Even the Liverpool performances are now splitting the fans...
IT says everything about the divisions currently running right through Liverpool Football Club when even the team is now producing performances that split its fans down the middle.
Which camp you fall into depends on whether your particular glass is half full or half empty and whether your faith is of the blind variety or the kind which is occasionally questioned.
There is plenty for the optimists to enjoy - a maximum points haul from the opening two games of the season in which difficult opponents have been vanquished, dramatic late winning goals, a defence which concedes precious few chances and a place at the top of the Premier League table giving them more than enough ammunition to fire their arguments.
Over in the pessimistic corner, their retaliatory arguments are focused on the way Liverpool have struggled in their early season outings, the fact that the side is so chronically short of width it appears to be playing in a strait jacket and a pair of full backs who are currently playing so poorly they would struggle to get into any other team in the division, never mind a rival top four outfit.
The arguments raged long into the night after the Reds somehow managed to beat a Middlesbrough side which was well worth at least the point it would have taken away from Anfield had Steven Gerrard not donned his super hero's cape and rescued his team once again.
The captain's last-gasp injury time winner was typical of a player who has an uncanny knack of delivering the goods when and where they are needed most.
Like Fernando Torres at Sunderland last week, Gerrard was nowhere near his best on Saturday but when presented with the opportunity to be a match-winner he grabbed it with both hands, giving Liverpool a second successive late victory over North East opposition.
Before Gerrard's intervention it was Jamie Carragher who laid the platform for an unlikely victory with a deflected equaliser of Mido's opener which said everything about the defender's determination and will to win.
The problem is in the first two games of the new season Liverpool are continuing to rely on the usual suspects to win them games.
Carragher and Gerrard on Saturday and Torres the week before - the pattern that everyone knows needs changing if Liverpool are to mount a genuine title challenge is all too apparent once again.
Too many of the players around this trio are either unable or unwilling to live up to the high standards they set, and unless this changes then the pessimists' vision of another season in domestic wilderness will be realised.
It is always a tad unfair to point fingers at individuals in what is a team game, but one only needs to look at the substitutions Rafa Benitez made against Gareth Southgate's well-organised and enterprising side to realise where Liverpool's problems lie.
Andrea Dossena, Alvaro Arbeloa and Yossi Benayoun were all replaced during a dire second half, having failed miserably to offer the kind of width which the Reds so desperately need.
In fairness to Dossena, he is clearly not lacking in spirit as his bursts forward in the opening 45 minutes showed and his newness to the English game means he deserves time to prove himself.
The Italian will have to improve the defensive side of his game dramatically though if he is not to suffer a similar fate to a certain Per Kroldrup, the last former Udinese man to find football on Merseyside not to his liking.
What Benitez makes of Arbeloa's and Benayoun's total lack of form at present is open to question. The pair have started both games thus far but have struggled so badly that when they were replaced on Saturday they were both afforded nothing more than a polite and somewhat sympathetic round of applause by the home fans.
The Spanish defender needs to take a long hard look at himself because he is currently operating in a comfort zone which makes David Beckham look energetically committed in comparison.
When an advert promoting a popular brand of men's deodorant was flashed around the new Anfield advertising hoardings during the second half it can't have been directed at Arbeloa as he could not possibly have needed it.
In an ideal world, Arbeloa would be Liverpool's John O'Shea - a reliable and decent understudy who can fill in as and when needed in any of the positions across the back four.
The problem is, the current lack of quality in the right back position, and Benitez's refusal to turn to the superior but out of favour Steve Finnan, means Arbeloa currently has a more prominent role and he is failing to live up to that kind of billing.
Given an open cheque book and the freedom to sign the kind of players he wants, Benitez would spend the next week making the kind of signings that would improve Liverpool's wide areas because he is as aware as anyone where the problems lie.
In the real world that he operates in, though, the Spaniard will have to wheel and deal to spectacularly good effect if such improvement is to take place, and that's if he is given the freedom to do so by the club's absentee landlords who have all of a sudden developed a unique insight into the relative transfer values of footballers.
At least Robbie Keane, a player who did meet the Americans' value expectations, is beginning to spark into life and there were signs against Middlesbrough that the former Spurs man is finally starting to develop a partnership with Torres.
But at a time when every positive is twinned with a negative, Liverpool wouldn't be Liverpool unless Keane's improvement was not accompanied by another player's deterioration.
And on Saturday it was Xabi Alonso who struggled so badly it left even the Spaniard's biggest fans wondering if Benitez's lack of faith in his ability to cut it in the hurly burly of the Premiership is justified after all.
The optimists still back him to come good and point to form being temporary and class being permanent, the pessimists retaliate by asking when does a prolonged loss of form indeed become permanent?
Such debates are the way of things at Anfield right now and they will continue to rage for some time to come unless points are matched by performances.
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I can't understand what Alonso did wrong. In 5 of our chances and goals he had a hand in it even though not directly. He sent balls to Keane that led to the two clear cut chances. He also hit the ball that rebounded for Carragher to score. Not to mention he lobbed the ball nicely into the side box for Keane to knock it back that gave Gerrard the chance to score.
Just because he got caught out of position a few times he shouldn't be slated like this. Kuyt and Benayoun were far worse especially Kuyt. His inability to drive pass a defender gave fullbacks nothing to worry and that gave chances for players to rush back. Benayoun was always not used to the left and we all know he's much better at the right. Don't blame Alonso, blame Kuyt.
whats the point in having top players like gerrard and torres if you cannot rely on them to win games for you in the last minute.
HENCE THEIR PRICE TAGS!
i would of course pprefer to slaughter every team we meet 5-0, but we're not that good.
benitez has chronically avoided buying wingers, and winges that he needs to buy
barry.
in doing so, sells yet another creative talent.
benitez is the problem, not the players.
blame Parry for bringing benitez in, and for not selling to DIC and opting for the scum yanks. At least DIC would of got Murinho as our manager and with the money, premiership would be ours again finally. benitez couldn't pick his nose nevermind a winning team.
Kuyt, Benayoun, Pennant, Aberloa, Vorinon, all need to go just average players making our team look average.
I used to like benitez but can't stand him now. We will never win the premiership with him as manager. Hope he goes the end of this season. Actually, he needs to go along with the yanks and Parry.
I have to agree whole heartedly with blitz. Whoever wrote this article is not very observant because Alonso contributed greatly to the goals that we scored. He was the one that delivered the cross in that rebounded off to Carrager who scored. He crossed in to Keane and Gerrard allowing our skipper to score.
So if you say that Alonso was struggling u must be kidding me.
The obvious obvious obvious weak link in the team is Dirk Kuyt who is a trash striker and (now) a trash right winger and (soon to be) a trash right back.
The only reason he is still playing eludes me and the only hypothesis i can come up with is that he and Rafa are gays and Kuyt gives wonderful blowjobs where he learnt from Amsterdam.
In all seriousness, Fabregas was keen to have Alonso over at Arsenal and I think that alone goes to show all critics that Alonso certainly has some, if not huge, value to a Premier League team.
Last of all, I beseech all Liverpool fans out there to be joyful about our recent results, 2 wins out of 2 is no mean feat achieved only by Chelsea and us so far.
The league is so so so difficult nowadays that Arsenal and Man U already dropped points 2 matches into the new season. Its thus evident that winning matches are no longer a given. 2 seasons ago, I remember Chelsea winning by 1-0 margins for many matches and everybody concluded that they have to win the league because they were "playing badly but still winning and that is the characteristic of champions".
Thus its probably a little harsh to barrage Liverpool for their poor performances because the 3 points is all that matters in the end.
I dunno about you but I think somehow the players will find out one way or other how the fans are feeling through the media so I would like to offer my fullest support to my favourite team for 15 years by not adding unneeded and unwanted pressure on their shoulders by being so hasty in my judgement that they are playing badly but rather confirm the players that yes, they are not controlling games as we would like them to, but even then they are winning games and so I believe this is the season to watch.