I found this very interesting article about Rafa's apparent love for left-sided wingers: http://soccernet.espn.go.com/feature?id=336824&cc=5901 From the article: Terry Venables liked his goalkeepers. George Graham loved a centre-back (though he preferred to have at least six). Neil Warnock has amassed a selection of journeymen forwards. Now we have discovered what Rafael Benitez's weakness is: wingers. Or, to be precise, left wingers. To Harry Kewell, Luis Garcia, Stephen Warnock and John Arne Riise, he has added Mark Gonzalez and Boudewijn Zenden. Luis Figo could give the Spaniard a seventh option on the left flank. I think the article has some really interesting points, particularly in regards to the attacking nature of our left side for next season as well as some guesses at Rafa's strategy in the transfer market this summer. Read and discuss...
Garcia and Warnock are not left wingers and Zenden can play many places, so it's pretty obvious that Liverpool don't have some huge surplus of left wingers. The writer had nothing else to say so he had to lump all these players into that category to make a point.
Likewise, Riise isn't so much a left winger as he is a left-sided midfielder/fullback. What a stupid article.
Manager don't have obsessions with postions it is what they inherit and have to improve upon, a good example is the left side of the Liverpool team, JAR is a great player but needs cover when he has to get back something H Kewell should have been able to do but was and still is beyond his capabilities, Garcia is a central mid player with a left foot as is Zendon and Figo as for left wingers.... the 70s just called they want their postions back.
Our main problem last year was a true left-winger. Riise isn't really a true left wing player, and we all know about Kewell. Garcia really isn't a true wing player, and Zenden can play pretty much anywhere in the midfield. What a tool.
It seems that the writer, rather than the gaffer, who is obsessed with positions. And you're absolutely right (I think) in that positions are far less set in stone than it was in the past. While no one is playing the Dutch Total Football, today's players can fluidly move from position to position and formation to formation. Rafa's acquisitions give him players who have the ability to cover for or complement each other, providing both depth and tactical flexibility.