Scorpion

Despite all the pre-match optimism on RAWK, I predicted a 3-0 victory for the Mancs, handing them the momentum to go on and lift another title.....just like last season. It was all too predictable.

Cruz will score.

This will end in a draw.....probably 1-1.

Oh sorry.....I thought he was referring to the other argument involving the team which played against us this season. Surely that team didn't play against us in the Carling Cup?

Maybe I should have put approximately. The point remains that Arsenal have roughly spent a third of the amount of money that Liverpool have spent in the time mentioned.

Who said it was the Arsenal youth side that played us? Also, what are you referring to? the team that played against us this season? Surely, there was no Henry.

Leverkusen

You are talking about net transfers. Arsenal have made a greater profit in transfers than Liverpool. Wenger is renowned in doing this. The point is, if you talk about rebuilding with respect to Arsenal and Liverpool, Arsenal have 11 players of the 16 that played against both Man Utd and Liverpool that were signed from the time Benitez came to Liverpool and onwards.

We finished higher than them in the 05-06 season and finished third together with them in the 06-07 season in which their youth team kicked us out of two competitions. The point I am making is that they have a team that is top of the league, 10 points higher than us and a team that arguably outclassed us at home. This is the current situation. The past seasons do not tell us that we will finish higher than them this season. They have a team that is better equipped to win the title and this is by spending less than a third of the amount of money that Liverpool have spent. I made this remark in reference to the person saying that Arsenal spend more money than us. Also, with reference to your first statement, weren't we supposed to have overtaken Arsenal judging from the previous seasons? Ofcourse Benitez had a hard time rebuilding a squad. It is expected considering how muc he went through in getting the money to spend £123 750 000. The point is not how fast he is rebuilding the squad, it is how much he spent and the progress he had made compared to Arsenal and other squads. So you want to give Benitez 5-6 years again. That is 10 years in total. Benitez still wants more money. That's alot of time again to judge Benitez. I don't see why we can't judge the progress he has made in 4 seasons? Let's face it, Liverpool have not made the progress expected when Benitez replaced Houllier and said that we would challenge for the title.

Since Benitez has been here, he has spent £123 750 000 while Wenger has spent £40 050 000 in that same period, according to soccerbase. We are 3 and a half seasons into the reign of Benitez and Arsenal have still outclassed Liverpool at home. What is also worrying is that teams like Blackburn and Portsmouth are very close to us (closer to Liverpool than Liverpool are to the league leaders) having spent considerably less. Benitez has also struggled to beat teams like Blackburn and Portsmouth. Liverpool have been given the money to beat teams like Man Utd, Arsenal etc at home. Benitez policy of rebuilding the squad constantly little by little every season is beginning to show flaws. How much time is he going to be given for this to happen so that Liverpool can challenge for the title? Also, while he is doing this, Man Utd and Chelsea have strengthened considerably more during this period, making it more difficult for Benitez and setting a higher level.

I agree with you. Benitez is in his 4th season and still has yet to pick up a point away from home against the big clubs as well as even beating Man Utd at home. He said that we would challenge the title in the first season but we haven't challenged for the title properly as yet. Liverpool have a squad that should be beating Man Utd at home.

For anyone that cares: Liverpool's first team that played cost £37.2M Chelsea first team that played cost £89.4M

Realism now sets in as Liverpool are effectively knocked out of two competitions in the space of 4 days. Liverpool have made progress under Benitez but are still some way off. Also, the problems that face Liverpool when playing against the big clubs are not necessarily due only to the quality of the players but their manager.

This has been said for years now....since the Houllier years when we got beat by a Giggs double or the previous year when Forlan scored twice. We lost 1-0 against Man Utd in Benitez's first season at Anfield with players like Traore, Pellegrino and Nunez. Have we improved? yes. So what's the problem? Our squad is much better but one the problems is mentality. The team is not prepared for the big games. Our team is not as good as Man Utd. OK. But we should be beating Man Utd or at least getting a draw at our stadium. Our team is capable of at least that. Benitez must recognize that. Another problem is Man Utd may be making more strides in the transfer market each season than us but Liverpool's problem under Benitez is one of mentality. Houllier had worse teams and managed to get important wins. Look at the team that beat Man Utd at Old Trafford the season that he was sacked.

Benitez has also won the European cup once. I trust that you may agree that concentrating on all competitions makes it harder to win an individual competition. Benitez has concentrated on other competitions than the league every season since he has been at Liverpool as he constantly gives up. Winning the European cup sounds like an excuse. Ferguson has won the Premier League 9 times, Wenger has won it twice and Chelsea has won it twice in three years. Liverpool has never looked capable of challenging for the title under Benitez. Their record against the big teams are very poor and has not changed much since Benitez took over which probably says something deep down.