Time's up?

The curtains for Champions League football this year falls early for Liverpool. Winning 1-0 against Hungarian opponents Debrecen was a useless stat as they fail to qualify for the 2nd round.

Its a shame that Liverpool, traditional European powerhouses are knocked out so early in the competition. It wasn't so long ago that Rafa Benitez was deemed the saviour of Liverpool football club having won the Champions League in a dramatic comeback win. Things have obviously moved on, and Liverpool has been on a journey of ups and downs. Last year was more of an up as they challenged for the BPL crown and almost got it had it not been for a dip in form mid-season. This year is a terrible start for the Kop faithful. Unable to win domestically, their poor form had even affected their usual dominance in European football. It is one of the lowest points for all Liverpool fans.

Truth is, is it time for Rafa Benitez to go? Sure, we should not put all the blame on the manager. Afterall, he has had bad luck, losing Torres and Gerrard to injuries this season. But can he blame his luck? We all know the failure to plan is a plan to failure. As a seasoned manager who knows how important it is to have able backups for key positions, he has not done reasonably well enough to cover up the holes upfront. Without Gerrard and Torres, Liverpool is thin and toothless. Whatever happened to Kuyt? He is left on the right these days. Only Rafa knows how to misplace players from their best positions.

Robbie Keane will be so useful backing Gerrard up, but Rafa didn't see it that way. Alonso will not have left if Rafa did not condemn him before he shone in the heart of midfield. 20 million for a right back is debatable by any standard of spending by a manager. The owners meanwhile get lambasted by the Kop faithful for spending little. Well, the stats show that Rafa had been the spendthrift. The reserves are dry because the Spainard had spent on misfits like Babel, Degen, Dossena and now maybe Aquilani. He got rid of a class player like Robbie Keane and God knows why he let go of Bellamy who could have given him great wing play. Mark Hughes demonstrates how to use Bellamy effectively on the wing at Man City, something Rafa never saw.

Rafa has also done little to develop the Liverpool youngsters. How many Liverpool youth academy players can you mouth off now, considering Man Utd has got players like Fletcher, O'Shea, Brown, Evans, Welbeck and Macheda playing regularly for Man Utd, having been groomed at Man Utd's Academy. Disappointing really for a club of Liverpool stature that had produced greats like Robbie Fowler, Michael Owen, Jason McAteer, Jamie Redknapp, Steve McManaman and many others.

Has Rafa lost the plot? He might have won the Champions League and came close to pipping Man Utd, but reputation counts for little at times when a fresh change might ignite new ideas and renewed vigour. Think Guus Hiddink or maybe the Special One Jose Mourinho (boy, will that be an explosive relationship...)

Well, the Liverpool faithful are not complaining, so why should a Man Utd supporter worry?