Liverpool FC aren’t kidding anyone. They’re a club in crisis right now. Admittedly they’re second in the league, but after a couple of very lucky wins and a draw, the Reds’ early season form isn’t impressing anyone. Without Dirk Kuyt’s outstretched knee and the goalmouth heroics of Pepé Reina on Wednesday night, they were on the verge of being unceremoniously dumped out of the Champions League by Belgian champions Standard Liege.
To make matters worse, it now looks like Liverpool will be without captain Steven Gerrard and goal machine Fernando Torres for the visit of Manchester United on September 13. Oh, and did I forget to mention that work on the new stadium doesn’t look like it is going to happen until Everton win the Premiership?
With United looking to equal Liverpool’s once-seemingly-invincible tally of titles this season, and Liverpool looking about as close to winning the league this season as Hull City on a bad day, you can’t help but wonder how United boss Sir Alex Ferguson would handle the current situation at Anfield.
Would Sir Alex put up with the inability of Hicks & Gillett to get the money together to build a new stadium? Or would he just call it quits and retire? Or maybe he’d deploy some of his infamous psychological games on the Yanks and psyche them out of the Kop?
What formation would Sir Alex deploy with the LFC squad at his disposal? Especially with Torres and Gerrard injured? Surely he wouldn’t expect Robbie Keane to try his luck as a left-winger?
And which players would he unceremoniously boot out of Anfield on the last day of the transfer season?
Sir Alex is a manager who has ridden his luck in the Premiership on numerous occasions, but he’s also the manager who’s won the most titles. With Liverpool’s current manager Rafa Benitez struggling to get his team to gel, and having failed to bring in a decent winger or two during his spell at the club, you can’t help wonder whether his north-west rival couldn’t teach him a trick or five.
Or is there something rotten in the state of Anfield that not even Sir Alex could fix?