Despite the 14 point difference between Liverpool and the league leaders Manchester Utd at present, I feel it is only a matter of time before Rafael Benitez achieves success in the Premiership.

This summer will no doubt be more telling than ever, but with his future pretty much reassured (Guillem Balague, the Spanish journalist and close confidant of Rafa Benitez stating as much in ‘The Game Podcast’) whoever owns the club during pre-season, Liverpool will no longer be a ‘team in progress’ but rather a team with all their pieces in the jigsaw complete.

Evidently the wide positions require stronger players and with the likely addition of Rafinha and possibly Quaresma this summer the one glaring weakness of the team would have been rectified. The much talked about ’spine’ of Liverpool is very much on a par with their closest rivals. Players of the calibre such as Reina, Carrager, Agger, Mascherano, Alonso, Gerrard and Torres suggest without any hesitation that this is the case.

However what is in question is the actual strength of Liverpool’s squad which quite clearly has been shown to be lacking, especially in comparison with United and Chelsea. Whether this aspect of the team will be improved upon is harder to ascertain. Instead one feels that essentially the first XI will be strengthened but not the squad as such.

Do you agree? Is Benitez nearer to getting Liverpool back to the top of the league?