Player power over as Kop rocks to the Benitez beat

[Rev]

fantastic read...

WELL it was a revolution Liverpool fans demanded and it's a revolution they're going to get.

And when your side is 30 points off the title pace, you haven't been champions for 14 years, half the squad gives mediocrity a bad name, no home-grown kids have come through for half a decade and there's a clique of senior local players who think they're The Untouchables, thank God for the guts and vision of Rafael Benitez.

Because someone is finally holding a mirror up to Anfield's complacency, smashing sacred cows without fear or favour and doing so at the breakneck speed required to stay in the same league as the three teams above them.

A clash of wills before the crucial end-of-season clash at Old Trafford epitomised the fragmented state of the club. Gerard Houllier told his captain he was starting with Bruno Cheyrou in midfield and Milan Baros up front but Steven Gerrard and the lads reckoned he'd got it wrong.

Le boss was told to play Danny Murphy ahead of Cheyrou and Emile Heskey instead of Baros because Michael Owen and the Czech were too similar. Houllier backed down and the Reds won.

But a few things became clear that day. Houllier was finished. The attack had become too focused on who partnered Owen. Baros made his mind up to leave if Houllier stayed. And the dressing-room was lost to a select clique, confirmed after Houllier's exit when the chief executive said he would consult Owen and Gerrard on who the next boss should be.

Benitez clearly had a whiff of this player power. Which was why he ordered the local lads to sit with the foreigners at meal-times and change room-mates.

Maybe Murphy and Owen resented this as much as they resented being told their game and attitude had become stale and needed improvement. Maybe that's why they feel so wounded.

If so you have to commend Benitez for taking such a huge risk with such huge reputations, just as he did by selling his captain Gaizka Mendieta when he arrived at Valencia, then went on to win the title.

But what was the alternative to the problems of over-inflated egos, cosy cliques and players being allowed to play God with their contracts? Court popularity with the local lads, tinker with tactics and personnel, and protect yourself with talk of an evolutionary five-year plan?

It would have been the same old story. The collective will to succeed wouldn't be there and Owen and Gerrard would have left anyway. But by showing the door to those he thinks aren't up to his high standards, along with those who think they are above them, he is doing the right thing.

And anyone who sees the loss of Murphy and Owen as ripping the Scouse heart out of the club, an act which may force Gerrard out, should ask themselves this question: Since when have natives of Chester been called Scousers?

If Gerrard wanted to play for a club with a local heart why contemplate Chelsea?

The heartbeat of Liverpool's greatest sides has never been English, let alone Scouse. The spines of the great teams of Bill Shankly and Bob Paisley were Scottish, and the Double-winning side Kenny Dalglish led out at Wembley in 1986 did not possess an Englishman. As for Owen's exit, how can his move rip the heart out of the club when his own heart is clearly elsewhere?

Every Kopite was aware that the Boy Wonder wanted to be a Man Wonder at another club, so maybe it's best he's come clean now before he left Anfield for nothing.

And those who say too many foreign players ruin an English side clearly haven't been watching Arsenal. It's not simply about foreigners but the quality of the foreigner. Benitez, like Arsene Wenger, is a genuine student of the game and a proven winner. Ask Owen's new employers.

He knows the Spanish market as well as Wenger knew the French one and should be trusted to bring in top quality ready to go straight in the side, not lightweight journeymen to clog up the bench, thwarting young local talent.

This seems to be in the Spaniard's plans. Against Graz AK on Tuesday he blooded two young locals - Stephen Warnock and Darren Potter - never seen under Houllier. That's the way a squad should be. Made up of first-choice players and young reserves. Not bloated with passengers sitting around on big contracts sucking the life out of the club.

Those who believe losing stars leads to inevitable decline should remember how well Liverpool coped after releasing Kevin Keegan, Graeme Souness and Ian Rush, legends whose contribution in their final two seasons were far superior to Owen's.

In fact the only legend they couldn't replace was Dalglish the manager. When he left, the club lost a direction it is yet to rediscover. Maybe that's about to change.

It's early days but in Benitez they have a courageous, driven leader who knows where he wants to take Liverpool and plans to get there with or without certain individuals.

The idea that the exits of Owen and Murphy will bring down the house of cards is nonsense. The house fell down in 1991 when Dalglish temporarily lost his marbles, and has been seeking a new builder ever since. It looks like they might have found him.

Viva Benitez.

[Jimmi]

Great article. Said a lot of things that needed to be said. I won't question Benitez til he's had time to set up his squad.

[Sparky]

good article bout pool. very true!

[-OT-]

Great coach! I was laughing when Xabi (I think) or was it Nunez, said that Benitez is not only a great coach but also a psychologist! Now I know why

OT

[redefining_form]

Spot on that is, change is neccesary and although losing Owen is a blow, we'll move on, move ahead, viva Benitez indeed.

[Shanks]

Only problem is that Owen wasnt forced out by benitez, or even told to go. His agents worked the deal, and it was out of Benitez's hands.

[kop]

it would have been so nice if owen had stayed and journeyed with us to bigger things and tony as well
think flo isnt good enough, whereas last season when you're competing against emile, you can't possibly look bad

[Shanks]

Disagree, Flo looks a super prospect. It wasnt that he was competing with Heskey last season that made him look good, it was his performances, full stop.

[Shanks]

Tony is only on loan, he WILL be back.

[kop]

Not comfortable with Flo, he's too lightweight, and loses the ball too easily and when Baros and Cisse were taken off, the contrast was stark. My opinions anyways, and when Baros was taken off the Spurs game, I knew game over, we were gonna take the draw
Always preferred Tony over Flo.

[Shanks]

Oh I prefer Tony over Flo too, but:

Defo not too lightweight, if there was one thing that we Liverpool fans were saying last year, was that he was so strong, for his size and height.

Losing the ball too easily is also something that can be aimed at Baros. Both are still very young, and that comes with experience.

[brezipool]

Good article, I like it!

Teh changes are defo good for the club, needed to be done, GH had taken us as far as he could!