EPL Liverpool: Hard-Earned Win Gives Benitez Hope

Liverpool produced their best perfomance for two months at Anfield last night to give them a crucial two goal lead to take to the San Siro against an unfortunate Inter Milan side. Not since 22nd December had Liverpool produced a comprehensive display, when they saw off a dangerous Portsmouth side 4-1.

What has followed since has been a worrying mixture of misfortune, bad finishing, and generally poor play, but led by the tigerish Javier Mascherano, Liverpool looked more like a team yesterday.

Many pundits will point to the harsh sending off of everyones favourite mischief maker Marco Materazzi to explain Inter's first defeat in five months, but that in my opinion would be a disservice to a spirited Liverpool display. In the opening 10 minutes Liverpool pinned their illustrious hosts back in their own half, without creating a clear cut chance.

Inter gradually grew in stature as the half progressed and the pressure was stifled, but they had still offered no discernible attacking threat by the time Materazzi was shown his marching orders by fussy referee Frank De Bleeckere on the half hour mark.

Inter's attacking failure was largely down to Zlatan Ibrahimovic, a player who while tearing up Serie A, seems incapable of translating that form onto the European stage.

I must have watched Ibrahimovic five times against English club opposition, and he has been largely abject on each occasion. Ibra was partnered with the equally ineffective and giant Julio Cruz. This gave Inter no pace in their attack, meaning that Jamie Carragher and Sami Hyypia were able to confidently hold a high defensive line, and Liverpool were able to almost completely monopolise possession.

While the red card certainly helped Liverpool psychologically, it is not clear what effect it had on Inter. They were already set to play a defensive game and soak up pressure, and while one man light left them with perhaps less chance of retaining possession, it meant little to the overall pattern of the game.

Inter are no strangers to red cards, this was their third in the last five games, and both previous matches had seen them secure clean sheets in a credible 0-0 draw at Udinese (6th in Serie A, so a good guide for a Liverpool side placed fifth in the Premier League), and a 1-0 home win over Empoli.

In my opinion the key incident in this game was not the red card to Marco Materazzi, but rather the injury to defensive talisman Ivan Cordoba that saw him withdrawn after 76 minutes.

To lose one key defender in a match is unlucky, to lose both was a huge blow to Inter, especially given the ineptitude of their attacking players. It was no surprise to me that Liverpool were able to make growing pressure count in the last 10 minutes, given the second defensive reshuffle of the game for Inter.

It was also no coincidence that Liverpool finished the game so strongly generally. In seven games in this seasons Champions League proper, Liverpool have scored 20 goals, with 10 of them coming in the last 15 minutes of matches.

Rafa Benitez rotation system is much maligned, but it is difficult to argue with those statistics in terms of keeping his players fresh for the Champions League.

Of course this inevitably brings us to the often assumed point that Benitez "wants" Champions League success first, with domestic success coming a distant second. While this may be true to some extent, in that the Champions League is undoubtedly a higher priority than the FA Cup and Carling Cup, whether it is a higher priority than the Premier League is open to debate.

I am a firm believer that the role of the manager is massively overplayed in the modern game, particularly by the manager-obsessed mass media. It is the players who cross the white line and perform, and undoubtedly the Liverpool players feel more confident against top European opposition than they do against even, on paper, obviously weaker opposition from home.

Can this really all come from the manager? It is far to simplistic a view in my opinion to be worthwhile, especially when such strong characters as Gerrard, Carragher, Hyppia and Torres are at the club.

What is not a debate is that the Liverpool players gave their all for the club last night, and while the tie is far from over, given their away record in Europe over recent years, Liverpool should feel pretty confident of progressing at the San Siro in three weeks' time. The long term debates about Benitez will rage on, even if the season ends in unexpected glory in Moscow.

The week began with Benitez fairly "bigging up" the achievement of two Champions League finals in three years. After all, in 13 attempts at Manchester United, Sir Alex Ferguson has only managed one final, in eight attempts at Arsenal, Arsene Wenger has only managed one final. Liverpool fans will be hoping that the debate in the summer will be simple: 

Can you sack a manager with three Champions League finals in four years?

There is still a lot of work to do before then, but it would be brave man who bets against Liverpool in Europe.