Reds under fire from former stars February 18 2008
Liverpool stars of old John Aldridge and Tommy Smith have said their piece following the club's unceremonious exit from the FA Cup.
The former Reds striker John Aldridge claims the famous club have "imploded" recently and believes the departure of Rafael Benitez's assistant this season is a major factor in the team's plight.
"It's not going too well on and off the field at the moment," he told Setanta Sports News. "The club's imploded over the past couple of months and it can only get better.
"A lot of people are getting the wrong idea of what's happening. You can look back to when Paco Ayesteran went a couple of months ago, Rafa's right-hand man, I think that's got a massive bearing on it.
"He's holding the fort on his own without a right-hand man. He's working very hard on his own and under very difficult circumstances and I think he needs a bit of help right now."
As for matters upstairs, Aldridge added: "There's so much speculation going on off the park regarding the American owners (George Gillett and Tom Hicks) that we don't know who's going to be the chairman next month.
"If anyone did want Rafa to go then who could sack him at the moment? He's between parties, the old chairman David Moores hasn't got a say in the matter. There's no board at the moment, no-one knows where the club's going at the present time."
Legendary defender Tommy Smith launched a stinging attack on Benitez.
Smith, who captained Liverpool to the 1971 league and UEFA Cup double, has hit out at the Spanish manager's controversial rotation policy and decision to rest several key players for the visit of the Championship side in the fifth round of the FA Cup.
Smith told BBC Radio Five Live: "In the programme for Saturday's game Benitez said cup competitions are always dangerous if you think you can beat teams easily. So why on earth didn't he put a strong team out against Barnsley?"
Smith admitted Reds fans may finally start to run out of patience with the former Valencia boss.
"I should imagine so. At the end of the day Bill Shankly used to tell us you're only as good as your last result. How on earth does Benitez think he's going to win stuff if he puts a second-class team out?
"Because Liverpool's squad is not as strong as I think he thought at the beginning of the season. I don't think he's even got a strong first XI.
"How could he leave (Jose) Reina, (Steven) Gerrard and (Javier) Mascherano out?"
Smith admitted the last-16 European tie with Inter is now do-or-die.
"I'm afraid so," he said. "He keeps going on about winning four cups and all that but at the end of the day it's not even entertaining at Anfield at the moment. The crowd keep it going but they booed everybody at the end of the game and quite rightly.
"The first person you put on the team-sheet is Gerrard. How on earth could he sit on the bench for 75 minutes and watch that...then he (Benitez) talks about chances. Well, they've gone. You can't score after the game finishes."