Jerzy Dudek believes Rafa Benitez should share the blame for
Liverpool's horror show on Tuesday night, as Anfield bore witness
to a humiliating Carling Cup exit to Arsenal.
Both sides fielded sides made up primarily of those players on the
periphery of their respective first teams and it was Arsenal that
proved to have the more impressive strength in depth, as Arsene
Wenger's starlets ran out 6-3 winners.
Polish goalkeeper Dudek, given a rare outing in place of Jose
Reina, had the proverbial game to forget as he was arguably at
fault for three of Arsenal's goals, which followed on from his
disappointing FA display against the same side just a few days
earlier.
While accepting he was at least partially at fault, Dudek believes
his own inadequacies showed up his manager's, of the opinion that
it is impossible to step into the breach successfully at such
infrequent intervals - claiming he struggled to adapt to first team
football after being benched for so long.
"If you play one game each two months it is really, really
difficult to show your quality," he told The Sun.
"After seven months, or more than that, you have to play another
game against a good side in Arsenal.
"For a goalkeeper you can use experience but you can't build
confidence in training."
Out of contract in the summer, Dudek admits the time may be right
to seek pastures new away from Merseyside.
"I don't expect anything now," he concluded.