Liverpool’s 2-0 weekend derby day defeat to Everton meant that the Merseyside giants finished the day in 19th place in the Premier League.
Liverpool haven’t become a bad team overnight. In recent years there has always been a doubt over the quality of their squad. And in the last few years there has been a doubt over the owners.
Owners
Liverpool now have new owners who the fans hope will take the club forward. They have got rid of the money grabbing Tom Hicks and George Gillett and under new owner John Henry hope to be able to improve their mediocre squad.
Manager
I feel sorry for new Liverpool boss Roy Hodgson. He was given hardly anything to spend in the summer and joined a club with a squad full of average players with a few world class players thrown in. Former-boss Rafa Benitez has been blamed by former-owner Tom Hicks for the mess Liverpool are he might have a point.
Hodgson has brought in midfielder Christian Poulsen, who is quite frankly awful. I was surprised when the Reds signed the 30 year-old because I had seen him play for Juventus and wasn’t overly impressed.
He also brought in a player he knew well from his Fulham days Paul Konchesky. He is a decent player for a side expecting to finish in the bottom half of the Premier League table. However he would struggle to get into a top side but he is Liverpool’s first choice left-back.
Hodgson also signed Portuguese midfielder Raul Meireles from Porto. He looks like he could be a decent signing once he finds his feet in the English game. He has put in some promising performances so far.
The fact that Hodgson has had to sign the likes of Konchesky and Poulsen says a lot about how far Liverpool have fallen behind in terms of financials. They have been forced into signing players that wouldn’t have been fit to wear the Liverpool shirt in years gone by.
Players
Anyway back to Benitez in six years he spent a lot of money by some people’s standards. Unfortunately for Reds fans he bought a lot of mediocre players and players with potential. A lot of the youngsters he bought never fulfilled their potential.
He did sign some decent players. Pepe Reina, Fernando Torres and Daniel Agger are probably the only players who Benitez signed that Liverpool fans could say are good enough for their team.
A lot of his other signings have been awful. It’s like Benitez went out to build an average team and achieved it. He came up with every excuse he could to justify his poor players but quite simply he couldn’t. They just wasn’t good enough and still aren’t.
Not only did he sign poor players but when he had a quality player in Xabi Alonso decided to sell the Spaniard. He then decided to sign Italian benchwarmer Alberto Aquilani. The midfield playmaker struggled to even get on the pitch under Benitez. When Hodgson took his position as boss he allowed the midfielder to return home on-loan to Juventus.
Window
Liverpool are struggling with their current squad but will get out of the relegation zone. However Roy Hodgson and Liverpool fans will be hoping that the club get a substantial transfer kitty in the January transfer window. A lot of people have to take some of the blame for Liverpool’s demise.
Liverpool fans can’t just blame their former American owners because they aren’t the ones out on the pitch every weekend underperforming. Maybe now the old owners are gone everyone at Liverpool can concentrate on matters on the pitch. Now is the time that everyone at the club must stick together or they could be in major trouble.
Who do you think is to blame for the crisis at Liverpool?
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