Liverpool were so awful in the Merseyside derby, so abject, so witless, so gutless, so sorely lacking in rudimentary skills, so disorganised, so inferior to an Everton side who have also struggled this season, so absolutely devoid of hope, that John W Henry and his NESV cronies must have thought about giving Hicks and Gillett a call, and offering them the club back at a hefty discount.
Roy Hodgson's absurd claim that Liverpool "dominated the second half totally" has been roundly derided, although he may be right that: "The second half was as good as I saw a Liverpool team play under my management."
Which says it all about just how ridiculously bad Liverpool have been this season. It is not just that they are 19th in the table, it is that they deserve to be there.
There have been no hard-luck stories, no beach balls or contentious refereeing decisions. Each of their four defeats has been deserved (against Manchester City, Manchester United, Blackpool and Everton), while the most questionable result was their only win, a scraped 1-0 against West Brom.
Theirs has truly been relegation form.
The team has 'not good enough' stamped all over it. In fact, let's go through the senior squad in all its abject misery. It is clear they need major reinforcements in every position except in goal.
Goalkeepers
Pepe Reina - Good
Brad Jones - Perfectly acceptable back-up
Full-backs
Glen Johnson - A bit flaky but basically OK
Paul Konchesky - Would be an OK back-up. Sadly, he's first choice at left-back.
Stephen Darby - Not trusted. We know this because Jamie Carragher plays right-back when Johnson is out. And Carra ain't a right-back.
Fabio Aurelio - Says it all that he was released at the end of last season, then reluctantly re-signed.
Centre-backs
Jamie Carragher - A decent player, a great dessing-room influence.
Martin Skrtel - No-nonsense. If by 'nonsense' you mean 'basic ball skills'.
Daniel Agger - Horrendously injury-prone, and he's got a mouth on him.
Sotiris Kyrgiakos - Really, REALLY not good.
Defensive/central midfielders
Lucas Leiva - Not as bad as everybody thinks and, at 23, has time to improve. But he's plainly not ready to be Liverpool's main man in midfield.
Christian Poulsen - A dreadfully inadequate replacement for Javier Mascherano.
Raul Meireles - Uninspiring, particularly considering his hefty £11.5m price tag.
Jay Spearing - Oddly tiny, and was atrocious in the Carling Cup defeat to Northampton.
Attacking midfielders
Steven Gerrard - Yes. Even if he was subpar at Goodison, Gerrard is inspirational and indispensable.
Dirk Kuyt - Made entirely of blond curls and distilled endeavour. But very much crocked, and quite possibly off to Inter in January.
Joe Cole - Doesn't look so much like the transfer coup of the summer now, does he? There is a small chance Harry Redknapp is glad he got Rafael van der Vaart instead.
Maxi Rodriguez - Drifts through games, contributes little.
Ryan Babel - Much-maligned, and usually rightly. But rarely gets a chance these days.
Milan Jovanovic - Identikit mid-table player. Was at Standard Liege for a reason.
Strikers
Fernando Torres - One of the best in the world when on form, which he isn't.
David N'Gog - Still just 21, and actually quite promising. But like Lucas, he needs time to develop.
Let's say NESV had unlimited resources to build a title-winning squad. How many of the above would they actually want to keep? Who could they realistically see contributing to the first championship in over 20 years? Probably just 5 players maybe?
NESV might be able to rescue Liverpool from crippling debt, but they cannot bring in 15 quality players overnight, they cannot compete with Manchester City or Chelsea in the transfer market, and they certainly cannot do it while bankrolling a new stadium.
It would be melodramatic to describe Liverpool's decline as terminal, but it is hard to see how Henry can ever restore the club to its former glories.
Via: Early Doors
