Hansen - Liverpool wil be lucky to get uefa place
Posted: Mon Oct 04, 2004 8:55 am
Evn though this hurts it speaks volumes of the truth 
Away from home, Liverpool look as if they would be lucky to get into the UEFA Cup
By Alan Hansen (Filed: 04/10/2004)
It will have taken him a few weeks to realise it but Rafael Benitez must surely have reached the conclusion now that he will have to consider his first season at Liverpool as one of transition.
Yesterday, their away form against Chelsea, as it had been against Olympiakos, proved so poor that Liverpool can hardly harbour any remaining hopes of mounting a credible challenge for the Premiership title.
Crucial link: Steven Gerrard is a key player for Liverpool
The bad news from Stamford Bridge was that it might have been a lot more than just a one-goal defeat for Benitez's side. At times, Liverpool seemed as if they might be crushed by a Chelsea team who looked so much hungrier and more determined to win the game. In fact, it looked as if Chelsea were playing against a side from the other end of the Premiership rather than a club that had genuine title ambitions in August.
After an abject performance in Greece, Benitez opted for a line-up that had a greater physical presence in order to try to put some fight into his beleaguered team. He went for Chris Kirkland in goal, Djimi Traore at left-back and Salif Diao in the middle of midfield. It looked one of the most physical Liverpool teams I have seen in some time.
However, in trying to turn Liverpool into a side who were more capable of competing physically, Benitez also made them a team that looked technically inferior to Chelsea, and in the end it told. There is a serious problem with Liverpool's away form that must be a long way from being put right on the evidence of yesterday.
Against West Bromwich Albion and Norwich City at home this season, Liverpool have performed like a team who could finish fourth, but away from home they have played like a team who would be lucky to get in the UEFA Cup places.
They have been second best in virtually every department, and when they have needed top performances from players like Djibril Cisse and Luis Garcia, those two, in particular, have failed to deliver.
But it isn't just in their attack that Liverpool have struggled. Benitez will have known when he took over that he would inherit a lot of mediocre players from Gérard Houllier, but even he would have been surprised at how poor those players have been. It will be an enormous problem to get rid of them over the next year, though that is what he must do.
El-Hadji Diouf is one example, a player whose contract is likely to deter clubs who cannot match the salary he earns form Liverpool. No player would readily agree to walk out of a contract that pays him so well and the fall in the market will make it even more difficult for Liverpool to shift those players.
The problems for Liverpool is that a lot of the foreign players they have brought in have let them down. Sooner or later you need to sign some British talent to give the team that element of grit and determination that seems to be missing in other parts of the squad. There is no guarantee, however, that Benitez will have the resources to make those changes come January.
At the start of the season, a place among the top three of Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester United looked like a very tall order for Liverpool – now it looks impossible. Although it is always difficult to analyse a team after only a few away games, Liverpool seem to be missing their two key players of the last four years more than ever.
Of those two, Michael Owen has gone for good and Steven Gerrard is injured.
Sami Hyypia has been a great defender for Liverpool but he is not the type of character to take a game by the scruff of the neck and drive his team on. They miss the leadership of Gerrard but it would be hopeless for the club to pin all their hopes on one player alone.
Chelsea's wealth of options just highlighted the weakness of Liverpool's squad. When they lost one £24 million striker in Didier Drogba, they simply summoned Joe Cole from the bench and he scored the winner. Having watched Chelsea grow in strength this season, I thought that at some point they would give an opposition team a real stuffing, and at times yesterday it looked as if it might be Liverpool's turn.
Not only did Chelsea look more committed, but Liverpool conceded a goal from a set-piece to a fairly small player, in Cole, despite the height and strength that Benitez had added to the team. It looked as if the Liverpool defence were simply waiting for the ball to drop at the back post and, in the meantime, Cole nipped in at the front to score.
What will disappoint Liverpool fans more than anything, however, was the way in which their team seemed to be second best to everything. The Chelsea goalkeeper, Petr Cech, didn't have a save to make until the last five minutes. That kind of performance puts pressure on everybody at Liverpool.
