Benitez calls for change in Pool mentality
The Spanish coach is discovering to his cost that Liverpool are no Valencia, the battle-hardened, technically astute outfit with vast Champions League and UEFA Cup experience that he left behind in the summer.
At Valencia, he had things so finely-tuned that he could change tactics almost at the flick of a switch. That is clearly not the case at Liverpool.
Benitez has two different styles for home and away games. At Anfield he is likely to play two strikers in Djibril Cisse and Milan Baros. Away from Merseyside, like in the midweek defeat by Olympiacos, he reverts to a 4-4-1-1 style with a lone striker.
But what he is discovering is that Liverpool’s players find it hard to adapt and change their formation from game to game and it is starting to prove costly.
Benitez said: “The problem is not the system, the problem is perhaps their mentality. We have to change our mentality to have more confidence in ourselves.
“Then you have to concentrate more and be more aggressive. I have played this system many times, with one forward up front and with one player in behind. My teams win a lot of away games, now we need to find the system to suit the players.
“But as I say, it’s not a problem with the system it is a problem of being receptive and in the confidence of the players.”
That is something of a damning assessment of the capabilities of his players, and the new faces he has brought in - Xabi Alonso and Luis Garcia - are clearly not immune from criticism. “It is worrying that our away performances are so different from the games at Anfield and we have to work hard to change that.”
But Benitez put a brave face on a shattering night in the hot-house atmosphere in Piraeus. “I am still very confident we can qualify, now all the teams in the group have opportunities to get through.
“But for me now the home games are very important, whoever wins them will have a great chance of qualifying.”
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