Liverpool need a lot more crazy

January 29, 2009

Liverpool are short of goals, short of composure, short, perhaps, of a bit of luck but crazy is in plentiful supply.

Here’s how Benitez described the 1-1 draw with Wigan Athletic that left Liverpool two points behind Manchester United, who have a game in hand:

“I was talking with my players about what to do on the pitch, but there are always things you cannot control in a game like this,” Benitez said. “The players were not nervous – they were working hard and played well in the first half. But things changed in the second half. It was a crazy game in the second half, and when it’s a crazy game you cannot control things.”

It’s not been a great start to the year for Benitez’s Liverpool.

The only team they have beaten in 2009 are Preston North End, the coach’s optimistic attempt to get inside the head of Sir Alex Ferguson has not been a notable success and that first league title since 1990 is starting to look as unattainable as ever.

So is that it from Liverpool? Is their challenge just going to peter out in a haze of missed chances, as Xabi Alonso looks on from the bench?

I’ve argued before that Liverpool will need an additional touch of inspiration if they are to win this title. They don’t, presumably, have the money to launch a bid for Kaka, Leo Messi or David Villa but there is one player with the necessary tradecraft* available for just 15 million quid.

Hijacking Arsenal’s bid for Andrei Arshavin when it’s 90 percent done would be a huge gamble, perhaps even a crazy one, but Liverpool sure need to do something.

PHOTO: Steven Gerrard waits for a corner during Liverpool’s Premier League match against Wigan Athletic at the JJB Stadium in Wigan, Jan. 28, 2009. REUTERS/Darren Staples

* Sorry, been re-reading Smiley

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