EPL: Why Liverpool Doesn't Belong in the Big Four

Ever since the turn of the century, football commentators, pundits and general public have been going on and on about the so called Big Four of English football. No prizes for guessing who I am talking about: Arsenal, Manchester United, Chelsea, and, yes, Liverpool—and it is the last of the aforementioned teams that will be my main topic of discussion today.

Yes, Liverpool have a great history. True that Liverpool have a wonderful trophy cabinet. Accepted,Liverpool are a good team and on their day can decimate opposition. But are they good enough to challenge the other three for the title? Simply put, no. Not until the owners and Rafa Benitez set their priorities right. Let us take the current Liverpool team. Take Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres out of the team and even Derby County would fancy beating them.

Yes, if we take Adebayor and Fabregas out of the Arsenal team and Rooney and Ronaldo out of the Manchester United lineup-they would be weakened but they would still be very good sides. However, take Torres and Gerrard out of the Liverpool side and what you get is a very very ordinary side which could be perennial mid-tablers at best.

Liverpool have won the Champions League under Rafa Benitez, albeit under dramatic circumstances on that famous night in Istanbul, so why not concentrate on winning the league for once? At the start of the season, it looked like Rafa really wanted the title this time. But as soon as the Champions League kicked in, he started tinkering yet again and gave up the title way back. I wonder how he had the audacity to say before last week's match against Manchester United that he thought Liverpool could still win the title. I think even he did not believe what he said.

Wake up Mr.Benitez.

You are struggling to hold on to fourth place, let alone win the title. You lost the title way back early in the season when you drew a series of games at home against mid-table opposition. The players you bought  just aren't good enough, Mr.Benitez, with the exception of one Fernando Torres. Take him and your captain out of the team and you have got a very poor team at your disposal.

To be honest, for the last couple of seasons, Liverpool have been fighting for only fourth place. They haven't even come close to challenging for the title. Although I do think they are considerably better than Portsmouth, Aston Villa and the other teams that normally finish just below them, they are nowhere near the class of Manchester United, Arsenal or even Chelsea. The Anfield faithful must be getting tired of Rafa's rotation policy and public opinion must surely be going against him. What the Kop really wants to see is their team winning the Premier League.

My personal opinion is that Manchester United, Chelsea and Arsenal are in a league of their own and the Big Four tag needs to change into the Big Three.Liverpool do not really belong to that group. Great teams do not need to qualify through the qualifying rounds of the Champions League despite winning it in the previous. Great teams do not struggle to finish fourth in their national league. A great club does not lose at home to a second-tier club with such an insipid performance in front of their own supporters. A club Liverpool's size should be aiming higher than that. Rafa's player purchase policy just is not good enough. Yes, Aurelio, Alonso, Lucas Leiva and the rest are good but compare them to Anderson, Nani and Hergreaves.....and....yes, you get the point.

Liverpool have to start challenging for the title before they can be regarded as part of the Big Four. Yes they are part of the big Four in terms of the finances, but in terms of results, they are surely not part of that elite group.

They are just simply not good enough to go near being title challengers, let alone being winners.

Yes, Mr.Benitez, putting all your eggs in one basket (ie.winning the Champions League)doesn't suffice for a club with a tradition like Liverpool. Liverpool has a winning tradition-one of victory and triumph-and they should be challenging on all fronts at the business end of every season. Until and unless that happens, the concept of the Big Four will forever be misleading because I am afraid to state, Liverpool just does no belong there. Barnsley supporters would surely agree. 

By Shadlee Rahman

Dhaka,Bangladesh