Uefa Champions League:Liverpool's manager, Rafael Benitez, will have to guide his team to the Premier League title to justify the €57 million the club invested in new players in the summer, according to the club's co-owner Tom Hicks.
Speaking 24 hours after Liverpool's prospects of qualifying for the knock-out stage of the Champions League were severely dented by a 2-1 defeat by Besiktas in Turkey, Hicks said the domestic trophy remained the club's priority. Benitez based his pre-season approach to the American owners of the club on a challenge for the Premier League title, impressing on them the need for more strength in depth if he were to mount a credible challenge to Manchester United and Chelsea.
Hicks and George Gillett acceded to his wishes, investing €37.9 million in Fernando Torres and €16 million on the Ajax winger Ryan Babel. Hicks pledged his support for a coach who has often seemed more at home in European competition than the domestic fray. But in comments that will increase the pressure on Benitez to deliver a title the club have not won for 17 years Hicks implied that he and Gillett are expecting a swift return on their investment.
"One of the reasons we made the signings we did in the summer was to create the depth we now have. Rafa explained to George and me that is how you win the Prem, because you have to play every team twice," Hicks said. "We totally support Rafa, nobody wants to win more than Rafa. But I know when we committed the resources for signings in the summer the whole idea was to have a team that could compete for the Premier League. We've not had the depth previously to do that.
"This squad is good enough to win things. It should be winning things. If it doesn't we'll have to look at the circumstances and have a meeting at the end of the year to understand what happened. I don't want to predict failure, I want to predict success."
Benitez demanded extensive investment from Liverpool's new owners after May's defeat by Milan in the European Cup final, a second final appearance in three seasons that he claimed represented an over-achievement for the squad at his disposal.
The Liverpool manager said dithering in the transfer market had cost the club major targets in recent seasons - including Daniel Alves at Seville, the former Benfica captain Simao Sabrosa and Florent Malouda this summer - and it was against this backdrop, plus an implied threat from the Spaniard that he would consider his future if finances were not forthcoming, that the Americans eventually acted.
Much of their outlay has been recouped through the departures of Djibril Cisse, Craig Bellamy, Florent Sinama-Pongolle and Mark Gonzalez. Liverpool's struggles in Europe this season contrast with their success in winning the tournament in 2005 and reaching last year's final but Hicks acknowledged the supporters crave the Premier League title. "Our fans, I can tell from just talking to them, want to win the Premier League. They haven't won the top title in 17 years and I know their passions really are that they want to win the Premier League."
Hicks remains confident that Liverpool can qualify for the Champions League knockout round but said failure would not impact on current attempts to refinance the club. The Americans personally guaranteed a loan of €427 million from the Royal Bank of Scotland to buy the club but a recent attempt to refinance the loan collapsed.
Hicks said he was close to agreeing a deal and Champions League failure would not impact on negotiations. "If we didn't qualify, it would be terribly disappointing but I'm an optimist and I think we're going to win our next two at home and then we have a big match in Marseille. I think we can get out of the group," he said.
However, there has been a notable dip throughout the team since a hapless Derby County were demolished at Anfield eight weeks ago. Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher have not delivered their inspiring leadership since fracturing a toe and ribs respectively in August, although both hinted at an upturn in Turkey, and the lack of an outstanding wide man continues to hinder a squad seriously short of options on the left.
Resting Torres against Portsmouth and Birmingham, not rotation, disrupted Liverpool's momentum when their season was gathering pace. Benitez's aversion to deploying Peter Crouch has also had a detrimental effect, particularly in Istanbul where it was not until the 83rd minute that he added necessary potency to the creative but hardly clinical forward line of Dirk Kuyt and Andriy Voronin.
Xabi Alonso too, it should be noted, was fit to face Besiktas yet was left on the bench as Liverpool's distribution veered between disappointing and dire on Wednesday.
"I don't know what has gone wrong," said the goalkeeper, Jose Reina, yesterday. "We are not in an easy group and it is difficult in Besiktas. We were not right in front of goal and that was the story of the game. We conceded two goals from four shots on target. We could only score one from 10. What can I say?"
