 I'M not convinced by Jose Reina. Being a good shot-stopper and being good at dealing with crosses are two completely different skills, and while he's good at the former, he's not so good at the latter. Rafael Benitez will defend him to the hilt, but at this level you want someone whose mistakes are all in the past. At St Andrews on Saturday, he was to my mind at fault for both goals and it was him who cost Liverpool the seemingly decisive advantage given to them by Luis Garcia. He started flapping, and Liverpool's control of the game was lost. A young goalkeeper can have tons of potential, but, like your centre-backs, you want a safe pair of hands, so to speak. I know it's a bit early to criticise him, but it's a problem. The other worry to come out of the game was to extent to which Liverpool are still relying on Steven Gerrard. Take him out and, in truth, there's not a lot there. Even with Djibril Cisse and Peter Crouch on the pitch late on against Birmingham, it was the skipper who was constantly surging forward and looked most likely to score. What's certain is that Liverpool are missing the sort of players they didn't manage to sign in the transfer window. And there's also the lingering problem of Cisse. Benitez patently doesn't fancy him, and the player knows that. Had a big enough offer come in for him during the window, he would have gone, and that creates a difficult situation. It's not like years ago when managers could brush it under the carpet. With the number of agents around these days, Cisse will know that Liverpool tried to get rid of him and that's hardly going to help his confidence. With Fernando Morientes out injured and in any case a pale imitation of his former self, that currently heaps a lot of responsibility on the shoulders of Crouch. Benitez persists in using Crouch on his own up front, in what basically is the same formation he used at Valencia, but does he really have the personnel to play that way? He finally got his first proper cross on Saturday, although he didn't manage to stick it in. The trouble is that Liverpool don't really play in a way that can accommodate him most effectively. I still think Liverpool will claim fourth the way they're currently going, but I can't see them actually closing much on the top three.
Mark Lawrenson was talking to DAVID PRIOR
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