It's still your fault Rafa

Liverpool's superb and thrilling victory at Old Trafford today proves only one thing; that it's Rafa Benetiz's fault that Liverpool have not put up a better title challenge this season. Alex Ferguson won't worry too much, I'm sure he'll be happy to take a four point lead with a game in hand and ten games to play.

Man for man Liverpool's first eleven is actually better than Manchester United's and it's Benetiz's refusal to play this team week in, week out which has caused them to be out of the title race in March despite beating the Champions home and away. Just for the record, United's previous defeat in the league came against Arsenal in November and in spite of what Benetiz might tell you, it is as unlikely that United will drop 7 points between now and the end of the season as it is that Liverpool will get maximum points.

Liverpool's first eleven means that they should be closer if not ahead of United at this stage of the season. The draws, the draws, the draws. Let's look at the teams first of all. Reina is better than Van der Saar who is too old and overrated but goalkeepers aren't so important for these teams. Skrtel and Carragher are the equal of Ferdinand and Vidic. What Carragher lacks in pace, he more than makes for in heart and intelligence. Aurelio and Arbeloa have improved with each season and Aurelio's much touted dead ball expertise is finally starting to show it on the pitch.

Evra is still excellent going forward but he has been caught out defensively several times this season, not least today. Josh seems to have established himself at right back and he won't let you down as long as United's match winners paper over the cracks which they have done this season. More than anything the Liverpool back four have been consistent and it's further up the field that the differences between the teams are most apparent.

Alonso and Mascherano are probably the best centre midfield pairing in the Premier League even if it is only recently that Benetiz seems to have accepted this. Unfortunately Rafa has seen fit to rest these players for the inclusion of Lucas who still looks out of his depth even in a 4-1 win at Old Trafford. On the wings, Reira and Kuyt have delivered solid performances all season providing cover to the defence and service to the attack. They are exactly the kind of unspectacular, industrious players that Rafa loves so much.

They do a similar job now to what Park, Giggs and Anderson for United. Carrick and Scholes are outstanding footballlers but they are no better than Liverpool's pairing. Up front both teams have match winners, it's just that United have more of them.

Fernando Torres is the best player in Europe by a distance. He proved it last season, he is proving it this season despite the injuries and he proved it during Euro 2008 when all the best players came to the fore. Ronaldo was nowhere during Europe's most prestigious tournamen. Steven Gerrard was on holidays.

The blame rests with Benetiz because he failed to build a squad which could compete with United's. He signed Robbie Keane during the summer for £20 million only to sell him on in January without giving him a chance or having a replacement lined up. The consequence of this terrible piece of business is that Liverpool have had no one to stand in when Torres suffered those inevitable injuries. Manchester United have both Tevez and Berbatov to choose from.

Liverpool have no recognised striker in reserve, let alone players in the class of United's reserves. A second striker, be it Robbie Keane or someone else would also have solved liverpool's problems in the event of an injury to their other match winner Gerrard. A second striker would have allowed Liverpool to revert to a 4-4-2 if Gerrard was injured. Kuyt has consistently proven him unworthy to be called a Liverpool striker, so much so that he has had to reinvent himself as a defensive winger in the mould of Kevin Kilbane.

If Robbie Keane was not to Benetiz's tastes, then Andrei Arshavin for one, was also available during the summer. Benetiz's lack of faith in Robbie Keane and his subsequent failure to replace him are the reasons Liverpool have drawn so many games in which United have picked up all three points.

There is no question over the ability of this Liverpool team who might well go on to win the Champions League but maybe if they had a more pragmatic manager willing to play his strongest team they wouldn't have drawn so many matches against inferior opposition.

The self-inflicted shallowness of Liverpool's squad means that while they might well enjoy great days such as today and last Wednesday's demolition of Real with their first eleven, they won't win the title because they haven't got the squad to turnover Middlesborough, Hull, Manchester City, West Ham, Hull, Fulham, Stoke et al every week and for that Mr. Benetiz, you are to blame.