GREEK TRAGEDY FOR BENITEZ
Lyon 1 Liverpool 1
THE jury will once again be out over Rafa Benitez's future after Liverpool surrendered a one-goal lead to draw 1-1 at the death against Lyon, but it was a night when the fault was anything but Benitez's.
Having controlled matters for 83 minutes in France, Liverpool finally exploded into a crucial lead through Ryan Babel's 25-yard cracker, but then individual errors once again came back to hang Benitez out to dry.
After a 91-minute masterclass on how to go away from home in Europe and pick up a 1-0 win, Sotirios Kyrgiakos undid all the good work with one moment of rashness from which Lisandro Lopez pounced.
It wouldn't be the only piece of madness from the Greek.
The opening 45 minutes could not have provided a more perfect encapsulation of Liverpool under Benitez.
Sticking to a rigid game plan that rendered Lyon mere shadow-chasers for the majority of the first half, Liverpool assumed complete control of the game and wasted three glorious chances to score.
How many times has that happened this season?
Having taken the gamble to play a half-fit Fernando Torres, Benitez's ageing eyes would have lit up at the sight of the Spaniard latching on to the first big opportunity.
Emiliano Insua, much maligned of late, supplied the cross but when Torres drew back the left peg that trademark ruffle of the net failed to follow.
Dirk Kuyt was then foiled by goalkeeper Hugo Lloris from an almost identical situation, before Andriy Voronin summed up why he was farmed out on loan all of last season.
Lacking quality
Liverpool have always had their dunces under Benitez, Voronin is the latest.
Having taken woeful corner after woeful corner, the Ukrainian suddenly had his chance to make himself a hero, racing clear of the Lyon back four from a quick free kick. Goalkeeper Lloris looked tiny compared to the huge target Voronin had to aim at, yet the pony-tailed forward contrived to drive the ball straight at him.
Hardly Benitez's fault that Voronin cannot finish. Although maybe the Liverpool boss should not have played him.
Lyon were being made to look a pale comparison of the side that had won their first three games, they were letting the game overawe them, their manager admitted as much at half time.
Liverpool needed to capitalise on their dominance but they simply did not have enough quality in the important areas, a fact acknowledged by Benitez as the less-than-useful Voronin was replaced by Ryan Babel.
The change should have paid big dividends within seconds.
Babel played his part in a frantic assault on the Lyon goal, but when the ball fell perfectly for Lucas Leiva to score a rare goal, the world's most unBrazilian Brazilian made it too easy for Lloris to save.
Another signature of Rafa's reign was coming home to roost. His poor players were costing him dear.
Voronin and Lucas had both missed huge chances, and then Kyrgiakos tried to throw all his team's hard work out the window with a schoolboy header that required last ditch rescue action from Pepe Reina.
Kyrgiakos had sounded the alarm bells.
Frantic finale
With Fiorentina cruising against Debrecen, Liverpool had eight minutes to save their European necks - maybe even their manager. Benitez needed one of his big signings to repay the trust he has shown in them, sometimes at the cost of being labelled 'stubborn' by fans and media alike.
Ryan Babel, more so than any other to the tune of £11 million, needed to answer that call.
And how.
Receiving the ball 25 yards out, the Holland international ignored Yossi Benayoun's run to unleash a thunderbolt that hit the net so hard it sent reverberations right around Europe.
Unfortunately for Liverpool, the threat of a dunce's error still remained, just as it did whenever Djimi Traore or Igor Biscan used to tread the Anfield turf.
Kyrgiakos falls into the same category.
Throwing himself to ground needlessly in injury time, he allowed Lisandro Lopez to send a dagger through Liverpool hearts, maybe cutting the string by which their European hopes hang.
Benitez's fault for picking Kyrgiakos? Maybe. But the Liverpool manager had been 60 seconds away from managerial perfection.
This article has 5 comments
who is this ridiculously un talented defender. liverpool were supposed to go onto bigger better things this year, a team that aspires to win the premiership does not buy a second rate 30 year old defender for 2 million, its shamefull and im sorry to say rafa that half of your signings have been atrousous. the only good ones have been:
reina
alonso
torres
jhonson
babel
kuyt
the rest have been awful.
rafa out, hiddink in
By ben . Posted November 6 2009 at 10:42 AM.
I'm from Greece and i have to say that KYRIAKOS is a piece of garbage! Everybody knows his dirty game +his zero football skills!!!!
He has learned all of this stuff from his former team PANATHINAIKOS the eternally second team in Greece!!! In other words, he has lack of skills but a good luck with connexions!(OTTO REHAGEL)
But LIVERPOOL is a great, top class team and soon will correct this horrible mistake named KYRIAKOS!!!
By Yiota. Posted November 5 2009 at 1:41 PM.
Totally agree with Nehme. The longer this game went on the more comfortable Liverpool looked but I, like most Liverpool fans, was screaming for Benitez to change things and bring on Aquilani. We had nobody capable of providing a killer pass or a moment of invention. We looked so predictable and needed a moment of magic. Amazing that it came from a player who has promised so much but delivered so little.
Whilst a Liverpool win would have been celebrated and deserved it would have merely glossed over the huge problems we are facing. We have 3 world class players at present (Gerrard, Torres & Pepe) but a mediocre, underperforming squad. Yes..On our day we can beat anyone but wouldn't Villa, Spurs, Man City etc say the same about their own team?
We have an incredibly stubborn manager. Tactically astute he may be but his decisions defy logic. We can't afford to sack him but can we really afford to keep him?
Last season was a false dawn. We all bought into the notion that that this was going to be our season but why? The only thing we can hope for this season is a top four finish. Without Champions League Football next season, can we really hold onto Torres, Reina and, heaven forbid, Gerrard?
By Gibbo. Posted November 4 2009 at 11:33 PM.
There's no doubt its Benitez fault that Voronin missed or that Kyrgiakos is a dufus. The manager takes responsibility - he bought them, he picked them.
Lyon had a vast array of injuries, more first teamers missing than Liverpool, but that will be overlooked by Benitez who will be working out how to blame this mess on the one or more of his usual scapegoats: owners/ senior players/ bad luck/ finances/ Alex Ferguson...
By Paul. Posted November 4 2009 at 11:20 PM.
Such a cruel blow! iverpool totally dominated. What is unbelievable is the fact that Rafa took so long to bring on Babel. I'm not one of his biggest fans, but you could see that pace would work here, and also the need to get rid of Voronin. How he is a pro footballer i will never know. His one on one with the keeper could have been scored by a 5 year old! Also with no creativity in the middle of the park, and a $20million signing on the bench in Aquilani, why didn't we bring him on! A little spark from him, a threaded ball, a lift to the men in red to see him play in Europe with them. Benayoun, our only spark of creativity was wide for most of the game, so Aquilani would have been the perfect replacement for Lucas, who like Voronin needs to go. He always picks the easy ball to play, and it's mainly backwards! THe game plan was good and i don't totally blame Rafa, but sometimes he can be so stubborn and not see what needs to be done on the pitch! Season over and welcome Europa league. How embarrassing. Thanks for letting me vent :)
By Nehme. Posted November 4 2009 at 10:25 PM.