GIVEN Rafael Benitez’s assertion that football clubs are now run more like companies, yesterday’s news the country is now climbing out of recession would surely have been met with delight by the Liverpool board.
On the pitch, however, the shoots of recovery were significant by their absence as hopes of a top-four finish suffered another blow last night.
Benitez chose before his team’s visit to Wolverhampton Wanderers to voice his ongoing frustration that business continues to be put before football at Anfield.
And the Spaniard would have been similarly unimpressed by the goalless draw that only cast further doubt over Champions League qualification.
Yes, Liverpool kept a clean sheet and rarely looked like losing. But by the same token, not once did they threaten to secure the victory that would have maintained the momentum engendered by last week’s invigorating win over Tottenham Hotspur.
Such has been the way this season. Benitez had called for greater consistency from his players, but the only consistent aspect of this campaign is their inconsistency.
Like at Stoke City a fortnight earlier, last night represented another chance missed to issue a statement of intent to their nearest rivals.
Although Steven Gerrard returned, Liverpool were still missing a host of first-team regulars.
It showed. Their display, while impressive in terms of effort and endeavour, fell well short in terms of creativity and flair. Perspiration rather than inspiration. Chances few and far between.
Wolves battled and scrapped for every loose ball, but Liverpool should have capitalised on the home team’s obvious lack of ambition.
It asked different questions of Benitez’s side, with the high intensity that guided them home against Tottenham seven days earlier not enough to find a way through a congested midfield.
The pairing of Javier Mascherano and Lucas Leiva in the engine room ensured the visitors were never outfought, but that came at the cost of a chronic lack of guile and killer final pass.
Lucas will no doubt attract much of the flak from lazy critics but Mascherano was the worst offender, at times finding it almost impossible to pass to a team-mate.
Gerrard, still striving for peak fitness, was dragged down by the malaise around him, with only Albert Riera offering any kind of attacking incisiveness. Alberto Aquilani, meanwhile, was left kicking his heels on the bench.
Maxi Rodriguez was handed a first start following his arrival from Atletico Madrid earlier this month.
And this was a chastening Premier League initiation for the Argentine, particularly when the winger was caught on the right leg by an agricultural challenge from Wolves skipper Karl Henry.
Rodriguez’s slender frame meant he was too often knocked off the ball and his tendency to drift in off the right flank left him exposed to the midfield ruck. He will have learned much from his 90-minute outing.
Molineux isn’t a happy hunting ground for Liverpool. They have now not won in their last six visits, with their most recent victory before last night coming in April 1979 when Alan Hansen scored the only goal of the game.
And it was defenders who were again the best performers for Liverpool, Sotirios Kyrgiakos dealing well with the high ball and Martin Skrtel successfully keeping the busy Kevin Doyle in check.
Their efforts ensured a fourth shut-out in five league games for Benitez’s side, but it was a rare positive on a miserable evening.
With the two sides last meeting only on Boxing Day, the quick turnaround ensured incidents from that evening were still fresh in the mind.
Not least the sending-off of Stephen Ward, with Wolves fans having clearly not forgotten Pepe Reina’s 80-yard sprint to protest that the right player was dismissed.
