Liverpool in Limbo

Sports | admin | December 4, 2009 at 8:31 pm

Liverpool-PSG_1997

n recent seasons, it has come to be generally agreed that Liverpool’s speciality is the Champions League – as Rafa might say, this is fact, no?

Well, apparently not. The slump of the last two months or so continued on a wet night in Hungary against Debrecen, when a scrappy one goal victory was not enough to see them through. Fiorentina’s win over Lyon rendered Liverpool’s result irrelevant, and so the Champions League loses one of its heavyweights. Thirteen points behind Chelsea in the league, out of Europe’s lucrative top competition, no wins in ten games; it’s all gone terribly wrong for the Reds. But how?

Turmoil off the field is a popular suggestion, while the loss of Xabi Alonso is often mentioned too. More plausible is the lengthy list of injuries that has befallen the club, which, without a doubt, would put a strain on any team’s resources. However, the foundation of Liverpool’s demise, the salient point in this desperate situation they now find themselves, is a simple one: Rafa Benitez’s failure to build a squad. In recent years, with the gruellingly long domestic and European campaigns, the definitions of “squad” and “team” have become more pronounced than ever. Benitez has the latter, and that is not enough to win trophies. This is the reason why Liverpool excel at cup competitions in the first place; they haven’t got the depth to make the same impact in the thirty-eight game Premiership.

Look at his competition. Up front, Chelsea have two world-class forwards in Anelka and Drogba, and an accomplished understudy in Kalou. Likewise, United have Rooney and Berbatov, with Owen waiting in the wings. Arsenal have Van Persie, Eduardo and Bendtner – Van Persie may be the only one of those three to be considered top class, but there are of course additional goal threats in Fabregas, Arshavin and Nasri. Even Spurs, who have at last looked close to challenging Liverpool’s top four status, have more fire power in Keane, Crouch, Pavlyuchenko and the red-hot Defoe. Who do Liverpool have? Torres’ class is undoubted, but Ngog would at best be the equivalent of Vela, Macheda or indeed the sharp looking Kakuta. It’s not enough; with the injuries to Torres and the talismanic Gerrard, Liverpool have been shown to be utterly toothless. In recent years, Liverpool have always had the weakest bench of any of their title contenders; now, with injuries mounting, their fringe players are having to step up to the plate, and are being found wanting. Would Ngog make it at Chelsea? Would United swap Kyrgiakos for Vidic? Lucas, Insua, Voronin, Babel, Dossena, Skrtel, Kuyt – how many would make it in a team challenging for the highest honours?

One key element that is often mentioned is the importance of signing cheaper players who will develop into bargain buys. Chelsea, with unlimited Russian roubles, don’t need to bother with this. But other clubs, even the very best, most certainly do, and this is where Liverpool have fallen down. United signed Vidic and Evra for £7 million and £5 million respectively. Arsenal paid £3.5 million for Adebayor, and more recently around £15 million for Arshavin. Liverpool have simply not come close to matching this value for money.

Injuries have ravaged the team, but they are part and parcel; as a manager, when one of your players is unfit, it is your job to have an adequate replacement on hand. Instead, Benitez has been reduced to sending injured players off for unorthodox Serbian treatments, and then playing them when clearly unfit. For a man so sure in his ways, so seemingly in control, it is remarkable that there is no back-up plan.

So what is left for Liverpool? They will no doubt improve immeasurably in the New Year, benefiting from less pressing European matters, and with Gerrard, Torres and Aquilani presumably being fit. This season, though, it is already too late for Europe and for the Premiership. Meanwhile, the Champions League’s big boys move on. Next year, Benitez had better have a serious look at his team, or stock up on that miracle horse placenta

In recent seasons, it has come to be generally agreed that Liverpool’s speciality is the Champions League – as Rafa might say, this is fact, no?