Rafa Continues To Frustrate

iSporter Praneet Mhatre analyses the events at the St Andrews where Liverpool dropped two points and with it nearly said goodbye to their chances of achieving the coveted 4th position in the Premier League.

Rafael Benitez Criticism

65th minute of the game – Fernando Torres is walking off the field, shaking his head. Steven Gerrard has a look of disbelief on his face. Liverpool fans sitting at home simply can’t understand why their leading goal scorer is coming off, with their side still needing a goal to win. And amidst all this, Rafa Benitez is sitting on the Liverpool bench with a comforting smile on his face – as if he has got it all figured out! The match ends with the Reds dropping two more points and the hopes of a top four finish look thinner than ever. What did I hear there – In Rafa We Trust?.. well, give me a break!

Birmingham have not been beaten at Saint Andrews for seven months, so this was never going to be an easy task for Liverpool. But you simply can’t explain the lack of urgency showed by them during most of the first half. Sure the midweek tie against Benfica took a lot out of Benitez’s side, but the stakes are just too high for his team right now. A half chance for Torres and Maxi Rodriguez’s attempt that hit the cross bar were probably the only positives for them in the first half. Birmingham, on the other hand, were playing with some confidence and looked more likely to score.

Blues got close to taking the lead in the 39th minute. But Roger Johnson’s header went slightly over the cross bar as an embarrassed Pepe Reina looked on. With poor refereeing coming into the limelight once again after Drogba’s offside winner against United on Saturday, Martin Atkinson did a very good job in this game. He allowed the play to continue in the 42th minute in spite of a yellow card offence by Lucas, but Blues failed to capitalize and the first half ended with neither team able to break the deadlock.

Steven Gerrard

The Reds upped the ante in the second half and were rewarded with immediate results. Glenn Johnson’s missed kick fortuitously went to Steven Gerrard. The Liverpool captain then beat the defender with a smooth fake and capped the move with a clinical finish, putting his side a goal up. But their celebrations were cut short in the 56th minute by Blues’ wingback Liam Ridgewell. The Englishman was shockingly left unmarked as he continued his run towards the Liverpool goal and eventually put the ball in with his thigh! Not the most graceful way of scoring of course – but I’m sure Alex McLeish did not mind!

Liverpool had lost after taking the lead six times in the league before this match and things were not looking any better in this game either. And then came the defining moment of the game. Fernando Torres was taken off and replaced by David Ngog who was greeted with loud jeers by Birmingham fans, still upset with his ‘dive’ in the reverse fixture of this game. Ngog went on to squander at least three clear chances to score, failing to hit the target on each occasion. One couldn’t help but wonder what the match result could’ve been had all of those chances fallen to Torres instead of the young Frenchman.

Liverpool went on to create many more chances, but failed to put them in the back of the net. The game ended with both teams sharing the spoils and Birmingham City consolidating their chances of a solid mid-table finish. Liverpool though, lost further ground in the race for the all important fourth place finish. Fernando Torres’ substitution was clearly the major talking point after the game. Alex McLeish said he was “Delighted” to see the Spaniard come off and it gave his defenders some breathing space. Rafa Benitez shrugged off the issue saying it was simply a case of introducing fresh legs on the field!

This year has been really difficult for all Scouser fans, and I am no exception. We are all going to stick with our team and things will eventually get back on track, as they always do with all football giants. But the Rafa Benitez experiment does not seem to be working the way everyone had expected.

The Reds can still stage a turnaround and looking at the tough fixtures awaiting both Manchester City and Spurs, there is genuine hope of finishing in the top four. But the fact that the most successful club in English Football is fighting for finishing fourth says a lot about how bad things have gone during Rafa’s regime. The current squad has only two world class players, and I’m sorry to say that I can’t see Liverpool competing for the title with this bunch of players. It’s time the club gave Rafa clear objectives and a time frame to attain them in. And if he fails to do so, let him go back to Spain and manage the Galacticos, and let’s hire a gaffer who will take the Reds back to where they belong!