My suspicicion was confirmed!
http://www.football365.com/teams/liverpool/story_179339.shtml
So, will Rafa finally give his strikers shooting practice?
09/03/06
It may not sound anything more than the obvious response to
Liverpools latest - but most costly - profligacy in front of goal,
but Steven Gerrards call for extra shooting practice following
the holders Champions League exit to modest Benfica has only
highlighted one amazing quirk of Rafa Benitezs methods:
the complete absence of shooting practice in
training.
Despite his strikers' repeated failings in front of goal, repeated
en masse on Wednesday night as Pool meekly surrendered their
Champions League trophy, Benitez revealed at the weekend that
shooting practice was not part of his squad's training-ground
routine.
While 'scoring exercises' are built into the programme, the
Liverpool boss told The Sunday Times that special dispensation for
his strikers to practice shooting - and scoring - would essentially
be a waste of time.
"We practise crosses, headers, shots, everything but if you leave
the strikers to take shots, the difference it would make is not
big. I don't think Robbie Fowler can forget how to score, if you've
scored 150 goals you cant learn a lot," he explained.
"It's more important to practise giving good boxes into the box,
good passes. If you are creating the chances, what more can you
do?"
Err, score, Rafa?
Certainly the Spaniard's lassiez-faire attitude towards the art of
scoring does not appeared to be shared his exasperated
skipper.
Speaking after a host of missed chances had resulted in Pool's
elimination from the Champions League, Gerrard said: "I think it's
a lack of confidence. We'll keep working at it and we'll have some
extra shooting practice in training."
While Peter Crouch was Liverpool's culprit-in-chief against
Benfica, he remains the only striker at Anfield to have scored this
season, while the team itself has netted just four times in nine
matches.
*shakes head*
