COMMENT: Time for Benitez to take stock as progress stalls

May 1 2008 by Nick Smith, Liverpool Daily Post

AT least Rafael Benitez can be reassured that not all giants go down easily. And the fact that his mud-stained warriors were left stunned, scarred, almost crippled with exhaustion as they trudged to the away end after another colossal effort is something the Liverpool manager must take positives from.

How he now applies them is the next great challenge after a second successive season without silverware eventually fizzled out last night.

Didier Drogba proved his nemesis again with the double strike that killed off more heroic Liverpool resistance. Although he wouldn’t admit it afterwards, riling the Ivory Cast striker into that kind of rampant mood was an own goal perhaps as calamitous as John Arne Riise’s a week earlier in the final analysis.

But then maybe this was just Chelsea’s time to finally heal the wounds of 2005 and 2007. Maybe it was always destined to be Frank Lampard’s time, and nobody can deny him his own emotional journey on Chelsea’s first ride into a European Cup final, hitting the penalty that gave them a precious extra-time lead.

The door to Roman’s Russian manor was prised open again and Chelsea’s determination and desire sent them spilling through like drunken gatecrashers.

But whatever was written in the stars, Benitez needs someone to gaze into his crystal ball for him now. He badly needs to know what the future holds.

Last year the Spaniard was keen to emphasise that getting to a second European Cup final in three years couldn’t paper over the rapid DIY job that needed to be done in his dressing room.

And while he undoubtedly made the desired strengthening on the back of that defeat to AC Milan in Athens, it hasn’t brought the progress that was expected.

Liverpool finish their Champions League campaign one stage earlier than last year. They will finish one place lower in the Premier League.

The chance to paint Red Square the fiercest and most fiery shade of red it has ever seen in its embattled history now gone.

Which will come as a relief to some – the Moscow baggage handlers have considerably less of the stuff to pass through their borders now a meeting with Manchester United in the Russian capital has been avoided.

The consolation for Liverpool on the football side? The fact that there can now be no doubt that this club needs stability off the field more than ever.

It’s difficult enough challenging the likes of last night’s opponents and Sir Alex Ferguson’s lot anyway when everyone behind the scenes is sitting down for a picnic in the sunshine.

But when it’s been as disjointed, devious and downright dangerous as this season’s soap opera has proved, it’s a miracle it’s taken until the last day of April for the dreams to disappear.

The spats have been so unashamedly public all that’s been missing is a Jeremy Kyle camera crew and it’s time to call ‘cut’ to that sideshow.

If not, there’s no chance of addressing the real underlying reasons why it’s Chelsea and Manchester United who are contesting the top honours at home and abroad right now instead of Liverpool.

The backroom battles have been out on the backburner recently in the interests of the team, but now the team has no interests, their resolution should be top of the agenda.

As for last night, sorting through the wreckage of last night is a far less exhaustive process.

Quite simply, Chelsea were better. They threatened to lose their nerve once again, evidenced by Petr Cech’s hopeless flap for Ryan Babel’s late consolation, but the ruthlessness that accompanies their now annual assault for honours eventually overwhelmed their opponents.

Stamford Bridge may not be an Anfield. It’s certainly not the steaming cauldron Chelsea have found too hot to handle in two previous semi-final second legs.

But it is a fortress, one that hasn’t been stormed for more than two years and the last time an English side won here was before the days of Jose Mourinho and, indeed, Benitez.

It doesn’t necessarily inspire the home side but it certainly stifles the opposition, with its narrow playing area and midfield formation that ensures a tighter squeeze than Avram Grant’s suit.

Relentless rain only seemed to add to the oppression last night and as a result, Liverpool couldn’t make that early statement of intent to signify their hosts were in for more final-four heartbreak.

That was proving fatal to a side whose minimum requirement was an away goal and after Fernando Torres’s early lapse in the face of Cech, they struggled to sustain a threat.

Liverpool actually had the majority of first-half possession. Problem was, Javier Mascherano wasted most of it. When the home crowd booed them for not giving the ball back after a stoppage, they should have saved their breath – it wasn’t long before the visitors duly obliged in surrendering it anyway.

Torres failed to outwit Carvalho and Gerrard was subdued, caught in no-man’s land. When he escaped Claude Makelele and tried to impact the play from wide areas, the unlikely figure of Joe Cole was waiting with block-tackle that enabled him to skip away from his England colleague.

That was typical of Chelsea. So much fight in them, you wondered if Grant had sent out his ground staff.

The role of Yossi Benayoun also caused some confusion. A surprise choice to begin with in replacing Ryan Babel on the left side of the formation that has served him so well in recent months, tweaking the personnel at this stage was the risk Benitez is famed for at this stage of European competition.

Difference last night was, it wasn’t paying off. Benayoun seemed to be the one given the brief to drift inside and he often found himself the furthest forward when another final pass rolled agonisingly out of reach.

It left Gerrard with nowhere to go and the central thrust form the captain that so often drives his side on in the face of this type of adversity was sadly missing.

At half-time, the scoreline had to change and so did that set of circumstances.

And after chasing lost causes for so much of the night, Benayoun suddenly vindicated his manager’s faith in him with the weaving run that gave the Spaniard his first goal at Stamford Bridge during his Liverpool reign.

The fact that he had never needed one as badly as he did last night was alone enough to convince you he would get it and Torres obliged with his 31st of the season.

Once he had a taste Benitez was hungry for more, bringing Benayoun off for Jermaine Pennant to inflict more pace on a tiring home rearguard.

After all, this was how the balance of power shifts when the nonsensical rule of away goals coming into play after 90 minutes starts to hang over a finely-balanced tie.

Another Liverpool goal would have left Chelsea needing another two, and with their nerves fraying they were glad for the extra time.

The break at the end of normal time was just what they needed – a chance to regroup, get their heads together and regain their early superiority.

Exactly the kid of thing Benitez needs right now in fact.