Why Liverpool's dour draw at City was exactly what Rafa planned, and why the Reds will definitely get fourth spot

By David Maddock

Published 09:06 23/02/10

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I have been amused by the reaction to Liverpool’s performance at Manchester City, and I’m moved to ask one question. Really, honestly, what did you expect?

Yes, like live Eastenders it was excruciating to watch. Yes it was more boring than Belgium.  But look at their run-in, and compare it to that of the rest of the sides competing for fourth place, and then tell me what Rafael Benitez’s side had to do above all else at Eastlands on Sunday. Yep, that’s right. Avoid defeat.

It would have been nice for them, I’m sure, to have avoided defeat playing some stylish, attacking, vibrant, open football. But you know what, that’s not usually recognised as the traditional method of avoiding defeat.

Yet people, many, many people, seem to be operating under the misplaced idea that the performance was the most important thing, indeed, that it was the only thing.

In modern society we seem less and less able to see beyond the instant moment, the instant gratification, and nowhere is that more prevalent than in football, and the burgeoning industry of chatter that surrounds it.

Every single performance, every single result, seems to be analysed in isolation, and the reaction consequently ignores the picture altogether, never mind a bigger one. Stop for a second though, and consider what represents the bigger picture for Liverpool.

Financially, they need to finish in the top four. They need regular Champions’ League income for their current plans to be viable in the long term. And professionally, the future of the manager and many of the players depends on a top four finish.

So quite a bit at stake then. Now let’s look back on the season so far. Disappointing doesn’t even get near to describing it. Liverpool started the campaign trying to play expansively, and it rather backfired on them, to the extent that they found themselves out of just about every competition bar the year seven egg and spoon. And they weren’t favourites for that.

So Benitez reverted to what he knows best, by going back to basics and tightening up a defence that had leaked more alarmingly than a bullied Downing Street staffer. And it worked. It wasn’t pretty, but it worked.

Until the defeat at Arsenal last week, they had strung together a seven-match unbeaten run that had put them firmly back into contention for the fourth place that had seemed beyond them at Christmas, thanks to an uncompromising, often ugly approach.

They also knew that defeat at City would leave them four points behind their rivals having played a game more, so potentially seven points behind with 11 matches remaining. A draw, on the other hand, would allow them to remain just a single point adrift.

Of those 11 remaining matches, nine are against teams in the bottom half of the table, and they also face Birmingham and Fulham, who currently occupy ninth and 10th places. Of the top eight, they play only Manchester United away and Chelsea at home (and believe me, they'll defend for their lives in those games to achieve draws).

City on the other hand, must still play five of the top eight, as must Spurs, and Villa must play four of them. None of the other three sides chasing fourth place will now face Liverpool, meaning that the City game was the last “six pointer”  - the last opportunity to put daylight between themselves and the Anfield team.

So OF COURSE Liverpool were going to play for a draw because it was a result that clearly suits them more than it did City, and of course they were going to play defensively to achieve that, because that’s been their approach over the past two months.

That is not to defend that practice or Liverpool’s season, because if they hadn’t been so rubbish up to Christmas then they wouldn’t be in this position where they require such dour, unappetising fare.

But let’s not get shocked about a defensively display, or sanctimonious either, because under the circumstances what else were they going to do? And they’ll keep doing it until the end of the season now too.

If they can keep clean sheets against sides in the bottom half of the table, then there’s a pretty good chance they’ll win those games, given that they will have the match-winning instinct of the returning Fernando Torres to call upon.

It’s a depressing prospect, sure, but given that fact, I’ll stand by my prediction that Liverpool could yet be closer to third place than fifth, given their league programme from now on. It’s just a shame they didn’t play better in the first half of the season, because given that run-in, if they were remotely close to the top now, they’d have a good chance of winning the Premier League.

I’m sure all that will be considered by the board come the end of the season, but for now, the bigger picture demands a top four place…and at any price, even if that price is football as we prefer it.

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