4 games in 8 days is what Liverpool face when they come back from Japan as World Champions (?!). A prospect that many a manager would moan about.
Not Benitez though. He isnt concerned with a fixture pileup that could make or break Liverpool’s entire season.
If Liverpool beat Deportivo Saprissa in Thursday’s World Championship semi-final, they will play the winners of the Al Ittihad – Sao Paulo game on Sunday in the Final.
The Reds would then fly home on the Monday. And no doubt Liverpool boss would have them in training the next day in preperation for the game at Anfield against Newcastle on Boxing Day.
Two days after that tough encounter Liverpool face a cracking test against local rivals Everton on the Wednesday.
48 hours later Liverpool battle with West Brom at Anfield.
And 2 days after that, are you following, Liverpool make the short journey to face Bolton.
A good thing for the Reds boss and the players is that the games are all in fairly short distance so there isnt any major travelling to do.
Benitez has a big squad and he has always said he would utilise it at certain stages of the season, and this is clearly one of those stages.
On the matter of the amount of games Liverpool will play he commented: ‘It’s not easy, but we know the situation and we are trying to use the squad with this in mind. Playing two extra games does not worry me.’
He went on to say: ‘We know how many minutes they are playing in each game and we are determined to look after them (the players).’
How are you treating the World Club Championship? Do you think it’s important? Do you value the title that will come with it – Liverpool Football Club – World Champions? Or do you think it could potentially harm Liverpool’s recent form, and tire the players out for the remainder of the season?
We would like you to tell us what you think on our Liverpool FC forum – it’s open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for Liverpool fans, so why not pop over and have your say?
Stay tuned to lfc-news as throughout the day we’ll be bringing you all the latest ahead of the big game tommorow.
We’ll have the probable starting XI, a run down of who Saprissa are, the stadium where the game will be played, and all the latest coming out of the Anfield camp.
Dont forget to take part in our poll too – How many goals will Peter Crouch score this season.