Premier League / Paul Moon / 18 October 2007 / Leave a comment

Pablo Luna - Moonlighting for Betfair. Pablo has a rant at Benitez's rotation policy

Rafael Benitez Maudes was the most successful manager in Valencia's history and has already taken Liverpool to the Champions League Final twice. Benitez became only the third manager, after Bob Paisley and Jose Mourinho to win the UEFA Cup and UEFA Champions League in successive seasons. His success has been achieved with inherited squads and it is interesting to see what he does with his own players but I am convinced he has the pedigree to achieve much more.

In contradiction my thoughts go out to all those Liverpool football supporters (Peter Crouch included). What must they be thinking about his selection policy? They have acquired a very good group of footballers, which is well capable of winning the Premiership for the first time since winning the League Championship in 1990.

I have studied all the evidence concerning Rafael Benitez's rotation policy and can now confirm officially that this particular policy is absolute and utter madness!

Rafael is an intelligent man and he knows that not one English team has won the Premiership and the Champions League in the same season and this could be affecting his reasoning. He would also note that this conundrum also applies to the Italian and Spanish teams with Barcelona the only exception when winning La Liga and the Champions League Cup in 2006. Despite this evidence, I condemn his rotation approach!

Football is now a result driven industry. To achieve these results there is - the now, the short-term future and the long-term future, in that order. You cannot swap these essentials around and prioritise for next January whilst not attending to this October. To say I will keep players fresh and fit while losing points to Birmingham is not an option. You cannot give Manchester United a 12 point lead saying "Ah but my players will be fitter come the end of the season," because playing catch up is the most draining thing of all! Winning keeps you fresh, ask anyone who has won League medals.

I like Rafael Benitez as a person and how can I argue about the fact that he has taken Liverpool to two Champions League Finals but what he is doing is simply wrong! The more people tell him that the deeper he digs. When you are in a hole - stop digging!

There are mutterings of discontent from the Liverpool players, in particular Captain Marvel Steven Gerrard. It is a good job he has signed a long-term contract and is a Scouser through and through because without him, Liverpool could not win anything!

I note that Liverpool are currently trading at 7.4 with Betfair to win the Premiership and those odds are attractive if they played their best team week in week out. Don't forget that it is the best team that wins the Premiership not the best bunch. They are guaranteed a top four finish (1.17 with Betfair) but this would amount to failure. A backlash could sweep across Anfield, gathering enough momentum to make Rafael re-think about his future there.

It is apparent to me that Rafael has his eye on the Champions League again (15.5 with Betfair) and he regards it more important than the domestic league. If true, then he has made an error of judgement!

Tags: Champions league, football betting, Liverpool, Rafael Benitez, squad rotation