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When is a crisis not a crisis at Anfield ?
Defeat at home to Arsenal this weekend could see Liverpool drop below Fulham & Birmingham in the table and fall six points behind the team in the fourth Champions League spot.
With nearly a third of the season already gone Liverpool’s main problem appears to be that there are no signs that the team will improve on the pitch any time soon.
Even Steven Gerrards recent return to the team from injury hasn’t made a significant difference to Liverpool's fortunes. It used to be said that Liverpool were a two man team but it now looks like it is the other member of that duo, Fernando Torres, who makes the ultimate difference between success or failure.
It Is not yet clear if Gerrard’s persistent groin injury has healed or whether he is playing through the pain with the aid of injections. Torres has just become available for selection again and there is an ever bigger question over his long term fitness. A hernia which will require surgery is being managed by the club’s physios but just how long that situation can continue is anyone’s guess.
A minimum six week lay off would be required if the Spaniard goes under the knife and my guess is that this will happen sometime early in the new year, as long as Liverpool can loan in a striker in the January transfer window to relieve the pressure on the clubs only attacking option, French teenager David N’Gog.
And then there is the question of Alberto Aquilani, the £20M Italian international who joined the club in the wake of Xabi Alonso's summer transfer to Real Madrid and only made his debut in the CL defeat to fellow Italians Fiorentina in midweek. According to manager Rafa Benitez Aquilani has been fit for a couple of weeks but the Spaniard wanted to wait for the appropriate moment to introduce him from the start of a match.
When Aquilani was signed on August 5th and was supposed to require between 4-6 weeks rest to shake off an ankle injury. Finally on 21st October, ten weeks after arriving on Merseyside, Aquilani made his Liverpool reserve team debut in a 2-0 win against Sunderland. The following week Aquilani finally appeared in the Reds first team playing the final 13 minutes of their Carling Cup defeat to Arsenal at the Emirates. His league debut was made soon after when he got just twenty minutes on the pitch in the Anfield draw against Birmingham. A bizzare 30 seconds on the field against Debrecen in the Champions League was followed by his full first team debut on November 24th in the 2-1 defeat to Fiorentina, 112 days after he joined the club.
Already Aquilani is admitting that it may be difficult for him to find his form in a struggling team and he is extremely unlikly to make any more then a late introduction in the game against Arsenal at Anfield this weeknd with the much maligned Lucas expected to replace him in the starting lineup.
I had always thought that there was a distinct possibility that Benitez would be replaced at the Anfield helm before Aquilani actually made his Liverpool debut but it may be the case that Benitez's ever fading long term hopes of holding onto his post may lay firmly on the shoulders of the player he has been so reluctant to play. Despite what he says the match shy Italian midfielder needs to make an impact, and a big one at that, sooner rather than later.
I have severe doubts that Aquilani will make a significant difference at Anfield. The Italian is no doubt a quality player but he doesn't appear to have an abundance of pace and I question whether he has the physical strength to make an impact.
Benitez is also going to have to decide where his new signing will play. With his preference for a defensive central duo in midfield and Gerrard supporting the lone Torres up front is the Italian central midfielder destined to play out on the left side of midfield ?
Already, it's starting to smell like Robbie Keane all over again.
In May 2009 something quite unusual happened in English football, it was a first for the Premier League. It had happened once before, back in 1989 in the old First Division - the widely held belief that the best team always wins the league wasn't true.
Six months later and Liverpool, who should have won their 19th league title last May find themselves in meltdown, out of the Champions League, out of the Premier League title race, out of the Carling Cup and completely out of luck with injuries which are threatening to finish their season before Christmas.
Managing Director Christian Purslow says that there is no crisis. Manager Rafa Benitez says that there is no crisis. Club Captain Steve Gerrard says that there is no crisis and I'm sure if you could find either George Gillette or Tom Hicks they would also say that there is no crisis. So everything's fine then.
Except of course, that it's not.
Just what does constitute a crisis at a football club as prestigious as Liverpool FC ?
Well, for a start, a Champions League exit at the group stage is fairly alarming. Not only did Liverpool fail to qualify for the lucrative knock-out stages for the first time since 2002-03 but they also managed their lowest ever points total, suffered two out of three home defeats and only beat the group’s whipping boys, Debrecen, by 1-0 score lines while Fiorentina & Lyon totalled nine and eight goals respectively against the Hungarians.
Then there is the league form.
Second place last season with only two defeats in thirty-eight matches, Liverpool started the new season as many peoples title favourites but alarm bells started to sound in their opening match at Tottenham. The narrow sounding 2-1 defeat at White Hart Lane masked the fact that Liverpool had played appallingly and the match should have been over by half time.
Three days later however the hiccup in London appeared to have been forgotten when spoilers Stoke City were dispatched with ease 4-0 at Anfield. Another of the top four contenders Aston Villa were next and once again defensive inefficiencies cost them dear in a demoralising 3-1 home defeat.
There were even more defensive problems at the Reebock but it eventually resulted in a 3-2 win and Premier League newcomers Burnley were hammered 4-0 at home before the reds won another 5 goal thriller this time at West Ham. A Torres hat-trick inspired the 6-1 home win over Hull, the reds forth win in a row, before they went down with a whimper at Chelsea.
Beach-ball-gate again covered over another pathetic showing by the reds at Sunderland and then of course came the inspired ‘kick-start’ victory over Man United which proved to be just another false dawn compounded by the Halloween horror showing at Fulham six days later where Liverpool slumped to a 3-1 defeat and were left with just nine men on the at the end.
Then followed back-to-back ‘must-win’ home games against Birmingham & Man City which both ended in 2-2 draws and the dreadful Everton were some how beaten in the Goodison derby which brings us up to last weeks abysmal 0-0 draw with Fat Sam’s Blackburn at Ewood Park.
So far this season Liverpool have played a total of twenty-three competitive matches. They have won ten, drew four & lost nine.