Clock starts to tick on ruffled Rafa
While Hughes was dismissed hours after guiding his team to a 4-3 victory over Sunderland, Benitez survives to face another day despite a performance against bottom-of-the-table Portsmouth on Saturday that was so inept, his team was barely recognisable from the side that challenged for the title last season.
The Spaniard attempted to blame it all on a first-half red card for Javier Mascherano but the 2-0 defeat displayed all the symptoms of a side far more seriously ill than even its harshest critics have so far diagnosed.
For those who prefer to take a more scientific approach to these matters, even a cursory glance at recent statistics is enough to suggest Benitez is fortunate to still be in a job while erstwhile opponent Hughes prepares to spend more time with his family.
Hughes’ dismissal came after his team won only three times in 12 games, leaving them sixth in the Premier League table. But had Sheikh Mansour’s glass been half-full rather than half-empty, he would surely have noted City had lost just one in 15 matches and only twice in the league all season – a better record than even leaders Chelsea.
Compare that to Liverpool, who have lost 11 times in all competitions so far this season, have won only twice in the league since beating Manchester United in October and have slumped to seventh, two points behind City with a game more played.
That run has seen Benitez’s side drop 27 points in all, just one fewer than they allowed to slip away during the entire campaign last season. No wonder the alarm bells at Anfield are ringing even louder than Portsmouth’s famous Pompey Chimes.
“Rafa’s position is under immense pressure,” the BBC’s Alan Hansen admitted after analysing Saturday’s debacle, which also saw Mascherano pick up a knee injury thanks to the reckless challenge that instigated his sending off, for which he must also serve a four-match ban. “They say he is safe until the end of the season but it is results that put you under pressure and Liverpool’s results have been abysmal.
“There are no excuses. Against Portsmouth the sending-off made no difference because Liverpool were awful – and they were awful at Blackburn and awful at Fulham.”
Hansen, as a Liverpool legend, was no doubt talking from the heart but he was also talking sense because, and let us be clear, Liverpool’s performance at Fratton Park was not unfortunate, it was not excusable. It was, in truth, lacklustre, rudderless and seriously lacking in either confidence or energy.
Despite facing a team sitting bottom of the Premier League, Benitez persisted in an overly-defensive set-up that included two holding midfielders; and to make matters worse, when Mascherano was sent off he tasked Gerrard, the only player with any kind of fizz in a side paralysed by low confidence, to take his place.
The result? Portsmouth dominated the entire second half, Gerrard spent most of his time just in front of his own penalty area and Liverpool failed until the final stages to make their hosts even sweat.
Avram Grant’s side, transformed since the Israeli returned to the south coast, went ahead with a stunning finish from Nadir Belhadj in the first half – presented to him by a poor clearing header from Glen Johnson – and sealed an unlikely victory with an equally impressive strike from the hard-working Frederic Piquionne after the break, this time following poor defending from Daniel Agger and Jamie Carragher.
For the home fans inside Fratton Park, it sparked genuine belief their team can escape relegation in 2010 despite the trauma that has dogged their season on and off the pitch.
But for supporters in the away end, who significantly left long before the final whistle, it only deepened a debate that has already been raging for weeks over whether Benitez should face the sack.
He survives primarily because of the loyalty of those same fans who still refuse to boo, and whose memories of a night in Istanbul in 2005 are strong enough to block out the agony of five more years without a title challenge.
But how long can that continue? The case against Benitez is building by the day and the patience of the Kop surely cannot last forever.
The Spaniard’s signings have been dubious to say the least – Andrea Dossena, in particular, was woeful at Fratton Park – and his stubborn insistence on playing Lucas in midfield and the hard-working but unproductive Dirk Kuyt in front of him does little to solve Liverpool’s problems.
It is also clear that star striker Torres, the one man who can save his manager, is not fully fit and that in midfield Gerrard cannot do it all on his own.
“You have got to get after them in midfield, press their full-backs and get after them,” revealed Portsmouth midfielder Jamie O’Hara.
“No-one likes to get pressed and hounded every five minutes. That’s what you have to do against these big clubs. They punish you if they have time on the ball. We made sure they didn’t have time.
“I don’t know what’s wrong with Liverpool. Something maybe isn’t gelling in the team, isn’t quite right. They lost a couple of good players and it’s going to be difficult to replace people like Xabi Alonso.
“I still fancy them being up there at the end of the season challenging for the Champions League spot, though. You can never write Liverpool off.”
That’s a verdict Benitez will enjoy hearing but O’Hara’s diplomacy probably hides the real truth – that Liverpool in their current form are some way off mounting a serious challenge for the top four. And we all know what happens when directors begin to work that one out.
REFEREE: Lee Mason (Lancashire) 7: Despite Benitez’s protests he was right to send off Mascherano, but perhaps gave Fernando Torres too little protection.
MATCH RATING: **** A fantastic atmosphere at Fratton Park, two superb goals and controversy to spice up the occasion made it an entertaining afternoon for neutrals.
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