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Benitez puts team ahead of players

Published by Zac Lee Rigg on September 3, 2008

Speaking after the Aston Villa game, which ended in a nil-nil draw, Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez has brushed aside criticism of his use of Robbie Keane.

The Irish striker moved from Tottenham Hotspur this summer for a hefty £20.3m to beef up Liverpool’s attack. Against Villa, Keane found himself playing large portions in an unfamiliar left midfield role. Towards the second half, Brazilian Lucas Leiva covered that area so that Keane could move to a more customary forward role alongside ##N’gog, but that didn’t exempt Benitez from critiscm.

It’s a situation similar to when Benitez played Steven Gerrard wide right for a season, and he’s answered in kind: “Getting a draw without them showed the quality in the squad – but it could have been better.

Benitez told the offish site, “Having watched the videos, I thought we could have won. We had four chances – Alonso, Kuyt, Ngog and Keane. They had two and some set-pieces. So, the point was good but it could have been better.

“We changed the system to play 4-3-3 and give Xabi Alonso freedom, then when he was being pressed we changed to 4-2-3-1. People said, ‘Oh, Robbie Keane wasn’t playing well on the left.’ But we had to think about winning the game, not just one player.”

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