Liverpool are one of the greatest football clubs in world football. But let’s make no mistake, the legends of Anfield are watching solemnly over what is now a distant shadow of the supreme history of this once proud football titan. The names of Bill Shankly and Bob Paisley hang like a concrete millstone around the neck of Rafa Benitez.
There are no better fans any where in the world than the Liverpool supporters. They know the game. During my time playing against the mighty Reds, they booed me mercilessly, mocked my name and chanted “fairy” every time I touched the ball. But when I scored against them, made a goal for a team-mate or did a brilliant trick, they were the first to applaud me. I always respected that.
They will know that at this moment in time Liverpool FC is in a state of shambles. They have major problems everywhere.
By their incredible standards, from the ownership group down, Liverpool have underachieved for the past several seasons. In fact they have now become a team that is not good enough to compete for the Premier League championship. I know many Liverpool fans and from their perspective that has to be totally unacceptable.
In short, if that doesn’t change, and change quickly, I can see an exodus of the major players next season. Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres could play in any team in world football, why would they want to hang around with a team that’s going nowhere?
If you take out those players Liverpool become an ordinary football team along side the likes of Aston Villa and Spurs, who whilst being top clubs never rise to the level of challenging for the most coveted domestic trophy.
Defensively they are all over the place, teams are scoring freely against them and they are conceding headed goals and are losing goals from set pieces. That is something the great Liverpool teams seldom allowed. From game to game I’m looking to see if they are man marking or zonal. In one game I swear they changed that system half-way through a game.
With some players coming up to their =”sell by” date and others hugely under performing it is going to take a major effort to it turnaround next season.
Then we have the manager.Whoever agreed the contract that guarantees Rafa Benitez (pictured) such massive termination compensation should be sectioned.
Only the Football Association’s contract with Sven-Goran Eriksson when he was England manager comes close to this lunacy. It has put the club in a ridiculous position in my opinion. Heads should roll, but who’s heads?
Benitez has won the Champions League trophy, a brilliant achievement but the team has never really seriously challenged for the trophy that all of Liverpool so desperate wants – the Premiership.
Team tactics and formations have been in question, substitutions have made no sense at times, I watched the the game with Fulham and like many supporters had no clue why Torres was yanked off with the game in the balance. By the look on his face Torres agreed with me.
Year-in and year-out Manchester United are the greatest despite the lose of great world-class players. Eric Cantona, Roy Keane and Cristiano Ronaldo spring to mind. Yet while Sir Alex Ferguson replaces players and build new teams Liverpool stumble along in their shadow.
Honestly, I have no clue how the club is going to climb out from this mire. All I can say is if they are going to return to the days of greatness and be able to compete again, something radical has to be done and done quick.
Rodney Marsh is one of the most charismatic and entertaining players to have graced English football. He played more than 400 games and scored over 150 goals during a career at Queen’s Park Rangers, Manchester City and Fulham which saw him win nine England caps. He was also one of the early pioneers of English players to carve out a name for himself in the United States, scoring 41 goals in 87 appearances for the Tampa Bay Rowdies. Marsh is now a popular and respected pundit who will be writing regularly for insideworldfootball.