Benitez, accused of over-rotating his squad. Is
he the new "Tinkerman"?
Jim Mansell, a fervent but despairing Liverpool fan, pens
an open letter to his club's manager after their humiliating
Champions League defeat to Marseille at Anfield: Dear Mr Benitez, I
felt compelled to write to you following Liverpool's abject display
against Marseille. I have a fear that you are blind to the one key
element which is vital to any successful team - consistency.
In my view the Champions League defeat on Wednesday hardly matters
a jot - though not to qualify for the knockout stages would be
humiliating enough - but was a clear manifestation of the problems
thrown up by your baffling rotation system.
Let's be frank. Your changes are infuriating Liverpool fans. I
haven't spoken to one who thinks it's the right policy or that it
will wn us the prize we most cherish - the Premier League. We've
been waiting since 1990 for a sniff of the Holy Grail - and gritted
our teeth as Manchester United, Arsenal and Chelsea have dominated.
They have done it by moulding teams which play at a high level of
consistency. Barring loss of form and injury, the manager has
picked virtually the same players week in, week out. They became
teams and a developed a pattern of play to suit.
Currently, this does not seem to apply to Liverpool. You made
another bucketload of changes for the Marseille game from the team
that scraped a 1-0 away win at Wigan. Not surprisingly, they played
like strangers. As Robin van Persie said this week Arsenal benefit
by having the same team because the players like it that way. How
can Crouch be expected to perform if he's hardly given a look-in?
How can Torres be the 20-goals-a-season striker the team
desperately needs if he's not in the starting line-up for games
against the likes of Portsmouth and Birmingham? How can the
midfield develop an understanding if it's chopped and changed so
much?
I heard you say in an interview recently that your policy was
designed to ensure the players were in peak fitness for the run-in
to the Champions League and the title. That's no good if the team
are not in contention for either due to poor performances in the
rest of the season.
Your summer buys gave us hope that the title would be a realistic
target. The season started brightly. Don't let that flicker of hope
be extinguished so quickly. On behalf of all title-starved
Liverpool fans, pick a team to win the league and stick with it.
You gave us a truly unbelievable triumph in Istanbul. And a
memorably nerve-wracking FA Cup success. But, Mr Benitez, we're
desperate to be the best team in the Premier League.
What we can't stomach is a rotation policy which will see the names
of just United, Chelsea and Arsenal on the Premier League trophy
for another 17 years! Yours in hope
