by Robert Burns and John Juhasz, FoxSoccer.com

When Rafa Benitez took over in 2004, he was a breath of fresh air at Anfield. The Kop had grown tired of Gerard Houllier's inability to deliver a major trophy, and were immediately sold on Rafa's credentials when he delivered them an improbable Champions League title in 2005.

But outside of an FA Cup title in 2006, the cupboards have been bare since that glorious comeback in Istanbul.

So is it time for a change on Merseyside? That's difficult to say ... ultimately, it's the players that win or lose matches, but it's the manager who prepares them, selects the best team to get the job done and perhaps most importantly, motivates his players to excel for the sake of the badge.

Few managers in today's game will enjoy the tenures that men like Sir Alex Ferguson or Guy Roux have had in the past decades — the landscape for patience has slowly eroded from a mountain to that little patch of turf that Paul Robinson remembers so vividly in Zagreb.

Benitez had his best opportunity to reclaim the prized Premier League title last season, when his club finished as the highest-ever point winning second-place team. He fell just short, but the ramifications are massive.

However, barring a ten-match losing streak across the board, Benitez should be given the opportunity to salvage something from this season. It's easy to get caught up in the 'what have you done for me lately' crowd, but Rafa's resume is solid and he should be granted some time to work with a revamped squad.

If it works out well for the Reds (would they be satisfied with a Europa League title I was recently asked), then he's proven himself an able leader yet again. If not, there will be no shortage of quality managers available after the World Cup next summer.

Let's do this thing ...

So it's the big one this Sunday - Man U and Chelsea. I think that the Blues are the team to beat this year, but United is still keeping things very close and could also jump back into the lead with a win. Does chelsea have a huge advantage playing at home or is it something this Man U squad can handel. Who's gonna win??
Zachary F. of Portland, Me.

Robert: It's pretty obvious that the Red Devils aren't the same team without Ronaldo's 'head and shoulders above everyone else' talent and Carlos Tevez's energy, commitment on both sides of the ball, and knack for coming up with some pretty big goals.

You can't lose players of that caliber, pocket the cash, and expect to be just as good as you were before. Okay sure, they dropped some coin on Antonio Valencia and Gabriel Obertan (throw in Owen as a bonus), but none of these additions has helped much to solve United's midfield issues (Owen being a striker, so that's fairly obvious).

Valencia may be in decent form of late, but taking the season as a whole, he's been poor. Obertan's injury has limited the ability to see what he's really capable of, so the jury's still out when it comes to the young Frenchman. I only know he doesn't have enough time between now and Sunday to get up to speed.

Meanwhile, Chelsea's midfield is a model of efficiency and design. Michael Essien, for my money, is now the best all-purpose midfielder in the Premier League. Lampard and Ballack are consistently good, Deco provides enough invention to make him valuable, Malouda and Joe Cole provide more than adequate wing play and Mikel Obi usually provides a positive injection of youthful verve.

The team that controls the midfield is usually the winner when these two titans clash. Rooney and Berbatov cancel out Drogba and Anelka, while the defenses are both excellent (including the 'keepers). Sure, Rio and Vidic don't appear as stable as years past, but they'll be up for a match at Stamford Bridge.

So it will all come down to the midfield, and right now the Blues are simply better.

United will be lucky to leave West London with a draw, but I fear that makeshift midfield will be exposed against a (currently) superior Chelsea team. And if you've read Side Kicks before, then you'll know that wasn't easy for me to write.

John: Sure, it's an advantage for Chelsea to play at home, but there's more pressure on them in this fixture. The title race could very well come down to who comes out ahead in the two fixtures between these clubs. If Man U wins at Stamford Bridge, that's a big problem for the Blues. Chelsea needs at least a draw in order to hold serve and not let Man U take gain any ground on them.

My prediction? Chelsea wins 2-1. Two goals from Drogba.

What influences a referee to give a direct or indirect freekick?
Gabriel Fenelon of Castries, St. Lucia

John: The rule book?

It's not up to the ref to decide which free kicks are or aren't direct. It's part of the reason you sometimes see teams take free kicks inside their opponents 18-yard-box for an indirect foul like, say, obstruction. It's kind of funny to see all 11 players from one team form a wall on their goal-line.

Well, unless you happen to be in that wall. And I have been.

Robert: As John so delicately put it Gabriel, it's not open to interpretation.

Direct free kicks are awarded for dangerous tackles, tripping or pushing an opponent down. Indirect free kicks are awarded for things like an offside call, a handball (not in the penalty box), a yellow card for something like dissent, or when the goalkeeper mistakenly collects a back pass.

Hey guys, I just have a question. If these two teams faced off in the CL final, which of them would win: Ajax Amsterdam or Benfica? Ajax has such stars as Luis Suarez and Miralem Sulejmani, while Benfica has a rather strong attack duo in Oscar Cardozo and Javier Saviola. I believe Ajax would win. What do you two think?
Lanre Badmus of Westfield, N.J.

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Robert: Well, this is highly hypothetical considering that both teams are in the Europa League (and neither all that close to competing for a major European title), but I'll play along ... although I'm very curious as to why you chose these two teams?

Truth be told, I've only caught a bit of Ajax in league play this season, while my Benfica viewing has been limited to Europa League highlights, so I'll be the first to admit that this is nothing more than a guessing game.

However, with both clubs looking safe bets to advance to the next stage in Europe, you might very well be lucky enough to see this matchup sometime in the near future, however I doubt it will be in the final, especially after the Champions League third-place teams join the mix.

Both clubs are rich in European pedigree, but it's been a while since either team has hit the highs of days past. That being said, if they do meet up soon, I'll give the edge to Benfica, but only because I'm a huge fan of El Conejo.

John: Does it have to be the CL final?

Tell you what...let me get in touch with our stat geeks, and we'll see if they can run a computer sim for you on the outcome. Deal? Otherwise, it's just pure speculation. I'm a numbers guy and would prefer to see some that would support a conclusion either way.

Hey Guys, How are the 4th & 5th official behind the end line (in the Europa League) expeiriment working out? Have you noticed any addition cals (or non-calls) due to their presence?
Ron Starrett of Vernon, Ct.

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John: We don't have a lot of data we can use yet on the "goalferees," unfortunately. They've only been around since mid-September, and we'll probably need to see at least a few dozen matches before we can measure their true value.

I haven't noticed any additional calls that were made, but I can tell you is this has the potential to eliminate dirty play almost overnight. To this day, I still believe the officials in the 2006 WC final didn't see Zidane lose his mind until they saw it on the replay board.

The job of the goalferees is basically to catch those kinds of incidents which referees miss. The real fun will start when one of them insists he saw some kind of infraction in the box that gives an opposing team a penalty which normally wouldn't have otherwise been called.

Robert: Like you Ron, I get most of my information from the news as well, so if you haven't seen it out there yet, there's a good chance in this case I haven't either. Unfortunately, with the diminished perception of the Europa League (despite Platini's best efforts with that clever name change), there doesn't seem to be much of an audience waiting on pins and needles for all things NIT.

In a small bit of Europa League news though from the Fulham camp after their loss to Roma on Thursday (and you can read into this as much as you like, although I think it had much more to do with the two red cards the Cottagers were dealt), manager Roy Hodgson stated:

"With these types of refereeing decisions it's very hard to get a result. We hope the referees will be a bit kinder to us in the Premier League than in this league."

I also went perusing through the UEFA website to try and find any news articles they've published with reference to the added official, but like trying to get a date for senior prom twenty years ago, I had no luck.

Will Mexico take Santos Laguna midfielder Daniel Luduena to south africa?
Octavio Pena of Chicago

Robert: I think most managers have figured out that success comes from a good mix of experience and youth. At the World Cup, the winning team plays seven matches within a one month period, so keeping the team fresh is vital, and that means spelling experienced players with fresh, young legs later in matches, or vice-versa when needing those grizzled veterans to hold a precious lead with their composure.

In Mexico, you've got a central midfield with plenty of experience with guys like Blanco, Torrado, Arce and Castro, while also having a nice balance of young players like Gio dos Santos and Noriega.

El Tri coach Javier Aguirre isn't going to change much of his current squad in my opinion, but of course injuries between now and June will have a big impact on the 23-man rosters. However, without having ever played a single game in Mexico's colors (which means all the hard work it took to get them to South Africa), it doesn't seem all that probable.

Unless there's a certain dire need that arises (Blanco being the main concern at his age), there won't be too much variation in El Tri's squad from the one that took part in qualifying. But then again, stranger things have happened.

John:I really doubt it, for a few reasons.

First of all, he'll be 28 years old by the time the World Cup rolls around next summer. He still has yet to make a debut for either Mexico or Argentina (he was born there for those of you who don't know), and if he's not even selected for WC qualifiers, why would a coach suddenly decide to use him in games that mean the most? In other words, if he really was national team material, I think we'd have seen him play for El Tri by now.

Not to mention, I'm not even entirely certain which national side he'd prefer to play for ... Mexico or Argentina. I've heard so many conflicting stories and opinions that it's hard to figure out what the truth is.

He's certainly talented, but I think you'd be building up false hope that he'll play for Mexico next summer, Octavio.

Robert Burns is the senior editor of FoxSoccer.com and John Juhasz is a fantasy writer for FoxSports.com.

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