Rafa throws down gauntlet
Rafael Benitez will put his strikers on trial tonight in Liverpool’s Carling Cup clash at Crystal Palace.
The Liverpool chief, who you would have thought has enough expensive forwards to solve any problem, was hugely critical of their collective performance in the debacle at Fulham at the weekend when the Anfield men slumped to an embarrassing 2-0 defeat.
Benitez could have six offensive players in his squad at Selhurst Park costing around £38m (€56m), but – Djibril Cisse apart – all with dreadful scoring records.
Harry Kewell has not scored for Liverpool in 10 months, likewise Florent Sinama-Pongolle. Fernando Morientes has failed to net since April while Luis Garcia has managed three in 17 games this season and Peter Crouch has not managed one in his 10 appearances for his new team.
Cisse’s nine for the campaign shine like a beacon, but even he looked out of sorts at Craven Cottage and now Benitez wants a change.
He said: “Before Fulham I had been happy with our away form. We had created lots of chances and produced good performances, and against Anderlecht we had 18 shots and against Fulham it was 16. What we must do is take advantage of this and score more.
“It was difficult for Morientes and Kewell because they were just starting back after injury, now we will have Crouch, Sinama-Pongolle, Cisse and Luis Garcia as well – that is a lot of players with attacking mentalities and we need to score goals now.
“I hope we can work with the strikers to find solutions to what has been going wrong. The most important thing is that we must take advantage of this opportunity because I am thinking about solutions for the Premier League. It is important for each one of the strikers.”
Crouch is likely to start up front, with Morientes a possible partner, and Benitez does not believe the abuse the young England striker has suffered of late from fans has affected his confidence.
He says: “I don’t think Peter Crouch has been affected by what has been said about him. But he can stop all that when he starts scoring goals, and I hope he will start at Palace and then things will be different for him.
“Generally, in attack our movement was bad at Fulham, the players did not move enough even though we had the ball a lot. We must make clear chances, clear passes and clear movements.”
Benitez will field a surprisingly strong side at Palace, due to the need to find answers to worrying league form and a reserve match on Wednesday that will reduce his options.
But reserve skipper David Raven will play in defence and Zak Whitbread and Darren Potter are likely to be involved. Scott Carson and Stephen Warnock are also expected to start the game.
