FLORENCE and the Machine may be a success at the moment, but Florence without Mascherano certainly wasn’t.

Tuesday night’s humbling experience in the Stadio Artemio Franchi was a wake-up call so loud that the players’ ears will still be ringing by the weekend.

Rafa Benitez may not have been surprised by the energy and creativity shown by Fiorentina, but you can be sure his team were.

It was only an obvious half-time roasting from the Spaniard that roused them to life in the second half, for the torrid time suffered during the first 45 minutes was a return to the lethargic displays against Spurs and Villa, when a collective over-confidence inexorably lead to defeat.

Six successive wins had appeared to build an assurance allied to endeavour that would ensure at least a point from this difficult fixture, but the balance of these two elements had clearly tipped in favour of the former with disastrous consequences.

Although this was arguably the main cause of our defeat, the team were undoubtedly hobbled by the temporary desertion of Rafa’s normally infallible tactical instincts on these occasions.

I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve stared in disbelief at the team-sheets for these European away ties, only to be confronted by my own inadequacies as a pundit by another sterling performance on foreign fields.

On this occasion however, feelings of foreboding proved justified as it became apparent that a Brazilian midfield gives as little cover as a Brazilian waxing.

Pairing Aurelio and Lucas as the holding players served only to expose potential weakness; Alonso and Mascherano they’re not.