With work, various personal commitments and the price of liverpoolfc.tv's e-season ticket denying me a chance to see a full 90 minutes of pre season up to now it was awfully nice of Sky Sports to screen tonight's friendly at the El Madrigal.
The game apparently was part of the deal that saw Pepe Reina move to Anfield from Villarreal in 2005 and in typical Sky Sports fashion they were building it up big time even tough it was the home side's first pre season outing and Rafa took the piss with extensive changes that made for a fairly tepid affair.
With a full squad at his disposal minus the Olympians of Lucas, Mascherano and Babel but including the four Spanish Euro 2008 heroes Benitez gave all 23 players that travelled to Spain a run out.
In the case of Steve Finnan and Kristian Nemeth it was only 25 or so second half minutes as they made way for Alvaro Arbeloa and Fernando Torres respectively.
Diego Cavalieri, who got 80 minutes before being replaced by Villarreal legend Pepe Reina, already looks a damn sight better than Charles Itandje as understudy to Pepe with some excellent, competent saves and good catching throughout.
Casting the eye over the first half team, at right back Stephen Darby has been earning rave reviews and justifiably so.
It's not the most eye catching position on the field but he looked comfortable, pushed forward when he got a chance and his goal saving block towards the end of the first half definitely caught the eye
Skrtel and Hyypia were no nonsense in the centre.
Andrea Dossena looked a bit shaky defensively, still no doubt adjusting to how things work in the Liverpool back line. But he was excellent whenever he pushed forward and was able to beat Villarreal players at will, something that troubled John Arne Riise in his latter years.
On the wings Andriy Voronin and Yossi Benayoun interchanged throughout the half. Voronin looked distinctly out of place on either side and while he made some nice passes he made some crap ones too. At the end of the day he just doesn't look good enough for this club at the highest level.
Benayoun was pretty quiet but he almost set up David Ngog for a debut goal after some lovely footwork.
In the centre, Steven Gerrard was in territory unfamiliar to him given the position he found himself playing for the majority of last season but as ever he was looking to create stuff.
His partner in the centre Damien Plessis played 70 minutes and was excellent, covering lots of ground with competent tackling and passing.
In the absence of Lucas and Mascherano, he may find himself involved heavily with the first team in the opening weeks of the campaign just as he was towards the end of last season.
Ngog and Robbie Keane up front were obviously still finding their feet but both had chances to open their account.
With nine changes at the break there was a chance to see Dan Agger and Jamie Carragher reunited at centre half. Agger is definitely more vocal these days and reports from training indicate that he is in better form that ever and that's good news. Being out for so long can sometimes change a player and not always for the better.
Emiliano Insua looked competent and settled at left back. Hopefully he will provide a real option to Rafa should he not be able to call upon assumed first choice Dossena.
Dirk Kuyt covered the ground and put in a shift as usual.
On the other side, Jermaine Pennant is trying his best to prove he can still do the business for Rafa but there was one shocking cross that summed up his career so far, great work down the wing but poor end product.
In the centre Jay Spearing may have height against him but his heart is admirable. He almost scored a stunning goal at the end with a piledriver after Alonso's corner was cleared.
I'm not sure what to make of Spearing and just what his future is at the club. He's hit the heights at youth and reserve team level now. Insua and Plessis have shown they can make the step up. But I'm not so certain with Spearing. We'll see.
Daniel Pacheco like Darby, has been earning rave reviews and had lots of tricks in his bag but was sometimes too keen to pull off the spectacular. In particular when he broke free and could have squared to Pennant for a certain goal, he took it himself and finished poorly. But at 17 he'll learn and he's definitely an exciting prospect.
Finally, our hero El Nino had 20 minutes at the end and showed plenty of the running and dragging around of defenders we are used to. New season but hopefully same old Torres.
All in all a fairly rubbish game as most pre season games are but a valuable look at the extensive options available to Rafa this coming season.
With Rangers, Valerenga and Lazio still to come there will be time enough for the boss to fine tune a side for the Champions League qualifiers and the opening game at Sunderland.
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