Benitez caught by the Bolton system

Bolton - 2 Liverpool - 0: With his fondness for statistics, jargon, technology and, above all, being in absolute control, Sam Allardyce is the sort of character who might feature in an Aldous Huxley or George Orwell novel.

There were certainly shades of Brave New World and 1984 when the Bolton manager enthused about Saturday's "nullification plan" before discussing the "foul count" and the perils of individualism.

"To stop Liverpool playing, my players had to make personal sacrifices and we only created three chances, although two produced goals," he explained.

If Bolton's first goal, a Gary Speed free-kick, was down to a linesman wrongly judging Jose Reina to have handled outside his area before kicking downfield, the second reflected the failure of a worryingly shaky Liverpool defence to cut out Kevin Davies's cross.

It resulted in the increasingly influential Ivan Campo heading home, punishing Steve Finnan's aerial negligence, and sealed another away defeat which places a further dent in Rafael Benitez's title ambitions.

Seemingly in denial about Liverpool's current goal-scoring and goal-stopping shortcomings, Benitez insisted: "I would like to analyse my team after two more months to see whether we need to improve or not."

By then the championship may be out of reach, particularly if the Spaniard persists in succumbing to what is becoming a dizzying addiction to personnel rotation.

Tellingly, when asked why he had dropped Peter Crouch - who replaced the disappointing Dirk Kuyt in the second half but proved no better at bringing the best out of Craig Bellamy - Benitez resorted to Allardyce speak: "Sometimes players need to know we need to manage."

The first half was initially dominated by Liverpool, whose lack of ruthlessness when it came to the final pass would later leave them vulnerable to their new-found defensive weaknesses.

Sure enough, when at 2-0 down they folded, midfield control had long since been ceded to the indefatigable Speed, making his 750th club appearance, and Campo.

It might have been different had Steven Gerrard been deployed centrally rather than wide on the left from the start. Although Liverpool's captain still impressed, he would have been far more effective directly up against the 37-year-old Speed.

Benitez's side have now taken a single point from a possible 12 on this season's travels. Maybe it is time for the great rotator to settle on a framework for the team, offer individuals full licence to be improvisational within it and start watching Gerrard and Bellamy undo the Boltons of this world.

Allardyce would doubtless disagree, but managers can sometimes be over-controlling; delegating a little more responsibility to a settled XI might do wonders for Benitez's already fading title hopes.

Guardian Service