Is Benny Hill now Liverpool's defensive coach?

With a new contract close to being agreed, Benitez needs a good run in the league to sign, seal and deliver it. At Anfield, the form's not there and now is not the time for being stubborn.

It's now three home draws against teams those with realistic ambitions of the title should be beating.

On top of that, the match against Hull was one of those days where one of the elements which had led Liverpool to top spot in the Premier League went awry.

You'd have been forgiven for thinking Benny Hill had been brought in as a special guest defensive coach after two comedic errors continued the struggle to chase down a league title no one wants to win.

If something was going to deny Benitez's men the title, you would have thought it would have been lack of goals, not defensive fragility.

Liverpool's backline is a Fantasy Football dream, as is captain Steven Gerrard, who once again rode to the rescue as the defence capitulated.

Plucky Hull weren't going to park the bus in front of the Anfield goal and with Liverpool urged on the attack, the Tigers found space to unwind all of Benitez's careful planning.

Sami Hyypia, brought in to combat Hull's perceived strength in the air, got nowhere near a high-flighted ball for the first goal.

And the less said about the second the better, although at least it's pleasing to see that Jamie Carragher's finishing is improving.

If Benny Hill had been at Melwood, a lot of time would have been spent coaching beleaguered full-back Andrea Dossena in the art of falling over.

At best he looks slightly off the pace, and at worst lost in a left-back position he seems unable to keep pace with.

While he's encouraging going forward, Dossena has poor positional sense and was shown up by a Hull right-back in an advanced role.

Amazingly, he's still number one choice for the Italian national team, but not for much longer on this evidence.

He was out-jumped for the first goal and out-paced for the second.

And you could sense the usually supportive Anfield crowd were getting impatient with him.

He did improve in the second half, largely due to the fact that Hull seemed content to sit on what they had, plus tormentor-in-chief Bernard Mendy had been moved into defence.

There is a ray of light. Dossena is as bad as Patrice Evra was when he started his Manchester United career yet through hard work and good coaching, he's become one of the league's best attacking left-backs.

Whether Liverpool have enough time to let the Italian adapt while staying near the top of the league is doubtful.

And Benitez does have a good track record in shipping out players he feels haven't worked out, unlike his predecessor Gerard Houllier, who remained convinced everyone he bought would eventually come good.

That must be ominous for Keane, omitted from the starting line-up despite a bright display against PSV Eindhoven.

Benitez's antidote to failing to net in the past two home league games was to leave Dirk Kuyt up front on his own, employing Gerrard just behind him.

But while Kuyt may be an able plodder, he is no matchwinner - something Liverpool need if they are to snatch that elusive title.

Fernando Torres and Gerrard aside, the last person who could truly conjure a goal from nothing was Luis Garcia. His replacement Yossi Benayoun doesn't come close.

In the second half as Hull were pegged back, Liverpool cried out for a match-winner, but still Benitez decided against bringing on £20m Keane.

To bring on Lucas for Javier Mascherano with minutes left was a baffling decision as Hyypia was forced into becoming a makeshift striker at the end.

Stubborn Benitez got it wrong. He should have played Keane and binned Dossena.

But wouldn't it be typical Benitez bloody-mindedness to ignore the pleas of the former and persist with the latter?