Here's something I've discovered over the last month or so. It's not easy to write about your team if you hardly see any of their games. A combination of midweek games (telecast at unearthly hours in India) and weekends when I've been out of town have meant that I've hardly seen Liverpool games. Not that it's all that bad when we're playing so poorly, but it does leave one scratching one's head about what to write in spite of all the internet resources to keep track of what's happening with the team. So, with that long pre-amble of an excuse, let me just throw together some random thoughts for this week in the Busybee Behram Contractor mould.

?    The draw against Wolves convinces me that the rot in the team runs deeper than one suspected. When the most common adjectives associated with a team's performance are 'turgid' and 'dreary' week after week, you know that things aren't, umm, exciting.

?    Not having seen the games, it is not easy to form an opinion on whether the problem is a lack of passion and commitment, or something else. But if I were asked to choose, I'd choose 'something else' as the answer.

?    So, what could the 'something else' be? The worst case scenario is that it is a dressing room rift between the captain and the coach as has been rumoured. If so, we can forget not only the Champions League next year but also perhaps the Europa league.

?    I think a lack of leadership and imagination is a leading candidate for prime culprit, with looking to your teammates when in doubt and lumping long balls forward in the hope of something happening being the symptoms. Where are the Roy Keanes, Patrick Vieiras and indeed the Steven Gerrards of a couple of years ago, who would snarl and kick their teams to react and recover?

?    From all I read and the little I see, Gerrard's probably in the worst form of his life and Carragher's only just better, though he's been deployed on the right. I wonder whether the boss should take the hard decision and drop the two to the bench. Yes, Gerrard's world cup starting position is at stake, but that can't be Benitez's problem. Of course, this will surely lead to a dressing room bust up even if there isn't already one, but it may well be worth it for the team. Remember one 'untouchable' Ronaldinho at Barcelona and what Guardiola did with him and the results since then?

?    Also puzzling is Benitez's reluctance with Aquilani. Do we have another Keane on our hands? After reading that he played well against Tottenham in the advanced role behind the striker, why was he dropped to the bench? Just to accommodate Gerrard and Lucas?

?    The insistence on starting with Lucas and Mascherano in every game is getting irritating too. With Torres and Benayoun out, isn't it natural to add a bit more flair to the mix by involving Aquilani (or even the outcast Babel) rather than retaining those two in the middle of the park?

?    So, is it Benitez's famous obstinacy that is the problem? And, perhaps the creaking sound of the opening Juventus door is distracting him?

So, there you are. A distracted and obstinate coach, a badly under performing captain, a lack of leadership, a vacuum of imagination and team that tries to out-Stoke Stoke. These are not good days to be a Red fan. All one can do at this juncture is to hunker down and sing our anthem, never more appropriate than now.

When you walk through a storm
Keep your chin up high
And don't be afraid of the dark.
At he end of the storm
Is a golden sky
And the sweet silver song of a lark.

Walk on through the wind,
Walk on through the rain,
Tho' your dreams be tossed and blown.
Walk on, walk on
With hope in your heart
And you'll never walk alone,
You'll never walk alone.