http://www.goal.com/en-us/news/85/england/2010/05/02/1906112/comment-forget-the-conspiracy-theories-liverpool-just-werentComment: Forget The Conspiracy Theories, Liverpool Just Weren't Good Enough
By Neil Jones at Anfield
Manchester United can forget their conspiracy theories; Liverpool's loss to Chelsea was nothing to do with the red half of Merseyside's in-built hatred for all things United, and the assumed desire to stop their north-west rivals eclipsing their record of 18 league championships.
No, it is far more simple than that. Rafael Benitez's side are simply not good enough, and they haven't been all season.
For all the talk of 19 - the number of titles United were looking to obtain come the season's end - today offered yet another damning statistic. The Reds' defeat was their 19th in all competitions this season, and leaves them marooned in 7th place, 21 points off the top of the table. Considering many had earmarked them as potential Premier League champions at the start of the season, it is an abysmal return.
Of course cynics will see Steven Gerrard's horrific first-half back-pass, which allowed in Didier Drogba for a scarcely deserved opening goal, and the fact that Benitez's team could not muster a shot on target until the second minute of stoppage time, and make their own assumptions. But it is too simplistic, and flawed, a conclusion to draw. Chelsea are simply a much better side.
The irony here is that Liverpool, despite the obvious effect an energy-sapping Europa League defeat to Atletico Madrid on Thursday will have had, started brightly. They moved the ball well and went close on a couple of occasions, but once Gerrard had presented Drogba with the kind of gift he usually reserves for Thierry Henry after 33 minutes, the game was up.
Benitez may have masterminded a league double over Chelsea last season, including a momentous victory at Stamford Bridge, but the last 12 months have been cruel to Liverpool, and they never looked like doing Ferguson and United a favor.
Where last season they were relentless, grinding down and suffocating opponents en route to 86 points - the same tally that would guarantee Chelsea the title this season - and a runners-up spot, this season they have been only disjointed, always inconsistent, and too often defeated.
The season's end cannot come quick enough for all at Anfield - Benitez included. The Spaniard has been in bullish mode all season despite his side's obvious limitations, but even his protective nature would have been subdued by a quick glance at the two sides' squad lists today.
For whilst Chelsea could afford to leave out the likes of Joe Cole and Yury Zhirkov, Liverpool finished the game with a central-defensive pairing of Sotirios Kyrgiakos and Daniel Ayala. The fact that they used a midfield player, Javier Mascherano, at right-back when they had a supposed specialist in Philipp Degen on the bench, speaks volumes. The poverty of the Reds' squad may be exaggerated at times, but in some cases it is inescapable.
Whether transfer funds will be available to Benitez, or indeed whether Benitez will even be around, is still open to debate. The disjointed nature of the club's boardroom mirrors the current on-pitch performances, and is threatening to drag the club further down the Premier League table. Liverpool is up for sale, but at the moment there is no indication that it is likely to be sold any time soon.
Benitez himself has said this week that "three, four or five" signings would be required this summer in order to make Liverpool competitive again, but on today's showing the gulf in class between themselves and Carlo Ancelotti's men - who look certain to be crowned champions - is even greater. Not even Fernando Torres, looking on glumly in the stands, can bridge that gap. Not on his own.
So whilst the United conspirators will undoubtedly have their say on the Reds' latest collapse, they should remember that this is not the first time this season that Liverpool have been exposed as not good enough, and unless things change fast, from the boardroom down, it won't be the last either.
中肯嗎?
[ 本文被智者在2010-05-03 11:35重新編輯 ]
