Benitez brings up half-century
Rafael Benitez prepares for his 50th Premier League game as Liverpool boss hoping his European champions have improved enough to cope with the demands of both domestic and Champions League competitions.
Benitez knows only too well that his own performance in the Premiership must improve, standing with a record of P49 W22 D18 L9 F64 A49.
The Spaniard has had to come to terms with a very different type of game to what he knew well from La Liga, and he is still working on boosting his squad to handle the pressures in England.
To that end Liverpool are believed to be preparing a £4.5m (€6.6m) bid for Spartak Moscow’s 24-year-old centre-half Nemanja Vidic, one of the stars of Serbia & Montenegro’s successful World Cup qualification campaign.
Serbia & Montenegro finished above Spain in their qualifying group but Benitez wants signs of genuine commitment from Vidic, who is also believed to be interesting Fiorentina, before moving closer to a deal.
Benitez knows he needs a deeper, more experienced squad for matches such as tomorrow’s tough visit to Manchester City.
Last season the Reds lost 1-0 at Eastlands at the height of their European campaign, showing they could not handle such intensity on two fronts.
Now, after adding experience and numbers to his squad, Benitez hopes times have changed.
He said: “It was hard last season to cope with Europe and the Premier League all at once.
“I hope we have learned and can use the squad in a way to approach each game with a different team but just as strong.
“Then if we had three games in eight days it was difficult. Now we have something similar in this spell; Real Betis, Manchester City and then Sunderland in eight days.
“Let’s see how we cope with that, and then we will know if we have improved.”
The loss at the City of Manchester Stadium last term was when Liverpool’s bid to qualify for the Champions League by virtue of league position really started to come off the rails.
The game came between the two legs of their Champions League quarter-final against Juventus and illustrated their lack of depth.
This time round they go there on the back of five unbeaten games, in which they have not conceded a goal, and having secured their place in the last 16 of the Champions League.
Benitez said: “We are winning more games now with confidence in the league, as well as doing well in the Champions League. The team is stronger, playing well and that gives us confidence.
“The most important thing this season is how we have started to play better in more than one competition at the same time.”
Benitez tried to shuffle his limited squad for this same match last term but it was soon obvious that he did not have the resources to rotate players.
The defeat at the hands of a vibrant City was the beginning of a disastrous spell that saw Liverpool take just five points from five league games to allow Everton to snatch fourth spot.
He said: “We knew Everton were dropping points and we could not take advantage. But now we are improving after Champions League games and internationals, we are better equipped now for that.
“I was not aware of this being my 50th league game, but I would like to be here for 200 or 250 games. I hope the statistics are good all the time in my career here.”
Certainly Benitez has improved one thing, Liverpool’s list of clean sheets.
He said: “It is easier to change things in defence than attack. Up front it depends of ability, timing and sometimes luck. At the back you can work and work on things, it is easier to clear the ball than to score.”
Liverpool will be without Spanish playmaker Xabi Alonso, still suffering from a knee injury, but should have Luis Garcia back from a hip problem. Harry Kewell, Djibril Cisse and Djimi Traore all come into contention.
