Recently by Geoff Wright

Lisandro Lopez's sucker punch left Liverpool's European campaign staggering around on the ropes last night. Stranger things have happened than Lyon getting a draw in Florence on the 24th of November, but even if the French side do repay the generosity that Voronin showed towards them last night, Liverpool would still have to beat Fiorentina by 3 goals at Anfield to progress.

It's not over until the fat lady sings, but Liverpool are now facing the prospect of competing in the Europa League this season, an almighty fall from grace.

Assuming yet another improbable European comeback is beyond us this time around, Liverpool must now tackle this season's January transfer window without the prospect of Champions League revenue in the second half of the season. And since we are all now painfully aware of the limitations of our squad, this will probably ensure that the race for 4th place is far closer than we would like.

To be contemplating early elimination from the group stages whilst we look up the table to the likes of Tottenham and Man City occupying the European qualfication places in the Premier League table is a predicament that nobody could possibly have predicted. Having watched Liverpool surge through the second half of last season, battering Real Madrid and hitting Man Utd for four at Old Trafford, respected pundits such as Anfield legend Alan Hansen and BBC Chief Football Commentator Phil McNulty went so far as to predict an end to our 19-year wait for domestic success. But unfortunately, last season's title-challenge has proved to be yet another false dawn.

However, I for one do not feel that this season's massive disappointment should lead us to contemplate whether Rafa Benitez really is the right man to take Liverpool forward.

I recently performed my own analysis into Benitez's transfer record since arriving at Anfield, and there's no getting around the fact that many of his signings have not worked out. But it would be harsh on the Liverpool manager to ignore many of the mitigating circumstances that have surrounded some of the more disappointing arrivals.

Firstly, Benitez is seemingly being expected to build a squad capable of challenging for the Premier League title. But his annual net spending of around £15m per season is a fraction of the funds available to the men responsible for first team affairs at Chelsea and Manchester United. Is it any surprise that the league title has been stuck between those two clubs for the last five years?

Moreover, during most of his tenure Benitez has had to contend with an unworkable relationship with former Liverpool Chief Executive Rick Parry. Without speculating about where the difficulties arose or who was at fault, this sort of issue would inevitably inhibit any manager's transfer dealings.

Since Benitez has been at Liverpool, we have either won or come close to winning a major trophy in every single season. And although we'd love to return to the heady days of Paisley and Dalglish when "second was nowhere", I think a lot of Liverpool fans need to wake up to the fact that we are now in an era where money is everything and Liverpool haven't got any.

It is hard for me as a Liverpool fan to ask the following question, but are we setting our standards too high? Until we have a stable situation off the field and a stadium which generates enough revenue to provide truly competitive transfer kitty, isn't it dangerous to demand the head of any manager who cannot provide the league title?

I accept that Rafael Benitez is not perfect. He allowed his relationship with Xabi Alonso to disintegrate, and we are all now painfully aware of the damage done by the midfield playmaker's departure. He has taken a few seasons to learn that wholesale rotation of his squad is not compatible with domestic success. And he is notoriously stubborn, often doing himself no favours with his media outbursts.

But there is no better tactician in the world, and I still strongly believe that with the support of the club and the fans, he will move the club forward on and off the field.

Liverpool's current plight is dire. But unless a viable alternative can be found, the situation only gets worse without Benitez. And who is going to take over at a club where there is no transfer budget, two owners who do not get on, and success requires a league title?

It is said that Liverpool fans are some of the most knowledgeable in the world. Moreover we like to think of ourselves as loyal and capable of avoiding the temptation of knee-jerk reactions. And although there are still fans speaking out for what is right and sensible, radio and tv phone-ins have been inundated with frustrated callers who undermine our reputation.

This Monday, Liverpool have a must-win game against Birmingham City at Anfield. But off the field, there is another challenge to be overcome. Liverpool's fans have to step forward and prove that they are more loyal, more level-headed, and more passionate than any other in the land.

The best way to help alleviate the problems facing our club right now is to sing Rafa's name as loudly as possible. This will help the confidence of the players, and it will also ease media's scrutiny of the current regime.

Are we the best fans in the world? I think so, but we need to prove it on Monday.

It can never be good news when the manager of the team you support describes a performance as possibly the worst he has seen, but I'd rather hear that description of Liverpool's abject display last night than something more defensive. There have been times when Rafa Benitez's post-match comments following a poor performance focus on how different things could have been if we'd taken our chances, or on decisions from the match-officials. You could argue perhaps that last night was so bad, even Benitez was unable to find a positive to hide behind, but I'm inclined to give him some credit for accepting just how bad his team were.

My issue is with the 1st half. I, like Benitez, cannot think of an occasion when we have been as comprehensively outplayed. Those Fiorentina fans who were not too busy making an outstanding amount of noise within the stadium must have marvelled at how well their team's game-plan was working. Fiorentina dropped right off us when we had the ball in our own half, but they completely squeezed the life out of any possession we tried to maintain in their half. The more men we committed into attacking positions, the more vulnerable we looked when they broke. And the result was a half in which we didn't ever look like scoring, and in which they rattled in two.

But I hope that as well as delivering an accurate verdict on just how bad we were in that 1st half, Benitez is also able to work out exactly what went wrong. It's not enough to just say all the lads had a 'mare, which is essentially all we've heard from him so far. Why did our forwards find it impossible to find space? Why were they able to pose such a threat on the break?

The Liverpool manager quite rightly dished out a proper rollicking at half time, but his players weren't the only ones who had a bad evening in Florence. Benitez's decision to start Fabio Aurelio in central midfield looked eccentric before the game and disastrous by half-time. The Brazilian is a brilliant left-back when fully fit, but having played one other competitive game this season, a game in an unfamiliar position was surely not ideal. When you consider that Fiorentina were well-known to be a compact and well organised side playing in the game of their lives, the selection looks all the more mystifying.

In addition to this, I think a lot of Liverpool fans would grudgingly admit that Emiliano Insua's form has dipped a little of late. He's only young, and hopefully he will not follow in the footsteps of John Otsemobor, Steven Wright and Steven Warnock as promising full-backs who have earned a chance but ultimately have not capitalised. However, for now I think it's not a moment too soon that Aurelio has returned to full-fitness. Insua was left horribly exposed by Aurelio and Benayoun, to the extent that the ever-willing Dirk Kuyt had to be drafted in to bolster the left-flank. When desperate measures such as that are required before half-time, it's a sure sign that the manager has not got it quite right.

However, amid widespread and justifiable horror at the complete garbage that the men in red served up last night, it is important to remember that it is just one game. As long as Liverpool win their home games and avoid any more defeats, we will almost certainly qualify for the knock-out stages of the Champions League. And while such a run of results is obviously no mere formality, we surely won't play as badly again as we did last night. Moreover, although Sebastian Frey was not required to make a difficult save all evening, Fiorentina's threat disappeared with the half-time whistle.

I think the entire team and staff need to have a good hard look at themselves and remember that there are no easy away trips in the Champions League. The margins between success and failure are extremely small, and often scoring first can make all the difference. Therefore turning up last night and playing as though the right result would just come naturally for me amounts to a lack of professionalism. But I cannot see Benitez or his players making the same mistake twice in a single season, in fact I don't think I've ever witnessed such a thing since Benitez took control in 2005.

Having said that, it must be noted that Liverpool have lost every difficult game they have played so far this season. We have another difficult game this weekend, so if the current trend continues, we will have left our title hopes hanging by a thread before the shops have even put their Christmas decorations up. It goes without saying that this would represent a monumental disappointment following the progress seemingly made by the club last season.

Liverpool have no margin for error this weekend. But, at least this time around there will surely be no complacency.

In a week when it was inconveniently revealed that Liverpool's board are planning to limit spending on both transfers and new player contracts to £20m annually for the next 5 years, George Gillett - reportedly in attendance at Anfield today - will have welcomed the distraction of Liverpool's 6-1 demolition of Hull. I'm not of course suggesting that he has any particular emotional investment in the team's results, but he will surely be relieved that tomorrow's column inches will be filled with talk of Torres and Gerrard rather than spending caps and stadium delays.

But while those who wish to create a feel-good factor around Anfield will busily point to Liverpool's improving league position and the lucrative new sponsorship deal with Standard Chartered to suggest that matters both on and off the field are being handled properly, I'm still not convinced.

Last season, only 7 teams in the Premier League conceded more goals per game than Liverpool have done so far this season, and the fact that Rafa Benitez was forced to speak out in defence of Jamie Carragher this week only serves to highlight how far below his usually impeccable best the Liverpool vice-captain has fallen recently. In today's post-Perez/Mansour market, if this week's reports are to be believed, a new first-choice centre-back would probably swallow Benitez's entire transfer budget.

But as well as pointing the finger at poor old Carra, it has also been suggested that Liverpool's problems at set-pieces are not the result of poor defending, but poor play in midfield leading to more free-kicks being conceded in dangerous positions this season. I think this is an interesting suggestion, although rightly or wrongly it's surely bound to encourage the Lucas-bashers out for a fresh round of slating.

Personally, I'm hoping our defensive frailties are just a by-product of some early season settling. But unless the the problem is solved, Liverpool will have no chance of winning the title (at least not unless Fernando Torres scores 50 goals this season, which might be possible on today's evidence).

In the meantime, it's great to rattle six goals past any team managed by Phil Brown, and the result is the perfect preparation for two tough fixtures next week.

Firstly, although failure to qualify for the Champions League knock-out stage would take a monumentally bad set of results in Europe over the next couple of months, the pressure is on at this stage to secure qualification as quickly as possible. As has been pointed out here on Banter recently, Liverpool's squad lacks the depth of our rivals', so the sooner we can start using fringe players in Europe to keep our key players fir for the league, the better. Therefore, although it will be no easy feat, a win in Florence this week becomes crucial.

Then there is the small matter of a trip to Stamford Bridge next weekend. Wigan did the league a favour in showing today that Chelsea are susceptible to a well-organised pressing approach (a Rafa Benitez speciality). But although another 3 points for Liverpool would see us overtake Ancelotti's expensively assembled side, Chelsea will certainly pose a threat from set-pieces. In turn we can expect their defenders to give our forwards much less space than those of Hull, West Ham and Burnley have in recent weeks.

It's a massive week for Liverpool, so here's hoping today's result will give us the confidence to shake off our early bad habits and take the season by the scruff of the neck.

As we all know, the transfer window closed yesterday afternoon, and for Liverpool there were no deadline day deals. Hopes of bold signings have disintegrated amidst a poor start to the season and worrying reports of scant financial resources. But, while the journalists and pundits have been all too quick to twist the knife into a supposedly weakened squad, have Liverpool really taken a step back from last season's promising campaign?

Sadly, I think most would reluctantly agree that the best player to be involved in a Liverpool transfer this summer was a departure, namely Xabi Alonso. In an interview today, the midfield maestro cited Rafa Benitez's objections to his desire to be present for the birth of his first child and attempts to replace him with Gareth Barry last summer as the major reasons behind his eventual decision to leave Anfield. Obviously this is Alonso's chance to portray himself in the best possible light following his move to Real Madrid, but he's always seemed (to me at least) like a very honest type of player, and one who is unlikely to play games with the press. You only have to look at the way he rediscovered his best form having effectively been given a vote of no confidence to see his level of professionalism. Either way, he is gone now, and Liverpool's midfield will miss him.