What now for Liverpool's RB?

Last night's showing from Liverpool was poor. We are not entertaining, we are not scoring,we are not progressing, we are now just simmering. We are not dropping our level but we are not ascending from it either. We are practically at a standstill. The drive, the determination, the grinding out goals, the fight, the playability, had all come to this season, resulting in just one loss in the league. Two all season. Now it's three.

When you consider we started with good players in Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres, backed by Albert Reira and Dirk Kuyt, along with Xabi Alonso, we should have attacked at Everton from the whistle and kept to it. Then we lost Gerrard, and note I haven't mentioned Lucas Leiva, and our play went mediocre. The game had both sides more interested in slaps and tickles than bangs and wallops at goal. Torres had to come back often to get involved, who supplies him the ball other than Gerrard?

But the longer it went on, the more you watched Leiva, the more you would suspect a sending-off would ensue. Regardless whether a booking is justified or not, it has happened and will not be rescinded with a period in the sin-bin. Because we don't have one. Being on a warning, your football has to be sharper and more accurate than before, it shouldn't take a warning for that level of your play to come out. Not Leiva. Be sensible, maintain your stance, receive and distribute, ensure you get the ball, because you're on a warning. Not Leiva.

So for more than half an hour of play we had to hold with 10 men. And hold we did. Yet I still suspect Man Utd would have carried the fight nonetheless, it would remain to be seen. But one can refer to their FA Cup tie against Portsmouth more recently, when Tomas Kuszczak was sent off (at practically the same time in that match as Leiva was last night), and Portsmouth could have been beaten at Old Trafford, when Harry Bet Sulley - Sulley Muntari - for the winner. So without Gerrard and then down to 10 outfield players, we had to dig in and hold on. David Moyes was said to be 'elated', but were Everton such an equal to our 10 men, or vice versa?

Nonetheless, Everton are through and we are not, and since the winner host Aston Villa, Everton are more suited to that than we are. Which brings me back to my original point of the article. What now for Benitez? If we are at this point of his management not strong enough to take the fight to Everton, even without Gerrard, then are we really fit to fight for the title? We've seen how Man Utd were at the start of the season without Christiano Ronaldo and as soon as he returned, in the away game at Stamford Bridge, Man Utd had toughened up. Add to that the vigourous contribution of Carlos Tevez almost every time he plays, Man Utd have hit top spot.

Many have stated we should have kept Robbie Keane, and I agree he should have remained until the summer at the least. But the decision to release him was not Liverpool's but more Keane's. And no one should blame him. He wants regular starts, which he got deservedly with Spurs. His captaincy isn't with surprise as he was captain in Ledley King's absence previously. But Keane hadn't added his goal-scoring touch when he played for us, and he did have his chances, let no one tell you otherwise. We needed an immediate response from Keane and we didn't get one. He wasn't suited to our regime as a striker. You need to be scoring regularly to earn your place, that is the strength needed to compete for the title.

And for me Dimitar Berbatov is getting away with his selection when Tevez is eagerly waiting on the bench. Keane has scored five, Berbatov six, so far. If Keane isnt getting a regular start for Liverpool, how is Berbatov doing so for Utd? That is because other players are scoring too. Wayne Rooney, Paul Scholes, Ronaldo, Ryan Giggs, Michael Carrick, all contribute, even Nemanja Vidic. Liverpool have waned in comparison, Gerrard our top scorer with nine, Torres is 2nd with nine (considering his injury period).

The top fifteen scorers in the EPL consist of five midfielders, Gerrard being one of them. Our midfield consist of Javier Mascherano, Alonso, Riera, Ryan Babel, Yossi Benayoun, Leiva, Kuyt and none of them feature in the top list of EPL scorers with the exception of Kuyt with five goals. Is this down to the players or is it down to Benitez? Does he tell his players to feed Torres constantly, relying on the former Atletico Madrid captain for goals, or does so to get his striker working more and feeling more confident? Or does he tell his players to keep hold of the ball and only release when it is absolutely appropriate and clear to do so without error?

For me, the situation now is to play on with your strongest team. Gerrard could be out for some time and the likes of Babel, Kuyt, David Ngog, need to be playing regularly. Kuyt started very well at the start of the season, and he has scored as many as Keane. Has been quiet. Babel has determination, pace and a fierce shot, why isn't he regularly employed? Ngog has good international experience and scoring ability, scored well at PSV this season, why not let him come up now with Keane gone?

My formation A: Reina; Arbeloa, Carragher, Agger/Skrtel, Aurelio/Insua; Babel, Mascherano, Gerrard, Riera; Kuyt/Ngog, Torres

Formation B: Same goalkeeper and back four; Babel, Alonso, Mascherano, Riera; Gerrard, Torres.

Now it is testing time for Liverpool. A scan has yet to reveal the damage, if any, to Gerrard, and we should cope without him. That is, the players need to come up with more resolve, more enterprise and bring their football to a sharper level to compensate. And they can. Now is the time, with the domestic cups now gone. They are for another season, the title and the Champions League are our concern. In terms of a team built for all competitions, we are not. But we don't want that now, we want the title. The title, we can definitely go for.


RedsMan.