Can Liverpool still win the Premier League?

I watched Aston Villa win 3-1 at Liverpool yesterday and thought just how a team who loses two games out of the first three in the Premier League can really go on and be crowned champions. Liverpool suffered only two defeats in the whole of last seasons campaign and came close to challenging bitter rivals Manchester United. The Reds even managed to go to their deadly rivals and win 4-1, in what was one of the best performances of the season.

Their problem last season was the fact that they slipped up far too much against so-called lesser sides. Tottenham and Aston Villa are not bad sides, but if Liverpool are to claim their first league title in 20 years then they have to defeat these sides.

I have a friend who is a die-hard Liverpool fan and every season before the season starts he tells me that Liverpool are going to win the Premier League. I think he bases this theory on blind faith rather than any logic. This delusional faith doesn’t surprise me as the Anfield faithful want to be the top team in England so desperately.

The sad truth is that Liverpool do not have the consistency or the quality to currently claim that they are the best team in debatably the best league in the world. The lack of strength in-depth showed when they needed it most against Aston Villa.

They threw on Ukranian striker Andrei Voronin, who was deemed not good enough for the club last summer and shipped out on-loan to Hertha Berlin. Nothing against Voronin as I think he is a decent player, but he just isn’t a world class striker. That’s the problem for Liverpool they have only one true striker Fernando Torres and when he and Steven Gerrard are stopped Liverpool become aimless and don’t seem to have a plan B.

Last season that plan B was the midfield creating of the now departed Spanish international Xabi Alonso. The importance of the former Sociedad midfielder is now only being realised. His absence may be helped when new signing from Roma Alberto Aquilani recovers from injury, but the Spanish star will be greatly missed this season.

Liverpool fans quite logically expected more big name signings this summer to push their club to the next level, with Valencia attacking pair David Villa and David Silva both being linked with the side from Anfield. However to their dismay the club have hardly spent anything, right-back Glen Johnson and the aforementioned Aquilani the only big arrivals. Those signings were financed by boss Rafa Benitez selling players and it seems that the finances at the club are in disarray.

There is still confusion and muddy water surrounding Messrs Gillet and Hicks and whether they want to sell the club or not. Liverpool football club can’t expect to be challenging the likes of Manchester United, Chelsea and Arsenal at the top of the Premier League on a shoestring budget.

Liverpool have failed for far too long in the Premier League and something has to be done or even mega-rich Manchester City could overtake them in the top four. This is a stark warning that the Liverpool board should take heed of, they need to cough-up or sell-up, because at the moment Liverpool are standing still and are on a downward spiral.