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Liverpool paint themselves into a corner
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Liverpool's Emiliano Insua, center, reacts following their Champions League group E soccer match against Lyon at Anfield Stadium, Liverpool, England, Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2009. Lyon won the game 2-1. (AP Photo/Tim Hales)
And with a swift 2-1 defeat to Lyon in Tuesday night's Champions League group match, Rafa Benitez may have jumped to a lead in the sack race. Well, actually it's four successive losses (for the first time in 22 years) that's done most harm to Liverpool's manager. And, really, who would take over to replace the cunning Spaniard? Talk of Kenny Dalgleish or some other Liverpool legend taking the reins may be great fodder for call-in shows, but if anyone's qualified to win out the rest of the way in the group stage, it's probably the guy who won the Reds their last European trophy.
But there's only so much he can do. The lack of depth in the squad is well-known, as are the childish grudges in and around the boardroom with Liverpool's farcical American owners. After two losses, it looked to be a difficult road for Liverpool. Now it's officially a club in turmoil. While there are few football grounds that are sensitive to the pressures involved in their clubs' performance, Benitez's substitution of goalscorer Yossi Benayoun for Andriy Voronin definitely didn't meet the approval of Anfield. Then again, would it really, as throwing on the Ukrainian international was symbolic of exactly the difficult task Rafa Benitez has in front of him. I'll substitute one tired, dynamic player, he thinks to himself, for . . . Andriy Voronin. Oh well.
All is obviously not lost for the red parts of the Merseyside. Liverpool seem to find themselves in difficult situations and have managed to forge on. Perhaps new signing Alberto Aquilani will be a tremendous success and perhaps Liverpool fans will forget about Xabi Alonso and the fact that Jamie Carragher is half the player he once was. A fit Steven Gerrard (came off after 25 minutes tonight) and Fernando Torres (in the stands, injured) for a credible long haul of important domestic and international games will certainly help, and the likelyhood of that is about the same as Arsenal's Cesc Fabregas and Andrei Arshavin doing the same. And like Arsenal, there are no delusions about their lack of depth. But Liverpool have certainly made it difficult for themselves.
[Telegraph]
All you Kopites, throw your two cents in on what's going on with your beloved club.
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