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You only had to look at Liverpool’s starting line-up at Stoke City yesterday to see the size of the problem facing one of our biggest and most famous clubs. What is there without Fernando Torres and Steven Gerrard? Not a lot, apart from a very good goalkeeper in Pepe Reina.

Over the years, teams have been intimidated by Liverpool before the game has even kicked off. By contrast, Stoke would have fancied their chances strongly when the team sheet was pinned up with the names of Philipp Degen, Sotirios Kyrgiakos and Fabio Aurelio.

Even when Liverpool were 1-0 up, you were never remotely confident they could close out the game – they just don’t have that sort of resilience any more.

A late equaliser conceded, from a set-piece almost inevitably, summed it up. Gerrard was watching on from the stands and I wonder what he was thinking.

At one time, the idea of him wanting to leave Anfield would have been unthinkable.

Even when he was seriously tempted by Chelsea at the height of his powers, he couldn’t take that final step to leave his home-town club. But what if a big club come in at the end of the season and offer Champions League football? I am not sure any more. I think even at this stage he will probably be considering his position. The best players don’t leave clubs like Liverpool for the money. It is about winning, about playing with the best players and challenging for trophies.

Gerrard is Mr Liverpool. I’m sure he envisaged enjoying a one-club career like Ryan Giggs has had at Manchester United.

But the facts are that his Liverpool are currently in big trouble. We often use the word crisis lightly, but you can genuinely use that word now.

It is not just the fact they are losing a few matches but they are seriously looking like they will miss out on the top four.

That will put a question mark against the futures of a lot of their players and, given the financial uncertainty that already surrounds the club and speculation about Rafa Benitez, you do worry where it will all end.

Depressingly for Liverpool fans, yesterday’s extremely disappointing performance at Stoke was not a one-off. They played as badly, if not worse, when they lost 2-0 at Portsmouth and again on Wednesday night when Reading knocked them out of the FA Cup.

Gerrard might not have that many seasons left to challenge for the Premier League title or for a second Champions League, so I don’t think you can discount the possibility of him seeking a last hurrah somewhere else.

And if Gerrard feels like that, you can be certain Torres will as well. The Spaniard doesn’t even have the emotional tie to keep him at the club if they can no longer match his ambitions.

I can’t imagine either Gerrard or Torres will want to go too many seasons without playing in the Champions League and there will be no shortage of takers if they ever decided to leave Anfield.

This current Liverpool side are as poor as they’ve been for a long time. The big two haven’t been fit, Xabi Alonso has gone, Jamie Carragher is a year older and Alberto Aquilani looks a really bad buy.

Even though Liverpool haven’t been champions for 20 years, they have always been competitive against the best teams.

That’s gone now, even with Torres and Gerrard playing. When they are missing, they look like also-rans, which is unacceptable for a club of Liverpool’s size and tradition.

The first thing clubs do in these circumstances is look at the manager.

Benitez won the Champions League with an extraordinary effort but he has brought in, and spent an awful lot of money on, dross since then – and that is how managers are judged.

Over the years, he has had big budgets and a lot of the players he signed have not been of sufficient quality. It does not compare well with the records of Arsene Wenger and Sir Alex Ferguson.

The problem with a knee-jerk reaction to sack Benitez is whether the club can financially afford to pay off him and all his staff. And it will not be easy to find a top-line replacement if finances are as tough as has been suggested.

A draw at Stoke is not in itself a disaster. But the manner of the performance indicates something is rotten at Liverpool right now.

The worry for the fans is not whether Benitez stays or goes, but what Gerrard does next.