Sacrificing tradition in pursuit of pragmatism?

RARELY has Rafael Benitez played a more dangerous game.

In his three-and-a-half years at Anfield the Liverpool manager has experimented with formations and obsessed about rotation, so much so that trying to second-guess his starting 11 is as pointless as howling at the moon.

But he has never tampered with tradition quite as he did on Saturday when he hauled off Fernando Torres, Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher in the last half-hour of the 3-1 defeat at Reading and ostensibly accepted defeat.

Yes, accepted defeat. Threw in the towel. Effectively surrendered. Not phrases Liverpool have been familiar with down the years. Not a concept supporters of a club built on the fire and passion of Bill Shankly could readily embrace.

It is why this week is so crucial to the credibility of Benitez.

Beat Marseille in the Stade Velodrome tonight and progress to the knockout phase of the Champions League and his actions will be seen as the astute decisions of a footballing pragmatist protecting his key players for the most important battles.

Lose and Sunday’s encounter against Manchester United at Anfield becomes the cross on which the Benitez reign might be nailed.

Liverpool fans ache for the times when Liverpool were the standard bearers for English football, for the days when they looked down on United and Arsenal and the rest from the pinnacle of the domestic game.

It is 17 years since Liverpool won the last of their 18 league titles. Currently they stand seven points behind Arsenal, six behind United and four adrift of Chelsea and although a game in hand could reduce those arrears the feeling persists that they remain off the pace.

Too far off to be surrendering points in the manner of their weekend defeat, even if striker Peter Crouch described it as a “blip”.

It was nothing of the sort. It was a declaration from Benitez that Europe remains the priority and with around €14million at stake if Liverpool fall into the UEFA Cup, something which would delight Evertonians already relishing that competition, the maths add up.

Champions League progression is the least Benitez requires to appease Hicks and Gillett.

Football supporters, however, are not renowned for evaluating numbers in their heads. It is what is in their hearts that matters.

So they will sing ‘Ring of Fire’, the Johnny Cash anthem forever associated with the comeback in Istanbul, in Marseille and hope that Benitez can orchestrate another night of European genius.

And then they will troop to Anfield on Sunday for the real measure of where Liverpool stand on the stairway to domestic greatness in the fixture which history maintains is the most tribal battle in English football.

If by then they are in the UEFA Cup, despite the recent wave of support you can be sure Anfield will be a theatre of doubt.

Has Benitez overdone caution, underused Crouch, failed to impose clear direction or forged a consistent pattern of play? Most of all, has he jettisoned the traditions of Shankly in the pursuit of pragmatism?

If the answers to those questions are yes, then willful surrender at Reading almost certainly will return to haunt Benitez.