liverpool walking alone

"You'll never walk alone". These words are inscribed on the gates to Liverpool Football club, one of the most successful clubs in the world and one with an ever-growing fan base like every other top Premier League club. But lately both Liverpool and non-liverpool fans have been disappointed with the way the Reds have performed this season. Elimination from the Champions League, a tournament which Liverpool were champions,runners-up and losing semi-finalists and quarter-finalists in the last 4 years, struggling at 7th in the domestic league which they had won a record 18-times and financial problems have put the club in a very precarious situation. The loss of key players like Xabi Alonso and Alvaro Arbeloa to Real Madrid and injuries to goal machines Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres have seen Liverpool struggling against teams like Blackburn and Debreceni. Rafa Benitez keeps stressing on the fact that they would not be in this current pressure cooker scenario had Torres and Gerrard been fit. It is normal for every top team in the world to have key players but Liverpool just cannot seem to function without them. They have a decent first 11 but the bench lacks quality, something that Liverpool had been synonomous with before this season. Chelsea,Arsenal and Manchester United all have key players like Lampard,Drogba, Fabregas, Gallas,Rooney,Ferdinand etc but they do get the required results in their absence as well. A glaring example of this is the away leg of Manchester United's tie with Wolfsburg. United were missing Vidic,Ferdinand,Gary Neville,Wes Brown, Johnny Evans,Fabio and Rafael in defence which meant that they had no centr-backs or regular full backs with the exception of Patrice Evra. But the makeshift defence of Darren Fletcher, Michael Carrick, Patrice Evra, and Park Ji Sung were up against one of the most deadliest goal-poachers in the world in the form of Edin Dzeko and they came away with a very impressive 3-1 victory. this is the sort of stuff that top teams are made of. Benitez's policy of not giving the youngsters from the academy enough exposure has clearly seen them suffer in the transfer market where they are short on cash to buy players. Instead Benitez plays these youngsters in intense matches like the game against Fiorentina in which Steven Derby was handed his first start having negligible first team experience. Also the elimination from the Champions League has been a huge blow on the finances at the club. The prize money for the winners of the Europa League is very close to the prize money for the clubs in the round of 16 in the Champions League. Benitez and Liverpool have to put on their thinking caps and take a fresh look at how they go about the rest of the season. Failure to do this may make Liverpool another Leeds United.