Owners not completely to blame for Liverpool’s demise

Liverpool’s star striker Fernando Torres has blamed the clubs struggles this season on poor finances.

He stated that failure to sign quality players during the summer was one of the main reasons for their poor season thus far.

He also revealed the sale of Alvaro Arbeloa, Xabi Alonso and Sami Hyypia has had a big effect on the team.

His manager Rafa Benitez has came out in support of his striker and revealed he also felt the need for more investment and new players in the summer.

However I know it seems obvious but Rafa needs to take some responsibility for the clubs demise, as well as the owners and stop deflecting blame away from himself.

Last summer

Last summer Benitez signed full-back Glen Johnson from Portsmouth for £18million and Alberto Aquilani for £20million. He funded those deals with the sales of Arbeloa and Alonso. Benitez near enough broke even in the transfer market.

However I believe most Liverpool fans would far prefer Alonso to be bossing their midfield than having the fragile Italian midfielder in their line-up. The deal to sell Arbeloa was one that really baffled me. He wasn’t the best full-back in the world but he was reliable and versatile.

He is currently in the star-studded Real Madrid side, so he can’t be that bad. I can’t see how Johnson is £13million better than Arbeloa. Johnson is a good attacking full-back but his price was vastly overinflated. And it could also be argued that he is very defensively naive.

Value

Italian midfield star Aquilani has struggled to make an impact at Anfield. Many factors haven’t helped his cause like the fact that he arrived at the club with an injury. When he finally got fully-fit Benitez decided not to pick him.

I don’t believe he’s been given enough time on the pitch for Liverpool. However for £20million Liverpool fans would have been expecting an instant fantastic playmaker. They got an injury-prone Italian with according to Benitez psychological problems. The £20million could have been better spent elsewhere.

For just over £13million Benitez could have signed Dutch midfield playmaker Wesley Sneijder, who helped his new club Inter get into the semi-finals of the Champions League. I’m sure most Liverpool fans would have appreciated the skills of the ex-Real Madrid man. Benitez would then have had £7million spare to play with.

Glen Johnson’s £18million transfer from Portsmouth really did surprise me. It wasn’t a surprise that Johnson was moving on Portsmouth needed the money but the size of fee surprised me. Sure Johnson is a decent full-back but to pay such a large fee is reckless.

Money

People that claim that Benitez hasn’t had much to spend must be kidding themselves. He has spent a tremendous amount of money in his years at the club. Yes he’s got to two Champions League finals, winning one but in the league they have somehow gone backwards.

Even last summer after he sold Alonso he had £40million to spend and decided to spend it on two players. No doubt that money could have been better utilised. Liverpool have at times lacked options in all departments, apart from goalkeeper.

Signings

Benitez has signed the likes of Pepe Reina, Yossi Benayoun, Javier Mascherano and Fernando Torres during his reign. All four players have become crucial players for Benitez and his club. However Benitez has spent a lot of the clubs money on players like Albert Riera, Lucas Leiva and Ryan Babel.

All three players have flattered to deceive in a red shirt and in past glory days wouldn’t get near a Liverpool squad. They all came with pretty hefty price tags and struggled to make an impact at the Merseyside club.

Ironic

It’s ironic that Rafa Benitez could leave Liverpool this summer because of Liverpool’s apparent poor season. Yet he could walk into a top job in Spain. The Spanish club he is being most heavily linked with, arguably the biggest in the world, Real Madrid.

He is still highly rated in his homeland despite his reputation taking a battering in England. Benitez has to take lots of the blame for Liverpool’s awful season, yet he could be rewarded for his poor performance with a move to the Bernabeu. What a crazy world we live in but as we have seen in recent years at Real anything can happen.