Liverpool Get Coaching in 2nd Half

Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez usually wears a suit & tie during matches.  However, today he was patrolling the sidelines at St. James' Park in a track suit.  Was this a nod to his owners that told him to focus on coaching the players he has rather than focus on funds for the January transfer window?  Or was Benitez signaling to The FA that he is very serious about interviewing for the England job and that he is as much a coach as a manager?

Either way, he did not have Liverpool ready for the match against Newcastle today.  That was evident from the sloppy passing all over the pitch.  Momo Sissoko was lost once again.  Lucas looked uncertain at the best of times and when Steve Finnan's crossing is off you know something is wrong with Liverpool.  Were it not for Steven Gerrard's wonderful strike of a free kick the first half would have ended scoreless.

Fernando Torres did not bring his shooting boots and Harry Kewell looks a few weeks away from being a threat to do much of anything on the pitch.  But as the sides came out for the second half Liverpool were sharp, confident and deadly.  Newcastle were to be frank, dreadful.

So, had Sam Allardyce not already withdrawn his name from England manager consideration, his side's performances as of late would have canceled him out anyways.  Withdrawing his name seemed the easy way out of a job that would never have been offered to him.  But Benitez had Liverpool passing well, his strikers were working hard and his decision to bring Ryan Babel resulted in a beautiful goal for the Dutchman after a nice combination play with Gerrard. 

The defense was also more assured.  Sami Hyypia has been playing inspirational football in the absence of Danny Agger.  Yes, at times Hyypia has been caught out of position or scored for the opposition.  But he knows how to play alongside Jamie Carragher.  Benitez has apparently been able to wrestle the last bit of contribution out of the aging defender as once Agger is healthy he will walk right into the starting role.

If the Liverpool owners do not provide Benitez the funds he is after in January there will be some fireworks at the club.  Liverpool look a couple signings away from threatening Arsenal for the title.  The squad is extremely talented and have not lived up to their potential.  Both owner and manager can make a convincing case that they are correct.

Whatever was said in the locker room at halftime worked for Liverpool.  They were a different side.  They looked every bit a top 3 side.  Newcastle only got worse as the matched progressed.  This is clearly a testament to the depth at the two clubs, but also the coaching.  Allardyce has gotten nothing out of his bunch.  Benitez has yet to suffer defeat in the league. 

If it is coaching the owners want it is coaching Benitez can deliver.  And if he coaches well enough Liverpool might just push hard for the Premier League title.  His record speaks for itself in Spain and England.  Even the best need a little motivation at times.  But if Benitez decides to start showing up on the sidelines in track suits more often supporters might be a bit concerned he is motivated enough to try his tactics with the English national team.

MLS Season Wrap-Up

Vein of Form has given MLS plenty of stick over the course of the season. But after reflecting for the past several days on the season that was, we still don't particularly care for it. The positives first - it is great for MLS that Houston Dynamo have won 2 straight MLS Cups. It would have been even greater had New England Revolution managed to win 3 straight rather than lose 3 straight. The reason being that what the league needs is a super club everyone is chasing. Given that there exists so much parody & that the playoff format allows for mediocre sides to have a shot at being crowned champion, it is important that some separation occur. Houston have the model MLS franchise. The best manager in the league (Dominic Kinnear), the best player in the league (Dwayne De Rosario) and just a terrific group of professional soccer players. Houston did not use a Designated Player marketing gimmick to win & barring Kinnear or DeRo getting picked up by a European club this is a legit threat to win 3 straight cups. Now if they could just get them in a soccer specific stadium & do something about those ugly jerseys...

The glaring problem remains the quality on the pitch. VoF fully understands the league is still in its infancy. The sport has been played for over a hundred years elsewhere at the professional level. So, the fact that most MLS matches are - quite frankly - very boring isn't a surprise. But that doesn't change the fact I refuse to watch matches being played on NFL lines or in stadiums not conducive for the game. Poor quality matches in Toyota Park or Dick's Sporting Goods Park or Pizza Hut Park (God, are we serious here?!?!) is one thing, but to watch a dull match in a cavernous three quarters empty NFL stadium with NFL hash marks on the pitch is disgusting.

New York Red Bull will never prosper playing in The Meadowlands. Kansas City needs emergency help. New England Revolution after 3 straight trips to the MLS cup final deserve their own home. When every match-day features stadia that can showcase the game the way it is meant to be presented raises quality on the pitch whether the actual play has improved or not. Look, the players will be developed in America over the next decade that raise the competitive level of MLS and the US Men's National Team. America will continue to produce European league quality players the likes of Clint Dempsey, DaMarcus Beasley & now Freddy Adu. In 10 years time MLS will be much more exciting & appealing. That still doesn't change the league in the Here & the Now.

DP players like David Beckham, Juan Pablo Angel & Cuahetemoc Blanco will come & go over the next few seasons. None as high profile as Beckham but perhaps several that are much better players. Players that will make teammates better (Angel has done so for Jozy Altidore & Blanco has done so for Chris Rolfe) or inspire American kids to play the sport through high school before giving it up for other sports.

The next problem that keeps soccer fans - like those at the VoF offices - from tuning in regularly is the terrible season format & playoff format. The regular season matches are buried amongst the other primary sports in America. They are often times not televised or televised on Spanish language television only. The regular season matches still don't carry the weight about them that the English Premier League or Spain's La Liga have. Where every point won matters. Where a draw at home can devastate the fan base. That isn't apparent after MLS matches.

This is because the playoffs makes it so easy for players to take a match off and coast through the early part of the season. So, when the playoffs do arrive we are not even sure who the best clubs are. Did DC United take the season serious & prove they were the best MLS club in the league? Or did a club like Chicago Fire loaf during the middle stretch & kick it into gear with just enough time to spare to qualify for the playoffs as a legitimate better club than DC United? We don't really know. And until MLS changes to a single table or alters the playoffs to just the top 4 clubs we will not know who the best clubs are during the regular season. We can guess but that is about it.

Finally, ESPN has been a disgrace this season. For a network that airs not just a good chunk of MLS matches but also airs Champions League matches & has purchased the rights to Euro '08 their presentation of the matches is terrible. The talking heads they have doing pre-match, half-time & post-match analysis are unbearable. They have too many match commentators & often times they don't sound like they have a clue what they're talking about. Eric Wynalda is VoF approved. He balances sarcasm, criticism and insight perfectly. He just needs a quality partner. Julie Foudy should be banned from the airwaves.

ESPN should not allow their SportsCenter clowns to do highlights either. They don't take it serious. They make a mockery of the highlights by their tone of voice, their unwillingness to pronounce the names correctly & their lack of knowledge about the sport. If ESPN wants to show the MLS highlights - and they ought to - they should bring in someone else to do the highlights. Someone that can convey knowledge & excitement.

MLS has made its greatest strides forward over the course of this season. But it balances on a knife's edge right now. Next season will be crucial. Beckham & Blanco should be available for the full campaign. Other faces will be brought in. San Jose will be added to the league & with Frank Yallop managing there becomes an instant rivalry with LA Galaxy (not to mention Houston). VoF believes great things can happen for MLS. Now it is just a matter of whether or not the suits in the front offices can allow a proper soccer league to develop & grow. Or if they will fall into the trap that all sports played in America have to be done the American way.

Disaster in DC

Last night's result in Washington DC would under normal circumstances be a complete footballing disaster. But this is the MLS - where normalcy has no place - and the 8th best team in the league preventing the best team from claiming the league championship is totally fine with the empty suits running things. Think of it this way: It would be the equivalent of Reading defeating Manchester United in last year's Premier League and Manchester United being told "Sorry, you may have been some 40 points better than Reading but you didn't get it done in the playoffs". Operating under this mentality, the league should cancel the remaining 1st round matches and allow New York Red Bull and Chicago to meet in the MLS Cup final. That way Juan Pablo Angel & Cuauhtemoc Blanco can allow for at least one Designated Player to be lifting the championship trophy.

I understand this is how soccer in America is operating. That to have a single table and give the best team at the end of the season the championship would be un-American is the reason we have to deal with a playoff format. But it doesn't change the fact the rest of the world does not operate under this format. Playoffs in NFL, NBA and MLB are fine. Do whatever you want because the rest of the word - quite frankly - does not care one bit. However, when MLS is desperate to legitimize the league with the rest of the world, allowing for a catastrophe such as your regular season champion being nothing more than an afterthought is ridiculous. DC United were a class above the rest of the league this season.

They scored more goals than anyone. Played better attacking football than anyone. Have one of the finest American 'keepers on the planet and finished 15 points above Chicago. Losing away and drawing at home over two legs does not mean DC United are not the best team in MLS. It doesn't mean Chicago are more worthy of being crowned MLS champion either. All it really means is that the MLS regular season means absolutely nothing.

So, when MLS Commish Don Garber gives his "State of the League" address on the weekend of the MLS Cup final the irony is that he will be presenting it in Washington DC. Home of the best team in the league. And yet the best team in MLS won't be able to show people just how good play in the league can be. Garber can talk about how the David Beckham signing was a complete flop and the league did nothing to promote Angel, Blanco, Josy Altidore, Dwayne De Rosario, Luciano Emilio, Brad Guzan or Michael Parkhurst. Because why should we lead the non-soccer viewing public to believe the league is made up of some pretty decent players besides Beckham? Garber can talk about how Landon Donovon was voted the best American player by the know nothing American soccer scribes despite the fact he's never made a single player around him better or proven he can raise his own game.

If you really want to see how far MLS has come since its inception it isn't that difficult. One foot has moved slightly forward but the other is firmly entrenched where it was just over a decade ago.