Bleacher Report - Articles by Michael Waddington

Why Rafa Was Right About Keane

Michael Waddington — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 05:35:03 -0500

Robbie Keane offloaded in January? You must be joking. This is a man who was bought by Rafael Benitez as the perfect foil for the worlds' form striker.

Circumstances change. When Keane was brought to Anfield by Benitez it was seen as a master stroke. A forward who will play off the main striker and give Liverpool the chance to play 4-4-2, something which Benitez has been unable to do to any real effect with the personnel at his disposal in recent seasons.

A chance that Rafa took. Time after time, Torres and Keane were named as Liverpool's starting forwards, time after time Keane failed to score.

Keane has scored goals wherever he's been, its just a fact. Robbie Keane will pop up with his fair share of goals. Rafa Benitez was sat on Liverpool's bench watching his £20m Irish forward, run his heart out and not repay his own effort in goals.

The Republic of Ireland captain was letting himself down. Robbie wants to do well at Liverpool, he wants to score goals, and he wants to win the title. The way he was playing wasn't justifying his work rate. Frustrating!

Fernando Torres, the man who was supposed to benefit most from the arrival of Keane, found himself injured. Keane's job changed in the process. He's now no longer the Spaniards cheeky sidekick, he's playing the top man, a role he's never had to play, and didn't have success playing.

Liverpool's form was effected, all of a sudden we're having to grind out results and struggling when teams take the lead against us. Something had to change.

Keane was left out of the side, not necessarily dropped as the media pointed out, but left out of the side for the good of the team. Rafa rotates, another fact! He has no problem leaving Xabi Alonso, Javier Mascherano, Ryan Babel or Daniel Agger on the bench, top players! So why such a fuss when Keane has to do his shift in the dug-out?

Things have changed yet again, Liverpool's system has become more 4-3-3 than 4-5-1 with Kuyt and Riera acting as support men brilliantly, Keane is back in the team and guess what? He's scoring goals! Three in two games as a matter of fact.

Torres is on his way back now, and things will change yet again, Keane may go through another dry spell, he may take confidence from his recent purple patch and flourish, it will be interesting if nothing else.

A month ago Rafa took so much stick for dropping Robbie Keane. In my opinion he deserves the praise for his recent mean streak.

Rafa's Premier League Head-Start

Michael Waddington — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 05:21:22 -0400

Finally. A summer of stability at Anfield. Rafael Benitez can sit at his desk every day and go about his business without seeing his face or his players faces on TV everyday.

While Liverpool have gone about their business quietly this post-season, Manchester United, Chelsea and Arsenal have had their chief-executives, chairmen, and managers grilled on the future of their star players by nearly every major TV channel in the world.

Cast your mind back a few years, Steven Gerrard was the man at the centre of constant speculation. The 'will he or won't he' saga with Chelsea just did not go away, it even re-surfaced a year later. Real Madrid were banded about as potential suitors for the England midfielder also.

In Rafael Benitez's first summer at Liverpool it was Michael Owen who was the major transfer story of the summer with his move to Madrid.

Last year, in-fighting and unrest at the top kept Liverpool in the news. The new co-owners apparently at logger-heads, with neither talking to one another and both reluctant to release transfer funds. In amongst all of this unrest Rafa somewhere found nearly £50m to bring in players like Fernando Torres and Ryan Babel.

Fast forward to today. The broken relationship between the co-owners is apparently on the mend. Steven Gerrard has had a very quiet summer, partially due to England's absence from the European Championships. The only flicker of transfer news regarding Liverpool's top players was a laughable bid from Chelsea for the Kops new favourite son Torres.

Agreed, Liverpool have lost Peter Crouch and Xabi Alonso has been linked with just about every major club in Europe, but the difference between these 'deals' and those in recent years are that they come with the managers blessing.

Crouch was offered a new contract by Liverpool, but once he made it clear he would not play second fiddle to Torres, Rafa was happy to cash in on a player that figured little last term. Alonso is considered the money maker for potential bids for Aston Villa's Gareth Barry and Tottenham's Robbie Keane, both of which Benitez feels are integral to sealing the gaps in the Liverpool squad, while Alonso is considered expendable.

If Benitez can get his deals done, and soon, he may just be able to put his feet up and enjoy the rest of the summer while the likes of Ronaldo, Drogba, Lampard, and Adebayor remain the major stories on TV's across the world.

Lay Off Rafael Benitez

Michael Waddington — Fri, 02 May 2008 10:54:00 -0400

Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez has come under stinging criticism this week after the Merseysiders exit from the Champions League.

To be fair he has suffered this all season long, infact since his reign as Liverpool manager began in June 2004. The one criticism Benitez endures the most, is the one concerning his rotation policy. Rafa rotates, its just a fact, he likes to keep the players that can be spared fresh for games when their attributes can be used to a more devastating effect.

The media, and tunnel visioned Liverpool fans, don't recognise his plans, to them, he isn't planning ahead, more making unnecessary changes in order to fit all of his fringe players in. Benitez likes his squad to have the full range off attributes for use at different times.

Take the front players for example, Peter crouch is the hold up man, in a 4:4:2 system, he will be the man that keeps the ball in the dangerous part of the pitch, giving the central midfielders a chance to catch up or even go beyond the play (a major factor in the game of Steven Gerrard). Dirk Kuyt is the work horse, it is said every time he plays. He runs till the final whistle harrying defenders in an attempt to win the ball from the very top of the pitch. He can also be very direct and strong when he has the ball.

Andriy Voronin is technically sound, not as explosive as Kuyt but equally as selfless when it comes to the team cause. Fernando Torres is the star, it goes without saying, he hold the pace and is just the complete package, hence why he plays more often than the other strikers who hold more 'specialist' attributes.

Benitez holds similar policies for his defenders and midfielders. Another uninformed criticism of Rafael Benitez's managerial abilities is his insistence on a zonal marking system. Unusual it definitely is, impregnable it is not. Like any sort of marking system it cannot be effective 100% effective. Liverpool concede fewer goals from set peices than most teams, but every time they do, the finger is pointed at the system.

Some of Rafa's bought players have also been frowned upon by Liverpool fans and further afield. Benitez has not been extraordinary in the transfer market, no manager ever has. What Benitez has done however is not waste money. His three most expensive buys have been Fernando Torres (£21m), Javier Mascherano (£17m) and Ryan Babel (£13m). These players have blossomed under his leadership and Torres and Mascherano have probably been Liverpools best 2 players this season. Benitez has made his mistakes in the transfer market aswell. Antonio Nunez (part exchange), Josemi, (£3m), Fernando Morientes (£6m), Bolo Zenden (free) and Mauricio Pellegrino (free) have all failed to impress. The difference is these players have cst little or no money. When compared with Houlliers £10m failed gamble on El hadji Diouf this looks like nothing.

Rafa is a manager that is still learning, realising how important the Premier League is to Liverpool fans. He is just starting to turn Houlliers squad of players into his own. Expect more dead wood to be dropped in the summer. He is tactically sound also, This season sacrificing his usual defensive tendencies to release a free scoring Liverpool side that would never have hit Derby for 6, or Besiktas for 8 two years ago. In Rafa's first five years he's established he has a defence capable of blocking out the best, as they did last season and the season before, but he is now discovering he can have a front line capable of scoring as many as Man Utd's Rooney, Ronaldo, Tevez partnership.

So please, leave Rafa to do his job, we still want him in charge of our football team and there arn't many better.

En Rafa Que Confiamos : In Rafa We Trust.

Jose Mourinho's Japanese Loophole?

Michael Waddington — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 12:43:46 -0500

Former Japanese international Hidetoshi Nakata invited ex-Chelsea manager and self-proclaimed 'Special One' Jose Mourinho to manage a Japanese side at a special tournament to be held in Nippon.

The Tournament, to be played in the summer, is to raise awareness of environmental issues such as the destruction of rain forests for paper and Co2 emissions. Nakata would like Mourinho to take up the job of managing a team in Yokohama on June 7.

This news isn't particularly interesting until you look at the broader picture. During the fallout when Chelsea and Mourinho parted ways, Mourinho agreed to a clause suggesting his next job could not be in England. His NEXT job. There is a whisper suggesting Mourinho may try to use this 'friendly' match in Japan as a loophole to his Chelsea clause.

Mourinho has never made any secret of his love of English football, nor has he hidden his desire to one day manage Liverpool. Reports soon after his Chelsea departure claim he offered his services to Liverpool's co-owner George Gillet and Tom Hicks. With Rafa Benitez's job at Liverpool STILL speculated over daily, could Mourinho be the man the Americans want in their hot seat?

As a Liverpool fan, I love Rafael Benitez—he won us the European Cup in Istanbul, and we can never forget that. I also think it is ridiculous that people still associate spending money with instant success. Rafa has given us the European Cup, he has given us the FA Cup, he has given us Fernando Torres, he even gave us God back. But personally, I think if he was to ever leave Liverpool there is only one man who could fill the boots, and his name is Jose Mourinho.

Conspiracy theory? Probably! Though it might just be worth keeping an eye on these developments.

The FA Cup Has Lost Its Magic

Michael Waddington — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 12:30:04 -0500

The League Cup has forever been palmed off as 'The Mickey Mouse Cup', or the one that the 'big' clubs don't care about. It's the competition that gives the countries 'lesser' sides a good cup run. It has forever been the younger, less attractive brother of the FA Cup, 'The Worlds Most Magical Cup Competition'.

Next week Chelsea, Arsenal, Tottenham and Everton walk into their biggest games of the season so far. Four of the countries most recognisable sides will battle for two Final places at Wembley. Now you can be forgiven for reading that last sentence and assuming that we're on the subject of the FA Cup, but we're not.

Does it mean that because the FA Cup won't be waiting at Wembley that these four sides won't want to get there and have their name engraved on the League Cup? Definitely not.

Second string sides are the status quo in this competition, especially with the clubs that harbour European ambitions. Arsenal have effectively played their 'B' team in every League Cup game so far this season. They also played a similar side in the FA Cup last week when they were at Turf Moor to play Burnley.

Its not just Arsenal. Everton played a weakened side when Oldham went to Goodison Park and were punished for doing so with an unlikely defeat. Liverpool's team at Luton was missing Steven Gerrard, through an injury which seemed to heal in time for the weekend fixture at Middlesbrough. Fernando Torres was also left on Merseyside while a bits and pieces team scraped a draw against a Luton team on the verge of liquidation.

Another team that could only manage a draw with lower league opposition was Newcastle United. This effectively cost Sam Allardyce his job. St James' park houses 52,387 supporters when full. For the 'Magical' FA Cup tie, they managed to squeeze in 22, 861, not even half of its capacity. OK so Newcastle are a bad example to use. Things aren't going well at the moment, and after all it was 'only' Stoke.

There is no excuse however for Fulham only getting 13,634 when Craven Cottage holds 26,600. Derby managed 20,612 but Pride Park can fit 33,597 inside. Blackburn didn't manage to half fill Ewood Park, and Bolton Wanderers were 13,000 fans of maxing out the Reebok. These are all numbers and only so much can be taken from them. In addition to poor attendance, these Premier League clubs have another thing in common, which is none managed a victory against lower league opposition last week.

Back to Liverpool at Luton. The Reds have had some poor results of late, but I don't think I have seen Liverpool play as poorly as they did at Kenilworth Road all season. Sami Hyypia, Steve Finnan, and Xabi Alonso are three players that ooze consistency. Very rarely will one of them have a poor game, let alone all three. That is exactly what happened at Luton. Arbeloa, Carragher, Benayoun, Crouch, Babel: Not one Liverpool player could look at themselves and say they played well. NOT ONE.

Now I can't speak for the other sides that were disappointed on FA Cup weekend, but a large majority of the players I watched didn't want to be there. It was if it was 'only the FA Cup'. The FA Cup has lost its magic.

How do you regain that magic? One option is to give the winner of the FA Cup a European place. The last time a team won the FA Cup and didn't qualify for Europe through the league however, was back in 1995 when Everton beat Manchester United. A bigger incentive than a day out at Wembley is required.

The venue for the Final itself has lost its magic also, even before it was rebuilt. My dad often tells me about the old Wembley being a "sh*t hole" and lets be honest, the long trip down south (for me anyway) is hardly worth the day out. As a Liverpool fan, the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff will always hold a special place in my heart. I only went once but it was the best day out I've EVER had, and we lost to Chelsea (In the League Cup Final may i add).

Giving European places out to Cup winning sides is dangerous though. After all, the early rounds of the Champions League and UEFA Cup are effectively league stages. If you want to see teams from this country progress, as the FA will, you need to be more than a plucky cup team.

The FA Cup has lost it's magic. But you try telling that to Havant and Waterlooville.

Newcastle United: Harry Redknapp Would Be Stupid to Join the Toon

Michael Waddington — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 11:54:38 -0500

Portsmouth boss Harry Redknapp has been made the bookies' favourite to succeed the departed Sam Allardyce this week and has not distanced himself from the vacant position.

Newcastle is an attractive job offer, no doubt about it, but Redknapp is manager of one of a select few clubs in England, he is in charge of a team that is moving forward, progressing if you will. Maybe that is why the Newcastle board see Redknapp as the next man in their hot seat, because he is capable of taking a team forward.

Portsmouth have grown since Redknapp trudged back from Southampton with his tail between his legs. He has established Portsmouth as a top half team, and this season they have been nothing short of brilliant at times. The only criticism you can have of them under Redknapp is their form at Fratton Park. On the road however they have been fantastic, with their first away defeat coming 6 months into the season at Anfield, no shame in that after all. Shrewd signings have also been a major part of Harry's success at Pompey, Glen Johnson is enjoying a new lease of life after his disappointing Chelsea spell, Benjani has enjoyed a fantastic first half to the season and players like Sulley Muntari and John Utaka have proved inspired arrivals.

Newcastle meanwhile have enjoyed, rather endured, a torrid 10 years. Six managers have been and gone in that time and none have proved particularly influential. Keegan took the Toon Army close to the Premier League title but his unique brand of attacking football hasn't been mirrored since. Gullit promised 'sexy football' and failed. Robson earned more time than some of his predecessors and rightfully so, he had Newcastle winning more games than they were losing. Dalglish, Souness, Roeder and now Allardyce have walked as well.

The harsh truth is that Newcastle are not as big as some of the fans in the North East think that they are. They enjoy the benefits of having a big stadium and filling most weeks, as well as a chairman that will throw cash at prospective transfer targets, they always have. The Toon Army is a large following of passionate supporters, passionate supporters that are disillusioned. They forced Allardyce out of a job, a manager who (with time and backing) was more than capable of turning Newcastle into what they deserve to be, a top half team. They deserve no more and no less.

Redknapp is a good manager, better than Allardyce in my opinion, but he is not the manager that Newcastle want. Up on Tyneside they want good football, attacking football. There is an old saying that goes "Newcastle fans would rather lose 5-4 than scrape a 1-0 win." Redknapp is not that sort of manager. That's not to say that Portsmouth don't play good football but Redknapp isn't famed for his attacking style. Pompey's and Redknapp's style is all about getting the results, play your football if you can, but the priority is to get the result, even if it means grind and fight.

Pompey fans will want to keep Redknapp, and rightfully so. Portsmouth are enjoying their glory years at the moment and with a prospective new stadium on the way and a young and talented squad, Redknapp is building a good football club. Newcastle have all the makings of a good football but have wasted the chance to make things happen.

Redknapp MUST stay put.

Liverpool After Momo: Sissoko Bound for Juventus

Michael Waddington — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 00:27:46 -0500

Liverpool midfielder Momo Sissoko has told Monte Carlo Radio that he is on his way to Italian giants Juventus.

The departure of the hard-hitting Malian comes at an important time for Liverpool's central midfield.

Javier Mascherano is still not a Liverpool player, and doubts about Sissoko's footballing ability are unfounded.

Contrary to popular belief, Momo is not a run-of-the-mill defensive midfielder, someone who will sit back for cleanup with limited movement.

Yes, Sissoko's best attributes are his defensive skills (a single goal in three years at Liverpool prove that)—but he has never been one for sitting and holding.

On the contrary, Momo has a fantastic engine, and his work rate is something to be admired. He will run forever and loves a tackle.

That said, his lack of passing and shooting ability has seriously reduced his playing time, especially as he's surrounded by Mascherano, Steven Gerrard, and Xabi Alonso.

Juve will offer Momo more playing time, you would think. Since Emerson left for Real Madrid two years ago, Juventus have been short of a central midfield "hard man"—and Sissoko is more than equipped to fill that role.

A warning to Juventus fans, though: Don't expect passing, dribbling or shooting quality.

Liverpool will be happy to pick up a few million to put towards their own transfer targets, albeit in the summer after Momo's initial loan deal has ended.

Doubts still loom as to whether the Reds' American owners will provide the £6.5m transfer fee that Liverpool have agreed to pay Zenith St. Petersburg for much-needed centre half Martin Skrtel. The sale of Sissoko would surely ease their resistance to release funds.

Mascherano, meanwhile, will likely be made a Liverpool player either in January or over the summer; it would be a crime not to keep him. The Reds have ample midfield options now with the emergence of Brazilian Lucas Leiva.

In any event, I'm sure Liverpool fans will see Sissoko at Anfield again—even if it is in the famous black and white stripes of Juve.

He's magic, you know. You'll never get past Sissoko.