NOW he's got real problems. Rafa Benitez won all the battles he needed to off the pitch last season but now he is facing up to the fact that he has not invested wisely in playing staff and he badly needs a cash injection of £100m.

I think it's fair to say that after five years filled with some success and many, many problems off the field, Benitez and the club are now dealing with their biggest crisis yet. Nothing less than a major injection of resources will make up the gap between Liverpool and the best in Europe.

Last night against Lyon, a good European team, they were well beaten and had a young reservist on the pitch taking the heat.

Promising

Martin Kelly is a promising young player who handled himself well in difficult circumstances but it says a lot about the current state of the Liverpool squad that Benitez had to rely on Jay Spearing against Sunderland and lost, and then another young lad in a big Champions League fixture – potentially a make or break Champions League fixture.

To make the step up to Champions League level requires something special in a teenager. Mostly, it's not a good idea to put so much pressure on young shoulders.

In Arsene Wenger's case, he has a squad that have grown up together and have another season under the belts to lean on when the stakes are highest. Lads like Kelly and Spearing are plugging gaps, not just gaining experience from a position of strength.

Alex Ferguson regularly bloods young players in Champions League games if the pressure is off and he feels the opportunity is right, but very rarely has he been forced to throw someone in because he had no other choice.

Wenger pushed high quality and exceptional young players in to do a man's job over the last few years and now they have the look of a team that might surprise us all and particularly with the Champions League in mind.

Arsenal gave away a stupid late goal against Alkmaar but they are in a comfortable position in their group and can be relaxed enough about upcoming fixtures. Liverpool, on the other hand, are up against it in a big way and to add insult to injury, Manchester United are waiting around the corner after this stinging defeat by Lyon.

If Kelly and Spearing highlight the lack of depth in the Liverpool squad, Voronin really defines the problem for Benitez. Shipped out on loan last season to Hertha Berlin, he was surplus to requirements at Anfield.

He tried to find a club in the Bundesliga and a permanent move when the loan expired but couldn't, so he came back to Liverpool where his wages were obviously better than anything available in Germany.

All of that points to a player Benitez doesn't want, yet he's still involved – and centrally – against Lyon. He replaced Benayoun, Liverpool's most creative outlet, when the game was still level at 1-1 with Voronin. Some supersub. He brought nothing to the table.

There were boos when Voronin was switched for Benayoun and that's not something you hear at Anfield very often.

They are a patient lot on the Kop and have backed Benitez to the hilt, but even his most committed supporters must be wondering why, after five years and plenty of money spent, they haven't got a team that can win at home in a Champions League fixture against Lyon.

They know their football and must have finished last season in an optimistic frame of mind. A run at the title fell short but not by much and they knew that the addition of two or three quality players during the summer might just be enough to bridge the gap between Anfield and Old Trafford.

The natural thing for Benitez to do at that stage was strengthen the squad. Instead, they watched Xabi Alonso walk out the door on the heels of a string of players like Robbie Keane, Peter Crouch and even Craig Bellamy.

Injury problems for Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres have brought the whole thing to a head. Alonso's absence dilutes Javier Mascherano's effectiveness and Benitez has no viable alternative to Torres on his bench.

He never wanted Robbie Keane but I'd bet he would take him now and if anyone doubts that, think about Voronin. Bad decisions based on other bad decisions are piling up. Throughout the last five years, Bentiez had shipped players in and out and this is part of a process that began under Gerrard Houllier.

We've seen very few lads produced from within and that's a big change for a club that used to be a conveyor belt for young talent. Maybe Kelly and Spearing will come good, maybe not.

But Benitez needs quality now and with Gerrard likely to be out for a while and Torres struggling, he must be getting a sinking feeling. Even if the rumoured Middle Eastern investment arrives, he can't do anything until January and by them it just might be too late.