We have blamed just about everyone this season for our current plight. From Benitez to the owners, from Lucas to Kuyt and even turning on each other.
The owners have not helped, they have brought anything but stability to our club and clearly don't want to invest in the playing staff. They have caused the bad feeling throughout the club which is stemming from the top. Undoubtedly they are to blame for the real problems at Liverpool FC, the problems which threaten our long term future. But how much are they to blame for what has gone on on the pitch this season? Are we that much worse than the team that almost won the league last season?
Benitez has not helped. His failure to buy wisely in the transfer market has been an issue for the second summer running. 20 million on a right back and another 20 on a midfielder who was injured, and even now he is fit can't get a game. When in fact the real problems lie up front and in the centre of the defence. His tactics are questionable at times and his team selections and substitutions quite simply baffling. Many have lost patience with them, I have recently become one of those fans. But I also understand that getting rid of him won't be cheap and won't necessarily improve things on the pitch given the greater problems at the club.
So what about the players. Do they look like they want to win when they walk onto the pitch this season? No they don't. Gerrard is playing with an injury clearly, but even since last season he doesn't want to put in a shift. He is supposed to be an advanced midfielder but even Torres or even Ngog when he plays do more tackling back than him these days. His body language is all wrong this season, maybe he has lost faith in Benitez's methods, maybe the court case changed him, or maybe he's just fed up of being relied upon heavily.
The defence and midfield are not playing with discipline, they lose concentration regularly and concede sloppy goal after sloppy goal. Carra is playing like a pub player this season. Mascherano is playing when he feels like it. Johnson and Insua have barely stopped a cross coming in all season. Lucas still fails to grasp the concept of what constitutes a foul and what a forward pass is, while others like Kuyt and Benayoun are showing the effort but it's just not happening.
I think some of the players, especially the senior ones, need to take a long hard look at themselves this season. They have let us down just as much as the manager and the owners, and they escape with little or no criticism, it's a joke. Gerrard has at least admitted this week that the players have let Rafa down at times, well maybe they'll actually start to show some fight on the pitch today before we're out of touch with 4th place completely.