Life's a beach for Rafa

Liverpool are a team in trouble and, despite the fact that everything seems to be going against them, there is still only one man to blame for their current predicament.

For a while now I have believed Rafa Benitez is not the right man for the job but, until recently, all the Liverpool fans I know would shoot me down in flames every time I pointed this out, staring at me like I had a chicken leg coming out of my nose.

Now, however, it seems these previously unflappable fans may finally be coming round to my way of thinking.

The Reds go into this afternoon's clash with Manchester United on the back of four straight defeats, their worst run of form for more than 20 years.

You could, of course, blame this disastrous patch on a lot of different things. Like the number of injuries, the constant uncertainty over ownership, the stadium fiasco and the intervention of evil beach balls at the Stadium of Light.

But the finger of blame should really be pointed only in one direction - at Benitez himself. Because managers are paid to get results no matter what conditions they are working under.

Fair enough, injuries to Gerrard and Torres are not helpful. But a manager's job is to ensure his squad is sufficiently balanced to deal with them when they arise. Some are now suggesting Liverpool are a two-man team that is lost when those particular men are absent.

I don't agree. I think there is much more to the Liverpool squad than that. Take the match with Lyon for example. Despite being without Torres from the start and losing Gerrard after just half an hour, the team, backed by their passionate crowd, put in a decent performance.

Yet Benitez pulled a masterstroke of bad management when he took off the sparkling Benayoun and replaced him with Voronin, a chap who couldn't score in Amsterdam's red light district with a fistful of twenties.

Benitez will argue he was chasing the win. In reality, he had effectively reduced Liverpool's chances of winning by removing the only player who was really causing the French team any problems.

And at Sunderland last week Liverpool may have lost to a freak goal, but in truth they didn't deserve to get anything out of the game anyway. Thanks again to the manager who employed negative and uninspiring tactics from the word go.

The truth is that Liverpool are not a two-man team; Benitez is a two-man manager. Take away his only truly world class players and he becomes instantly detached from the plot, changing formations, styles of play and tactics when all he had to do was change personnel. Picking a game plan and sticking with it is an alien concept to him.

And let's not forget the fact that he continues to play Lucas in the heart of midfield. From what I have seen of him this season he would struggle to get into an average Championship side.

This afternoon's game could go one of two ways. Liverpool could rally round and put in a performance of true grit and determination. Or, more likely, Benitez will try another new formation with more new players and end up gifting the game to United.

If that happens it will effectively signal the end of Liverpool's title aspirations despite the season being just a couple of months old. They will have lost five of their opening 10 matches and that will leave them 10 points adrift of United at the top.

In Europe, things aren't much better either. Defeat against Lyon next week would leave them with a mountain to climb to qualify. A mountain that may just be too high for Benitez and his tactics to master.

If that were to happen then I think it would definitely be time for a change. Failing to win the title for yet another season is painful but not entirely unexpected. But slumping out of Europe at the group stage would be totally unacceptable, especially for the owners. They know that the lost revenue would have serious consequences, both in the general running of the club and attracting new investment.

This week co-owner George Gillett gave Benitez his backing,saying he is as "good as there are in the business".

More tellingly, though, he pointed out that Benitez has only recently signed an improved contract keeping him at the club until 2014. You could take that as a positive thing showing that Gillett has long-term faith in the manager.

Personally, I think it was a way of telling the fans - who booed him for the first time this week - that firing Benitez is not financially viable.

The truth is, however, that defeat this afternoon - and I will be putting my money on United - combined with an early exit from the Champions League, will leave Gillett and his partner Hicks with little choice other than to find Liverpool a new boss.

Liverpool fans are notoriously patient but their season effectively ending before it has really started could well be the final straw.

Sack to the future

This season's most pathetic sacking award has already been sown up and there are still a good seven months of the campaign to go.

On Tuesday night Gareth Southgate was shown the door by Middlesbrough just hours after their 2-0 victory over Derby, a result which lifted them to fourth place in the Championship and just a point off the top.

Club chairman Steve Gibson said it was a decision that had been taken well in advance of that particular game on the back of previous performances and results. Obviously, it's Gibson's call, but to fire a manager in that way, at that time, and with the club in that position is just plain stupid.

I would have understood it if the poor form had come at the beginning of the season.

That would have been the time to panic. But with the club sitt-ing relatively pretty in the table and starting to get things back on track, getting rid of Southgate just didn't make sense.

Time will tell if it was the right decision. But if Boro go on to make a mess of the rest of the season, the fans won't look back and blame Southgate. It is Gibson they will hold responsible.

Button up doubters

Jenson Button's brilliant drive at the Brazilian grand prix not only secured his first ever Formula One title, but it should have gone a long way towards silencing the doubters claiming he wouldn't be a worthy champion.

Yes, he only finished fifth. But considering he started near the back of the grid and the pressure he was under, it was a magnificent performance by the Brit. He proved during that race that he is the current master of overtaking and that, rather than freewheeling towards the title finish line, he was prepared to go all out for it.

Button can be considered a lot of things, but an overnight success he certainly isn't. Instead, he is living proof that determination and perseverance, backed up by talent, can eventually win the day.

He is now in negotiations with Brawn GP to renew his contract for next season, something I fully expect him to do, despite alleged interest from McLaren.

And his next ambition is to become the first Brit to win back-to-back titles. That, however, is something I don't expect him to do.

Then again, if a year ago you had told me Button was going to be world champion driving for a brand new team, I would have offered you a special jacket with wrap-around arms. So what do I know?

sportscolumnist@timesofmalta.com