Oh Benitez, where did it all go wrong?

28 February 09 by Christopher Hurley

You could argue that Liverpool’s title challenge was over before it had even started. They have rarely played like future champions and their results would certainly back that up.

Whilst Manchester United have strung together an eleven match winning run this season, Liverpool’s best run is a measly five wins on the trot. In all competitions they have managed to maintain a win rate of just 56 percent. You’re never going to win the Premiership with numbers like that!

Let’s pretend for a minute that Liverpool really did have a chance of winning the Premier League this season. If they did, they probably certainly don’t anymore, so when did it all go wrong?

January 9th 2009

On January 9th, Rafael Benitez held a press conference where the Spaniard unleashed an assault on Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson.

In his tirade, Benitez claimed Ferguson “is the only manager in the league that cannot be punished” and sarcastically suggested that in future, “Mr Ferguson organise the fixtures in his office and send it to everyone.”

At the time, Liverpool were top of the Premier League, on a three match winning run and looking to extend their lead at the top against Stoke City. Manchester United were chasing behind and scheduled to play Chelsea in a couple of days.

I’m guessing Rafa was trying to unsettle the United squad but boy did it backfire. Liverpool drew nil nil with Stoke and United beat an under par Chelsea 3 – 0. That game signaled the start of that eleven match unbeaten run I mentioned earlier.

And what happened to Liverpool? They began their slide down the table. First losing pole position to the Champions and today dropping to third after losing to Middlesbrough. Liverpool have played ten matches since Benitez’s rant and won just three times. They lost twice and drew five.

After today’s defeat, Liverpool remain seven points behind league leaders Manchester United who have a game in hand. Even if they were to win at Old Trafford (I can’t see it), winning the league would still take a monumental effort from the Liverpool players and a catastrophic collapse from United.

Even Benitez can see it that isn’t going to happen. Asked about Liverpool’s chances he said: “Before the game it was very difficult, now it is more difficult”. I suppose you can’t argue with his logic.