EVERY game seems to be make or break for Liverpool boss Rafael Benitez at the moment.
He was supposedly on the brink before the 2-0 win over Manchester United and after the 3-1 defeat at Fulham on Saturday the pressure is back on again.
While a defeat at Lyon on Wednesday would mean Liverpool’s Champions League and Premiership hopes would be effectively over already, I cannot see Benitez going – just yet anyway.
The real crunch game for the Spaniard’s immediate future will come on November 21 when they take on Man City at Anfield.
Traditionally, Liverpool are not a sacking club and would prefer to review things at the end of the season, not to mention the huge compensation package they would have to pay Benitez. Changing managers now won’t suddenly make them title contenders this season and they will have a much better pick next summer when a new manager can come in and start from scratch.
However, lose to City and their hands might be forced early. After the disastrous start to the season, Liverpool’s targets have to be revised and qualification for the lucrative Champions League next season will now be their top priority.
There is no doubt that City offer the biggest threat to the ‘Big Four’ monopoly and a win at Anfield would have Liverpool’s owners fearing the worst.
The idea of missing out on the Champions League and the financial benefits that come with it is unthinkable for a club like Liverpool. If that is put under serious risk, Benitez will surely pay the price before it’s too late.
Tuesday, 3 November 2009
Friday, 9 October 2009
Football is a cruel business
THE departures of League One bosses John Barnes and Peter Taylor from Tranmere Rovers and Wycombe Wanderers respectively is a reminder of the harsh world of football.
I always find it a bit of a mystery why a manager considered good enough at the start of the season is no longer good enough with less than a quarter of the season gone.
It’s hard to make a strong case for Barnes after Tranmere’s disastrous start to the season but the surprising thing there is that he was given the job in the first place.
Taylor left Wycombe by mutual consent, though everyone knows these matters are never “mutual”, no matter how clubs want to dress it up - they’re either black or white with no grey areas. I get the impression Taylor was sacked and, looking in from the outside, I feel he got a bit of a raw deal.
Wycombe have yo-yoed between League One and League Two for years and if they’re realistic a 20th place finish this season would be an achievement and a sign of progression. After leading Wycombe to promotion last season, surely Taylor would have been the best candidate to try and achieve that.
I always find it a bit of a mystery why a manager considered good enough at the start of the season is no longer good enough with less than a quarter of the season gone.
It’s hard to make a strong case for Barnes after Tranmere’s disastrous start to the season but the surprising thing there is that he was given the job in the first place.
Taylor left Wycombe by mutual consent, though everyone knows these matters are never “mutual”, no matter how clubs want to dress it up - they’re either black or white with no grey areas. I get the impression Taylor was sacked and, looking in from the outside, I feel he got a bit of a raw deal.
Wycombe have yo-yoed between League One and League Two for years and if they’re realistic a 20th place finish this season would be an achievement and a sign of progression. After leading Wycombe to promotion last season, surely Taylor would have been the best candidate to try and achieve that.
Saturday, 26 September 2009
Man City and Hughes have a long way to go to win the sceptics over
WITH money and power always comes a certain degree of scepticism.
You only have to take a look at the way Chelsea have arguably overtaken Manchester United as the most hated club in the country amongst neutrals since Roman Ambramovich took over with his millions to see that. So the nouveau riche of Manchester City should tred carefully if they want to win people over – but they’ve not made the best of starts.
Sure there’s a lot to be admired about the way owner Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed has kept faith with a young British manager when others might have sacked Mark Hughes to bring in a ‘big name’ foreign manager and if City were to come out of the shadow of rivals United and break the Big Four monopoly that would be no bad thing. However, in the last few weeks, City and Hughes haven’t exactly covered themselves in glory.
First of all there was the pursuit of Joleon Lescott, which certainly rubbed Everton boss David Moyes up the wrong way. Even Chelsea, rather hypocritically, had groans about the way City tried to sign England captain John Terry.
Then there was Emmanuel Adebayor’s behaviour in the 4-2 win over Arsenal when he seemed intent on booting the boot in (quite literally) on his old club and caused a riot in the crowd and an innocent steward to get injured by celebrating his goal in front of the Gunners fans.
Then in the Manchester derby, Craig Bellamy decided to wander over to a fan who got on the pitch and give him a slap even though the stewards had the situation well under control.
Perhaps worse is the way Hughes has stood by Adebayor over his stamp on Robin Van Persie and even went as far as to suggest Bellamy could be labelled a ‘national hero’ for his actions. Of course, he didn’t take such a laissez faire approach when Man United scored the winner deep in stoppage time and a massive outburst on the officials followed.
Personally I can’t believe quite how much fuss has been made over the late goal this week, while the behaviour of Bellamy and Gary Neville, who celebrated the winner in front of the City fans, has been more or less brushed under the carpet.
Firstly, it’s not hard to see where all the stoppage time came from when you consider there were four goal celebrations in the second half before Bellamy’s equaliser which added at least another 45 seconds, and three substitutes in the 90 plus Michael Carrick’s introduction in stoppage time, all adding another 30 seconds each.
But more to the point, Hughes’ main concern should have been why a striker of Michael Owen’s goalscoring calibre was given so much time and space to score the winner.
It is also worth remembering that it was 11v11 and in all that added on time Man City had just as much chance of scoring the winner as United did.
United have been branded lucky over the years for the amount of late goals they have scored but that’s why they have been so successful. They always play to win until the final whistle – something Hughes and City might want to make a note of if they are serious about redressing the balance of power.
You only have to take a look at the way Chelsea have arguably overtaken Manchester United as the most hated club in the country amongst neutrals since Roman Ambramovich took over with his millions to see that. So the nouveau riche of Manchester City should tred carefully if they want to win people over – but they’ve not made the best of starts.
Sure there’s a lot to be admired about the way owner Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed has kept faith with a young British manager when others might have sacked Mark Hughes to bring in a ‘big name’ foreign manager and if City were to come out of the shadow of rivals United and break the Big Four monopoly that would be no bad thing. However, in the last few weeks, City and Hughes haven’t exactly covered themselves in glory.
First of all there was the pursuit of Joleon Lescott, which certainly rubbed Everton boss David Moyes up the wrong way. Even Chelsea, rather hypocritically, had groans about the way City tried to sign England captain John Terry.
Then there was Emmanuel Adebayor’s behaviour in the 4-2 win over Arsenal when he seemed intent on booting the boot in (quite literally) on his old club and caused a riot in the crowd and an innocent steward to get injured by celebrating his goal in front of the Gunners fans.
Then in the Manchester derby, Craig Bellamy decided to wander over to a fan who got on the pitch and give him a slap even though the stewards had the situation well under control.
Perhaps worse is the way Hughes has stood by Adebayor over his stamp on Robin Van Persie and even went as far as to suggest Bellamy could be labelled a ‘national hero’ for his actions. Of course, he didn’t take such a laissez faire approach when Man United scored the winner deep in stoppage time and a massive outburst on the officials followed.
Personally I can’t believe quite how much fuss has been made over the late goal this week, while the behaviour of Bellamy and Gary Neville, who celebrated the winner in front of the City fans, has been more or less brushed under the carpet.
Firstly, it’s not hard to see where all the stoppage time came from when you consider there were four goal celebrations in the second half before Bellamy’s equaliser which added at least another 45 seconds, and three substitutes in the 90 plus Michael Carrick’s introduction in stoppage time, all adding another 30 seconds each.
But more to the point, Hughes’ main concern should have been why a striker of Michael Owen’s goalscoring calibre was given so much time and space to score the winner.
It is also worth remembering that it was 11v11 and in all that added on time Man City had just as much chance of scoring the winner as United did.
United have been branded lucky over the years for the amount of late goals they have scored but that’s why they have been so successful. They always play to win until the final whistle – something Hughes and City might want to make a note of if they are serious about redressing the balance of power.
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