Rafa facing difficult period at Liverpool

Rafael Benitez is facing a mini crisis at Liverpool with no wins in three pre-season games, a captain on trial for affray and his top midfield duo looking to leave the club.

It is not ideal preparation for a team that senses its best chance to win the League title in 20 years.

They arrived in Singapore Thursday after a disappointing 1-1 draw against Thailand on Wednesday evening following a 0-0 draw with St Gallen of Switzerland and a 1-0 loss to Rapid Vienna.

In the Thailand match a second-half strike by Sutee Suksomkit cancelled out an early opener from Ryan Babel but there was little goalmouth action to excite the crowd, with Liverpool looking decidedly rusty.

They are clearly missing the talismanic Steven Gerrard, who is in court back home on charges of affray stemming from a nightclub incident last December.

It didn’t get any better for manager Benitez, with defender Martin Skrtel (hamstring) and young Moroccan forward Nabil El Zhar (knee) injured in the Thailand match, with medical staff assessing how badly they have been hurt.

“They were not the best conditions in Bangkok and the worst thing was to lose Skrtel and El Zhar,” said Benitez.

“The idea of the game was to improve match fitness. So to lose two players is bad news.”

The unsettled Xabi Alonso sat out the game with an ankle injury.

The Spanish international has not failed to hide his desire to join Cristiano Ronaldo and Kaka at Real Madrid while Chelsea have also expressed an interest in signing him.

Meanwhile, Javier Mascherano’s agent has been quoted by South American media as saying the player was fed up with life in England and wanted to move to Barcelona.

Benitez has made clear he wants both to stay but it is unsettling for the team. Vice-captain Jamie Carragher is hoping for a swift end to the Alonso saga at least.

“The feeling within the squad is that he is a top player and you do not want to lose your top players, and hopefully it can be sorted out as soon as possible,” said Carragher.

“If the club thinks it is in their best interests (for him to move) sometimes you have to do what they think is best.

“We all go through these situations — well, hopefully not me — and as I said, I just hope it gets sorted out.”

A consolation for Benitez is that striker Fernando Torres is settled.

He came on for the last 10 minutes against Thailand and almost scored, having been rested after his exploits for Spain at the recent Confederations Cup in South Africa.

Torres enjoyed the experience in Bangkok.

“It was fantastic to hear them singing and chanting for me when I came on,” he told the club website.

“Liverpool are a massive club all over the world and it has been proved again this week in Thailand.

“It is a wonderful experience to come away to places like Asia with Liverpool and see the fans so pleased to see us.”

Liverpool have a series of promotional events in Singapore over the next few days before playing the national team in their bid to finally get a victory under their belts.