Where Do Liverpool FC Go From Here?

Defeat to Wigan. Terrible, terrible stuff. Comically inept to put it brutally. Some ‘pundit’ even went so far as to call it Wigan Athletic vs Liverpool pathetic. And being the rather… ahem… realistic Liverpool fan that I am, I can’t help but agree.

Now I was never a big fan of math, especially that dammit permutations chapter, but one look at the premier league table is enough to tell you that we’re not really where we’re supposed to be. In fact, the way I see it, we’re 16 points short of where I’d like Liverpool to be.

But the Premier League has been well and truly ruled out this year, since that embarrassing display at Portsmouth in December. And Liverpool are really going to have to be content with fighting for the scraps, the dregs, or otherwise the last Champions League spot, which to the penurious manager and the miserly owners and the disillusioned players will seem as good as ’silverware’.

The problem here is unfortunately that the rather empty, cobwebbed trophy cabinet at Anfield might just drive out players, or even the manager. The owners will remain, the financial worries will remain, the quest for new investment will remain the unfinished bit of business on Stanley Park will still remain.

It is a bleak future which faces Liverpool really and is terrible stuff from the point of view of a fan. Its almost like Karma coming to haunt us after the luck we rode on at Istanbul in 2005 and Cardiff in 2006. AC Milan and West Ham will, for certain feel that justice has now well and truly been done.

But this pessimistic outlook aside, what can Liverpool do to avoid the impending exodus of players out of Anfield?

Well tying our best players down to lucrative contracts would be a good start. So if, God forbid, tomorrow Torres or Mascherano choose to jump ship, at least we’ll get a good price for the two. There is a positive, of course even if we lose these once in a lifetime signings. We’ll get a substantial amount for each player which, if used prudently (a big IF there) can buy our way out of trouble and mount a good enough challenge next season. If they don’t leave and stay loyal to the club, well they deserve a raise and a round of applause for that. One more important little bit of business is tie Carragher up with a contract. He hasn't got age on his side, but he sure has a lot to offer our younger players with his long footballing experience.

Second thing we need to do is play Aquilani more often. He may still be a little unused, but he’s been on the bench for 2 months now and he better be fit. Plus he’s a fairly good player and great fun to watch. He’s intelligent, a point proven by his positioning and he’s a good, smooth passer, something which I love to watch. He will be match fit soon. Perhaps we need to tweak our 4-2-3-1 formation to accommodate Aquilani, but I sure feel it is worth it.

Continuing the part about the formation, Rafa Benitez has been using this formation a lot hasn’t he? Am I the only one who finds this formation too rigid for Liverpool’s game? I sure feel that this formation ridiculously restricts our play and the two holding midfielders make it far too defensive. I feel Mascherano is quite adept at doing the holding midfielder role by himself. So why not try a 4-4-2 with him and Gerrard in the center? Or even a 4-1-3-2 with Gerrard in the center and Mascherano holding? We need goals and we need strikers up front if we are to score them.

Fourth, it’s good to know that this ‘highly rated’ Simon Kjaer would like a move to Liverpool, so why not seal the deal? He’s 20 and has quite a few years ahead of him. Carragher will be on his way out soon and we need a good young defender. Sure Skrtel is there, but it would be nice to have a backup.

And lastly, I trust Benitez. I don’t know why. He’s signed terrible players, he’s not used some well enough and overall not taken the team ahead as such. But somehow, somewhere I feel that he still enjoys the trust of the players, even the youth players and there are really not too many managers who would relish to take up this job to be honest. So the fuckallness of this season aside, we need to retain Benitez.