Return to the throne could rebuild the Liverpool way

For Liverpool fans of a certain vintage 22 February 1991 counts as one of the darkest days of their lives as football supporters. And with good reason. It is the day on which Kenny Dalglish seemed to have ended a glorious association with the club.

Just over a decade spent as a player - he officially hung up his boots on the eve of the 1990-91 campaign by allowing his registration to lapse rather than make an announcement - then a four and a half year spell as player/manager was brought to a close at a hastily arranged press conference.

There had been largely unfounded murmurings of discontent in the dressing room and letters had recently appeared in the local media about some team selections. However, there was no question of the manager’s position coming under pressure.

A few signings had been made over the previous month. It was expected journalists had been gathered to have another new recruit unveiled.

During a ring around newsdesks only a guarded comment from club secretary, Peter Robinson, to those who said they would pick up wire copy and photos that they may want to be there hinted at the gravity of matters.

Even then the opening statement by chairman Noel White rocked even seasoned hackss to the core.

His words were quickly relayed across Merseyside, the rest of the country and then the world. The impact was so big it could be likened to the day Bill Shankly retired in 1974.

There was a refusal to believe it from most fans when told.

Not even having reached his 40th birthday there was still an expectation of a long and successful reign. Twenty years as a minimum. Ideally more. But what no one appreciated at that time nor for many years later is that when King Kenny walked out the door his crown may have stayed in place but the Reds effectively lost their place at football’s top table.

Questions as to why Anfield has continued to wait since 1990 for a 19th league title have been posed almost since the trophy was not retained a few months after Dalglish's departure.

All roads lead back to that fateful day 20 years ago.

In terms of league position it’s irrefutable that a descent from the summit began when the Glaswegian left.

On the morning of his resignation the Reds were three points clear of Arsenal. Between that and the appointment of Graeme Souness in mid-April Ronnie Moran’s nine game tenure at the helm yielded just four wins and as many defeats.

Three of those reverses were suffered in the first trio of games under the caretaker and a 4-0 hammering of Crystal Palace on the same day as that short reign began allowed Arsenal to go top on goal difference. They beat Liverpool at Anfield to stretch further away and extended their advantage by maintaining that run as the defending champions floundered.

Liverpool enjoyed three wins while Arsenal could only gain a couple of stalemates, and, though a 7-1 rout at Derby County got the Reds back on top after the Gunners could only muster a goalless draw at Norwich the Easter period proved pivotal.

Defeat by a Les Ferdinand inspired Queens Park Rangers at Anfield and then Southampton finding the only goal of the game down at The Dell gave Arsenal a vital edge. A home draw with Coventry City yielded the ground made up.

Even after a topsy-turvy 5-4 win at Elland Road - Liverpool led 4-0 into the final quarter - Arsenal held a five point advantage and with George Graham’s side back in a confident stride there was little prospect of the lead being hauled back.

The penultimate game ended mathematical hopes. The champions had abdicated and their successors kicking off later in the day before the TV cameras celebrated with a 3-1 victory over Manchester United at Highbury. When the 38th and final fixture was played the gap had grown to seven points.

Souness, a former club captain, had an outstanding record during his five years with Rangers having not only arrested a slump at Ibrox but concluded his first term at the helm by ending a championship famine. He had since claimed a couple more and The Gers were well on their way to another triumph.

The sole battle of note Souness lost in Scotland was with St. Johnstone tea-lady Aggie Moffat over the state of the away dressing room at McDiramid Park after a Rangers visit.


They had already claimed the last of four Scottish League Cups won by the manager who had lifted the Old Firm side out of the doldrums and whose friendship with the club’s majority shareholder, David Murray, plus a rumoured financial stake in the club suggested he would be unlikely to leave.

That was until the Liverpool job unexpectedly came up for grabs and was offered to him. It was possibly the only post which could have tempted him away.

There was every expectation of normal service being resumed at Anfield following the appointment and albeit with a penalty shoot out against Division Two Portsmouth at the semi-final stage, then a win against more second tier opposition at Wembley the FA Cup had been lifted at the end of his first full season.

However, that masked a poor league campaign. Leeds United had taken Arsenal’s mantel with the Reds trailing sixth.

Liverpool fans could only experience vicarious joy with a defeat of runners-up Manchester United ensuring Old Trafford remained waiting for title glory under a manager who had bought time by winning a cup but couldn‘t quite seem to get things right in the league.

The title had not been absent from the Anfield trophy cabinet for more than two seasons since the early 1970s and despite a low finish Liverpool were expected to be would be challengers for the inaugural Premiership campaign.

Aside from the cup win there was no small measure of controversy about the Souness era’s beginnings.

His dealings with a newspaper reviled on Merseyside lowered his esteem for many and as had been the case north of the border there was plenty of discord between the man at the helm and his players.

Some who had been the bedrock of the championship winning sides of the late 1980s were deemed past their prime and sold. Others came close to leaving at various times over the immediate future. Fees were agreed with clubs and in at least one instance personal terms had also been established. Only a last minute change of heart by the long serving player in question scuppered a deal.

Since the 1960s Liverpool had slotted players into their system. It restricted the amount of major surgery required to teams and kept things ticking over nicely as well as maintaining a dynasty of supremacy which endured. Shankly was forced to take an axe rather than a scalpel to his squad on one occasion which contributed to seven trophyless campaigns.

It was a harsh lesson but far from being maintained under someone who prospered under the tradition it was scrapped. Souness decided that different times called for different methods and highly influenced by his time in Italy the new brush decided to sweep clean establishing a more continental approach to fitness and regimes away from the pitch or training. He maintained professional athletes could no longer thrive in the culture he had played in.

Though the lieutenants trusted since the ‘Bootroom Tradition’ was established remained the institution itself withered. The most symbolic feature - the actual Bootroom - demolished to improve facilities for members of the press.

Though planned by the directors before Souness took over many felt an aloof nature to the wise counsel that would have gathered in there and desire to make his own decisions was a weakness rather than strength.

Despite the talent still available following the cull too much mediocrity signed for inflated fees and players who saw pulling on a Liverpool jersey plus banking the cheque which came with it were signed.

There were only one or two success stories.

Silverware wasn’t the measure this new breed of professional gauged success against. It came down to more material matters as a game which was doing well for itself in any case prospered further due to a commercial independence from the traditional authorities of the Football League - which shared its pie 92 ways even if that was in very unequal slices - but also the Football Association which distributed amounts down to the grassroots.

A change was not only clamoured for by a growing number it was required but David Moores couldn’t bring himself to act standing by the manager until results descended so low that Souness’s position became untenable.

The decline was hastened by Manchester United’s ascendancy who suffered only a year’s delay on their quarter of a century wait for that seemingly elusive title. By luck and some degree of business acumen the Old Trafford club found itself with a model of operation suited the new order while in some regards the Liverpool Way stood in the Reds’ way of halting a very obvious not to say alarming decline.

At that time only three years had passed since Liverpool ended the season top dogs but events meant that spell as a sleeping giant may as well have been doubled if not trebled as the club, playing squad and the increasing profitability Premiership football brought were not fully capitalised on.

League placings were so low that European football a staple of Anfield diets from the mid-1960s until the ban which followed Heysel were missed out on. The 1993-94 season during which Souness resigned was a strictly domestic one.

Roy Evans attempting to fight back from a severely retrenched position though backed with funds which would have turned many of his peers green didn’t have sufficient to bridge the gap quickly enough. There was one opportunity to land the top prize in 1996-97 season which even then was taking on the lustre of a holy grail.

Liverpool led at New Year but were reeled back by a Manchester United side who not only believed they were on a roll but knew they had the experience of closing out a season from that point.

There were still lingering hopes in the first flushes of April but a vital home game against Coventry was lost in the closing minutes which gave Manchester United who surprisingly lost to Derby County a reprieve.

It could have all been so different but the next home match - against the Red Devils - also ended in defeat.

Going top may have seen Liverpool gain confidence about staying there which could have helped find the win against their challengers. Any tenuous hopes which remained buoyed by a win in the final home game against Spurs were finally killed off on the road by defeat to Wimbledon. A 1-1 draw at Sheffield Wednesday capped it all as Liverpool finished fourth in what seemed a two horsed race due to the slump.

Evans too eventually paid with his job initially with the always ill-fated joint managerial endeavour with Gerard Houllier. By that time the best part of a decade had passed.

Boards tend to lurch from one extreme to the next in a quest to find the right man.

The autocratic Souness was replaced by the more avuncular Evans. In turn he was deemed too player friendly and not the man to control young professionals under his charge who if not already millionaires were likely to achieve that status soon.

Alex Ferguson’s famed hairdryer treatment kept his players the right side of the line. Houllier whose reputation as a technically minded coach came as a result of leading Paris St Germain to a title and being technical director of the 1998 French World Cup winning side marked another huge departure.

He had dropped mercurial and popular David Ginola from the national side when manager after an error stopped France reaching the World Cup finals in 1994 and wielded the axe at PSG and RC Lens.

Other than a spell spent watching Liverpool during the 1969-70 season while on a placement at a city comprehensive school during his degree course he was an outsider to the club. The first appointed since Bill Shankly arrived.

Liverpool followed a treble cup winning season with a sustained charge for the Premiership crown in 2001-02. They only denied by the excellence of Arsenal. The points tally of 80 was relatively low for a title win but had been enough on many occasions during the 1990s. A whisker away from reaching the Champions League semi-finals there seemed grounds for optimism and the achievement was made in spite of the manager being admitted to hospital for heart surgery in October and spending almost half the season away from the dugout.

After a dozen matches unbeaten and a run featuring nine wins in the season which followed it seemed the Houllier era may reach its zenith. The 13th game - a defeat at Middlesbrough - proved if not the nadir then certainly its start.

Another three points could not be found for nine weeks. This type of run had not been seen since Liverpool were relegated from the top flight in the early 1950s and encompassed 11 games. With 33 points up for grabs the field pulled away while the Reds limped along.

Signings made the previous summer amidst a fanfare which seemed justified in one particular case by the 2002 World Cup not only failed to deliver they looked less than ordinary. And the football on show was not just occasionally but regularly dire.

Due to limitations behind the top three - Manchester United, Arsenal and Newcastle - there was still a chance of Champions League qualification in the final league game but defeat at Stamford Bridge in a head to head for a seat on the gravy train yielded only a place in the UEFA Cup.

That competition may have proved a useful springboard three years previously but the landscape and expectation was totally different now. It took another lurch when it became clear Chelsea‘s win not only saved them from certain administration but was the factor which brought Roman Abramovich‘s riches to Stamford Bridge and skewed the balance of spending power.

A year later stumbling into the fourth and final qualifying berth for the Champions League proved insufficient.

More players bought for significant amounts failed to make the impact expected of them. Failings on the field and in the transfer market convinced even David Moores, who had stood stoically by every manager employed during his chairmanship always giving more time than was necessary, it was time to pull the trigger.

In football all empires eventually crumble. Just how long a team spends in the doldrums depends in no small measure on outside factors but mostly on decisions made and reactions to them.

Kenny Dalglish’s resignation came during a hard fought and ultimately unsuccessful FA Cup encounter with Everton. Liverpool were challenging for a 19th title at the time and had all but seen a useful lead disappear.

Like statistics circumstances can be used to prove points or even hide a number of sins.

One undeniable statement is that Kenny Dalglish had roughly the same amount of time at the helm as Rafael Benitez had enjoyed as manager of Liverpool as the 2008-09 campaign fizzled towards a gripping yet ultimately unsuccessful climax.

The club was still trying to catch up for some errors made two decades ago which were compounded by a lack of decision in the 1990s as others took advantage of the new era.

There were some more contemporary mistakes. Selling the family silver to George Gillett and Tom Hicks was supposed to equip Liverpool in a Premier League arms race which had changed complexion due Chelsea's quickly found wealth and that accumulated by Manchester United over more than a decade and a half prior to the Glazer family taking root at Old Trafford.

Getting back to the point where Liverpool are regarded as genuine hopefuls was a hard slog and one more about being competitive enough to provide a title challenge worthy of the name.

For varyaing reasons Roy Evans, Gerard Houllier and Rafael Benitez made noises but their best efforts were isolated high points.

Each had teams which appeared useful works in progress but which for various reasons never reached the status of finished article. Consequently matters regressed on all fronts. The Reds' championship charges have proved an exception rather than an expectation.

Even if the game and Liverpool Football Club are different to their early 1990s contemporaries Kenny Dalglish has so far suggested he has no problem rehabilitating to life as a top flight manager over ten years since he last held the reigns at that level.

Though categorised as a man from a old era who perhaps wouldn't respond let alone contrast favourably in the modern era Dalglish has done more than bring matters back to a very basic level that sufficed during his first stint at the helm. Nor does he just survive on the vapours of sentiment plus good wishes.

He may not have been in a managerial hotseat for some time but his instinct and ability to analyse a game not to mention players has not waned over his time away.

Vitally Kenny has continued to watch football and maintain an involvement rather than turn his back on the game.

An unsurpassed knowledge of the reserve and increasingly impressive youth ranks is another powerful tool in his armoury. Pass and move is still as effective as it was almost half a century ago. Goals - including key ones - have come from crafting moves from defencsive positions. Attacking with options to the man in possession continues to demonstrate its potency.

But these old fashioned values are mixed with very modern views on tactics and systems.

That in itself may suggest Dalglish's 'second coming' will last longer than the May deadline previously set.

No matter how long this reign lasts it may not bring another league title. Progress to that goal is expected to remain slow but built on firm foundations that will allow any success acheived to be lasting rather than fleeting.

As both a player and manager in his first reign Dalglish profited from that diligent approach. It seems fitting that he should be given the chance to at least begin rebuilding work. 

Managing the unmanageable club

Just to keep things ticking over if nothing else a few articles from the archives will appear on the blog from time to time. They may have a resonance to current day events. Often they will not.

This was published in November 2009

It seems somewhat inevitable that in most Liverpool debates all roads are leading back to Kenny Dalglish. When he left Anfield citing the stress his job was causing the club was labelled unmanageable.

That same description has been applied to other clubs. Most notably Newcastle. Kenny left St James Park after just 20 months despite coming as close as any of his predecessors to ending a trophy drought lasting almost half a century.

All but one of Dalglish’s successors - Roy Evans - has fallen foul of health problems during their stints in charge with two victims of heart complaints.

Though not the last of The Bootroom benchmark by which all who hold the manager’s post are measured he was certainly the last to be considered successful.

One thing the man widely acclaimed the best player to pull on a red shirt never achieved in the hotseat courtesy of UEFA’s ban on Football League clubs covering his entire spell at the helm was lifting the European Cup.

Though the number of trophies collected under Gerard Houllier’s reign may well be larger in number at six some of the four Rafael Benitez has won along with Champions League finals and semi-finals are the better gauge of progress and performance against the club’s peers.

People looking at Liverpool’s season as far as January tended to deem The Reds either lucky to be top for as long as they were or criticised for not having a better stranglehold over the field.

It is a stark contrast to Sir Alex Ferguson who even with things not going too well was expected to ensure his charges come good. The Old Trafford manager’s record means he and his sides are rarely written off.

Opinions and headlines remain just as negative with most of Wednesday’s back pages hosting at least one disapproving note carrying the baton handed to them from the weekend and Monday’s reports. Matters ballooned quickly as rumours about Rafa’s grip on his post being so tenuous that he could be looking for a new post either as early as tomorrow morning or at least following the trip to Middlesbrough seem to have swept around. Punters placing bets on both those eventualities forced two bookmakers to suspend trade on those particular flutters.

All on the day of a huge match it provided grist to the mill of countless hacks who rather than produce competent or necessarily cogent analysis prefer lazy judgments and stories designed to suggest one paper knows something its rivals do not. Unfortunately so many journalists even the usually good ones are happy to do little more than scratch at the surface and as a result fall short of fully serving their readers.

Take as an example a comment that Rafa would as he had told reporters over a number of days only talk about football in the build up to the Manchester City game. His stated desire to only concentrate on football as the columnists begged him to do just weeks earlier rather than get in a war of words with his board or a fellow manager was painted as a refusal to confirm, deny or quell speculation.

Good timing for all the media with Real Madrid the team many believe Benitez sees himself as destined to manage coming just 72 hours after the game.

The contract and others need to be sorted but is in the middle for drafting. Versions are likely to have been sent across The Atlantic Ocean and back a number of times. There may be provisions relating to any possible sale by the owners but the sticking points could just as easily be based more on linguistic and legal meanings than principles

Terms and conditions need not only be agreeable to all parties. They need to be enforceable.

Coverage is taking this course due to the time limits reporters had indicated expiring and online communities - far more immediate than a daily letters page - waste no time in poking a finger at just how much or more appropriately who little was known in the first place when the many confident predictions turn out to be exactly what they were in the first place - mere speculation.

Liverpool generate huge amounts of interest and for the benefit of future column inches be they in the immediate few days or slightly longer term things can be played out with endless speculation from a host of sources.

Then there the forums and message boards which provide not only a reaction but in some cases another story. They are also a measure publishers can not only count clicks by but price and sell precious advertising.

Up to 60 games a season for the most heavily supported clubs also do their bit.

When compared to Manchester United in almost every department of the field the Red Devils are superior or at worst level pegging when the generally accepted first choice options are put head to head.

However, when reserves below those first XIs are taken in to account resources in the human let alone financial sense are much deeper. Rio Ferdinand cost more than the entire backline Liverpool field no matter what the permutation. In fact the fee Leeds received in July 2002 is £5.36 million more than the estimated fee of all 11 defensive players who have made a single appearance for the club this term.

At the other end of the field Liverpool currently have one £20 million plus striker. United have three plus another attacking player who when he gets his inevitable if not imminent move to the Santiago Bernabeu will have a market value probably twice that sum if not more. Yet Liverpool outscored that same attack until early February and only trail the tally by three.

In midfield The Reds may have been fortunate to nurture a talent who making huge adjustments for the fistful of petrodollars Manchester City were prepared to offer for Kaka would need £50 million or more to draft in. Javier Mascherano cost just over a third of that basic estimate. United have more than treble that number of that worth in the same department.

The background climate and turmoil makes what Rafa Benitez has managed to do within the time he has had an even bigger achievement than may be obvious at first glance.

Owners nobody wants possess a club they never wanted for any altruistic reasons and which they now cannot afford.

An administrative war sees joint custodians at loggerheads with each other while they both fight an individual battle with the chief executive or manager respectively.

One particular owner may have made his peace with the manager and created an uneasy alliance. Even if they appear bedfellows that same person launched a number of lies and attacks post Athens when Rafa called to see the cards they were said to have been holding and found to be bluffing their hands. These incidents only ceased as part of a PR drive with fans.

Critics suggest Liverpool’s league position papered over the cracks for a long time this season.

Maybe they should consider that Rafa has not so much covered cracks as a huge number of chasms in the wall and somehow stopped the whole house from falling down around our ears.

Just like most of the road to Istanbul Liverpool have been punching above their weight for most of the campaign.

Being second now and finishing there or even third if Chelsea manage to get their act together but very close in terms of points to whoever leads the table would be an accurate reflection of the side’s true standing.

The knock-out blow administered to AC Milan may not have been delivered domestically yet but thanks to good guidance The Reds have worked their way up from prize fighter to genuine title contenders even if the shot does not come in 2008-09.

That other similarly impossible challenge for managers Newcastle have unwanted ownership, passionate fans who yearn to challenge but their heydays can largely only read about in history books.

There isn’t one Toon fan who wouldn’t want to swap places with Liverpool. Despite also holding a rich tradition and the advantage of Champions League revenue on top of other funds generated the Magpies now spend their seasons attempting to escape relegation dogfights not competing for major honours.

Unfortunately the fans have been complicit in their club lurching from crisis to crisis with protests and calls for the heads of various managers. The board appeased Sir John Hall’s ‘Geordie nation’ by obliging once the pressure got too much when the club needed stability.

Even Bobby Robson failed to escape the wrath and just as he was in the 1990s with England probably felt hounded out of a job.

The old regime threw in its hand allowing Mike Ashley to take charge once he had negotiated purchase of the Hall family’s holding and now few managers would take a job which should be amongst the most prestigious in the game.

Joe Kinnear has performed well but a manager without a top flight job in almost a decade and a post of any sort for four years would not have been the first choice for anything other than a fire-fighter rather than an appointment for the long term.

Rafael Benitez who has not only delivered progress season after season but secured trophies and has Liverpool on the cusp of being a genuine force in the league will be following that back and white patent in a time when there is no black and white just shades of grey.

Rafa is somehow managing the unmanageable club. If he was to leave for whatever reason the Reds’ ability to challenge would be set back. Those who may have called for it may feel like those Newcastle and England fans - only realise just what we had when he has gone.

Anfield's knotted tendrils

Any supporter deciding to review Monday evening’s match during the reruns LFCTV are obliged to provide will join those present at the DW Stadium in witnessing possibly the worst performance of what has been a poor season.

Comparisons are inevitably made with the same stage last term when Liverpool were bouncing not just the Premier League makeweights but the likes of Manchester United and Real Madrid out of sight.

At that time Liverpool’s big guns, the world class stars, were virtually flawless and dragged the lesser lights.

Though it wasn’t just about the artisans amongst the so called journeymen.

The older more experienced players were assisting those of more tender years to grow up as professionals. But they were able to do so at a steady pace.

Now some are showing signs of wear and tear both physically and mentally after providing not just support to the headline acts but being required - for a number of reasons - to be a mainstay.

A very different Liverpool Football Club is currently on display and those big time players are pulling up just as short as the lesser stars, whipping boys and youngsters.

In a complete contrast to last term possibly dragging them down.

Without the same technical ability to rely on their struggle is intensified. Citing the departure of Xabi Alonso - as good a player as he is - doesn’t explain the malaise.

An unusually scathing Rafael Benitez offered post-match comments not even the official channels can spin - well not much.

All the hallmarks of teams he has produced since becoming a manager including squads of far worse quality of those currently at Anfield and elsewhere appear missing.

Apart from flashes a lack of playing discipline rather than behavioural standards seemed left somewhere on the Melwood training grounds. Just a few basics such seemingly relied on by a team desperate not to make an error and flagging when an early goal isn‘t found.

The problems within the club are many fold. Work in the long and short term will be need to be carried out to rectify them. Gathering the tendrils and taking a look identifies that many are entwined and will get worse as long as the public face - that displayed on the pitch is inevitably where the focus remains - unravels.

A business literally based on results leaves no other option but so long as it does other issues are, if not masked, then certainly pushed to the background.

Just What Does Arsene Know?

Rafael Benitez is often said to be one of the most wilful managers in world football who will only ever operate under his own methods and never give so much as a nod to anything which deviates from those routines.

On Wednesday evening he comes up against a man every inch as obdurate - Arsene Wenger.

Though in general it is difficult to argue with Wenger’s record. Except for the past few seasons or so it stands against any of his peers but some questions are more than justified. The Frenchman's principles and some of the football his teams have produced since he joined Arsenal cannot be faulted.

However, a problem certainly lies in his stubbornness and refusal to think about compromise - not to mention a player policy only slightly more compassionate than the Deep Sleep Operatives from Logan’s Run.

Despite having a large war chest available he prefers not to use it even though his side cries out for real depth. Over a couple of transfer windows he kept the bankers happy and left his funds in place rather than invest while his side.

There were huge implications in the 2007-08 campaign when he had a five point lead at the Premier League’s summit. Reliance on a very small core squad when a team is about to enter one of the demanding parts of any season is a huge gamble.

There may not be so many games crammed into Christmas and New Year as once was the case. With under soil heating present across the majority of grounds pitches are rarely hard but at a time when the weather is at its coldest and the demands of mid-season greatest injuries are inevitable - especially when a side is active on nearly all fronts - well over a decade's experience in English football should have taught that lesson.

A season which promised so much for the Gunners was in effect laid bare on one single afternoon when Eduardo suffered an horrific leg break and when leading 2-1 Gael Clichy conceded a last minute penalty which gifted Birmingham a point but deprived Arsenal of not only two but their momentum - no small measure of impetus went courtesy of William Gallas’ post-match histrionics and a sit in protest not seen since the heydays of Neville Southall.

Wenger's unjustified comments regarding the tackle on the Croatian international certainly suggested he knew what his team had probably lost.

If his transfer activity in the summer just gone is anything to go by it seems that he will either not heed or denies the errors of last winter.

Arsenal who have been defeated by both likely suspects and unlikely candidates so far this term and last when they threw some very commanding leads away.  Their struggles in many respects courtesy of that absolute rejection to invest.

A goalkeeper better than Manuel Almunia should have been brought in some time ago Soo too players who can not only dictate the pace of a game but control it. That weakness has been laid particularly bare over the past two weekends.

So too a willingness to make tackles - something no Liverpool player was hesitant to do against Everton and a similar battling performance will most probably reap its own rewards at Ashburton Grove on Wednesday. As stopping Arsenal playing their football has yet to receive any answer other than the Gunners to attempt more of the same.

Once they are caught up the pitch a weakness can be exploited. Starving them of the ball as another key for as good as they are with it Arsenal can often be apalling without it at their feet failing to track runs, anticipate movement and close people down.

That’s not to say Wenger does not have any form of tactical nouse nor player recruitment and retention policy - but it is one which will only bear long term dividends and possibly sustained success depending on factors should all those youngsters stay or just as importantly realise their promise.

In the meantime the entire project is threatened by events in the present and short term.

The football may be pretty but it seems the dressing room is anything but. Not only that where players suffering from a dip in form or confidence look around the Liverpool squad and see Steven Gerrard as their leader Arsenal have until recent times had William Gallas - a tantrum waiting to happen contrasted with the Reds’ beating heart and thankfully a player who is beginning to find his form again in recent games.

Gerrard's opposite number Cesc Febregas should be appreciated for the world class talent he is while still in his early 20s.

Beyond their skipper any player at Anfield, fitness allowing, sees Jamie Carragher, Javier Mascherano, Pepe Reina and Fernando Torres amongst others around them.

Many of those players have won the Champions League plus some of the game’s other highest honours and with not just clubs but their countries.

More than a couple have also skippered their respective nations and can be relied upon for advice by anyone struggling - those under similar crisis at Ashburton Grove are surrounded by peers at a similar stage and predicament to themselves. Some had their issues not to mention the contents of their stomachs and hearts laid bare before a worldwide press when Gallas decided to discuss his teammates with journalists from his own country.

Another consequence felt particularly hard by the Gunners is the absence of grit in midfield. Mathieu Flamini was moulded into a player as comfortable at scrapping as silky movement but was not only allowed to leave but to do so for nothing with his deal down to zero even when the player had given considerable notice that he may well exploit the rules to walk away for nothing through passage of team or if necessary buying out his contract.

The player offered an interview to a French football magazine on the specific basis they would ensure syndication in Italy, Germany as well as Spain and barely made a secret of his ultimate intentions.

Rafa Benitez has made errors in the market but moved them on quickly. Many of those who have expressed a desire to depart - whatever their reason - even with little on their contracts have been moved on for profit.

In truth while Liverpool could do with some of Arsenal’s attacking zing by contrast the Gunners who have succumb to very similar goals against Manchester United and Chelsea would benefit from some of the Reds’ recent returned strength down the spine. Without it Arsenal will remain justifably unfancied to end a five season trophy drought.

While Wenger’s contemporaries - Benitez included - have proved they can adopt a more pragmatic approach than the Arsenal boss regardless of form going into a game he does seem to hold a tendency to get things right against the other top sides. Despite a modest build ups to hosting Manchester United, Everton and others Liverpool have come out of these encounters on top and not for the first time.

In contrast to last season when they led the 'Big Four mini-league' Arsenal and Liverpool are fairing less well with just three points apiece.

Three more for either will not suggest Liverpool or Arsenal are anything other than contenders for the minor Champions League placings. In the former case it would serve as something of a grab on the coattails but a first win at the Gunners’ new home would be a crucial boost for the Reds - no doubt Arsene knows that.

Genial Harry escapes media rout

At Anfield on Wednesday evening a team that cost somewhere in the region of £50 million more than their opponents looked - despite their vast richness of playing resources - very ordinary indeed.

They were beaten by a team minus what are said to be its few players of star quality. One led by a locally produced player who cost nothing and fists pumping ensured his team prevailed through little more than their spirit and no small measure of tenacity.

Their resolve mirrored the fervour of support shown outside the ground by fans greeting the team bus as it pulled towards the Shankly Gates. Then inside well before kick-off.

Tottenham have been the cause célèbre of those hoping that the Premier League's current order is broken up and despite leanings towards others such as Martin O'Neill perhaps their coverage after Wednesday evening continues to prove that. As a remaining focus remains largely on rights and wrongs of Jermain Defoe's disallowed goal.

It should without doubt have been the best chance Spurs have had to land a blow on one of the 'Big Four.'

As Redknapp himself confessed despite Steven Gerrard, Fernando Torres, Glen Johnson, Daniel Agger and Yossi Benayoun being absent from a team which has been down on its luck there was no better opportunity.

However, as they have so often - most notably at Old Trafford last term when the referee was ironically Howard Webb - Spurs failed to produce.

The charges relating to the match at Anfield are not isolated ones. This is the same manager who in the first transfer window he had available as Tottenham boss brought a clutch of players his club had previously dispensed with back then allowed a number to leave just six months later.

One of those, Robbie Keane, was re-signed despite never appearing to be a natural fit with someone already had on the books Luka Modric. Not looking to bring Keane back would have saved money which would have proved useful right now at White Hart Lane where an extra body is needed in attack.

Keane and Modric are as he is now forced to confess by omission or playing one or the other out of position far too similar in styles.

Each are probably at their best when asked to link play - in other words operating between the lines of midfield and attack. They simply cannot be accommodated in the same XI and when they are the whole balance of a side is affected.

Turfing Keane out of the central position at least one member of the Redknapp family is on record as stating he should always occupy is the type of managerial decision Rafael Benitez received criticism for during Keane's time with Liverpool.

Though little is made of the issue now.

A simple reason for brick-bats being in short supply should be simply that the Irishman is not playing well. But that mere act may not have saved a previous manager a bashing.

Defoe and Peter Crouch were not particularly effective at Anfield but as the only front pairing that have anything like an understanding were obvious forward options against the Reds who fielded a team selected and primed to contain the little and large show.

If Keane had been given a start, and indeed as happened when he was introduced as a substitute, the restrictions he places on his own side would have made the job easier. His throwing on during the second half made no difference to Spurs at all.

The pace of attack Tottenham have shown when the Defoe/Crouch partnership has been used has helped them reach the place currently occupied but as proved by the match with Liverpool it is taken away by Keane who by his very role in the side slows things down.

A touch - although usually two or more - is taken before he looks to take a defender on or use the guile he has to beat them. Despite working to great effect with Dimitar Berbatov when paired with the Bulgarian it has failed to come off for him this season.

Keane's treatment by Liverpool is immaterial so any attempt to use it in mitigation fails.

There is it appears from Harry Redknapp an inability to get tactical issues and selections right in games where his teams needs to do more than just find a way through a defence by Aaron Lennon's pace.

Spurs have gone through players with the speed a teenage boy finishes a box of Kleenex.

Rotations when made due to the sheer number of professionals in the squad means that a team playing well is often changed merely to ensure certain individuals are given starts.

For example immediately after beating a decent Everton side late last year the starting XI is tinkered with and Spurs lost to Wolves.

Huge sums of money have been spent on youngsters such as Kyle Walker and John Bostock - all with huge promise - but who have simply been swallowed by the system at White Hart Lane. Some though not all of those in a similar situation to those names are currently out on loan to weaker clubs than the ones they joined from.

That could from another manager be considered as damaging to their fledging careers. Harry escapes censure.

Aside from this players have been publicly humiliated while journalists taking down the quotes laugh along though never question the man-management involved.

Others were purchased despite patchy injury records and have struggled to make regular appearances since.

Yet none of this seems to gain a mention in the newspapers while TV and radio broadcasters fawn over the job Redknapp has done since taking charge in North London.

There is of course never a shortage of pundits keen to remind anyone that he took over a side bottom of the table to the fringes of European football within little more than half a year and that now they stand on the cusp of that much coveted top four space.

No matter how much money has been spent Spurs through poor tactics and player selection are the side most likely to drop out of the battle to go fourth. There will most likely be no Champions League football down Bill Nicholson Way - not with this squad and possibly not with Redknapp in charge.

He is a good manager - little question about that - but has enjoyed the sort of luck the papers would certainly make a point of if it was experienced by one of their whipping boys.

His good press is down to a personable character and willingness to always provide quotes which sits well with the media. He may be genial but isn’t a genius.

Possible January targets - Victor Moses

Brought to London from Nigeria as an 11 year old Victor Moses joined Crystal Palace after being spotted playing in South London park leagues.

Though quiet and far more unassuming than most of his contemporaries there was no doubting his natural talent and a number of decent goalscoring records in the junior ranks - 50 in one season as an under 14 - was further evidence of his ability.

So too his starring role in the 2005 Schools Cup final when he scored all the goals in a 5-0 win over a team from Grimsby in shirts as scarlet as their faces were left on the final whistle.

The Grimsby Evening Telegraph’s headline said it all: "Holy Moses - Wonder Player Parts Red Sea".

A first team debut with Palace came at 16 in November 2007 and after a brief hiatus he has remained a fixture in the Palace side.

Half a dozen goals in the current campaign his second full season and a string of rave reviews in each of the many scouting reports filed on him means the Eagles hold the hottest property in domestic football.

Eyed up by a clutch of Premiership and European clubs including Real Madrid the world and a bright future in the game is literally at the teenager’s feet.

Moses plays through the middle or wide on either flank. However, despite turning out mostly on the left over the past few months he is hugely effective in a central role including that of second striker.

Ryan Babel is a similar type of player though perhaps not the best measure as while the Dutchman has everything a top striker needs plus immense versatility he is seemingly nearing the end of his stay at Anfield.

By contrast Moses possibly because of trauma suffered back in his homeland where his parents were killed as a result of religious violence seems to have the drive to reach the top of his profession.

He will seemingly bust a gut to get there which along with his natural ability makes him a valuable asset and a sharp relief to Babel.

Neil Warnock is not Liverpool’s or indeed Rafa Benitez’s biggest fan after the denouement to the 2006-07 campaign but would not stand in the player’s way if he opted to continue his career on Merseyside.

He couldn’t in any case. Acute financial problems make a sale inevitable and club officials admit it is possibly imminent as agreements with more than one club are set to be sealed. The rest will be up to the player.

Liverpool have in the past missed out on young talent by allowing others to plunder deals which were more or less done as the person then in charge of negotiations dithered, switched off his mobile or fax. Most galling of all because he was receiving specialist coaching at Melwood.

The Reds are said to be amongst the keenest clubs negotiating with Simon Jordan.

Many deals mooted have been loan options with a permanent switch in the summer. However, this option is unlikely to smooth any wrinkles in negotiations unless there is a huge down payment which would at least settle Palace’s outstanding tax liabilities.

It could be the best for the player who would at least remain a regular part of one team’s first team picture rather than got lost in development ahead of being gradually unleashed on top flight backlines. Though he will not remain at Selhurst Park unless Moses goes back until June to Croydon having been bought by another club.

Though strong, full of pace, skilled and able to find the net he confounds experienced and hardened defenders through good technique. Almost certainly ready for a sterner test as he has been schooled in a manner hosts of promising youngsters from the nation’s top clubs have troden.

A player who would fit into any squad and not a bad shout for Liverpool in the short term given that there is a need for a strong and direct presence. Whether it is fair to that the burden of shadowing and replacing Fernando Torres when the Spaniard is out should rest on his shoulders like it has done on davis Ngog is another question.

Squaring vicious circles

Few would have expected to have been comparing the final months of Gerard Houllier’s reign with that of his successor when Rafa Benitez was appointed - now given last season’s achievement but possibly at any point of the Spaniard’s tenure.

The Reds were going backwards under Houllier while at the same time Benitez had taken Valencia - a side without much recent pedigree and who so often threatened to succeed but never quite managed it - to domestic and European glory.

The latter achieved despite the might of Barcelona albeit that the Catalan club were in a rebuilding phase after decline under Joan Gaspart’s presidency and Real Madrid were in their first ‘Galatico‘ era.

In the circumstances Benitez seemed tailored made for the Anfield job.

Manchester United were already cash laden courtesy of their soon to end 15 year status as a Plc while Chelsea had attracted the attentions of a 36 year old Russian oligarch. Estimated to be worth £5.5 billion he had pumped money into both club infrastructure but also over £200 million into the playing staff. Recouping less than 10% of that in sales.

Arsenal were also happy to spend big money on exceptional talents - far more than many tend to remember now Arsene Wenger has a reputation for being frugal with his transfer kitty. They also had a heavy investment in youth which was brought to North London from all corners of the globe at significant cost.

Though without a benevolent owner and run in the same “old fashioned way” Liverpool were also organised - a low number of high value shares in private hands - the Gunners had a new stadium not just on the drawing board or an architect’s computer screen but actively being put into bricks and mortar. Set to earn millions of pounds a year more than their Highbury home could.

Liverpool who had planning permission for a new home had little more than a bog standard design of a bowled stadium. Somewhat out of the box though one which needed funding and one the Anfield board needed to attract substantial investment to if they were to do so and appointed companies to assess likely suitors.

Arsenal would receive money from the sale of their old home but borrowed heavily against the revenue a 60,000 stadium would generate but the £470 million cost was not easily garnered with tools going down soon after very early work commenced. A consortium of banks provided just more than half the means.

The remainder came through sponsorship, exclusive contractual agreements and lending through the bond market - which would take 25 years to repay. Instalments would be due at prescribed times. In return for this backing lenders received equity in the project.

Essentially placing the club in debt for hundreds of millions of pounds for more than a generation.

Then Liverpool chairman David Moores was open to selling his holding in order to ensure investment of the type he nor the club through its turnover just couldn’t foot.

However, apart from what often seemed nothing more than publicity stunts, politicians who had an eye on a general election in a country besotted with English football particularly Liverpool FC and would source the purchase price through other people’s money little seemed to move.

A fully underwritten £73 million cash bid from another board member was on the table but deemed derisory.
There was for whatever reason hope of billionaires not just plain millionaires riding in. Bottom pits of funding. Outside of financial circles and the world of venture capitalism few had considered or even heard the term leveraged buy out.

Over the five and a half years Rafael Benitez at been at Liverpool’s helm the game and other clubs including those who already had the jump on Liverpool has moved forward.

Some at an rapid pace due to the interest of not just industrialists but sovereign wealth funds.

At that same stage Gerard Houllier was placing his pot plants into a box and heading to Lyon Sheik Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan had possibly never heard of Manchester City. Dish-dashes had yet to enter the consciousness of those at Eastlands as a match day accessory.

Abu Dhabi’s hydrocarbon wealth makes the emirate and its ruling family one of the richest in the Middle East. Somewhere in the region of £500 million of that affluence has been ploughed into playing staff and £304.9 million converted from shareholder loan to equity.

The purchase of a further £89.6 million means City’s on paper debt is far too minimal to cause Michel Platini any worries about debt levels.

Just as it was in 2004 Liverpool are spluttering and the fans seem split about the man in charge, though not perhaps 50/50, between those who support the manager. Though they possibly look at the players when analysing reasons for the malaise want to get behind each and every man in a red shirt even the ones who could at best be described as below par.

Typically those of that persuasion will lay blame away from the coaches and though they may point a finger towards the pitch there’s no desire to rock the boat or even cause further problems by doing anything other than backing the team to the hilt.

There has been a tide against Rafa for longer than the past few months and those who had already turned against him prior to this current season may criticise the players for under-achieving but place most ills squarely at coach’s door.

This category also tend to not only shout louder but also ring the phone-ins and other fans forums - not all solely Liverpool Football Club related. Events in the FA Cup give them that extra oxygen as producers and editors scrabble to put them on air.

Those who are still behind the manager suffer but do so silently ignoring the various interactions available to them. So for some, the laziest in the media included, the dissenters appear to be the majority. However, even though their ranks have swelled in recent weeks anecdotal evidence still suggests they are not.

While debate focuses on the ownership, funding and future direction of the club events on the pitch can often seem secondary but with the club’s financial situation sorted in the short term, albeit via the equivalent of an elastoplast that are refinanced loans with huge demands for capital payment when renewed, attention inevitably moves from Gillett and Hicks to a man who has tended to feature in many off field dramas as well as the on field disappointments - Rafael Benitez.

For all the abusive e-mails, assurances about the manager’s tenure and possibility of further investment reports cannot go beyond quotes from sources close to proposed deals but the prodigious generation of column inches about the club can continue as the team struggles to claim points or progress in other arenas.

There is no shortage of opinion from writers, pundits and those who have previously served the club which means the manager especially can be kept in the crosshairs while pot shots of mud are aimed in his direction.

One of those courtesy of Charlie Nicholas on Sky’s Soccer Saturday who suggested to his colleague Phil Thompson that the side he presided over alongside Gerard Houllier was better than the one now assembled.

It makes comparisons that will keep coming inevitable.

On the surface appraisals of the Houllier and Benitez periods are fair. Take the team’s set up.

Despite attempts to introduce it there is little true width in the side and for some strange reason little movement plus less creativity despite a team brimming with ability in that department.

There are similarities other than what is said to be a one dimensional style. Results and form are as poor as the final knockings under the Frenchman. Confidence is at rock bottom and players who are much better than they look can sometimes barely keep possession at stages of the game. When it is retained even comfortably often they struggle to do much with it.

Some signings who promised much have failed to blossom.

However, under Houllier the players drafted in got progressively worse and never looked like improving. There was so little coming through the reserve ranks who with the exception of finishing top in 2000 trundled along in the Premiership Reserves North.

If that wasn’t bleak enough the playing style was not so much careful as bubble wrapped in fear.

When an advantage was found it would be nursed and the shop closed. There was an over-dependence on long balls to exploit Michael Owen’s pace but not a lot else. The Reds simply could go no further under his guidance.

The team reflected the manager perfectly who suffered from something bordering on paranoia during the final months of his stewardship. Be that people linked with his job and all manner of opinion being submitted from an important constituent of the Liverpool family ex-players.

Links with other managers are being made and courted by journalists who realise that no one touted as a successor will rule themselves out.

Despite of the paltry funds which would be at their disposal and bickering above their heads being mentioned in the same breath as the Anfield hotseat does their career prospects no harm at all.

For Martin O’Neill now read Jurgen Klinsmann and if some reports are to be believed Martin O’Neill again. Guus Hiddink and Jose Mourinho are also mentioned but the current Russia and Inter Milan managers are - well - nothing more than wild Guus chases. The former earns over £6 million in his current role and a further well remunerated role with Chelsea as a technical directory. No bad return for a 63 year old.

Mourinho may have enjoyed seeing his favourite emergency striker Robert Huth grab a late equaliser against the Reds but will not, according to sources close to the Portuguese, join any club in a state of financial volatility. Nor will he join one which stable or not has no money to fund his inevitably expensive tastes.

Unlike Benitez Houllier allowed it all to creep under his skin.

Does everything but reaction to those critiques from old boys ring true today?

A striking contrast its that Gerard Houllier’s sides were roughly playing to their level. The current side is not as good as it could be and capable of so much better.

Regardless of who left during the summer it should certainly have pretensions of a title challenge after the last campaign. Even if efforts are to be in vain that chance of claiming the trophy has to be on well into the spring.

The worst factor of the current situation is that players who are far better than their current showings and world class performers are retreating within themselves because they seem too scared to make an error.

It could even be ventured that they have no faith in the manager - but that is purely speculative as are claims that either the whole or certain portions of the dressing room have to coin that oft quoted phrase been lost. Reading between the lines suggestions revolve around the non-Spanish or those for whom Spanish is not the first language.

Frankly many performances including the one at the Britannia Stadium on Saturday belie the claim.

Rafa has a very different relationship with his players than most managers. In essence he may never have had the dressing room - just the respect rather than admiration of many members of his squad for his achievements. Steven Gerrard has openly spoke about the situation and that distance is purposeful.

He is perhaps as every manager should be not a friend but a man in charge who may have to drop them or let them know that their time at Anfield has come to an end. He rarely singles any specific individual for praise preferring to talk about the team as a whole and pour over what could have gone better. Even when he should be basking in victory.

Some whose names need not be repeated now are living on borrowed time, past reputation or could simply do with a change of scene. This includes those who have been acquired by Benitez for sizeable fees but there are buys Rafa has made who may not form the core of club but do show potential and have every chance of a successful career in L4. As for the quality of signings. They have certainly improved as time has gone on but regardless of the source of funds being borrowings the money available has increased.

The Reading result has seen many of those who considered themselves somewhere in the middle of the debate jump to one side but it’s only the knee-jerk reaction to the result rather than the manager’s tactics and decisions.

A positive result against Stoke would not have sated their ire but no blame can be heaped on Rafa or the players not putting the Potters away.

The simple fact is that a strong team not one that could be considered in any way weakened below an unacceptable point took to the field. They were set up correctly for the task of defending the inevitable bombardment as well as holding and attacking. If they had not more time would have been spent within a narrow midfield corridor.

Of course with one exception - goals scored - statistics do not decide games. Unfortunately Gerard Houllier based his after match press conferences around them when under pressure. They were straws he would clutch at but all too often they were the irrelevant ones.

Rafa has always tended to take a different tack analysing the play and whether his team held control of matters. The Opta sheets are rarely grasped.

These things happen to every club which has ever taken to a football field be that in a knock-out tournament or league and at any level.

Liverpool are creating opportunities in most games played and evidence gathered from eyes alone demonstrates that Rafa’s sides while often careful produce a better brand of football now than most sides have since he took charge.

Almost every analysis proves that the majority of opponents are heavily beaten in key areas but it’s the inability to put the chances this creates away which is costing dear.

However, there is no escaping that at times some unconfident and lifeless football is being played and though a plan B is surely suggested like so many teams when the A game is frustrated Liverpool can play under a huge amount of fear and look to pick off chances where they can rather than rip at the jugular.

The manager’s style is essentially cautious but only in the respect that regardless of the phase of play he would prefer to have his team acting as one. If the opposition has the ball everyone in their own way will defend - from front to back. If the ball is forward the team should line up in support ready to win the second and third balls if the first is lost.

Last season when confidence was high this produced the type of performances witnessed against Derby County, Newcastle United, Manchester United, Real Madrid and others. This term the displays against Hull City, Manchester United again and Everton have been exceptions rather than something approaching the rule.

All too often in recent times this had only led to the creation pretty patterns of play and slick movement until the vital point when someone is expected to pull the trigger. When that killer touch or cutting edge is missing. In many games it has all looked so fruitless.

For a number of weeks when a goal has been scored the Reds have done everything but add to it - be that before or after the net is found. At one stage that would have been enough to achieve the minimum required for a win but the normally solid backline has had its wobbles and that unusual vulnerability has cost dear.

Liverpool have often had more than enough chances to win handsomely but a failure to exploit them has yielded many of the 28 points so far dropped.

With those in the bank the Reds would still not be muscling for pole position but in a league no other team seems keen to win would have a chance. They would certainly be as handily placed as any of the other challengers.

However, there are clearly problems at the club and within the dressing room.

As previously stated the exact cause remains a matter of conjecture - often depending where you stand on the manager’s future - but if players do not seem bothered and enjoy a joke immediately after a poor result, no longer believe in the manager or his methods well that will only usually end one way - a new man taking over.

That is part of the situation which did for Houllier

Claims that the current ownership situation and the fact that the fans have marshalled against the rule of Gillett and Hicks also has its comparison. The rows, emails and sidling up to Klinsmann were thought to have made Rafa fire proof. In the same way that Houllier’s heart surgery in late 2001 and then subsequent return five months later on the night a 2-0 win over Roma secured progress to the quarter-finals of the Champions League for the first time. But that highly charged evening along with the treble cup win the previous season proved to be the pinnacle of his six year stay as despite going a dozen games without defeat from the start of the next season that was followed by a sequence of 11 more league matches during which a win could not be bought. The situation went down hill from there on in.

A worry is that if Rafa is dismissed then Liverpool fall back and set the same standards which saw Manchester United spiral away for years until a decade or so down the line somebody suggested they should show a little patience in the man charged with guiding the club. Just as they did at Everton who despite dipping after the high of Champions League qualification showed a little restraint in keeping David Moyes even when league form faltered and their European adventure ended in humiliation.

Whether he lifts the only piece of silverware now available or fails to qualify for the Champions League it’s not the end for Rafa but these days could certainly mark its beginnings if things don’t start to look up.
That was certainly the case for Houllier who didn’t have the boardroom unrest or fans drawing battle lines over the club’s soul to contend with only a focus that included on field matters.

Rafa quite rightly can point to his exploits in Europe which rivals every Liverpool manager but Bob Paisley and Joe Fagan who reached three and two European Cup finals respectively and in successive seasons. Two in three years and one win represents a better record than any current manager other than Carlo Ancelotti.

Considering no side has ever defended the trophy in the Champions League era it’s more than just the knock-out cup often portrayed and at the business end Europe’s elite are usually waiting. Each trying to land a knock-out blow on their fellow behemoths.

Reaching the final two years out of three is not the same as guiding your charges to a similar number of League Cups in as many terms.

Has Rafa taken the club as far as he can? Almost certainly not rather than probably not. Nor has he created the same type of side he had at Valencia. Though he has tried due to financial constraints and the time to hand in which matters need to be melded together the job is still in hand.

He deserves more time as well as an adequate amount of financial backing but seems likely to be left short on at least one if not both of these commodities.

At stages it has seemed things were progressing well but now the side is struggling for confidence as well as results. It makes a review of his position inevitable regardless of who owns the club and whether the fans become as vocal in opposition as they are and have been in his defence. That will only happen come May rather than on Monday or even Thursday morning.

However, hands are tied when an overwhelming debt generated by owners who sought to milk a cash cow they never believed would fail to produce the cream. At least until a global downturn stunted the borrowing and loan markets they had previously exploited to great effect.

That economic climate means those same owners who have remained unable to move the club or its plans forward virtually since the day they have arrived need to see the comparatively little commercial revenue, substantial broadcast rights money and cash from player sales service the interest they have placed squarely on the clubs shoulders.

It should be added that significant sums of money have been raised from players who, like the club in general, Rafael Benitez has more often than not made better than when they arrived.

Until these particularly thorny issues can be ironed out some rather vicious circles cannot be squared and Liverpool will be left continually hoping that someone can help them punch above their collective weight.

Possible January targets - Emile Heskey

When Emile Heskey left Liverpool in the summer of 2004 it was a move to both his and the club’s benefit. A player who had it all had simply lost his way at Anfield.

A record signing in March 2000 he had pace, power and stamina. Not to mention immense strength which gave him an ability to hold the ball. Allied to this was an intelligence to draw defenders out which meant he was able to dovetail perfectly with the then two deadliest strikers in domestic football - Michael Owen and Robbie Fowler.

He could also find the net and made an outstanding contribution to the treble cup win in 2000-01 then the next campaign when the Reds finished Premiership runners-up. A tantalising seven points adrift of champions Arsenal.

A couple of seasons later his confidence - such an important factor to most players’ games but crucial to Emile - had plummeted. So had his value. His initial fee of £11 million had more or less halved over four seasons as had his stock within the game.

January 2010 and 12 months after he was last linked to an Anfield return not only is Emile Heskey back in the England squad he is rumoured to be a prime target for two of the Premier League’s established top four clubs.

Chelsea are linked though probably a long shot. Even with Didier Drogba heading to Angola for the African Cup of Nations and likely to stay with his Ivory Coast side to the very end of tournament Carlo Ancelotti is unlikely to have to live up to his promise of running around his training ground naked.

At least not on Heskey's behalf.

Drogba's flip-flops are far too big for the current Villa man to fill. The Ivorian does not only provide a presence upront and similar to Heskey bring the best out of others he is a genuine goal threat. When his head is on - one of the best in the world.

With Nicolas Anelka an automatic selection at Stamford Bridge there are other options. Though the suitability of Daniel Sturridge despite his two goals in the FA Cup is debatable.   

Liverpool is a more realistic destination should Villa decide to recoup some of their investment. Though even this prospect seems remote.

Of the possible suitors for a Champions League place Villa are the outsiders. Lacking the financial clout of Manchester City and Tottenham plus the depth of these squads plus that Liverpool have while they back-pedal there is a tactical imperative for Martin O'Neill to keep hold of a man whose attributes help a team which relies on pace in counter attacks and doesn't hold the ball for long.

Heskey, who his fellow pros admire and recognise the contribution he makes, allows the pressure to be relieved better than anyone else on the Villa Park books.

Different to John Carew holds the ball and makes sure it sticks usually bringing in the right player when the time is right to release. Gabriel Agbonlahor will rifle upfield but is too unpredicatable to be the out ball.

However, like Wayne Rooney at international level Agbonlahor thrives on the type of service Emile provides.

Fabio Capello stuck with Heskey despite regular domestic starts being at a premium and broke his rule about minutes on the pitch being a crucial selection criterion simply because he increases Rooney's potency, allows him to have the license that has hurt opponents and paved a trouble free World Cup qualification.   

Emile thrived under O’Neill during his time at Leicester. His prowess as a target man even revitalised the career of Tony Cottee and the Foxes without a final since 1969 won the League Cup twice in a few seasons.

Now the Irishman is making Heskey one of the first names on his teamsheet.

Emile never worked under Rafa who it is said would have retained his services if amongst the pool of players inherited from Gerard Houllier. That may be true but how long that association would have lasted is another matter.

At that stage the 26 year old needed an arm around his shoulder and reassurance about his contribution to the club plus the security of his first team place. Rafa would not have been that comforting figure and rotation would have been unbearable.

By leaving Anfield he could have had a future in L4. Now just weeks away from blowing 32 birthday candles out and with not just experience but having displayed he can ride the blows life throws at him Emile Heskey has probably shown he has the mental toughness to play for a club like Liverpool no matter if the side seems to be lurching between a challenge for honours or failing to meet its own standards.

But the tactical imperative facing O'Neill is not one his opposite number at Anfield necessarily faces.

Though Rafa has employed a 4-4-2 system this term most recently against Reading its results have not always been convincing meaning the five man midfield or a formation which is often summarised as a 4-2-3-1

No matter what the personnel employed in certain parts be that Alberto Aquilani, Lucas Leiva, Dirk Kuyt or possibly Maxi Rodriguez it allows Steven Gerratd to maraude through the middle with wide options left and right.

One man leads the line. When fit that has to be Torres who will find the net with the same grace and regularity that has hallmarked his time at Anfield.

If he should miss games due to the abdominal injury he has been carrying or the type of problems which can often recur in an explosive player namely hamstring and other strains there needs to be a more firepower in reserve.

Only one purchase or even a loan is likely in this department. Given the financial constraints there may well be none especially as there may be additional resources needed elsewhere.

Heskey remains one of the most shot shy forwards in the game holding up play and knocking balls on is simply not a priority.

Our days are numbered

They all laugh at us,
They all mock at us ,
They all say our days are numbered,
 
This extract from the terrace chant ‘The Reds are coming up the hill boys’ has somehow always seemed appropriate but perhaps never more so than during a dark November for Liverpool fans. Though October was little better with just one ray of sunshine piercing through the autumnal skies.

As many old hands will tell those newer to the fold there was a time when loyalty was paramount on the terraces and stands of Anfield. It was also exercised without exception. The team was supported in a manner which befitted fans who were considered amongst if not the very best in the game.

We were certainly tagged as the most knowledgeable not just by those within our own club but those outside. Players, managers and our opposite numbers would go out of their way to heap on the praise.

It was very much part of the Liverpool Way that nobody connected with Liverpool ever walked alone and as many can testify it has remained the case. In thick or thin. Triumph or disaster. It has always been so.

Rafael Benitez took quotes from the club anthem and distributed them liberally in a press conference prior to the Lyon match. Some suggested it was with an air of desperation and little more than lip service to mutinous fans calling his position into question. Even the most loyal they posited where doing just that.

Unfortunately it seems a man born in Madrid who only joined the club a little over four years ago understands what it is to be a Liverpool fan better than most who claim to have spent their entire lives as dyed in the wool Reds.

Websites, newspapers, radio and even TV stations are busy running polls as to whether Rafa has lost the plot, possibly the dressing room and certainly whether he should lose his job.

Some of these plebiscites are perhaps predictably showing majorities in favour of someone else taking the helm but the actual malcontents who would see Rafa head back to Spain with a P45 are almost certainly in a minority as far as the Liverpool supporting population is concerned.

That they can tip the scales in such votes or at least what appear to be open phone-ins is down to selective editing of programmes and screening in the latter case.

Polls as open as they can often seem are couched to produce the desired result and the outcome will often depend on matters such as timing - there is no better time than now say compared to the end of last season - or the site they are linked to.

What they never do is address the aftermath or examine the path nor reasons as to why Liverpool’s season has so far been disappointing.

The resulting unscientific and almost certainly unrepresentative findings are then presented as fact and the majority opinion. However, any level of research amongst the multitude of fans sites and forums rather than just the assumptions which are being made from a vociferous minority would reveal an inconvenient truth.

It’s difficult for any manager the reader might care to name to actually manage a club in the febrile atmosphere created by the media storm further whipped up by reporting the solely malcontents who ignore that Arsene Wenger is without a trophy win in five seasons and may well not break that run by May.

Nor that Alex Ferguson took seven years to win a title and when he did it was largely by rolling over a meek opposition for most of the 1990s and some part of the early 21st century.

The internet exacerbates things as now it isn’t just pockets of Walton or Fazackerly airing its gripes or playing at being a club manger despite realising so little of what the job involves its now voices in places as diverse as Waltham Forest and Fiji.

Unfortunately much of what pours out though voluminous is at best misguided and fickle to an extent only the internet and the immediate interactivity our digital age can conjure up. It simply amplifies a knee-jerk reaction to events which takes no account of the need to build a successful club from the bottom up in a atmosphere created by greed and the need for instant gratification and a taste of glory.

All too often a chalice won on the quick fix - which isn’t even available given the financial position at Anfield - can be dashed from the lips while the drink has yet to pass the tonsils. Over in a relative instant while the deeper and by far sweeter taste comes from proper foundations. Dragging the analogy a little further a good grape hewn from the best soil.

Many forget that Manchester United built their recent dominance on that kind of groundwork and the 1960s was the bedrock of a Liverpool dynasty which stretched from the mid-1970s to 1990.

However, little of the Reds’ journey was easy.

From lifting the league title in 1966 until doing so again in 1973 Bill Shankly could only land one cup final spot and second place in the league. Often the football wasn’t great and some players were effectively allowed to go out to grass at Anfield rather than the lesser stage they might have expected as their powers waned. There were players bought who failed to produce the goods so were shipped out to various destinations and those with burgeoning reputations prior to their arrival left with no small measure of tarnish on their career.

Not claiming silverware was crushing for those who had experienced the FA Cup being held aloft for the first time followed by a championship win in successive seasons but team which had achieved promotion then added more needed to be broken up in order for a rise during the next decade.

Only when new players blended into a team virtually built from scratch was another era of glory, though one which dwarfed that which had gone before, established.

That second great team took a relatively short space of time to assemble and like so many it integrated superstars with grafters but the playing field was more level at that time.

There were no multi-billionaires looking at owning clubs and certainly no one who would ever considering lending against a one they wished to purchase. It was strictly a field for pork butchers and local magnates.

Bridging the gap was by consequence made an easier task than the one facing any modern day manager.

Compared to those days the current Liverpool team is far more star studded. More costly even accounting for well over three decades of inflation and as a rule has more talented individuals in the first XI and the much bigger squad needed for 2010.

Back in the days when Shanks bestrode the club’s corridors his decisions were looked at and debated but ultimately trusted. Despite errors along the way those decisions were in time not only proved to be correct but laden with foresight.

Those who accepted and trusted them were not by people who sat in armchairs nodding at the pundits’ offerings or at computer keyboards venting their spleen but those who attended games and despite seeing the rough edges knew just who they were plus their part in proceedings. They were supporters and would roar their team on. Not doing would only see the club go into reverse.

It’s a feature no DVD highlights, the club’s own channel nor any writing with the benefit hindsight will offer. The focus will naturally be on the genius and glory.

Little was diferent for Bob Paisley and Joe Fagan. So too Kenny Dalglish whose tenure coincided with the change towards a globalised and all encompassing media.

Liverpool were still reaping the fruit of those years when Dalglish resigned but back-pedalled under Graeme Souness and were playing catch up along with some nice but ultimately fruitless football under Roy Evans while Alex Ferguson put walls and a roof on his solid base made the gap grow.

Gerard Houllier’s reign threatened to narrow the chasm which had opened up by the dawn of a new millennium but only really flattered to deceive. Never more than the 2001-02 season when a platform on which a challenge could well have been mounted crumbled after some poor signings over the summer which followed. The club careered further backwards and by the summer of 2004 a change was not just inevitable it was essential.

Rafa Benitez’s achievement in winning the European and FA Cups in his first two terms along with the fractious ownership situation is according to some observers in the media all that keeps him in a job. They cite those polls, radio phone-ins, texts and emails from the saturated coverage as their evidence of little backing from the fans and seem surprised when the opposite view is ventured.

As a view it is almost certainly one eyed and ultimately detrimental to the club as it gives the appearance of a crisis torn rabble tearing itself to bits. Meanwhile the man at the helm refuses to panic and steers the ship along its course as best he can while those aboard the armada at least every second week follow - not blindly as decisions are debated and weaknesses are poured over but in the right forums and context. Those discussions are certainly diligent and with any thoughts and fears considered opinion rather than impetuous judgment.

Managers who lose dressing rooms do not get players performing as they did against not only Lyon on Wednesday but also - albeit that one rose between a host of thorns - the win over Manchester United.

Liverpool have performed woefully at stages but also put in performances which have not earned a just reward. Even the Carling Cup a competition Rafa has been slated for not having the merest concern about was exited in the right spirit. On a good performance and with a full contribution to a fine match.

Nor would those players selected for duty act in the manner that they have - knowing their thousands of pounds a week are safe even if their win bonuses are not they would as so many do simply wave white flags.

Banners and flags still festoon stadia across the continent extolling the virtues of players plus Rafael Benitez. There is no doubt about the disappointment so many supporters feel at that start of this campaign following a very good showing last term. However, though there is a gap between Liverpool and those clubs at the domestic summit there remains everything to play for. Even the top prize itself.

The Reds will need to be virtually flawless but most people expect this particular season to be unlike many that have gone before. The eventual champions could lose as many as half a dozen games if not more with teams who have previously seen imperious performing badly and haemorrhaging points.

Progressing in Europe unless it is in the Europa League will be harder and requires a heavier reliance on the efforts of others and not making the last 16 will be a blow but the same one Manchester United suffered in 2006 when they finished bottom of their group. Even if the worst happens events at Old Trafford prove the situation is not irretrievable.

Rafa makes mistakes he is after all human but in football any error is magnified and currently examined in minute detail but to believe his errs outweigh his strengths and contribution to Liverpool Football Club is woefully flawed.

With very few exceptions outside fan literature the good done is largely ignored. Why? Simply because it doesn’t make good copy - it is a story readers would not necessarily want to have examined when the other angle is so more noteworthy.

Not only that so would the house of cards some thoughts and hastily cobbled together theories are based on.

Often they are using their own understandings and old data but worse than that are the statistics which often get repeated ad nausea are not just flawed but inexplicably wrong yet are paraded as fact. For some reason figures brandished in the hands of some old pro rather than those who meticulously research in order to provide articles or blogs are believed.

Even those who should know better after years of training and practice informing them that all sources and facts should be checked - journalists - are in the current climate which prevails at newspapers and broadcast media basing their pieces on the same principles. They seemingly eschew hard evidence and the importance of detail being behind every word they write. Instead they are prepared to pass off the same supposition, half-truth and lies.

As they are held to be independent with no axe to grind not to mention trusted and educated sources rather than just the basic newsmen which previously filled back pages their commentaries not only become part of the myth they exacerbate it.

Achievements such as the come backs against AC Milan in the 2005 Champions League final are put down to luck and the spirit of just a few players. For the 2006 FA Cup win Benitez of course had no one other than Steven Gerrard to be grateful towards who he, as has been related countless times, approached to examine some of the errors he made during the 90 minutes at the post game celebration.

It may have been an unusual time for most to raise such issues as the trophy sat still doused in champagne but rooting out and correcting problems is part of a manager’s job. For an obsessive like Rafael Benitez the timing is immaterial and along with his decision to join fans in a Cologne bar is just one reason why many Liverpool fans are happy to have a man so dedicated to improving the lot of a team they love in charge.

Focussing on that particular night in Istanbul the decision to pick Harry Kewell as a starter has been criticised during the past week without so much as a consideration as to whether it was tactically right given that PSV Eindhoven had stretched the Italians in the semi-final and exposed a weakness to pace from someone operating in the hole.

There were few available to the manager able to perform in such a role. That he was withdrawn due to injury had little impact on events and certainly didn’t change the pattern of the game. It was the reorganisation made at half-time which won the game and regardless of the enforced nature it was not as a BBC panel which further perpetuated the myths about net spend and squad size suggested down to circumstance rather than any form of managerial wisdom.

A right back was taken off and replaced with a central midfielder who helped change the complexion of the game but contrary to opinion often expressed a man obsessed with caution and numbers put three men at the back. They were protected by Dietmar Hamann whose introduction was crucial in giving Gerrard and Xabi Alonso license to roam a little more and the six minutes in which the deficit was pulled back were amongst the most remarkable ever witnessed on a football field but owed much to a manager who managed to pull the situation back.

It is alas a sad indictment of the current mindset in the media and there seems to be evidence of an anti-Benitez agenda when those who previously extolled the virtues of the manager are prepared to stick a knife in and edit facts to suit the angle taken. Their narrow-mindedness all the more galling considering these same names, without exception, have a free hand based on their reputations as columnists but appear content to take a line based on editorial influence.

Liverpool have rarely if ever received a sufficient amount of media acclaim for either past achievements or the more barren years which have followed heady decades. Knocking the club on top is perhaps always part of the media agenda - or at least that could be claimed if Alex Ferguson was not held in either awe or fear by a number of reporters who shy away from asking the pertinent questions.

The triumphs of yesteryear are now only given any precedence in order to beat the incumbent manager over the head with and suggest Bill Shankly or Bob Paisley would never have ruled over a run of one win in eight games. Both did have similar if not worse runs of results not to mention form - which even if a few other things are missing has been shown at times this season and even during the current lean period.

An unfortunate side affect is that some ex-players have jumped to the beat and unfortunately made critiques which inevitably get compared to their more glorious days in a red shirt.

Critics suggest cup wins and a fine 2008-09 season have contributed to papering over the cracks.

Maybe they should consider that Rafa has not so much covered cracks as a huge number of chasms in the wall and somehow stopped the whole house from falling down around our ears.

Just like most of the road to Istanbul Liverpool have been punching above their weight for a succession o campaigns and may continue to do so this term. Courtesy of some good guidance the Reds have worked their way up from prize fighter to somewhere like genuine title contenders even if the shot does not come until 2011.

Rafael Benitez who has not only delivered progress season after season but secured trophies and has Liverpool on the cusp of being a genuine force in the league will be following that back and white patent in a time when there is no black and white just shades of grey.

Rafa is somehow managing an unmanageable club. If he was to leave for whatever reason the Reds’ ability to build any sort of challenge before another new decade starts would be set back. Those who may have called for it may if they get their wish could only realise just what we had when he has gone.

Carragher's star return

All manner of theories abound when a player loses form. Particularly when he descends from the lofty height Jamie Carragher occupies.

Though he has possessed an edge which has made him imperious at the back Liverpool's vice-captain has so rarely been lauded outside the confines of L4. He was overlooked by a succession of international managers while a media which gnashed its teeth when centre halves fell victim to inconsistent form or injury never called for his name to top the list of alternatives let alone become a first pick.

However, England's loss has most certainly been Liverpool's gain.

Pundits only now taking note of his name would not usually concern the unassuming Bootle born defender. That would be unless their column inches and hot air were not concerning a lack of form which has bedevilled his season so far.

The term started average at best for Carragher who though a Blue while in short trousers has typified a spirit any boyhood Red would have brought to the team. His performances in arenas across the globe exemplify the character and standards of being a Liverpudlian. Some fans have identified with him more than the club captain.

Not all of Jamie's near 600 appearances have been as high profile as a magical night in Istanbul back in May 2005 but as a precis of the player and man it points to an absolute quality - sheer defiance, pure courage and heart.

These assets have seen him outlast and eventually see off a host of challengers to his place in the side.

Many thought he could have given so much that a 13 season career had stretched just a few months too far - at least at the highest level.

Typically honest and frank about his contribution as well as that of others Carragher has pointed a finger squarely in his own direction for part of Liverpool's travails. He has confessed to neither relaxing or sleeping after a game as he needed to pour over videos and stats.

Causes or reasons for the blip - as that what it now seems to be rather than any form of downward slide - experienced have not been easy to ascertain and even less clear to explain.

A desire for full-backs to thrust forward at every opportunity has been identified as unbalancing the usually rigid Liverpool defence. Though what seems certain is that Daniel Agger's return may just have arrested any further slide.

Liverpool lost at home to Lyon and errors were made by the rearguard but with the Dane amongst their number Carragher looked far more assured than he has done so far alongside Martin Skrtel.

Emiliano Insua was in no small way culpable for the French champion's winner which may have hinted at a continued lack of organisation amongst the four on duty. However, move the clock forward a few days and though the young Argentine made a couple of early errors he along with the overtly disciplined Glen Johnson were otherwise faultless.

Johnson certainly nailed the that lie he has no ability as a defensive full-back even if he does lack a few of the basics. His display against Manchester United was, though largely restrained, little short of consummate. Though not exactly unique.

On Sunday each defender and the unit remained compact and were superbly marshalled by the man with the armband which in turn set a template for the entire XI - front to back and from one flank to another.

It allowed the ball to be won in the engine room where Michael Carrick and Paul Scholes - though particularly the latter - had their usual rhythm disrupted. With play fired up towards the front two - something of a surprise to Alex Ferguson - Fernando Torres and Dirk Kuyt exploited the doubts and fallibilities evident in Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic.

Up top the visitors were starved of the same type of service with Wayne Rooney isolated and Agger in no small measure responsible for Dimitar Berbatov's 74 minutes of toil.

There was no more creditable choice for Man of the Match especially with Steve Bruce not making the selection.

A man who has made Liverpool tick since Rafael Benitez asked him to turn out as a specialist centre back rather than something of a utility man was blocking and whether on the floor or in the air hunting down trouble with the same verve and force of nature in the challenge he displayed in Istanbul most notably - but many other less illustrious venues and occasions.