kewell leaving either, but I would have liked Gonzalez to be given another year. I feel he has more to offer. Maybe his attitude wasn’t up to scratch but I never heard any rumours of trouble with him. Sending him on loan for a season to build up him confidence and bringing him back into a more attack minded team might be the answer. If Bentiez chooses to sell him I’ll trust he knows something I don’t. Once he brings in good wingers I won’t care!
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June 20th, 2007 at 2:04 pm
Oi, Eoin! What about Paul Anderson? Benetiz thinks he’ll make the breakthrough AND he can play on either wing. His goal tally is pretty good too.
June 20th, 2007 at 10:51 pm
Yes, I’m watching out for him but he didn’t seem to make the necessary progress last season. I doubt he’s ready for the first team, but I hope he gets a few appearances in the season ahead.
Where did Benitez say he thought he’d make the breakthrough?
June 21st, 2007 at 10:14 am
Saw it herehttp://www.thisisanfield.com/players/anderson. I didn’t realise they got him from Hull though, I had assumed he came through the youths.
Do they have anyone from there? They had trouble before in that Houlier and Steve Highway (what a name: cos he’s so fast!) didn’t get along, but surely that has been solved with Benitez?
June 21st, 2007 at 11:58 am
It’s only been solved because Heighway retired. Benitez hasn’t happy with his lack of input in the youth set up over the last couple of seasons. He’s not a big believer in the whole academy idea at all apparently.
June 23rd, 2007 at 8:31 am
What Bif said, although I’m not sure about the Benitez not being a “big believer in the whole academy idea.” Heard he wasn’t happy about the lack of input and the fact that the academy teams don’t play the same way the teams he has controle over do, ie. first team and reserves. He wants all levels to play the same system and then they’d be better prepared to go straight into the first team.
I’m not sure if there’s much coming from the academy right now. I get the feeling Benitez has been holding back on bringing them through until he got controle. We’ll see what he does this season. He’s bought in quite a few young players though and, while he’s buying slightly older players, he’s continuing with his policy this summer.
June 23rd, 2007 at 6:15 pm
Yeah, he actually openly criticised the academy system and sparked a whole debate on it a few months back. Never quite worked out what his point was though. So it might just have boiled down to his lack of control.
June 23rd, 2007 at 7:10 pm
Wasn’t he saying something about them not having competitive leagues and regular games? Or was that just the reserves he said that about?
June 25th, 2007 at 12:31 pm
That was the reserves.
June 25th, 2007 at 6:57 pm
Right. This coming season is going to be a very interesting one anyway in terms of what Benitez has planned. He’s gotten as much controle as he’s going to get now I’d say, and also as much of a transfer kitty as he’s likely to get without winning the title or the clubs marketing machine waking up. Kind of a now or never about his reign at the moment.
June 27th, 2007 at 2:02 pm
I don’t think that’s fair. He’s reached the champions league final twice, winning it once, and won the FA Cup once. All on a budget that was a mere fraction of what the top two teams in the premiership spent and with only nominal backing from a seemingly inert board. Whilst doing so he has also persuaded some of European football’s most prized players, Gerrard, Carragher, Alonso et al, that their considerable ambitions will be best served at Anfield. If anything the questions marks should hang over Liverpool FC. Benitez has shown his ambition and displayed his tactical acumen. It’s down to the club now. People should remember how long Fergie was in charge of a misfiring United team before he won anything – an FA Cup after a replay – and was given the chance to flex his muscles in the transfer market properly. He would have killed to have Benitez’s record so far.
June 27th, 2007 at 5:52 pm
OK, the now or never applies to Benitez and Liverpool FC and whether they are going to make things happen together or not. Benitez is a very impressive manager but he has a lot to prove in the Premiership yet. A lot of his team selections and substitutions are bizarre and he won’t have the excuse of less money and having to settle for second or third choice targets anymore.
His record is very good, but until you win the league at Liverpool you haven’t been successful. Harsh, but that’s just the way it is.
As for the Ferguson thing, well he’s the only manager who got that much time and because of their marketing success no other club can afford to take the risk of waiting that long.
June 27th, 2007 at 7:06 pm
Yes but they weren’t in that great a shape back then. No one was. This is a club that was nearly sold to an unknown businessman, the deluded Michael Knighton, for 20million just for the sake of a promised 10million investment. We’re talking pre-premiership and we’re talking about a team that wasn’t just not winning cups but were consistently in the bottom half of the table.
Benitez achieved third place in the premiership and a champions league final on a budget that is akin to the likes of Newcastle and Spurs. Do you honestly think another manager is going to come in and achieve more for the same. We all want the premiership but we might have to be happy with seeing a significant improvement. Both Chelsea and Man U have the jump on us and if we don’t cop ourselves on a bit, we’ll see the first real chance of catching them slip through our fingers. The great infallible manager we seem to think is out there, isn’t.
BTW I remember back when Fergie was first coming good, fans and pundits were constantly questioning his supposedly bizarre team selections and unfathomable substitutions.
June 28th, 2007 at 1:49 am
I don’t mean to say Benitez has to deliver the title this coming season. He does have to be in the title race though.
I still find Ferguson’s team selections odd at times and the players he chooses to add to his squad confuse me on a regular basis. He makes it work for him though. As yet, Benitez hasn’t managed to do that in the Premiership.
June 28th, 2007 at 11:49 am
My problem isn’t with you wanting to challenge for the title. My problem is with this ‘last chance saloon’ attitude. In the three seasons that Benitez has been at Anfield, the team has improved and we’ve won trophies. Yet somehow, even though we’ve been working with a fraction of the resources of our rivals, we view his failure to win the premiership as a sign that he has failed. It’s becoming this great white whale for us and we’re in danger of scuppering ourselves in the pursuit of it. He needed time to build and he’s doing it under very difficult circumstances. Oh and while he’s doing it he’s thrown a champions league and an FA cup into the trophy cabinet. His reign has been a success and short of a Houlier like implosion, we should be behind him – not talking in terms of ultimatums.
And as for this fallacy that he hasn’t worked out the premiership yet. For the budget he was working with and from the point where he started, he’s actually been pretty successful in the premiership. If it wasn’t for that disastrous run of form at the start of last season, we might actually have been in the running and, sometimes, bad form just happens in spite of anything a manager can do. I remember it happening under Paisley and Dalglish. The only difference now is that Man U and Chelsea have set the bar higher.
June 28th, 2007 at 4:15 pm
I never said Benitez was a failure. 7 finals and 4 trophies in three seasons is great. The issue with the Premiership is that we haven’t been in contention never mind winning the thing. And in the three years there hasn’t been much improvement. I’d accept the bad run of form theory if it wasn’t for the bad run of form at the start of his other seasons too and for the fact he has a record in the away games that rivals any relegated team.
Now, I’m not anti-Benitez, nor was my intension ever to start highlighting his negatives, but there’s no point ignoring them either. The ‘last chance saloon’ attitude is for him to show signs of improvement in the league and get into contention for the title. I want improvement in this coming season. I’d like to be in the title race, but once we get close enough to expect to be in there the following season it’ll at least be improvement.
Liverpool is a club founded on being at the top. To be at the top we must deal with the bar being set at whatever hight it is. That’s the job Benitez has and, while he may be unlucky that the bar is so high right now, that’s what he’ll be judged on.
June 28th, 2007 at 5:07 pm
You never said he’s a failure but his job is on the line.
Rafa’s poor record in the premiership is a bit of a media concocted fallacy. In his first season we came fifth and then in the following two we came third. In his second season we were one point behind Man United and, despite our away record rivalling a relegated team & our bad run of form at the start of the season, we lost only one more game than both United and the then Champions Chelsea. By all accounts last seasons early form looks like a blip on an otherwise upwards trajectory.
Liverpool are a team with a history of competing at the top but that doesn’t earn us the right to be up there, in spite of what we think. We have to be realistic about it takes to get there – a big part of which is time and a little bit of patience. Otherwise we’re going to end up like the next Newcastle or Man Utd before the boom.
July 8th, 2007 at 4:29 pm
Latest whispers are Ricardo Quaresma and/or Mancini.
This type of signing would bring Liverpool onto the next level. Flair has been sorely lacking!
July 8th, 2007 at 5:20 pm
Maybe but Parry supposedly rubbished suggestions we’d tabled a bid for Queresma and, by all accounts, Benitez apparently feels Mancini is way over-priced. Don’t think anyone is likely to be completely ruled out but it would seem Rafa has shifted focus. Expect Yossi Benayoun anyway. Other than that it’s really anyones guess.
July 8th, 2007 at 7:15 pm
Well I think Benayoun is coming as Garcia’s replacement. We’d still need to sign wingers as well.
July 9th, 2007 at 10:14 am
Well, actually, Benayoun is a winger. Rafa has said he’d be happy with his squad if he landed Benayoun but has apparently also thrown a bid in for Ryan Babel – which fits with a rumour I’d read over the weekend that we going to try usurp Arsenal for one of their main targets. That would be our two wingers.
July 9th, 2007 at 11:46 am
I would say Benayoun can play on either wing or in the hole. That’s how we used Garcia anyway. Benayoun is just more suited to the Premiership.
I don’t believe that Rafa will only buy Benayoun and then stop. I suppose he’d be satisfied as he’s solved our biggest problem by signing a goal scorer but we still need to replace Garcia, Gonzalez and Zenden to have a better squad than last season. I’m thinking it’ll be Benayoun and one winger now. Don’t see Owen coming since Voronin got the number 10 shirt. I’d be surprised if anything comes of the Ryan Babel rumours but I hear he’s good.
July 9th, 2007 at 12:10 pm
I’d put a lot of stead in the Babel rumours actually – if the player is interested that is. Along with Benayoun, that’d be our wings sorted – if you include Pennant, Kewell, Aurelio and Peto in that. It’s also worth noting that Gonzalez hasn’t actually left yet and there doesn’t seem to be any talk of him leaving. Whether the Betis deal has fallen through or what is another thing.
July 9th, 2007 at 12:14 pm
Today’s Liverpool Echo has him gone for £3.5m.
July 9th, 2007 at 12:16 pm
Yeah, I just spotted that myself.