Liverpool facing up to lowered expectations

Liverpool’s inglorious 3-0 defeat to noveau riche Manchester City on Monday night is perhaps just a taste of things to come.

The Reds, whose seventh place finish in last season’s Barclays Premier League led to Rafael Benitez’s dismissal, are enduring a protracted and painful decline.

Even new managerial incumbent, the gentleman of English football, Roy Hodgson, is inclined to agree.

He was quick to point out at the start of the season that Liverpool would struggle to compete at the top and that perhaps expectations should be adjusted.

In fighting the fires raging around him, including a battle to keep want-away midfielder Javier Mascherano, Hodgson was blunt in his assessment of the road ahead.

“It is premature to start talking about what a big job this is” he told The Daily Mirror.
On the eve of a vital Europa League qualifier, the five times European Cup winners face the relative ignominy of scrapping to reach European football’s second tier competition.

They travel to face Turkish side Trabzonspor, a team whose greatest European achievement was in fact a 1-0 first-leg victory over Liverpool in the 1976-1977 European Cup campaign.

Ryan Babel’s winner at Anfield a week ago ensured a slender lead would be taken away with them as the Merseysiders prepare for a typically heated atmosphere.

Where did it all go wrong? Having narrowly missed out on their nineteenth English top division title at the end of the 2008/2009 season, the malaise began in earnest.

The financial problems of co-owners, Americans Tom Hicks and George Gillett, became more acute and a battle of wills ensued between them and Rafa Benitez.

A lack of progress and investment, in order to make the final push for glory besides the pressure, both internally and externally, for the cash strapped owners to sell up, are reasons cited for the parlous state of affairs.

Not that Benitez is entirely blameless. He spent a large chunk of last season’s transfer kitty on the crocked Italian midfielder, Alberto Aquilani, a £20 million signing from Roma.

Increasingly bizarre squad rotation and tactical changes meant even his previously close bond with supporters waned.

A series of mooted takeover bids, including an aborted effort by Chinese businessman, Kenny Huang, have so far all reached an impasse.

Liverpool’s lack of strength in depth was apparent on the opening day of last season when they were defeated by a Tottenham Hotspur side who boasted Peter Crouch, David Bentley and Roman Pavlyuchenko on their bench.

By comparison, Liverpool’s back-up was limited to Youssi Benayoun and misfit striker Andriy Voronin as their only recognised names.

On Monday night, only talisman Steven Gerrard, who is looking an increasingly frustrated lone figure, brought a rare touch of quality to his side’s performance at Manchester City.

Striker Fernando Torres is still not back to full fitness, defender Jamie Carragher is creaking into the twilight of his career whilst Glen Johnson is frantically trying to create and defend in equal measure with sporadic results.

Roy Hodgson may well come under increasing pressure, even from fans as patient as those at Anfield if the club’s dignity suffers from further heavy defeats. Sadly it could be a sign of things to come without investment and fine tuning.

Hicks and Gillett will be anxious to sell before their deadline in October to refinance the club’s debt. In the meantime, Liverpool fans will wish for another famous cup tonic and the beginning of another European adventure, or at the very least for arch-rivals Manchester United to fail in their quest to go one better and overtake Liverpool’s eighteen title haul.

By William Geldart