LIVERPOOL HAVE not altered their view that Rafael Benitez is the man to revive their fortunes despite Wednesday’s dismal FA Cup defeat to Reading, but will review his position at the end of the season. The manager’s task of delivering the top-four finish that would save his job was made more difficult when Steven Gerrard, Yossi Benayoun and Fernando Torres all returned to the treatment table, the latter with a withering attack on the club’s owners.
Torres’s absence for six weeks will be the most damaging blow to Benitez, whose long-term future at Anfield is in serious doubt after the Championship strugglers inflicted the latest humiliation in a season in which the club have suffered early exits from the Champions League, the League Cup and now the FA Cup, and failed to challenge for the league title.
Benitez’s immediate future remains at Liverpool, however, with the club’s hierarchy unwilling to change managers during a season and at a time of deep uncertainty over the club’s finances. They are also aware of the cost of sacking the Spaniard and installing a replacement, less than a year after the manager signed a five and a half-year contract worth more than €4.5 million a season.
Despite the mounting pressure and the constraints on transfer budgets, Benitez has no intention of quitting and sparing Tom Hicks and George Gillett, the club’s co-owners, the compensation he would be owed for the remainder of his contract, a sum the club cannot afford.
For now, Hicks and Gillett are anxious to present a show of stability as the club’s managing director, Christian Purslow, continues to pursue investors willing to join a divided boardroom, reduce Liverpool’s debt and enable work on the stalled stadium project to begin.
A new investor would have a say on Benitez’s future while increasing Liverpool’s ability to agree a severance package should the Spaniard fail to deliver on his guarantee of a top-four finish.
The uncertainty over Liverpool’s finances partly explains the club’s determination to give Benitez the chance to revitalise a sorry campaign. The club have now told the manager he can spend the proceeds should Ryan Babel be sold this month, having initially insisted minimal funds would be available, and are closing in on a pre-contract agreement for the Bordeaux striker Marouane Chamakh. There has been no indication that significant funds will be released as a result of the news that Torres, Gerrard and Benayoun are facing six, two and four weeks out respectively.
The loss of the trio is a serious setback and the timing is appalling for Benitez as he seeks a reaction to the Reading defeat, with a trip to Stoke City tomorrow and a rearranged home game against close rivals Tottenham Hotspur on Wednesday.
Gerrard will be absent for a fortnight as a result of the hamstring strain that forced his withdrawal at half-time against Reading, Benayoun is out for three to four weeks with a broken rib and Torres is not expected back until late February having torn cartilage in his right knee.
The Spain striker will undergo surgery this week and last night launched an attack on Hicks and Gillett, whom he blames for Liverpool’s woes as a result of their failure to back Benitez with significant transfer funds following last season’s runners-up finish.
Torres said: “It’s frustrating. We finished second last season; this season should have been a turning point for us – the chance for us to do something great. Manchester United sold Carlos Tevez and Cristiano Ronaldo, while Chelsea didn’t sign anyone.
“It’s now the owners’ turn. They have to sign players so that this does not happen again. If we want to compete with United and Chelsea we need a much, much more complete squad. We need more genuinely first-class players and we can’t let our best players leave.”
Champions League qualification will have a greater bearing on Benitez’s future but the Europa League now represents Liverpool’s last realistic chance of silverware and Torres admits victory there is essential:
“We didn’t want to win the Europa League at the start of the season but it’s a reality now. Now we have to win it. Anything less would be terrible. If we do not win it then we have to say it’s been a very, very, very bad season in Europe.
“We need to improve, to take responsibility and to get into the top four and win something. We have virtually no chance of winning the title now. Now we need to make the best of this situation.”
Guardian Service
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