Liverpool finished 21 points off the leaders last season and there was a clear gap in quality. Utd actually spent more than Liverpool in the summer and brought in greater quality.

Compare Liverpool’s 1st team or squad with that of Utd and Chelsea and there’s a huge difference in class. Utd and Chelsea have quality in every position and outstanding cover also.

Liverpool have Carragher/Agger, Gerrard/Mascherano/Alonso and Torres. This gives them a good ’spine’ to the team. Centre of the back, central midfield and striker. However, other than this they lack quality. Aurelio, Arbeola, Hyppia, Finnan, all very average defenders. Kewell, probably finished at the top level because of injury. Babbel, will be class but taking a long time to settle. On the right neither Pennant nor Benayoun are of the required quality and in Kuyt, Voronin and Crouch its a case of toss a coin as to who plays with Torres. One is as mediocre as the other.

For my money only Gerrard and Torres would definitely get into the Man U or Chelsea team. Ask yourself honestly how many Utd and Chelsea players would walk straight into the Liverpool team?

It tells in the end, every season, but I don’t believe many Liverpool fans are objective enough in evaluating their team and disappointment invariably follows year after year.

I completely disagree with you on that one.

I don’t believe that Liverpool lost a game until November, did they?

Jose Reina’s kept God knows how many clean sheets in the Premiership since he moved to Anfield. It is, therefore, not a bad judgement in my opinion to say that once they spent money on the players I mentioned. They most likely would have beaten Chelsea, if not for a farcical penalty decision, won at Villa etc.

If Rafa is asking all the while for options up front, then goes and signs Torres for £21m + Garcia the other way and brings in Babel from Ajax for somewhere in the region of £12.5m, why on God’s Earth is it a huge burden to expect Rafa to win the league?

I based my feelings largely on the fact they usually finish quite strongly and had a good start this time around, put those two together and you’d most likely be there or thereabouts.

oh yeah american owners oh yes wer gna finally have some cash oh yess we rich now woot woot

oh yeah wer best team in da world oh yeah nd we signed da best striker in da world record fee oh yeahhh wer all getting orgasms and then everything just falls apart and we are all now asking for them to leave!!!!

Im realli happy as a man united fan to see the so called crisis at liverpool haha dw u always have next season like u had for the past 18 years =P

all united fans thought glazer wud stuff us up but it didnt happen but no1 thought liverpool wud get stuffd up and they did!! im just happi we got an owner like glazer who doesnt interfere wif sir alex at all and lets him do wa eva he wants.

“the only thing that Liverpool needed to build on from 2006-7 was to sign a world-class forward and a creative midfielder probably (Torres, Benayoun) and they did so. Even around October time I tipped them for the league,”

Now that, in a nutshell, is the problem at Liverpool and a huge burden for Rafa to carry. I don’t for a minute doubt the sincerity of the statement but if you objectively looked the the ManU, Chelsea and Arsenal first teams/squads and concluded that was all Liverpool needed to bridge the gap then (no offence) but there’s no hope for your judgement. The one consolation is that you are not alone out there.

In terms of all round quality and strength in depth Liverpool are way off the pace of the top 3 and League position, which doesn’t lie, constantly reflects this. It will take time and investment AND sensible buying to bridge this.

As long as Liverpool fans keep setting unrealistic expectations then they will continue to be gutted when results fall short of belief.

Having watched Utd, Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool for 3 months you were still prepared to tip Liverpool for the title in October!

Says it all really.

The situ with Liverpool is less than ideal but that doesn’t excuse or give excuse to the players. To begin to participate in this just fuels the fire and doesn’t help the players win games in any way.

I think you definitely have a valid point, especially considering the way Chelsea have ploughed on through adversity.

I read Robbie Fowler’s autobiography late last year mind you and there were lots of interesting insights into the way the club was run and the traditions of it. To be honest, it details more his relationship with Houllier and Thompson at Liverpool than anything but little instances, like the club bringing in Houllier with Roy Evans as a joint manager, do affect players. Not saying this is the same thing, but it does give a little example of how boardroom actions can affect players sometimes.

How much of it is down to Rafa and how much of it is down to the Americans god only knows. I don’t think they can be blamed too much, the only thing that Liverpool needed to build on from 2006-7 was to sign a world-class forward and a creative midfielder probably (Torres, Benayoun) and they did so. Even around October time I tipped them for the league, so I think Rafa can hardly turn round too much and say he doesn’t have the talent.

To have the board, manager and players all singing from the same hymn sheet would more likely help but its not an ideal world, as you mentioned with Chelsea and Arsenal, and I don’t think this situation can be solely responsible for Liverpool’s plight at the minute.

Two things came to my mind. Number one was the thought that maybe the players have realised/felt that their push for the Premiership title is at a dead end at this stage & they’re setting up these incidents to take the heat. That’s my cynical side talking.

The second thought was that if all this stuff is really that serious that the players can’t help but brood over it then isn’t that poor man management by Rafa? I mean teams like Chelsea & Arsenal have been through turbulent times most of last year about ownership battles & uncertainty over the manager’s job security & they’ve come through it with resilience & continuing good form. Again, as an outsider looking in, i put that down to their respective managers telling the team to get on with business & not worry about the relative shitstorm whirling around them.

On the other hand i don’t see Rafa making any reassuring comments that the players have quoted from to help them get through this so called ‘ordeal’.

What does everyone else think?