[Kenny]

The times

Shadow over Rafael Benitez
To pose a genuine title threat Benitez must soon start winning at places like Bolton today
Elano challenges Javier Mascherano of Liverpool

Jonathan Northcroft
When Rafael Benitez bought a £4m mansion last February, complete with swimming complex, snooker room, sauna and orangery, it was the most expensive house ever sold in the Wirral. On Wednesday, with a Champions League away game with Internazionale rescheduled because AC Milan are using the San Siro the previous evening, Benitez will be in his second, even more inspiring, home. Liverpool host West Ham at Anfield. How their manager must wish every Premier League game was in the stadium. For all his feats on trips in Europe, Benitez has travelled as successfully as Spanish pop music in domestic competition.

Only in his second season, 2005-06, did Liverpool have an away league record comparable with their rivals in the “Big Four”. Their mediocrity in the Premier League can be illustrated by their struggles at venues where Manchester United, Arsenal and Chelsea generally prosper.

Today the Reebok stadium beckons. It will look like Amityville or Castle Greyskull as the Liverpool bus turns off the M61. It was at the Reebok, in August 2004, that Benitez suffered his first reverse as a Premier League boss in a game in which new Spanish recruits Josemi, Xabi Alonso and Luis Garcia were buffeted by Bolton players fired up by Sam Allardyce. A shocked Benitez was left complaining that what he had seen was “not football”. Allardyce never forgave him for that, and with some glee beat Liverpool on their last trip to the stadium in September 2006.

Benitez visits other bogey grounds, St Andrews and Craven Cottage, before this campaign is out, and unless Liverpool improve away, where they have scored fewer goals than any side in the top seven heading into this weekend, they are unlikely to beat Everton, Aston Villa and Portsmouth in the dash for fourth place.

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There is one Liverpool footballer whose form is good at the Reebok, but Danny Guthrie plays for Bolton, having joined them on a season-long loan in August. Benitez revealed that several clubs had inquired about buying the 20-year-old mid-fielder, but he is considering giving Guthrie another chance at Anfield. If that was a surprise, so was his disclosure that Sami Hyypia is to be offered a new contract. The Finn has had a renaissance this season, and how Liverpool needed it, with Daniel Agger beset by injuries and Martin Skrtel by what, on first impression, appears to be a simple lack of ability. But it was unexpected that Hyypia, at 34, would get the chance to sign on for a 10th season on Merseyside. “It’s my idea, so I will talk to [chief executive] Rick Parry and some people and it will be easy because everybody knows Sami has played well this year and he is a good professional, top-class. It will be good for him and good for us,” Benitez said.

Having also finally initiated talks with Peter Crouch over an extension and signed Javier Mascherano permanently, Benitez is looking to the future, despite present worries. Why the unforeseen movement in signings, not least regarding Mascherano, whose deal cost £18m to complete? Could it be that despite all the stories of Dubai Investment Capital (DIC) buying out Liverpool’s co-owners, Tom Hicks and George Gillett, and Benitez being on the brink of departing, those in charge of on- and off-pitch matters at Anfield suddenly feel ready to move forward together? It is understood that in recent weeks there has been a significant warming in relations between Benitez and Hicks, and that the Spaniard now regards the co-owners’ idea of sounding out Jurgen Klinsmann to replace him as having come from Gillett. Hicks was the one who admitted the approach to Klinsmann, and although Benitez might have preferred matters to remain in-house, he accepts that Hicks, if clumsily, at least acted with the good intentions of being open and honest with fans.

Gillett has dodged much of the fans’ anger about how their club is being run by simply staying quiet. Given that he is exploring selling his 50% stake to DIC and that his son, Foster, left Merseyside without fulfilling his role as conduit between the owners and Parry, Gillett can at best be said to have lost a degree of commitment towards Liverpool, whereas Hicks still talks about retaining power, building a new stadium and improving the club. Fans may not believe him, but until there is another takeover, his unlikely new alliance with Benitez at least offers the promise of greater stability. Benitez, when asked if he feels he can make Liverpool title challengers during the two years remaining on his contract, replied: “I have confidence I will be here for a long time, not just the two years, but for a long time.”

Asked if the offer of a new contract from Hicks might be imminent, he gave a sphinx-like smile. “I am just thinking about Bolton,” he said. “I am really pleased here and I think we will improve the situation in the future. I have confidence we will be better next year.”

That comment may not go down too well with Steven Gerrard, who caused ripples when venting frustrations in a club magazine interview. “We can’t keep talking about ‘next season’ all the time,” he said. Benitez was sanguine about his captain’s comments: “Steve was trying to be positive because I promise you, he was telling me the best-ever feeling he had was when he won the Champions League, so he knows the Champions League is a massive competition. He knows it will be a fantastic season if you can win the Champions League. But he knows we are not the best in the Premier League and we need to improve in the Premier League.”

Nowhere is that necessity more obvious than away from Anfield, at unvaunted grounds, in front of small, hostile crowds, facing lesser but determined opponents. Winning in such circumstances is what champions do. Liverpool, who have a worse away record than Everton, must start at the Reebok if they are to show credentials worthy of even fourth place.