Is there a more frustrating English side than Liverpool?
Armed with some of the most ardent supporters around, the club seems only able to tread water in the English Premier League, and now it has fallen out of top four spots. It is one-point behind Manchester City, although with a game in hand, but still a 1-1 draw with Wigan in which Titus Bramble (who shouldn’t even be allowed in the stands of a Premiership match let alone on the pitch) scores the tying goal is just a terrible result.
There really is no other way to put it.
Now Manager Rafa Benitez is bickering with the club’s owners and there is speculation that the club may be sold again soon. Add this onto 17 years without a league title and Liverpool fans certainly have reason to be upset.
But what really makes the blood pressure boil is Liverpool’s ability to play like world-beaters in the UEFA Champions League. Two finals in the past three years and one title in that span is incredible. When a club does this, it should be challenging for league titles year in and year out. But look at the table and the Reds are 12 points out of first and 10 out of second. Heck, even Chelsea in third place is six points ahead and with Liverpool’s league form shouldn’t be too concerned about a challenge.
Now Benitez wants more money to buy more players to boost Liverpool’s chances. Isn’t that what he got in the summer when he spent millions to make Liverpool a legitimate title contender? Fernando Torres has been worth every penny, but the rest of the buys seem suspect so far. Somehow the fortitude and game mastery that Liverpool and Benitez show in Europe gets trounced and toppled by lowly league sides. Something needs to be done about the intestinal fortitude of the Reds. Changes need to be made and more than just a January buy can produce.
Some may say Tottenham Hotspur has been a bigger disappointment, but with the way things go at White Hart Lane, nothing can be taken as a certainty. Spurs have crashed and burned, but the Reds have just been underwhelming to a degree that they are irrelevant to the title chase halfway through the season.
So Reds fans begin preparing for next season’s campaign and just hope that Liverpool is Champions League eligible. Otherwise it could be a really depressing season.
