By Alan Hansen Monday February 18 2008 The equation for Liverpool and Rafa Benitez is a simple one: if they have a bad result against Inter Milan tomorrow, the club will be deep in crisis. You can argue there is still fourth place to play for but Liverpool are not a club where finishing fourth should be a cause for pride. Liverpool are about winning trophies and if the Italian champions overcome a side who have just been knocked out of the FA Cup by Barnsley, their season will have finished before the end of February after a summer in which Benitez has spent £46m (€60m) on players. I was watching the Barnsley game via a TV feed at Old Trafford and the problems were the same as they have been at Anfield for most of the season; when Liverpool did go a goal up, they never looked like rolling over Barnsley. These days Liverpool rarely roll over teams at Anfield because under Gerard Houllier and then Benitez, the watchword has been caution. That is not a criticism, more an observation; some foreign managers, including Fabio Capello, are naturally cautious. But that cannot alter the fact that people come to Anfield and expect to see Liverpool attack; they do not come to see Liverpool field a lone striker against Wigan and Sunderland. When a team struggle, it is their away form that almost invariably is the first to go. What is remarkable about Liverpool's season is that their home form has been distressing, not helped by a mixture of constant squad rotation and caution. However bad their form at Anfield has been, no Liverpool player can blame the crowd. They have received unbelievable backing and patience from their supporters. The have deeper, better and more animated support than when I played. The reasons for failure lie elsewhere. Quite frankly, there have been too many lacklustre performances by too many lacklustre players. Since Liverpool last won the championship in 1990, players have come in and out of Anfield on a conveyor belt of mediocrity. What successive Liverpool managers have failed to do is buy a player for £2-4m a few years ago, or £6-10m now, who performs well above expectations -- the kind of footballer Arsene Wenger regularly brings to Arsenal. The one exception to this rule has been Sami Hyypia, who is coming towards the end of his career now but who has been a fabulous servant to Liverpool. Everything at a football club is about the players and they have not been good enough. Liverpool under Benitez have improved, but only in as much as that it used to be that if Steven Gerrard did not bail them out, they could forget about winning. Now it's Gerrard and Fernando Torres. If you are completely reliant on two players to win games, that might be enough to win the Champions League. But you cannot possibly hope to compete for the title with such a narrow attacking base. It is that record in the Champions League that has shielded Benitez from a backlash on Merseyside; to have reached two European Cup finals in three years is what has saved him because he would not have survived at Liverpool on his Premier League record. And unless they receive an influx of money to spend on high-class players, they are not going to win the championship next year either. Embarrassing However intimidating Inter Milan might be, the Champions League might save him again. However embarrassing Liverpool's defeat by Barnsley was, however hopeless the position in the Premier League, Inter Milan will not relish coming to Anfield. As we saw against Barcelona and Chelsea last year and against Juventus and Chelsea in 2005, few grounds can touch Anfield for passion and atmosphere. In my 14 years at Liverpool, I experienced nothing like the sounds of those nights because the supporters are now so hungry for success. It is not even necessary for Benitez to win the championship to satisfy the people who pack the Kop, they just want to be seen to be challenging for it. At Old Trafford on Saturday, Arsenal delivered one of their worst performances under Wenger, but because they are five points clear at the top of the Premier League, they can take a reasonably relaxed attitude to defeat. Liverpool, hopelessly adrift in the title race, cannot find any comfort. Their season now hangs on one game. Inter Milan will rarely experience an atmosphere like they will tomorrow and it is up to the players to respond because, without question, they are playing for their manager's future. (© Daily Telegraph, London) - Alan Hansen