A worried Rafael Benitez admits he must change the mentality of Liverpool so that they embrace and accept his new-style tactics.
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 to take over at Anfield.
At Valencia, he had things so finely-tuned that he could change tactics almost at the flick of a switch and he knew he had quality players who could easily adapt. 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 loan striker.
In Piraeus it was Baros, and only towards the end did Benitez revert to two hitmen when Cisse came on.
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 insisted: 'The problem is not the system, the problem is perhaps their mentality. We have to change our mentality to have more confidence in ourselves and to understand that the away games are more difficult because then we do not have all of our supporters behind us.
'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.
He said: 'We had seen three videos beforehand and I talked to my players about their qualities as a team and the atmosphere inside the stadium, and they did cause us problems.
'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. He said: 'I am still very confident we can qualify, now all the teams in the group have opportunities to get through. Now we must win our home games and next time we will be different.
'I do not like to talk about the future and how many points we need, but if we win at home next time it will be different.
'As far as the group goes, now every team has a chance of qualifying so the home games for everybody will be important now.
'In the first half in Greece we did not create many opportunities but after the break we did produce more dangerous situations around their box.
'But it was difficult to find space against a very aggressive team who were one ahead. But we did become more dangerous as the game went on. And my definition of being aggressive is that they were fighting for every ball.
'But for me now the home games are very important, whoever wins them will have a great chance of qualifying.'
the honours are for liverpool players to win...or to lose.
i said this before. change coach or not, its still up to the players.
during the game and on the pitch, the players are the coaches themselves.
We have left a BIG gap to catch with Chelsea and Man Utd.
Our striker are still learning to coordinate with each other.
The other team have started their domination.
Time needed for the coach to learn about his new team.
And for the players to adapt to the new playing style.
Comparing the firepower of Liverpool with the other top 3 sides, Arsenal, Chelsea n Man U. Clearly Liverpool lacks behind Arsenal n Man U n r only on par with Chelsea.
Arsenal - A trio of Henry, Reyes n evergreen Berkamp. These 3 will net u goals collectively or by their own individual brilliance.
Chelsea - 4 strikers in Drogba, Kezman, Gudjohnsson n Mutu. Heavily dependent on Drogba at present. Nothing great from Kezman except empty boasting. See-saw form from Gudjohnsson n poor Mutu is still waiting 4 his chance.
Liverpool - 2 recognised strikers in Cisse n Baros n to an extent Garcia but wat happens when injury sets in or the supply from midfield drys up.
Man U - Van Nisterooy, Saha, Rooney, Smith. Except 4 Smith, the other 3 came with huge credentials. RVN is a poacher inside the box, Rooney is so unpredictable n Saha is on the way back.
Defensively Liverpool seems 2 have lost their edge since the departure of Hechoz, Callagher is not an adequent replacement n with him in the side, Liverpool do seem likely 2 concede. Currently lacking behind to Chelsea, Man U n Arsenal.
The midfield is where battles r won or lost, n on their day either side of the 4 teams can give hell to opponents. But based on creativity, firepower n teamwork plus squad depth. Here's the current rankings, Arsenal, Man U, Chelsea, Liverpool(Gerrad out with injury).
5 years under Houllier has really done lots of damage, altho he did win the treble but his dabble in the transfer market has really hurt Liverpool. The playing style n players' mentality really need rebuilding. Benitez got a real headache on his hand. Based on my analysis on the 3 depts of the team, he will do well to guide Liverpool to the 4th spot in EPL. Hopefully advance to the quarterfinal in Champ's League. Look 4 bargain deals come Jan's tranfer market opening n starts rebuilding right from the foundation.
Good Timing to assess the new recruit and new manager.
Manager
Although he dun give funny excuses like GH, from his feedback for the last week, he is expecting the players to suit his system ("It works for valencia") and make it work.
Sad to say, this is not Valencia and he need more tactics from his bag to capture victory in all the away games.
If he is unwilling to change his tactics and insist that it will work for Liverpool, then I believe more players will be leaving during the Jan Transfer window.
Ah Ben's only solution seem to be importing more Spanish players to make his system work instead of getting the best out of the existing lot of players.
Spanish Players
The imported players were very impressive in Anfield.
Kind of strange that they die down in away games.
The Chelsea game this sunday will show whether the commitment of the foreign talents is there.
The last question is:
Are you flexible in the first place, Ah Ben ??
Can you play 2-5-3 at Stamford Bridge ??
... it's still early days yet ... just look at the way we've been playing for the past 2-3 years ... i haven't forgotten the torture at times watching our team's standards ... it's not easy changing from a hoofing team to a ball playing one within a short time ... after all ah ben and some of the players have only been together for 2-3 months and some players have been hoofing for 3 or 5 years ... can we imagine how we'll adjust if we have to change to handwriting or typing (on a typewriter) letters from now on?
i'm prepared to give ah ben a couple of years to get it right ...
Benitez prefers the zonal marking system , and leaked a bit of goal ! We need some time to adept to the new defensive system !
It's funny feeling now.
We saw some beautiful football recently with some awful defending under Rafa .
GH time , we saw boring football , but effective defensively !
The time will tell , both system will gel !
Winning against bottom half teams and losing to top half teams just dont look good to me.
if we were to be competiting for a spot in top 3.. we have to do much better than what we are doing now.
Benitez sure has a strange way of playing...
Whether his method works or not.. only time will tell.. but how much time he need.
Our home and away records, if anything, reflected more the strength of our opponents.