BBC - 606 - - A20544789 - Realist Benitez outshines Wenger

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Realist Benitez outshines Wenger

European Football

by Phil McNulty - BBC Sport (U1816352) 07 March 2007

Take your mind back to the first week of January - the week when Arsene Wenger was hailed as the great visionary and Rafael Benitez as a bungler who did not know his best team.

Arsenal dumped Liverpool out of the FA Cup on the Saturday then became the first visiting side to score six at Anfield for 77 years in a Carling Cup tie on the Tuesday.

Wenger's brilliant band of youngsters ran Liverpool ragged, with Benitez accused of betraying Anfield's great traditions by fielding weakened sides.

Liverpool supporters voiced disapproval, but Benitez was unrepentant, effectively saying he had not come to Anfield to win the Carling Cup.

He wanted the Premiership or the Champions League.

Arsenal and Wenger, in contrast, were almost obliterated by the bouquets hurled in their direction. The world was at their feet.

How we laughed. At Benitez.

Turn the clock forward to where we stand after a dramatic two nights of Champions League football and who is laughing now?

Wenger's season has collapsed in the space of 10 days that have damaged Arsenal's image and left them empty-handed in their glittering new Emirates Stadium.

Arsenal were outstanding in defeat against Chelsea in a Carling Cup final that ended in acrimony, but were then promptly dumped out of the FA Cup by Blackburn.

And the Champions League exit at the hands of PSV Eindhoven capped a miserable 10 days.

Benitez, on the other hand, has been hailed as one of the finest tactical brains in football after meticulously plotting Barcelona's downfall to reach the last eight.

Arsenal went the way we always knew they would. Passing the opposition into submission, then missing the chances that should have sent them through.

The glitter has been taken off Wenger's golden generation - for now at least.

Benitez is an altogether more pragmatic figure. If you want romance, send flowers but don't look for it in his football teams.

He deals in the small details, whereas Wenger is an admirable man of footballing principle who embraces the beautiful game.

But after two seasons without a trophy, it may be time for Wenger to adopt a little of Benitez's hard-nosed realism.

No-one would suggest for one second Wenger is under pressure, but two seasons without a trophy is not good news for Arsenal as they settle into a new home.

Benitez's insistence that he was seeing the bigger picture has arguably made Liverpool the best-equipped of the Premiership trio still in the Champions League to go on and win the trophy.

And that statement is made with the knowledge that Manchester United and Sir Alex Ferguson have set their heart on reclaiming the trophy.

The Spaniard still fails to nail down the Premiership, but he has no peers when it comes to plotting a route around Europe.

And Liverpool's fans will start to see uncanny echoes of 2005, when they emerged from the shadows to win the trophy in Istanbul.

Examine the evidence.

Benitez was criticised for fielding a below-strength team in an FA Cup defeat at Burnley, but then a succession of high-quality opponents fell by the wayside in Europe.

Make no mistake, no team in the draw will want to be paired with Liverpool in the quarter-final.

And this is not just because of the prospect of facing Steven Gerrard or confronting The Kop. It is also the fact that they will have to out-smart Benitez.

Wenger will be a miserable man after their loss.

He is a bad loser at the best of times, and three hammer blows in less than a fortnight will not be well-received.

Unthinkable as it may seem, maybe it is time he put his principles - laudable though they are - to one side and put a little bit of the Benitez philosophy into his talented but flawed Arsenal side.

He must dwell on that while Benitez eyes up another Champions League crown - but wasn't that what he said he was doing after losing 6-3 to Arsenal in the Carling Cup?

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comment by salehndettyai (U7727857)

posted Mar 9, 2007

I am a great supporter of Liverpool team,on the matter between Benitez and Wenger,the Liverpool coach should put aside disobeyments for what he calls small competitions such as Carling cup & FA cup if he wants to regain honour not only from Wenger but also all the English rivals.

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comment by arabguhad (U7737503)

posted Mar 9, 2007

i am alive long fan of arsenal football club i am really disappointed that arsenal are out of the champions lesgue

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comment by syngerdub (U7738467)

posted Mar 9, 2007

I'm a Liverpool fan, and needless to say I quite enjoyed reading this article.
What I think Arsenal fans need to realise is that the article does not state that Benitez is better than Wenger. It just analyses a point in time where Benitez has acheived a bit more success for Liverpool than Wenger has for Arsenal, and points out the differing tactics.

No doubt Arsenal will be back, and may well achieve better results than Liverpool. But I congratulate Phil on a perceptive article.

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comment by jaijyothis (U7722107)

posted Mar 10, 2007

I saw the article 2 days back and it took me for a while to register at 606. Today when i decided to write my comments, i saw very sensible comments by both Liverpool and Arsenal supporters. It's really good to see that people love Football.
The only job of a critic is to criticize somebody. I strongly believe that the author himself is a strong admirer of Arsene Wenger, but wrote the article just because he has to criticize somebody.
I think, this year Arsenal is the team of England. Is there any other team in England who can reach League Cup final with a bunch of youngsters?
They were playing without their main forwards most of the games, yet they are almost at the 3rd position. See the teams they have beaten - ManUtd, both games and they were beatean at their home when Arsenal played without Henry & Persie.
Liverpool was beaten 3 times. 2 of these games were at Anfield. If Benitez is a better coach than Arsene, why he couldn't make his team win against Arsenal. What is the logic behind saying that a coach who was beaten by 6-2 is a better coach than the winning team's coach.
Football is a game that is played by 11 players both in England and all over Europe. So coaches have to win matches, they should not say that League Cup or FA cup is not their preference. If that is not their preference, they should not be the coach of the team for these tournaments or should not participate.
Being a Aresenl fan, i am disappointed that Arsenal are out of FA Cup and Champions League even though they are playing better football than many other teams. But i am happy because even without many resources they played better football. That's why i am an Arsenal Fan.
It's really sad that Arsenal played 180 minutes against Blackburn, didn't get the 3 penalty appeals, and lost to the half a chance created by Blackburn.
Arsene Wenger and team, the supporters of Arsenal are always with you. Our team can comeback strongly next year.
Probably Arsenal need one or two forwards who can finish the match in the first half itself, because Arsenal creates atleast 3-4 clear chances in the first half of every game. I hope Wenger will pick somebody to play in the forward position, like he picked Rosicky for midfield. Arsenal needs one or two forwards, because we can't lose another season because of injuries to forwards.
Long live Arsenal and Arsene.

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comment by menadiehardchelsea (U7546126)

posted Mar 13, 2007

how do you rate a good coach?is it by trophies they win or by playing the ball around for good two seasons without having anything to show for it.their fans are only consoling themselves with tag of bein the side that plays the best football in england but have nothing to show for it.after the sale veira,perez and sudden dip of form by ljumberg,they team has lost that fighting spirit.henry is the decline which means wenger needs two proven strikers and holding midfielder to compliment the effort of gilberto.another aspect to look into is goalkeeper's position in the team.true blues for life.

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comment by minc (U4442499)

posted Mar 15, 2007

Phil,

I always like your articles, but on this one, I am a bit confused how you mentioned Wenger's team missed how many chances that should have sent them through but yet you said he's tactically naive. Surely when his men missed chance after chance, that means his tactics actually worked on that game? That means clinical finishing is to blame not this manager's tactics?

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comment by CEG's Cesc life is absolutely Fabregas (U5593299)

posted Mar 15, 2007

Im sorry but Benitez ha done nothing to outshine Wenger this year.

He "masterminded" a win in the camp nou but then "masterminded" a loss at Anfield

Getting to the Qf of the CL isnt that great an achievement and so long as Arsenal stay above Liverpool and the scouser dont go on to win the CL i cant see how anyone can say Benitez has performed better

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comment by Icarus (U9112381)

posted Jan 10, 2008

Unthinkable as it may seem, maybe it is time he put his principles - laudable though they are - to one side and put a little bit of the Benitez philosophy into his talented but flawed Arsenal side.
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Haha Phil McNulty you're a legend. Where are Liverpool these days? Put a little bit of Benitez what? No thanks.

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