Can Rafa Lead Liverpool to Premiership Glory?

The same question is asked every year by Liverpool fans. Will this be our year?

Optimistic supporters annually claim that the new signings will finally bring the Premiership to Anfield, only to be disappointed with their teams early exit from the title race.

However, after Spain's history-making summer performance, could the Spanish lads bring their form back to the Premiership and help Liverpool become League Champions for a record 19th time?

After finishing third for two years in a row, it seemed like Rafa's men had ended Arsenals decade of league success and were slowly pushing forward to the top. However, last season was a catastrophe for the club.

Even though Liverpool was playing some of the best football they have played in over a decade, both in defense and in front of goal, they still finished the season without a trophy and had been knocked back down to fourth place.

As well as the fact that Liverpool just weren't good enough in critical matches, especially against the other top clubs, the dip in form could rely on some very specific events.

Until the start of last season, Xabi Alonso had established himself as one of the core players in the team. However, when his performances began to drop, Javer Mascherano was there to pick up the pieces and convince Benitez that he was worth the £17m the club paid in January.

Even though Mascherano is, in my opinion, one of the best signings that Rafa has made at Liverpool, I couldn't help but notice that when Alonso's form fell, so did the whole teams.

And when Alonso worked hard in training to earn another chance, he contributed three man of the match performances in three games. This makes me confused as to why Benitez seemed so intent on shipping Alonso out to Juventus to bring in Gareth Barry.

I understand that at the top clubs you can't afford for any player to lose their form, but when Alonso was on the bench, it was clear that Liverpool lacked something.

The passing wasn't as sharp, there was a lack of creativity, and no real anchor in front of the defense. Mascherano is the holding midfielder that breaks up the opposition's attacks, but Alonso is the one who sits at the back and sets up our own. He is the playmaker.

Therefore, how could shipping Alonso out and bringing Barry in help? There has been much criticism of Barry by some Liverpool supporters and he is a very good player, but is he as good as Alonso?

Would he be a good replacement for one of the core members of the team or would he just be another fringe player? With the addition of Robbie Keane, it seems as if Rafa will revert to the 4-4-2 formation. Therefore, we will only need one holding midfielder.

Would Benitez really trust Barry to take that position over Mascherano? Like most Liverpool fans, I was hoping for another year of incredible signings.

After Fernando Torres, fans were hoping that players such as David Villa and David Silva might follow, as well as the stars of Euro 2008 such as Andrei Arshavin and Van der Vaart.

However, Benitez has followed his old philosophy of not going for the popular or expensive players but going for the right players. Robbie Keane is definitely the right player for Liverpool.

We saw him play as a fantastic second striker to Berbatov, as well as netting 23 goals in the process. He is the perfect man to support Torres, and I believe that the problem Liverpool have had in recent years with lack of goal scorers has finally been solved.

The only area of Liverpool's squad that could need tweaking is the wings. As I have said, our front line is now perfect, the defense is solid, we have one of the best goalkeepers in the word, and we have too many central midfielders than we know what to do with.

The wings are the only area that could be seen as a weakness. However, it isn't even a great problem. Dirk Kuyt was incredible after he was moved out on the right, this should be the season that Ryan Babel brings out his best and we have two hard working players in Pennant and Benayoun as replacements.

Looking at the squad as a whole, it does seem like Liverpool is finally the complete package. Their form at the end of last season was unbelievable, so there weren't many changes that needed to be made in the squad.

Chelsea is always going to bring in big names, Manchester United will be constant title challengers, and who knows what surprises Arsenal will bring? The only thing Liverpool has to focus on is their own form.

Benitez has the knowledge and skill of being able to juggle his players around to bring out the best in them. There is a high chance that Liverpool will once again finish fourth and bring another disappointment.

The only difference is that this year, Liverpool has the squad to continue their form from last year and hopefully push Manchester United for the title.