Should Rafa Benitez leave Liverpool?

I almost feel sorry for Liverpool fans at the moment (almost!). Liverpool’s 2-1 home defeat to Reading in the FA Cup replay and the draw with Stoke illustrated why Liverpool are struggling this season.

Inspiration

Fernando Torres and Steven Gerrard are the only players in the Liverpool squad capable of inspiring. Both went off in Wednesday’s game and off with them went any sort of inspiration.

That’s a real worry for Liverpool as Gerrard and Torres will now be missing for the next few weeks. Even Gerrard has looked a shadow of his former self. It almost seems that he’s given up on and has got fed up of rescuing the team time and time again.

No Depth

The lack of strength in-depth is frightening in the Liverpool squad. The person who has to take the blame for that is their manager Rafa Benitez. He has spent a lot of money in his time as Liverpool boss and his squad now looks weaker than ever.

People can defend Benitez saying he’s made a lot of money back for the Reds, but the main concern amongst everybody involved at Liverpool is that the club are unlikely to win anything again this season. That illusive Premier League title now looks further away for the Reds than ever before.

Poor

The simple fact is that the players Benitez has signed have not been good enough. He has signed lots of foreign youngsters believed to have promising futures, yet too many haven’t made the grade in the first team. The perfect example is David Ngog.

The striker is not a bad player but in Liverpool’s glory years, he wouldn’t have even been good enough to warm the bench. He is still young but I don’t think he will ever be good enough to be a first choice Liverpool striker.

Then there are the likes of Lucas Leiva, Ryan Babel and Philip Degen who are also in a similar category. In fact some would say Lucas isn’t even a good player. I have to say recent criticism of young full-back Emiliano Insua is slightly harsh; we have to remember the Argentine is only 21. However he seems to lack pace and positional ability and that doesn’t bode well for his future in the Premier League.

All the previously mentioned players named were signed by Benitez and he is too stubborn to admit that the players he’s signed simple aren’t good enough to play for a team who were expected to challenge for the Premier League title. He is never likely to admit that he is wrong, so Liverpool will be stuck with players that don’t have the ability to compete with Chelsea, Arsenal and Manchester United.

They are even struggling to compete with the likes of Manchester City, Tottenham and Aston Villa this season. These teams have improved immensely this season and they have strengthened their squads. Benitez made signings as well he signed Glen Johnson from Portsmouth for £17million and Alberto Aquilani from Roma for £20million.

Johnson is a good attacking right-back and I’d say he is a good signing for Liverpool. However defensively he can get easily exposed if he’s not on his game. The price Benitez paid for the England international might have been slightly over the top but he has proved one of Liverpool’s best players this season.

Alberto Aquilani has almost become the invisible man at Anfield. Benitez spent big on the Italian and has hardly played him. He did play last night and was completely uninspiring. He was always trying the Hollywood pass, when the easier pass would have been the better option.

Unfortunately for Benitez Aquilani could prove a very expensive mistake. I have to admit I have seen very little of Aquilani, having only saw him play a few times Roma. When I have seen him play his style of play was very suited to the pace of the Italian game and the pace of English football could easily get the better of him.

Responsibility

Like a lot of high profile managers Benitez blamed everybody after the Reading game but himself. He mentioned the referee’s performance, which to me smacks of passing the buck. The referee had a decent game and I don’t believe he could have complained about the Reading penalty. He has to start taking responsible for his side’s poor efforts and try to get a better performance from his team in the next game against Tottenham next weekend.

Motivation

It now seems Benitez has lost his dressing room. Once a manager has lost the confidence of his players there is no way back. His players have been lacklustre and seem to have no motivation. He can’t inspire the team anymore and most Liverpool fans have now lost faith in the Spaniard. Losing the confidence of the players and the fans is a very dangerous combination and it could prove fatal to Rafael Benitez’s reign at Anfield.