The situation, Liverpool find themselves in currently is the worst in the history of the club. A club steeped in great history and proud tradition mixed with profound passion. A club, let it be remembered, that are still the most successful outfit in the history of the English game. However, a club that is in danger of a meltdown if their current plight continues.
Tonight’s premiership match against Wigan has never looked so important for Manager, Rafael Benitez. Sunday’s 2-1 defeat to Arsenal was the final blow to any chances Liverpool had of challenging for the league title. The club are now a worrying 13 points behind league leaders Chelsea and, more troublingly for the Spaniard, eight points behind Aston villa, who hold fourth spot right now.
Liverpool’s season has disintegrated into disarray after crashing out of the Champions league in the group stages, the first time they’ve missed out on the knockout stages since the 2002-2003 season, and have also suffered further disappointment in the league cup at the hand of the gunners once again. The defeat to Arsenal on Sunday left the Kop ruing another season gone by in the search of that elusive 19th championship leaving only the Europa league and the FA cup as their only chances of silverware this season.
After finishing second in the league last season, challenging United all the way, it looked as if Benitez’s men were heading in the right direction but after taking one step forward last season, Liverpool have taken more than two steps back this, as their seasons looks to be hanging off a cliff.
They have now won three out of their last 15 games and for the size and stature of this club who, pride themselves on winning games it is simply not good enough for any ambitions they harbour or, looking at it now, harboured. It is ironic that Liverpool are on their worst downward spiral in their history on the anniversary when their greatest ever manager, Bill Shankly, took the reins and transformed the fortunes of the club and led them on their path to success.
Benitez has a lot of work to do if he is to stop the undoing of all Shankly’s hard exertions and with the strength of his squad, it looks a hard task. It has become apparent so far this season that the squad Benitez, and only Benitez, has assembled is one of the worst in the clubs history and it will take more than the spirit of Istanbul to achieve anything with them.
The minimum and it could be said, the maximum, the club can aim towards is finishing within the top four to secure Champions league qualification. With the amount of debt American owners, Tom Hicks and George Gillette have placed upon the club, the Champions league is more important to Liverpool than any of the other top four pretenders. Without that revenue next season, the club can forget any hopes of a proposed move to Stanley Park as well as risking losing some of their top stars such as Torres and Mascherano. Benitez has also complained about the lack funds for transfers but without qualification for Europe he can all but forget about making any big signings next year.
It is a real surprise to see just how desperate and concerning things have become at Anfield but if the club does not get their act together soon and improve upon recent form and achieve a top four finish then it could well turn into the meltdown Graeme Souness predicted.
After all we have seen this before. Newcastle United ring any bells?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment