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.

Mentality. Obviously our team may not be as good as the top 3 but the main thing is the mind set of the team Manchester United are a group of winners. Ferguson has a mentality of winning, accepting nothing but a win and not playing down important games. He constantly gets results against the big teams. Tactically, Benitez is better equiped and this shows in Europe in comparison of the two teams. Ferguson also he never plays down big games. He assembles squads of winners with character. Gary Neville, Ronaldo, Giggs, Tevez, Rooney are all winners. This gives them the edge in winning big games and in winning trophies. Milan are another example. They are full of winners and leaders. Cafu, Nesta, Maldini, Gattuso, Seedorf, Ronaldo. That is why they are always getting results against big teams and why they are winning the trophies. We may have two winners in our team.

Inheriting a title winning side does not mean that you will win the title 6 or 7 years down later or challenge for it 10 years later. Wenger has spent less than Benitez over time and has shown that he can build a squad capable of challenging for the league title without begging for more money time and time again. Liverpool under Benitez has never shown that they can challenge for the title properly and have resorted to other cups like the European Cup and FA cup to save his season. His team has never shown the consistency or the mentality, character or disposition required to challenge for it. Man Utd are a team of winners. Ferguson is a winner. Their mentality is that of winning and not brushing off important games like Benitez does. "Winning the game will only aid in confidence". Mourinho's endeavour went under-rated. Even though he had an expensively assembled squad, it is hard to maintain such a cohesive balance that Chelsea possessed as well as their mentality which enabled Chelsea to challenge for every trophy under him. His winning ratio has 67%, considerably higher than that of Benitez and not only does money come into it.

It would be wrong to sack him. All that is being said is Benitez is a very good manager but he's not on the level of Ferguson, Wenger and Mourinho. Did Liverpool fans expect to being out of the title race every year by Christmas or before from the time Benitez took over until 2008? What about being beaten by Man Utd at Anfield 3 out of the 4 times they played?

The point remains, if Benitez were as good as people make him out to be, Liverpool wouldn't have gone 4 years under his tenureship without beating Man Utd. Ferguson is a better manager than him and has proved it time again. Benitez has never learnt from the United games.

Benitez is a good manager but over rated. 4 years down the line and he's still incapable of beating Manchester United in the league and 9 points behind them in the league during Christmas when we got such a great headstart

Man Utd to win 2-0 here and Arsenal will win.

The game will end in a draw, probably 1-1.

Liverpool are a a good team but they do not show the required consistency that wins the league like Man Utd under Ferguson does or Arsenal under Wenger did. Liverpool usually go a few games scoring a lot of goals with a lot of clean sheets under Benitez. People forget this. Last season, the games before Blackburn and before Reading were like this with the same sentiments like today being bandied about. The run usually ends in Benitez being overconfident and choosing his tactics for that game that show this. Ferguson and Wenger are able to allow the team to adapt psychologically to the added pressures of a long run from the start. Benitez has not learnt this season. Liverpool still have to go to Stamford Bridge, Old Trafford and the Emirates Stadium so the little distance that is calculated after the win against Man Utd will increase as they travel to stadiums in which these teams are undefeated (With Chelsea being undefeated for a couple years in the Premiership) and which Benitez still has not even drawn a game in his history in the Premiership. Chelsea have gone to Anfield and Old Trafford and will go to the Emirates when these points are calculated. Man Utd have gone to Emirates and Arsenal have gone to Anfield . Benitez may not win the premiership but it is quite obvious that he is a top manager and Liverpool would be better off with him.

Mourinho had a win percentage of 67.03%

1-0 win with Torres or Gerrard with the goal.