Liverpool 4  Portsmouth 1:These are testing times indeed for Liverpool's owners, Tom Hicks and George Gillett. Not only have their grand stadium designs been scaled down amid a struggle to secure funds for whatever might materialise in Stanley Park in 2011 but the gagging order imposed on Rafael Benitez is not as watertight as they had thought.

The Liverpool manager left his recent meeting with the Americans acutely aware that further public criticism of their stewardship would end the job he cherishes. It is not a risk he is prepared to take. However, there are limits to the camouflage over a fundamental division between a manager with lofty ambitions and owners anxious to minimise spending while they pursue their stadium plans. The comfortable trouncing of Portsmouth exposed as much.

This victory illuminated Liverpool's place in the Premier League order. With an average team performance they convincingly defeated a Harry Redknapp side that arrived at Anfield with the best away record in the division.

With a superior display the previous weekend, Liverpool took nothing but deja vu and despondency from Manchester United's visit. How to remedy this repetitive malaise remains Benitez's fiercest challenge. His solution revealed why he remains a thorn for Gillett and Hicks, irrespective of the "misunderstanding" buried in the Anfield boardroom last weekend.

"The difference when you talk about United and Chelsea is top-class players - all of them," he explained, after Fernando Torres destroyed a threatened Portsmouth revival to aid Liverpool's recovery from defeats by United and then, in the League Cup, Chelsea.

"Tactically they were more organised. Physically, technically and tactically they are really good and that's a big difference. We know that, if we want to be closer, we have to do everything almost perfectly because there's a big difference. When you talk about spending £20 million on Torres, how many £20 million players do United have? Four or five. Why do you pay £20 million? Because they are players who can change games. If you have one or two and they have four or five, that could be the difference."

It over-simplifies Liverpool's predicament to suggest money is the only cause or cure for their title aspirations, but this was a crucial win that came as a result of Portsmouth errors but mostly through ambition in the transfer market.

Torres struck his 13th and 14th goals of the season and gave Sol Campbell a torrid afternoon. Yet another top-price player was more influential, Javier Mascherano, and the Argentinian's price continues to test the Americans' promise to sustain success at Anfield.

Unlike the €37 million Torres, Mascherano is not tied to a six-year contract at Liverpool and an agreement to complete his €24-million permanent signing before last month passed without resolution.

The on-loan midfielder wants to stay on Merseyside but, with his future undecided and rival clubs eyeing his rare qualities, Benitez can only hope for a deal to be completed. "I really don't know," he said. "We are working together on a lot of issues and we just have to wait. It's always better to get it done as soon as possible. I have confidence he will stay."

After Torres had pierced Portsmouth's right flank and enabled Harry Kewell to cross for Yossi Benayoun to open the scoring, Mascherano came to the fore. An interception began the move that finished with a ludicrous own-goal from Sylvain Distin and, after Benjani Mwaruwari had reduced the arrears and unnerved Liverpool, a probing through-ball from the midfielder resulted in Torres' clinical finish for the third. The striker's late volley from a Steven Gerrard header polished an impressive result from an otherwise flat game.

Mascherano's destructive quality truly damaged Portsmouth, however, with one flying leap across Pape Bouba Diop reminiscent of a cheetah felling an antelope. "Mascherano is the kind of player you want as a holding midfielder," added Benitez. "He doesn't need to score a lot of goals, just give balance for the rest of the team." And a headache to Gillett and Hicks.