Just how bad is it to be a Liverpool supporter right now? Terrible. Awful. The worst it's ever been. You know how you can tell? Their abject loss to Blackpool has been mostly greeted with resigned shrug. That a team of the stature of Liverpool could be beaten by a bunch of journeymen playing in the Premier League for the first time without it being a major surprise is a sign of the state of affairs. Expectations are now so low that a draw with a minor Russian team in Europe's second-tier competition is considered a good result.
The outsiders and non-Liverpool fans it has been sort of amusing watching the collapse of this massive club. But like when you realise your drunken friend actually has a serious drinking problem it stops being funny and becomes a bit pitiful.
Thankfully the fan already have their built-in-bogeyman, the hated owners who have saddled the club with huge amounts of debt without investing in the squad, or the promised new stadium. Whilst this is certainly an issue, it diverts the blame away from a group of players who are seriously under-performing.
One of Liverpool's greatest problems for years has been their over-reliance on Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres to carry the team. This of course is not shocking news, but the reason it has started to go wrong is the badly reduced quality of players fitting in around these two. When Xabi Alonso, an excellent playmaker with a dead-eye passing ability, was sitting behind Gerrard in the central midfield you had some forward momentum in the team, the end result being their 2nd place finish in the 2008-2009 season.
When Alonso left he was replaced in the midfield mostly by Javier Mascherano. Now for all his qualities Mascherano is not a creative player. Very good at breaking up opposition attacks, but not then pushing the ball forwards. Normally this would be where your wide players would come in to play, but put simply Liverpool don't have any decent wingers. The end result is that Gerrard has to drop deeper to get the ball, making it harder for him to then link-up with the attack.
Signing Joe Cole on a free transfer this summer could have solved the wide player problem. Alas this has been hamstrung by his desire to play in a more central role - i.e. the same place Gerrard plays. A good manager would sort this by drilling his team repeatedly so he positions they should be in become second nature. Roy Hodgson has failed to do this, leading to the midfield meandering around the pitch pointlessly. Towards the end of games, and sometimes even when Liverpool go a goal down, the players just seem to stop caring. The work rate declines, silly mistakes creep in. Even Fernando Torres, Liverpool's talisman, sometimes looks like he'd rather be anywhere else in the World.
This is all coupled with what seems to be a very slow breakdown by Roy Hodgson. The calm, friendly Fulham manager has been replaced by the screaming, depressed, beaten-down Liverpool manager.
So is this a terminal decline for the most decorated team in English football? Maybe, Manchester City's millions probably have forced them out of the Big Four and Tottenham seem to have taken their place as "former glory who want to get it back". But who knows? Perhaps Liverpool will get their billionaire buyer and 60,000-seat stadium. Until then we will just have to put up with this sad sack of a team pretending like they still care.
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