Last night saw Liverpool fall to their third successive domestic defeat, as the club crashed out of the Carling Cup without spirit or fight.With a 10-point gap opening between the Reds and league-leading Arsenal, are Rafael Benitez's days numbered at Anfield?
Liverpool fans will argue that it was "only" the Carling Cup, and that they have more important things to focus on. But the problem was as much the manner of the defeat as the defeat itself.
With 10 men, it would be expected that Liverpool would've gone all out for the win. As against Manchester United on Sunday, though, the club seemed bereft of ideas in attack—and Chelsea made sealing the deal look exceptionally easy.
Without Steven Gerrard, the Reds are an entirely different team. An in-form Fernando Torres and a rapidly-improving Harry Kewell can't pick up the slack by themselves.
"Super-sub" Ryan Babel has failed to impress in a starting role, Andriy Voronin has proven unreliable in front of the goal, and Momo Sissoko has looked poor amid rumours of attitude problems and an unhappiness with Rafa's rotation system.
It's that system which seems to be at the heart of Liverpool's problems. No one doubts the ability of Torres, Peter Crouch, or Dirk Kuyt—but all three to need to see action in a run of consecutive games if they're to find their form.
Why Benitez can't see this is beyond me.
More worrying is Rafa's insistence that everything is fine—and that these blips are all part of his plan.
Echoes of Steve McClaren, anyone?
Benitez's blaming the Chelsea defeat on the man-disadvantage seems to be an easy way of avoiding the real issues staring him in the face. The manager felt that Liverpool played well against the Blues. How many Liverpool fans felt the same way?
McLaren kept denying and insisting until it was too late. Hopefully the current state of affair at Anfield serves as a wake-up call to Benitez before it's too late for him too.
18 comments Last one added about 1 year ago — Leave a Comment
Sheikh Zakaria about 1 year ago
What's the problem wid u all Liverpool fans?? U all keep writing articles which relate to the same topic and it's really irritating when i see the contents. Give the boys a break!!
THey r trying their level best and they can't go beyond that. Rafa can't do it this season; take my advice- give him two or more seasons and see how u enters the top 2. He's yet to comprehend the fundementals of English Football.
If he wants to win the EPL-
HE WILL NEED TIME.
HE MUST STOP TINKERING
AND HE MUST QUIT ROBBING HIS POOR OWNERS
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Kimeshan Naidoo about 1 year ago
Unfortunately Sheik, your point about him not understanding the fundamentals of English football is flawed because a little domestic league should be nothing compared to Europe.
He understands Europe far better than Alex Ferguson, and Liverpool don't crash out when they come against the first quality opposition like United do. Barcelona, Juventus, Milan and Chelsea have fallen victim to his tactical adroitness which Fergie does not posses.
Thanks for the laugh in Europe, and comedy match every year that United provide. Last years 3-0 hammering by Milan was my favorite.
Thank you!! Don't stop the comedy classic and I'll be waiting eagerly this year.
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Sheikh Zakaria about 1 year ago
Yep... u don't seem to understand the value of the English Premier League, as u have tagged it as a 'little domestic league". Just because u ppl cudn win it once doesn't mean that it's less worthy than the Champions League. This is the greatest league in the world and we have won it 9 times?
How many times have liverpool won?? Sorry...have i heard NONE.??
YES..u r correct..NONE. SIR Alex Ferguson knows what he's doing and this time around his prime target is the Champions League. THis time the trophy will be ours...
United haven't faced Chelsea, Barca and Juventus in the Champions league in the past 5 yrs, and yes i remember we knocked them out of the Champs league in our Treble wining season. Also, we outplayed Barca in our ssecond leg, and drew the first.
It's really a pity that u don't know any stats of anything outside ur own club. And my favorite game this year wud be the 0-1 win at Anfield. You guys r lucky not to loose by 0-2.
It's really a shame that we beat u 5 times in our last 6 OUTINGS and u cudnt beat us. Liverpool may need another coach who can understand EPL...coz Rafa can only understand Europe!
And about this year's Comedy Classics--there has been one at Reading. Lookin forward to their next..
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Matthew Dallat about 1 year ago
Hi Sheikh,
I am not a Liverpool fan merely a football fan who cannot understand why they are playing so badly when they have spent so much money and have a manger who has such a good track record, and when every year their fans claim this will be their year. Unfortunately time is the one thing that Benitez does not have. given the way that football now works and given that he has happily spent the money freely the pressure is now on for him to deliver now!
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Sheikh Zakaria about 1 year ago
yep..not all Chairmans are like Sir Bobby Charlton or David Dean. U gotto have faith on your manager, and if success was that cheap, then why cudn't Sir Alex do it in his first three seasons?
DOn't talk abt Mourinho, coz he has his own class and he is unparallel. I'm not saying that he's better than Sir Alex or Wenger, but he could do miracles!!
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Matthew Dallat about 1 year ago
I think your right Mourinho was different and yes Sir Alex was due to be kicked out when they finally own the league. I am not saying it is the right way but it is the way it is. Martin Jol had got Tottenham to 5th twice in a row and Levy still got rid of him!
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Simon Williams about 1 year ago
Well, I am a Liverpool fan, and until Frank Lampard scored his customary flukey deflection goal, yes I think Liverpool did play well.
Chelsea had a very strong team out (Cech, Essien, Carvalho, Ballack, Belletti, all big expensive global players, only Scott Sinclair was really a 'reserve') but Liverpool were matching them in all departments. It was a por game, cagey and with few chances, and it looked like pens to be honest until the lucky strike. After that goal, Liverpool never looked like getting back in to the game, but this is hardly surprising at the home of the team with no domestic home defeat in over 3 years.
Babel is only 20 so has plenty of time, he will get better but is still doing ok (6 goals is not a bad return), anyone remember Cristiano Ronaldo is his first season? I do, and he was decidedy average. Look how quickly he improved with time and experience.
Voronin has gone off the boil after a bright start, but again, an Eastern European in a new country will take time. Rafa playing him on the right wing or not at all doesn't exactly help. Again, look at how Vidic improved after a nightmare first 6 months.
And name me a manager who doesn't say positive things in defeat? They are few and far between indeed, there is enough negativity around without the manager joining in as well.
It has been a bad December so far, Marseille game apart, but its not a crisis just yet. Also, Man Utd won the title last season, finishing some 20 plus points ahead of Liverpool, they then spent a net £24m more than Liverpool in the summer. So anyone (liverpool fan or otherwise) who expected Liverpool to be ahead of United was living in cloud cuckoo land. This time last year we were around 15 points behind them, now we are 9 behind with a game in hand, so that is improvement, and there will be more to come in the 2nd half of the season, not enough to challenge for the league, but enough to reduce the gap from last season, which is all anyone can realistically ask of this season.
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Matthew Dallat about 1 year ago
Fair points, with regards to the defeat it was not necessarily that you lost to an admittedly flukey goal just that I would have expected more of a fight. I was watching it with Liverpool fans embarrassed by the lack of anything in the last half hour at all!!
I think you are right to state that players can improve but while you may have patience I get the feeling that a lot of Liverpool fans are getting tired of waiting. On top of this is the system, openly critiscised by both players and fans alike, players will improve if they play together but for Babel, Voronin etc. this is made more difficult by playing every third or fourth match and having no coherence. The bottom line is if you don't win something this year Rafa is probably out the door!
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Mark Syrett about 1 year ago
I've simply had enough of these articles, not just on here, but in the tabloids, bbc, sky sports, soccernet, fanzone, i could go on.
1 bad half season, do you forget Liverpool got to the final of the biggest competition is the World last season? Wenger hasn't lifted a trophy in 3 years! but Arsenal fans think he is the best, job for life, more important than anyone else at the club!!!
People just expect more from liverpool lol.
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Matthew Dallat about 1 year ago
Exactly the expectation from fans, pundits, manager, media and owners is huge. They are simply not living up to this. When you have spent as much as Liverpool have in the last few years the fans are right to expect something in return-on last nights evidence they are not getting it!
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Simon Williams about 1 year ago
Sorry Matthew but Liverpool are where they should be, any fan or not that expects them to be above Chelsea and United are wrong, while Arsenal have the new revenue that a a new stadiumn brings. I disagree that Liverpool are not getting their money's worth. Chelsea invested about 300m in their team in two seasons, United have spent more on Ferdinand and Rooney than any Liverpool player cost.
Liverpool suffer from past success, when Man Utd have a dip the same things happen, it was only a couple of years ago that many fans were calling for Fergie's head, now they are back at the top again. As Mark says, Wenger has not won a trophy in 3 years and has not been sacked. There is no reason for Benitez to be at present, next season will be his real test because thats when fans will start to turn against him in numbers if the team continue to be up and down.
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Matthew Dallat about 1 year ago
I think you are right that they suffer from a weight of expectation which is due to massive success from the late seventies onwards and throughout the 80's culminating in a final title in 1990. This I think means that fans expect.
Wenger is rebuilding- fans have faith in this- as they have seen how it is worked before, similarly with Ferguson who has re-built title winning teams on several occasions. My feeling is that (and I know you feel it is still a year away) Liverpool fans are not prepared to show this same faith in Benitez, at the moment anyway. Lets see how the xmas fixtures fare!! :)
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Sheikh Zakaria about 1 year ago
Yes, United are lavish with their expenditure, and they are paid off!!!
Torres is much costly than Rooney..how cud u say that United spent more on Ferdinand and Rooney than any Liverpool player cost!!!
Rafa needs to know how to transact..he keeps on buying dozens of players and gets nothing out of his multistarrer squad. What's the point of having such a humongous squad then?
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Sheikh Zakaria about 1 year ago
Yes, United are lavish with their expenditure, and they are paid off!!!
Torres is much costly than Rooney..how cud u say that United spent more on Ferdinand and Rooney than any Liverpool player cost!!!
Rafa needs to know how to transact..he keeps on buying dozens of players and gets nothing out of his multistarrer squad. What's the point of having such a humongous squad then?
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Anonymous about 1 year ago
As a red i can honestly say the fans are not getting tired of rafa.
the only people who seem to be putting pressure on are the pundits on the so called telly, who are trying to justify there jobs. the questions rafa got after the marseille game begger belief, one about the game itself everything else was about rotation and the owners.
last nights game was dire liverpool and chelsea looked deflated after the weekend. yes after the sending off we did lack fight but we lacked strength in the midfield last night everyone on the bench was a bit lightweight.
the season is only halfway we've lost 2 games and everyone seems to think we are out of it, still a long way to go yet. i personally believe we won't win it this year still but it will be a lot bloody closer than people think and like everybody says expectation is weighing heavy on us. probably still not good enough for that twat andy gray bloody scummer in disgiuse.
sorry rant over long live rafa
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james Marcus about 1 year ago
long live rafa!
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Simon Williams about 1 year ago
I think you need to check your figures Sheikh. Torres cost £21m up front, rising to £26m. Rooney cost £20m up front, rising to £30m with add ons.
And Ferdinand cost £30m. Liverpool's next biggest fee after Torres is Cisse at 14m, which is less than Veron, Nani, Hargreaves, Carrick, Anderson, etc etc.
You don't seem to know what you are talking about to be honest.
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Anonymous about 1 year ago
Dear Simon, please don't waste your precious time on Sheikh. He has no clue and his comments are just so shocking. I've long decided to ignore his nonsense and focus on serious and right-minded people instead.
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