Forget Fernando Torres and Steven Gerrard, Can Liverpool Keep Rafael Benitez?

A lot of people have said Liverpool have answered their critics well after a disappointing loss to Wigan 10 days ago. I personally disagree, and think the club needs to get someone with a greater ambition for winning matches and someone to provide a more stable foundation for the future.

I honestly don't think the so-called "shackles" were taken off the team midweek. And I don't think they ever will be. The truth is, Liverpool played a fairly dejected and demoralised Portsmouth, and Lille never turned up.

Throughout Rafa's time at the club, he has based his tactics on probabilities and percentages. He would never admit this to the English press but has often made reference of this to his friends in the Spanish media. In my opinion, this has led to him being a far too negative manager.

Out of the teams who have won the League over the last 20 years, every Premiership-winning side has been ambitious and gone about games in the type of fashion you would expect from future champions. Man Utd., Blackburn, Chelsea, and Arsenal played attacking, flowing, confident football and it led to success. The most negative winners notably were Chelsea, when they won the title with a season full of 1-0 victories, but they still played in a way to get in front first and only then protect the result.

Rafa has gone into far too many matches in his time at Liverpool with the mentality of "Don't concede!", which has led to lesser teams picking up results—via 0-0 draws, late winners for the opposition, etc. I don't ever see Liverpool winning the toughest league in the world playing under this regime.

Having said that, there is no question he has pedigree in Europe. But the widespread opinion this season is that because Liverpool were without Fernando Torres, they got knocked out of the Champions League. At the end of the day, Benitez has spent an absolute fortune while at the club, and the blame for not having a decent replacement striker lies solely with him.

It's very hard to see Liverpool signing another striker of Torres' pedigree, but Utd., Chelsea, and even cash-strapped Arsenal have brought through emerging talent from the lower ranks, so why has this not been the case at Liverpool?

In my opinion, this speaks volumes about Rafa Benitez's mentality. If he is too afraid to put the team's performance aside and give opportunities to hungry young starlets, what do they even have an Academy for? 

Liverpool's reserves have been playing some fantastic football, with some brilliant emerging talent, and what happens? They are shipped out to fund an underachieving first team. 

Liverpool need to finish fourth, they need Champions League football, and they need that desire to win back at the club in order to do so. But trust will never be put in the up-and-coming young players; so it has to be said: When Torres and Gerrard are old and grey, Liverpool will be back where they started.

With Real Madrid hunting for Benitez, and Mourinho issuing a come-and-get-me to Premiership clubs as he looks to return to the English game, the answer is staring Liverpool right in the face. A new approach and a different ethos could bring something or nothing. And right now, Liverpool have nothing.

They have drawn Benfica in the Europa League, which was probably the worst draw they could have gotten. I am a Liverpool supporter and I have watched Benfica's campaign in the Europa League. I had originally picked them to win it, and I still think they will.

And with Liverpool's fourth spot in the domestic campaign looking like it's potentially out of their hands, it's time for a new manager.