New Lows

Liverpool have hit new lows with their Carling Cup exit at the hands of League Two Northampton Town. That's three divisions below the Premier League.

You'd think that Pepe Reina, Jamie Carragher, Steven Gerrard, and Fernando Torres is a pretty good spine to build a team around.

But they've lost the two key midfield ingredients in Xabi Alonso and Javier Mascherano and failed to adequately replace them. And things are just falling apart.

Is the lack of transfer funds to blame for their failures? Or is it the poor use of available funds?

I lean towards the latter. Benitez spent the past six years and over 200 million pounds on mostly second-rate players (read: Luis Garcia, Scott Carson, Peter Crouch, Dirk Kuyt, Jermaine Pennant, Ryan Babel, Martin Skrtel, Andrea Dossena, Albert Riera, etc.) and washed-up veterans (read: Fernando Morientes, Bolo Zenden, Robbie Fowler, Robbie Keane, Craig Bellamy, etc.). The only true world-class players signed during his tenure were Alonso, Mascherano, and Torres.

Instead of building a team with a top-class Starting XI, Benitez went for a bloated squad filled with mediocre players. In contrast, besides bringing in Michael Carrick, Owen Hargreaves, and Dimitar Berbatov in successive seasons (comparable players, if not in style then at least in stature), Fergie also brought in the likes of Wayne Rooney, Edwin van der Saar, Park Ji-Sung, Nemanja Vidic, Patrice Evra, Anderson, Nani, and Antonio Valencia. Not to mention the departed Gerard Piqué, Giuseppe Rossi, and Ben Foster.

So let's compare.

Alonso + Mascherano + Torres: Nearly 50 million pounds

Carrick + Hargreaves + Berbatov: Over 60 million pounds

The United trio cost a little more, sure. But fairly close. The rest of them?

Garcia + Carson + Crouch + Kuyt + Pennant + Babel + Riera + Morientes + Keane + Bellamy: Over 90 million pounds

Rooney + van der Saar + Park + Vidic + Evra + Anderson + Nani + Valencia: Nearly 100 million pounds

Ouch.

Toss in Alberto Aquilani (20 million) and the scale gets tipped the other way.

Is the lure of playing at Old Trafford really that much greater than playing at Anfield that, given a choice, a player would snub Liverpool in favour of United? I doubt it. I think it's purely a case of spending poorly.

Can you imagine if Liverpool had signed even just half of the players on United's list? (Anyone except Rooney: I can't imagine he would go from Everton to Liverpool. He'd never make it to the red half of Merseyside alive.)

Bottom line: Benitez spent his money on second-rate players and made Liverpool a second-rate club.

Remember: You are what you eat.