This has f**ked me right off...
ON A DAY when Liverpool fans were asked to back a scheme which would see them have to come up with £5,000 a man to support their club, it probably wasn't the best time for the team to produce a performance which must have left many in the away end wondering why they even bother buying a ticket.
If it's bang for your buck you're looking for then you're more likely to get a bigger return from buying shares in Northern Rock than you are from following the Reds at present.
Yesterday, 3,000 of Liverpool's most loyal fans made the trip to London's east end from Merseyside, paying a hefty £43 for a ticket alone – and all they got back was the latest instalment in their club's ongoing crisis.
If the first half promised little, the second delivered even less as Liverpool conceded a last minute penalty which Mark Noble struck home with the kind of confidence so many of Rafa Benitez's players are clearly lacking.
The fact that the Hammers were in such a position owed everything to Liverpool's chronic inability at set pieces.
This time it was one of their own – rather than one of the opposition's – which cost them a vital goal as a Fabio Aurelio corner resulted in a West Ham breakaway which ended only when Jamie Carragher scythed down Freddie Ljungberg as the former Arsenal man bore down on goal.
Referee Alan Wiley had no option but to award a penalty and this time even Pepe Reina was unable to deny West Ham from 12 yards.
In the current climate it is all too fitting that Liverpool's defeat should be self-inflicted because for the last three months the club has shot itself in the foot time and time again.
To go from title talk to crisis talk in the space of just 12 weeks is an incredible downturn and the worst thing is it seems no-one at Anfield is prepared to do anything to arrest the decline.
The only hope being clung to is that DIC will come to the club's rescue and rid it of all the negative forces which are currently dragging it deeper and deeper towards an all too predictable nadir.
But unless and until that happens, Liverpool are faced with the stark prospect of seeing a season which promised so much culminate in nothing but abject failure.
Forget Champions League qualification if their winless run in the league goes on for much longer. Their target for the season will be the booby prize that is the UEFA Cup.
Everyone at Liverpool must take responsibility for that – the absentee owners who have sent shockwaves of uncertainty rippling through the club; those who not only handed them the keys to Anfield, but also rolled out the red carpet; the manager who has failed to deliver on his promise to create a title challenging side and the players who have allowed themselves to be distracted by the ongoing circus off the pitch.
Each and every one of them can make a case for their own defence and each and every one of them can offer excuses and point fingers at one another. Make no mistake about it, this is exactly what is happening now.
An outbreak of blame culture means no-one is taking responsibility and the weakness this creates means Liverpool are in danger of imploding.
It's not about ill fortune or the fates conspiring against you, it's about failing to take control of your own destiny and giving inferior opponents an open invitation to kick you when you're down.
This is Liverpool in 2008 – a club lacking in direction, leadership and conviction.
The malaise on the pitch since November may have been masked by the ongoing farce off it. But now the mask has slipped and what is there for all to see is that this Liverpool side is far from being good enough.
You don't have to look at the league table to realise this – although seventh place in the Premiership, 17 points behind the leaders tells its own sorry story – you just have to look at the way they are performing.
The fact is there is not a single player operating in a wide position for Liverpool, either in defence or attack, who would get anywhere near Manchester United's and Arsenal's squads, never mind their teams.
The sight of Harry Kewell avoiding tackles and continuously failing to beat his man is almost as shocking as the fact that he actually gets picked at all. Not that his fall from grace seems to bother the Australian if the sight of him laughing and joking in the bowels of Upton Park just minutes after such a sickening defeat is anything to go by.
Kewell is far from being alone, though. Apart from the usual suspects there are too many who wear the Liver Bird upon their chest as if it's little more than a flag of convenience.
They don't look as if they care for the club and they certainly wouldn't shed blood for it. To some, their very presence in the current Liverpool team is an insult to those who have gone before them and, on the evidence of last night and far too many games in recent weeks, it would be impossible to disagree with that.
But then that goes for the club as a whole, because a club which is run well produces a team which plays well. It is a simple equation which served Liverpool incredibly well throughout their glory years and one which they seem to have forgotten as they stumble around from one crisis to the next.
A year ago yesterday, Liverpool beat West Ham but lost the affections of DIC.
If last night's reversal signals those fortunes are about to be reversed it might just stop Liverpool's kamikaze descent towards implosion.
ON A DAY when Liverpool fans were asked to back a scheme which would see them have to come up with £5,000 a man to support their club, it probably wasn't the best time for the team to produce a performance which must have left many in the away end wondering why they even bother buying a ticket.
If it's bang for your buck you're looking for then you're more likely to get a bigger return from buying shares in Northern Rock than you are from following the Reds at present.
Yesterday, 3,000 of Liverpool's most loyal fans made the trip to London's east end from Merseyside, paying a hefty £43 for a ticket alone – and all they got back was the latest instalment in their club's ongoing crisis.
If the first half promised little, the second delivered even less as Liverpool conceded a last minute penalty which Mark Noble struck home with the kind of confidence so many of Rafa Benitez's players are clearly lacking.
The fact that the Hammers were in such a position owed everything to Liverpool's chronic inability at set pieces.
This time it was one of their own – rather than one of the opposition's – which cost them a vital goal as a Fabio Aurelio corner resulted in a West Ham breakaway which ended only when Jamie Carragher scythed down Freddie Ljungberg as the former Arsenal man bore down on goal.
Referee Alan Wiley had no option but to award a penalty and this time even Pepe Reina was unable to deny West Ham from 12 yards.
In the current climate it is all too fitting that Liverpool's defeat should be self-inflicted because for the last three months the club has shot itself in the foot time and time again.
To go from title talk to crisis talk in the space of just 12 weeks is an incredible downturn and the worst thing is it seems no-one at Anfield is prepared to do anything to arrest the decline.
The only hope being clung to is that DIC will come to the club's rescue and rid it of all the negative forces which are currently dragging it deeper and deeper towards an all too predictable nadir.
But unless and until that happens, Liverpool are faced with the stark prospect of seeing a season which promised so much culminate in nothing but abject failure.
Forget Champions League qualification if their winless run in the league goes on for much longer. Their target for the season will be the booby prize that is the UEFA Cup.
Everyone at Liverpool must take responsibility for that – the absentee owners who have sent shockwaves of uncertainty rippling through the club; those who not only handed them the keys to Anfield, but also rolled out the red carpet; the manager who has failed to deliver on his promise to create a title challenging side and the players who have allowed themselves to be distracted by the ongoing circus off the pitch.
Each and every one of them can make a case for their own defence and each and every one of them can offer excuses and point fingers at one another. Make no mistake about it, this is exactly what is happening now.
An outbreak of blame culture means no-one is taking responsibility and the weakness this creates means Liverpool are in danger of imploding.
It's not about ill fortune or the fates conspiring against you, it's about failing to take control of your own destiny and giving inferior opponents an open invitation to kick you when you're down.
This is Liverpool in 2008 – a club lacking in direction, leadership and conviction.
The malaise on the pitch since November may have been masked by the ongoing farce off it. But now the mask has slipped and what is there for all to see is that this Liverpool side is far from being good enough.
You don't have to look at the league table to realise this – although seventh place in the Premiership, 17 points behind the leaders tells its own sorry story – you just have to look at the way they are performing.
The fact is there is not a single player operating in a wide position for Liverpool, either in defence or attack, who would get anywhere near Manchester United's and Arsenal's squads, never mind their teams.
The sight of Harry Kewell avoiding tackles and continuously failing to beat his man is almost as shocking as the fact that he actually gets picked at all. Not that his fall from grace seems to bother the Australian if the sight of him laughing and joking in the bowels of Upton Park just minutes after such a sickening defeat is anything to go by.
Kewell is far from being alone, though. Apart from the usual suspects there are too many who wear the Liver Bird upon their chest as if it's little more than a flag of convenience.
They don't look as if they care for the club and they certainly wouldn't shed blood for it. To some, their very presence in the current Liverpool team is an insult to those who have gone before them and, on the evidence of last night and far too many games in recent weeks, it would be impossible to disagree with that.
But then that goes for the club as a whole, because a club which is run well produces a team which plays well. It is a simple equation which served Liverpool incredibly well throughout their glory years and one which they seem to have forgotten as they stumble around from one crisis to the next.
A year ago yesterday, Liverpool beat West Ham but lost the affections of DIC.
If last night's reversal signals those fortunes are about to be reversed it might just stop Liverpool's kamikaze descent towards implosion.
RAFA 
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