So where do Liverpool go from here? The simple answer is Goodison Park. Then Ewood Park. From there back to Anfield to host Arsenal and Wigan, before a trip to Portsmouth on 19 December. Liverpool have five league games between now and Christmas, interrupted by the most empty European night seen at Anfield when Fiorentina come to gloat. And it seems increasingly likely that they will play these matches under their current manager. He has not pulled off a Houdini trick; but nor has Rafael Benitez become a complete turkey.
Sunday's Merseyside derby will kick off with the Reds potentially as low as 10th in the Premier League table. Yet it seems that the storms have abated a touch, despite Fiorentina's crucial win on a night when Liverpool laboured to the bare minimum result away to Debrecen.
The swift defence of Rafa Benitez offered last night by Christian Purslow, the club's managing director, suggests that the Anfield hierarchy absorbed the blow that missing out on the knockout stages of the Champions League would entail before it became certain. "If we have three home games in the Europa League we are equivalent to what we budget for in the Champions League," Purslow said. It is undeniable that there would be far less song and dance about elimination in the last 16, and yet the amount of income from reaching and losing such a tie is not an overwhelming sum.
The patience being exhibited by Tom Hicks and George Gillett is in part down to the five-year contract extension the Spaniard signed earlier this year. Benitez's victory in a contract row, part of a remarkable few days in which his team put four past Real Madrid and Manchester United while conceding a total of one, entrenched his position more thoroughly than I accounted for after the defeats to Fiorentina, Lyon and Chelsea.
Benitez has not escaped from the hole into which Liverpool slipped, but his reward for sustaining the illusion that the Big Four are equals by eclipsing Chelsea and challenging Manchester United in the Premier League last season appears to be that he did not have to. That Benitez has frequently made bad investments, as well as good ones, is undeniable; so too is the gulf between the wage bills for the different club's squads, with Chelsea spending over £80m more than Liverpool in the last season for which there are figures, 2007-08.
As the team slip back badly, fans may not appreciate those numbers - and those of rival clubs will dispute them and their relevance. Arsenal fans will point to the astonishingly low cost of their squad, even if they have consistently outpaid Liverpool by around £12m. But Purslow, certainly, will appreciate the gap between his club and the biggest two, along with the cost of paying off a manager with such a contract to his name.
The battle that Benitez cannot avoid is the one to finish fourth, however. Purslow, Hicks and Gillett - like Benitez - will hope that in the five league matches Liverpool can get back on track in the race to qualify for next season's Champions League. Of course Everton will be hoping to inflict serious grief on Sunday and Arsenal, who have trailed Liverpool in three years out of the past four, will want to do the same in a couple of weeks.
Jamie Carragher was right - being eliminated was not a disaster. Not qualifying would be, and the renewed vigour with which Spurs as well as Manchester City are pursuing fourth spot may yet force Purslow's hand.
Philip Cornwall
Your Comments
alip
"c'mon guys , it is fine to defend rafa by saying he has to sell players to buy players , but how do you explain it when the players he buys are a hell of a lot worse than the players he sells ????"
johnna
"Bla bla, with players like Lucas, Voronin, Kuyt, Issua and Aurelio what do you expect, sell a player of Riise caliber, what a mistake. Get rid of Lucas please, Lucas will even cost us 4th place and even the manager his job."
m4rr15
"Ajsr1982, Your statement sums up Liverpool fans completely. Once again instead of focusing on the current situation in hand, which is that you are out of europe, the carling cup and the premiership because you are not a good enough team to win any of these, you decide to bring up 1 of last seasons statistics- "we scored more goals than anyone" SO WHAT? You'll probably also remind us in your next post that you only lost 2 games LAST season too?! The fact is you won nothing again last season so statistics count for nothing either. If you lot think that you're a great team coz you scored more and only lost 2 but still came second, surely that means the team that finishes 1st is even better??!!! "
darraghmac
"Liverpool are suffering now for the stupidity and weakness of the owners in backing in to Rafa's tantrums earlier on this year. He should not have been given a new contract."
Fake_Dave
"rafamuggin - agree with you when you describe Man U and Chelsea as "awash with cash" - that really is the situation there. People do criticise Rafa for being a wheeler-dealer, but what else can he do? He ALWAYS has to sell before he can buy. Fergie would never have had to have sold the likes of Bellamy or Crouch in order to bring in a better player - Rafa does unfortunately and that is the situation we are in.
Man U fans can use the £80m argument for Ronaldo, but that signing is the only one that keeps their net spend respectable. As I said earlier, imho I think Fergie will bring in a star player maybe next summer - if Ribery costs £60m in summer 09 he will cost only £30m in summer 10. Fergie is too smart to get into any bidding war. "
bleachedavenger
"I think the reality is that Liverpool can no longer really be considered a 'big' team. Sure, they made a plucky effort last season, punching well above their weight and finishing a surprising second place but I think anyone without red tinted specs can see that for what it was, a flash in the pan, a blip on what has been a fairly steady downward trajectory.
When exactly the rot began to set in is difficult to pinpoint although selling off their oft-touted history in pursuit of yankee dollars was undoubtedly a contributing factor.
The thing that Liverpool fans forget when they slag off the likes of City and Chelsea for daring to have rich owners is that that is exactly what they wanted as well when the sucked upto Hicks and Gillet. The difference is that unlike City and Chelsea they failed to do their homework properly and instead of benevolent individuals with the club's best interests at heart they were saddled with a pair of vultures who have run the club into the ground.
I can't help but susoect though that the rot set in long before the club sold its' soul. Success, whilst it is what every football club hopes for can, in large amounts, breed complacency. Ferguson is aware of this, hence the constant renewal at United. It's very rare you hear United fans banging on about history, they don't need to because they're looking to the future. I think that what has afflicted Liverpool football club has been an underlying assumption, born of arrogance and based on past glories, that they have the right to success simply because they are Liverpool FC.
It can be sad to see the old guard blown away, but like a proud old sailing ship being taken away to the scrap yard to be broken up, these things are inevitable. Time moves on and no matter how grand or wonderful the past was, it has no currency in the present.
You can't live on past glories. 'History' is bunk."
rafamuggin
"weepyking - the point is, in the main Rafa has had to sell to buy. We are not awash with cash like Chelsea or United. And please White-Pele - United went out in 2005/06 and didn't even make third place in the group. I remember United fans calling for his head then and after when they didn't win a league for 3 years. Funny to see them all now. What happened to REAL football fans? The only ones I know who are pragmatic and objective are lads in their 30s - people who remember what it was like before Sky came along. All the 18-29 year olds have only known United winning and have grown up in the fickle world of every single result being analysed as a life or death moment. Football is poorer for it...
"
stampy_d_monky
"davy_p_82: rubbish post..."
Fake_Dave
"weepyking - I also defend the "net spend" argument. It's the best one we have. Please don't bring Ronaldo's £80m into this though, it spoils it for me personally.
On a serious note if it wasn't for the £80m Rinaldo fee the net spend argument works very well for us (LFC). When Fergie bought nobody over the summer with the money my thoughts at the time were that he didn't want to pay over the odds for players. Real Madrid massively inflated the mkt and almost every decent player had a ridiculous price tag put on them. I may be wrong but i reckon Fergie will step in and bring in a star player soon, but will save around £30m by doing it say summer 2010 rather than the crazy summer of 2009."
phewson
"ragamuffin, not much off a life apart from watching your team searching for that missing piece of the jigsaw for the last 20 years.
have you looked down the back of the sofa? it maybe down there."
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