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The 3-1 defeat away to Fulham – Liverpool’s worst at Craven Cottage since 1956 – has left Rafa Benitez in a precarious position with six defeats in their last seven matches. It’s crisis time at Anfield.
Normally in such a situation, on the back of such a poor run of performances, the manager – particularly of a Big 4 club – would have already exited stage right.
What is unique this time around is that the fans don’t blame Rafa and don’t want him to go, they attribute their recent failures to the American tycoons who purchased the club in 2007.
I spoke with a very good Scouse friend of mine for the first time since July after today’s defeat to Fulham and it was an interesting discussion to say the least.
He was full of optimism before the season began, our last conversation was on the day they signed Aquilani from Roma, and he was certain that Liverpool’s excellent form last season would be taken that one step further this year.
I had my doubts, noting that £17 Million for their new right-back Glen Johnson was a ridiculous sum and that Aquilani wasn’t going to orchestrate play the way Xabi Alonso did. He told me to worry about how Man United were going to cover the loss of Tevez and Ronaldo; Liverpool were going to be fine.
Needless to say he wasn’t too happy today but he refused to condemn Rafa, stating that the blame lies with the club’s owners.
“Until they get things sorted off the pitch and get some people in with money and a passion for the club things won’t change” he told me.
I begged to differ. Yes the ownership saga at Anfield is a nightmare – a situation I feared when the Glazer’s took control at Old Trafford – and I’m sure it has some influence on the club, but in their haste to condemn the Americans, some points have been overlooked.
Firstly, Liverpool is not the same without Xabi Alonso. Simple. Yes Gerrard is their talisman and Torres their pin-up boy, but Alonso made the club tick. His passes from deep and general play making have been sorely missed this year, not to mention his thunderous drives from distance.
The second problem is the defence; Carragher in particular. He is much like Gary Neville, both getting old and have a similar style. The difference is Neville is now a bit-part player for United, while Carragher is meant to hold Liverpool’s defence together.
He has been caught out three times in the last two weeks and his red-card today was inevitable.
Third but most importantly, Rafa’s transfer policy. Liverpool fans argue that Man United buy their titles, there was a piece on goal.com earlier this year showing that since Benitez took the helm he has spent more money on transfers than Sir Alex Ferguson has at United.
But where does all that money go? Benitez has bought in players such as Voronin, a man they now can’t even loan out; Babel, bags of talent but can’t find his niche at Anfield; and Dossena who has hardly looked the part during his time on Merseyside. For every Torres he’s signed a Barragans, for every Agger a Kyrgiakos.
While Rafa has dabbled buying up 8-10 players a season, other Big 4 clubs have spent similar amounts on 3-4 players and that for mine is the key difference.
Man United and Chelsea continue to build on their strong teams buying up good, young talent while Arsenal spends less but looks more to the future. Liverpool under Benitez seems to buy whoever is available in the hope that one of them will come up trumps, ala Yossi Benayoun.
Even for all his dabbling, he has an unbearably thin squad. In the game against Fulham, five of the seven substitutes were aged 21 or less, four of whom had seven appearances amongst them.
Benitez might be very popular on Merseyside, but Liverpool are in a precarious position both on and off the pitch.
Sitting in fifth place on the table, they look light years away from the title, knocked out of the Carling Cup and with just three points half-way through the Champions League Group Stage, Lyon away on Wednesday is make-or-break time for Rafa, that is if he survives until then.
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