A couple of Liverpool fans I know half hope that their team fail to beat Besiktas tonight. They reason that an early exit from the Champions League will force Rafael BenÍtez to concentrate on the championship. In fact, they are happy even to contemplate defeat so that they can avoid the unwanted complication of competing in the Uefa Cup. They will watch harbouring their guilty secret.

The thinking is that an unencumbered tilt at the title will show whether BenÍtez really does have what it takes to win the domestic league. It will concentrate a mind that remains impossible to read.

The manager will not be able to justify his dizzying rotation by saying that he must rest players for other big matches. And while Manchester United and Chelsea often suffer in one or other competition (usually in Europe) by chasing both big prizes through to April, it will allow Liverpool to be mentally focused and physically refreshed in the spring.

Well, it is certainly an interesting idea (if not one that is liable to spread around the Kop). Players as influential as Steven Gerrard have made it plain that the championship is their priority. Well, let us see more clearly whether, for all his success in the Champions League, BenÍtez is the man to help them end the 18-year wait for the domestic title.

There is some logic in the thinking but if there is one misguided hope, it is that the manager’s team selection will become more transparent and predictable. The Spaniard could have one game to save his life and you would not put a penny on guessing his lineup.

I once wrote that the more we see of him, the less we understand. More than a year on, it remains the case. It applies to BenÍtez the man but even more so to the manager. We can see the philosophies of Sir Alex Ferguson (speed on the flanks, adventurous to the point of naive), Arsène Wenger (slick, one-touch passing of brilliant, sometimes overelaborate artistry) and José Mourinho (impressive organisation but stultifyingly risk-free). For all of their tinkering, you could name their first XI without hesitation at almost any juncture. With BenÍtez, the philosophy is that there is no first team.

Perhaps it is possible to win the title that way (BenÍtez did so twice in Spain with Valencia) and he may have played a more settled side but for injuries. It is certainly possible to imagine Carragher, Agger, Gerrard, Mascherano and Torres as champions of England. If Liverpool win their game in hand, they will be level with Chelsea, who are only three points off the top of the Premier League.

But the bar is set high at the moment, with United looking even more potent than last season and Arsenal forcing them to raise their game. Chelsea have far too strong a squad to be discounted, whoever is picking the team. Liverpool were 21 points off the title pace last year.

How would being dumped out of the Champions League affect them? Alan Hansen has said that it would be “catastrophic” without saying why. Financially it would be damaging, but even a club of Liverpool’s stature should not be budgeting on progress beyond Christmas.

A premature exit would be a blow to morale but it should not be a lasting one. United finished bottom of their Champions League group in December 2005 but responded by winning 14 out of their next 19 league games, a run that propelled them to the championship. What felt like calamity for United, and led to calls for Ferguson’s head, was instead the birth pains of a great new side.

But few will be saying that of Liverpool if they were to fail to win this evening. As they troop out of Anfield, they will say that BenÍtez has the opportunity to concentrate on the championship. But that is a long way from saying they expect to win it.

Beckham and Bradman united in failure?

Steve McClaren is right to bring David Beckham into his next England squad if the midfield player is fit, but it does raise the prospect that the former captain could win his 99th cap, against Croatia, just as the head coach’s regime comes to an end. And a new manager planning for the 2010 World Cup is unlikely to persevere with the former captain.

To be stuck on 99 appearances would feel like torment for Beckham, given his well-known longing to reach 100 caps, but he should console himself that not even the very greatest of sportsmen get to write their own endings. As 99s go, nothing will ever beat Don Bradman finishing with a career Test average of 99.94, just four runs short of the century.

Graham Poll gave an interview last week in which he cranked up the pressure on Howard Webb, his fellow referee, before Arsenal’s game with Manchester United. Poll talked about how Webb would be under massive scrutiny as he handled Arsenal matches twice in a week.

The Sheffield policeman, of course, came through with his reputation enhanced to prove that he is capable of managing big games and big players without looking overly pleased with himself. In fact, it is hard to detect any notable flaws.

Poll must be gutted.

There was a time when the country’s finest minds aspired to go into politics. Now they probably become City traders or tech millionaires. The result is that the calibre of politicians and ministers has never been lower. Gerry Sutcliffe, the Sports Minister, appears determined to prove that theory.

So Derby County, Bolton Wanderers and Wigan Athletic make up the Barclays Premier League’s bottom three for the first time this season. That just leaves us to concentrate on who wins the championship . . .