Benitez losing patience as Liverpool run out of time

A season that still has two months to run cannot end soon enough for Liverpool boss Rafa Benitez who once secured a Champions League title for his club but would now gladly settle for fourth in the Premier League.

Such a finish would put the five-time winners in the qualifying round for next season's premier European competition although on recent evidence they would again struggle to get through the group stage.

Monday's Premier League game at Wigan Athletic ended in a 1-0 defeat and a booking for talisman Steven Gerrard who may yet incur further disciplinary action after TV pictures caught him apparently waving a rude hand sign at the referee (see football news page 66).

The result predictably led to a wave of newspaper headlines proclaiming doom and gloom at Anfield but in fact the loss went against recent type.

Liverpool had lost just won one of their last 10 league games and a win against Wigan would have put them back in the top four, albeit a long way behind the top three of Manchester United, Chelsea and Arsenal.

There is no disguising, though, that this season has been a massive disappointment for a team with supposed pretensions of a serious tilt at a league crown that United, Chelsea and Arsenal have swapped between them in recent years.

Liverpool have now lost nine league matches this term and only have Europa League silverware to play for after early exits from the Champions League and FA Cup.

Benitez, who took Liverpool to a surprise Champions League triumph in 2005, has defended his team - almost monotonously - throughout this damp squib of a season but on Monday his patience had clearly run out.

"I have to be really disappointed and I can't be happy after losing a game like that," Benitez told reporters.

"You have some good games and bad games but especially at this time, at a crucial moment, we could have done better.

"It's a question of analysing why we didn't show the character."

A dismal tally of 12 league goals away from home and 45 all season compare miserably to last year's total of 77. Liverpool had 11 shots on target against Wigan but rarely troubled their former goalkeeper Chris Kirkland.

To improve their strike rate Liverpool desperately need a prolific partner for the injury-prone Fernando Torres.