The end of the big four
Liverpool's Fabio Aurelio and one of the dreaded beach balls
Wednesday, 25, Nov 2009 01:06
Rafael Benitez may hold on to his job, but the Liverpool team he manages has slipped out of the Premier League's big four.
By Matthew Champion.
Students of history will remember the original big four which met at the Paris Peace Conference in 1919 and lent its name to their Premier League counterparts.
It's easy to draw comparisons between the new money of Woodrow Wilson and Chelsea; the long, proud tradition of David Lloyd George and Manchester United; the Gallic independence of Georges Clemenceau and Arsenal; and, now, the mute irrelevance of Vittorio Orlando and Liverpool.
As the Reds crashed out of the Champions League last night, Arsenal were joining Manchester United and Chelsea (who do not play until tonight) in wrapping up qualification for the last 16 of the competition.
Arsenal qualified as winners of their group, Chelsea and United will confirm that status if their games tonight.
A quick look at the Premier League table confirms the gulf in fortunes between Liverpool and the rest of the big four they can no longer profess to be a part of.
The league positions of Chelsea - first with 33 points -, United - second with 28 points -, and Arsenal - third with 25 points - make for a predictable look for the standings.
Liverpool may only be five points behind the Gunners, albeit having played a game more, but they have suffered a torrid start to the season already, losing four of their six away games and once at home (a 3-1 defeat to Aston Villa), leaving them languishing in seventh place below Tottenham Hotspur, Aston Villa and Manchester City.
Not since Everton dared to break the mould by finishing fourth in 2004/05 has any one out of Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool or Manchester United failed to finish in the top four and qualify for the Champions League.
In the same time, a member of this big four has made the final of the same competition every season.
The watershed moment that preceded this period of success for English clubs on the European stage was the standout moment of Benitez's Anfield reign, the famous comeback against and penalties defeat of AC Milan in the Champions League final.
But that night in Istanbul has never seemed further away. Reds chief executive Christian Purslow can reassure fans over the future of Benitez and the health of the club's finances as much as he wants; the scale of the disaster of last night's Champions League exit will take years to correct.
Without Champions League football Liverpool cannot afford to keep their players or sign new ones of their quality.
Steven Gerrard, repeating a self-fulfilling prophecy by Jamie Carragher a day earlier, says the club will be able to bounce back by winning the Europa League.
The nine games that Liverpool must compete in to merely replicate the successes of 2001 under Gerard Houllier will be nothing but a distraction for getting their domestic campaign back on track.
Standing in Liverpool's way of making sure 2009/10 is just a blip and not the start of a 1990s-style wilderness period are Tottenham and Man City.
The former currently occupy that much-vaunted fourth spot and Sunday's 9-1 thrashing of Wigan suggests they have no plans to relinquish it.
City meanwhile exposed the gulf in class between their squad and Liverpool's when only a Yossi Benayoun strike salvaged a 2-2 draw for the Reds at Anfield last weekend.
Liverpool's problems this season have often been put down to the injury-enforced absence of key duo Fernando Torres and Steven Gerrard.
However the pair also missed large parts of last season when the Reds lost just two games and missed out on the title by just four points.
Since then Xabi Alonso has departed to Real Madrid, while his replacement Alberto Aquilani has rarely been fit, and his partner in crime Javier Mascherano is still hankering after a move to Barcelona.
But Aquilani was already injured when Benitez signed him for great expense in the summer, and the Spaniard did nothing to strengthen an attacking line-up that pales in comparison to the other members of the big four once Torres is taken out of it.
So the omens are not good for the Reds, but sadly for the club's fans, they can only get worse. Jamie Carragher can only lose more yards of pace; Gerrard can only face more spells on the sidelines and Mascherano can only yearn for a move to Catalonia more than he already is.
The question is not will Torres want to play in the Europa League next season, it's will Liverpool even make it into Europe's secondary club competition? Villa lie in the Europa League qualification spot in fifth at the moment and City lurk in sixth.
Last night's Champions League exit does not explicitly rule Liverpool out of next year's competition.
But the demoralising effect it will have on an already depressed squad and the signs that have been plain to see all season strongly suggest Liverpool will not overtake any of Villa, City or Spurs.
The end of the big four been anticipated for several years now, with several young pretenders mooted.
The only surprise is the manner in which it has arrived; not through a new challenger but by self-inflicted wounds.