Benitez masterplan well under way

In the past two weeks Rafa Benitez finally put pen to paper on a five year extension, ending months of speculation over his future.

Along with his new contract, he has secured a bigger say in the running of Liverpool's academy, which will be key in talented youngsters making the step up from the academy to Melwood.

Following Benitez, key members of his back room staff, including Sammy Lee and Mauricio Pellegrino, have also signed extensions.

These events, along with the impending departure of current Chief Executive Rick Parry and the subsequent strengthening on Rafa's say on potential transfers gives the impression that things are starting to really come together for the Mersyside club and indicate a promising future.

A world class manager, the likes of Benitez, Wenger, Ferguson, Shankly and Clough, all need time and support from their board to make the best out of their club.

Likewise, for a club to be successful it needs a steady hand behind the wheel and, above all, continuity.

Shankly, Clough and Ferguson all needed time to build a dynasty at Liverpool, Derby and Manchester United respectively.

Indeed, as legend has it, Ferguson was moments away from the sack if his side had lost to Crystal Palace in the 1990 FA Cup final. Had he lost, would Manchester United be the team they are today?

Wenger's success was not quite as long in coming, but he, along with the others, were allowed to do his own thing, without restrictions. If he wanted a player and said they were good enough then the board would do everything they could to get them.

Benitez now looks to have the full backing of the board when it comes to transfers and he is also working closer with the academy.

This means that the youngsters who come through should be ready to play in a Benitez style team. This means as well as being physically and technically sound, they have to be able to adapt to and learn to play in different systems.

One of the most famous youth systems, La Masia at Barcelona, has their youngsters playing the same style and formations, that the first team play in, right the way through their time there.

This means that when the time comes to be eased into the first team, they know what to expect and how to play.

It's obviously a system that works (Bojan, Messi, Xavi, Iniesta and Puyol have all come through the Barca ranks) and I would not be surprised if something similar was to happen at the Liverpool academy under the guidance of Benitez.

It takes time for youngsters to come through, as with Ferguson at Manchester United and, more recently, Wenger at Arsenal.

The same is true at Liverpool. Benitez has been at Anfield for nearly five years and only now are we seeing the youth players coming through that have been there under his tutelage.

Jay Spearing, Nabil El Zhar, Stephen Darby, Damien Plessis and Emiliano Insua are all in and around the fringes of the first team.

The likes of Jack Hobbs, Krisztian Nemeth, Adam Hammill, Sebastian Leto and Paul Anderson are all gaining first team experience out on loan

And the reserves (who won the reserve title last season)and youth team (who won the FA Youth Cup two years on the bounce in 2006 & 07) are harbouring young talent in the shape of the exciting Daniel Pacheco and Nathan Eccleston.

The past five years have shown that Liverpool have improved every year under the Spaniard (if anyone argues otherwise they must have been watching the Liverpool in Uruguay by mistake).

The next five years, however, will tell if the Rafa-lution will grow into an established Benitez Empire.

Will Liverpool flourish under the guidance under Benitez? Or is is new contract a bad thing for Liverpool? Leave a comment.

Iker Casillas - The new Given is better than Buffon

If anything stood out from last night's Champion's League games it wasn't the 12-1 aggregate scoreline at the Bayern - Sporting game or even Liverpool's impressive 4-0 win over Real Madrid.

It was the Shay Given-esque performance of Iker Casillas.

The poor lad did absolutely nothing wrong, in fact he turned in a 'Man-of-the-Match' performance, but his side still managed to ship four goals.



















This scenario will be eerily familiar to Newcastle fans as this seemed to happen an awful lot to the Irish custodian. The last being a 5-0 loss against, coincidentally, Liverpool when, without 'MotM' Given, it could have been 10.

Liverpool could have, quite easily, won by five, six or even seven goals,last night, if Casillias didn't have the ability to pull off saves that, at times, defied the laws of physics and saved whatever dignity his non-existent defence had left.

His early save from Fernando Torres was made despite seemingly committing to the other direction and his flying stop from a spinning Mascherano drive is still hard to fathom, as he wouldn't have seen the ball until very late.

The Spanish stopper has been touted as one of the world's top 'keepers for a long time but has always been over shadowed by Italy's formidable Gianluigi Buffon. Yesterday night, however, added further evidence to claims that he has overtaken his Juventus counterpart.

The scary thing is that, at only 27-years-old (that's only two years older than Ben Foster, by the way), he has at least another 10 years in him at the top level, if he stays free from serious injury.

In the next year or two, if he hasn't already, he will overtake Buffon as the world's best and will have to make himself comfortable because he could be there for many years to come.

What do you think? Is Casillas now the best or is Buffon still the number one? Leave a comment.

Should FA Cup semi-finals be held at Wembley? Moyes says 'no'.

After overcoming Middlesbrough 2-1 at Goodison Park, you would suspect Everton manager David Moyes to be a happy man, even if his side did get the worst possible opponents in the shape of the increasingly unstoppable Manchester United.

Well he's not. Well, not entirely.

"It's great to be in the semis but I'd prefer the match was away from Wembley." the former Preston manager told the BBC.

"I don't think anyone likes it. Wembley should only be used for the final."

Moyes makes a good point though.

Semi-final ties had previously been played in neutral grounds such as Old Trafford, Hillsborough and Villa Park, however this changed in 2003 when the FA decided to stage all FA Cup semi-finals, from 2007, in Wembley in order to help pay off the cost of the £757 million stadium.

From a geographical point of view the switch was a tad non-sensical.

What if, as happened this year,two clubs from the North-West face each other and have to all travel down to London, only for one of them to have to come back again four weeks down the line. How much is that going to cost the fans?

Surely a neutral North-West ground would have been sufficient, or even a Midlands ground. It's common sense. 'If it aint broke...' and all that.

According to Moyes, having the semi finals at Wembley also tends to take the shine off the final.

"I wanted to go to Wembley but in the final not in the semi-final," Moyes said, whose Everton side have only beaten Manchester United once since the 1-0 win in the FA Cup final, at Wembley, in 1995.

"We're in the semi-final of the Cup but, while that's better than we've done before, it's not the final and it's not winning it, that's what I'd really like to do."

Many footballers have said that getting the opportunity of playing at Wembley was almost as big a motivation to get to the final as winning the cup however that sense of achievement has been taken away by playing the semis there.

Yes, you still get to play in there in the final but it just isn't as special if you've been there already in the same competition just a month before.

On the other hand; cheer up David.

Judging by the form of Manchester United, just making the final is looking improbable, let alone winning it.

At least you'll actually get to play at Wembley, in ANY game, this season!

Is Moyes right? Should the semi-finals be played at a neutral venue, or is it right that they are played at Wembley? Have your say and leave a comment.

Ronaldo the "King of Free Kicks"? He's not even good enough to shine Juninho's crown!

Last night, Manchester United claimed another three points to strengthen their strangle hold on the top spot in the Premier League.

It was by no means a vintage performance by the Red Devils but grabbed all three points regardless.

Many people in the media are lauding this and are saying that to pull a win from such a performance is, as Phil McNulty states in his BBC Sport blog, "the hallmark of champions".

It is very difficult to argue with this and it is also hard to see anyone overtaking Manchester United, barring a monumental turn-around of form from the current holders.

But while all this media adulation is understandable (Man United are so consistently able to do this and are unstoppable at the moment) it reminded me of another, more questionable, media based Man Utd love in.

It's interesting to see that Cristiano Ronaldo has been labeled by the media as some sort of 'dead ball expert'.

He isn't. Just as Roberto Carlos wasn't.

Hitting the ball very hard and managing to put unbelievable dip or swerve on it is very impressive, but make a free kick expert it does not.

Nor does hitting the wall or ballooning it over 20 times out of 25 attempts.

On ITV's highlights show, of the first leg of the Champions' League round of 16, Juninho Pernambucano was said to have "done a Ronaldo".

He didn't. If anything Ronaldo 'did a Juninho'.

Most bewilderingly, Craig Doyle, the presenter, asked his studio 'expert' Robbie Earle:

"We all know Ronaldo is the King of Free Kicks, but what about Juninho?"

To which Earle replied: "He's definitely up there."

Up there?! He's more than just up there. He IS there!

The Lyon playmaker can take all kinds of free kicks; Beckham and Pirlo-esque curlers, Carlos/Ronaldo style dippers and swervers and even Riise style, straight forward, pile drivers. All with devastating consistency.

His delivery from corners and free kicks in wide areas is also exceptionally accurate and, what's more, he's been doing it for more than seven years.

It makes you wonder whether these 'experts' really watch football or just pander to favouritism.

Agree? Disagree? Make your own mind up. Watch this Juninho Compilation and this Ronaldo Compilation and then leave a comment.

It's Back!

The Mixer is back!

Rather than continue from where it left off, it was thought that The Mixer would be better off starting a fresh. So here it is!

After around six months of seemingly going AWOL and doing nothing it's finally back- new and improved... well... returning and virtually the same. Much like Robbie Keane.

For those of you that are new and would like to see articles on the previous blog or would just like to read them again, go to andrewsteel88.blogspot.com