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Liverpool's future is a subject that has dominated
debate over the course of two, traumatic years. Yet while optimism
about the seasons to come has been restored now that New England
Sports Ventures have replaced Tom Hicks and George Gillett as the
owners, Jose Reina's appraisal of events at Anfield included a few
words of warning about the club's prospects in the short
term.
The goalkeeper conceded Liverpool face an uphill task to
challenge the five clubs he accepts have stronger squads, placing
in doubt an immediate return to their old haunt, the Champions
League. The need to strengthen is coupled with his admission that
the club's top talents, such as Fernando Torres, could leave without a
swift improvement.
The World Cup winner speaks with an authority that comes from
his seniority - he has led Liverpool on the rare occasions when
both Steven Gerrard
and Jamie Carragher are absent - as well as
his status as the club's reigning player of the year. Reina is one
of the loyalists, a player upon whom honorary Scouser status is
bestowed. But he stopped short of committing his own future to the
club (shrugging "don't know") and it is a question of progress if
world-class talents like Torres are to remain.
"We have to finish this season in a better position than we are
at the moment [ninth] and make sure we build for the next years and
try to be competitive," Reina told ESPNsoccernet. "If not,
it's going to be difficult for them to keep these kind of
players."
A top-four finish is, he says: "Possible; why not? But we have
to be sure that we deliver better performances otherwise it's going
to be really, really, really difficult."
In going from second to seventh last year, Liverpool regressed.
Now they risk being left behind with Reina accepting their five
major rivals have greater strength in depth. "We are not probably
as strong as Man City, Arsenal, Man United, Chelsea and Tottenham
can be so that's why we have to make sure we build a better squad,"
he added.
"At the moment, it's almost impossible to compete for nine
months against Chelsea, for example, and that is what I want. The
clubs all around England are building proper squads. We have to do
the same and we have to be able to compete."
Reina speaks with a sense of realism that Carragher and a
searingly honest Gerrard tend to share. Liverpool's start to the
season is "not the greatest, obviously. We are not playing well
enough, especially away from home, and we have to make sure we
improve this aspect otherwise we will be struggling. It's so
difficult to go anywhere and beat teams but if we want to be up
there at the end of the season, we have to."
While Roy Hodgson's troubled start to life at Anfield has
brought criticism of the manager, Reina has stressed the
responsibility rests with the players. "Ideas in football are
relatively important but what makes a system work are the players.
We are the ones who have to show a bit more on the pitch."
As the chants of "Dalglish", heard in the defeats to Blackpool
and Stoke, show, Hodgson has yet to win over much of the Liverpool
support. But both the club ambassador and the former manager remain
more popular than the Londoner.
"Rafa [Benitez] was really beloved in Liverpool," added Reina.
"But I think it's about time that the fans get behind Roy and
support Roy 100 percent. I don't think it is heavy criticism out
there anyway."
Others may beg to disagree. But with Hicks and Gillett and "that
mess," as Reina calls it, consigned to Liverpool's past, a new era
has begun. Reina was among a group of players to meet John W Henry
and Tom Werner, the new powerbrokers. "We were just talking for
20-25 minutes and discussing all the different things at the club,"
he said. "I think it's positive. They will do good stuff for
Liverpool in the future."
The issue, perhaps, is when the future will arrive. Arsene Wenger is among Reina's
high-profile admirers and the Manchester City model may offer a
greater chance of immediate success that Liverpool's more
cash-conscious and organic method.
"I can understand it's going to be a medium, long-term project
and you can probably build like [Roberto] Mancini, which is get out
the cheque[book] and pay fortunes for players and wages," Reina
said. "That is acceptable and you have to respect that but probably
is not the best way to do things. I am not blaming Mancini. It's
their way, if they win the league nobody will blame them, of
course. But these guys, the new owners, are thinking more in the
long term and building things little by little, which is
understandable."
• Jose Reina was talking to ESPNsoccernet in
association with Uhlsport.