Preamble Hello. For English clubs, the Champions League group stages are a bit like the dreaded stop-and-chat, a generally unavoidable evil that you want to get out the way as soon as possible. Qualifying for the knockout stages with games to spare is a pearl jewelry huge advantage because it allows you to play your donkeys rotate your squad for the dead group matches.

Such luxury awaits Arsenal this season. If they win away to an easy-on-the-eye but ultimately average AZ Alkmaar side tonight, and if Olympiakos win at home to Standard Liege, Arsenal will be eight points clear of third and fourth with three games to go, and all but into the last sixteen.

Poor old Alkmaar. They swaggered to biwa pearl the Dutch title last season, a beautiful redemption after the heartbreak they suffered two years earlier.
Yet like all intrepid outsiders who dare to threaten the status quo – Ajax in the mid-90s, Valencia at the turn of the century, Bayer Leverkusen in 2001-02, Porto in 2003-04 – they had to be stripped of their premier assets. In this case that's their brilliant former manager Louis van Gaal, who tied it all together like Jeffrey Lebowski's rug before he was poached by Bayern Munich.

Now AZ are managed by Ronald Koeman, whose record suggests a limited talent at best, and they have had a akoya pearl terrible start to their Eredivisie defence. In fact their record is even worse than Liverpool's: P10 W5 D0 L5. Oh, and their sponsor's bankrupt. Happy days.

Preamble [any similarity between the first paragraph and the first part of today's Fiver is entirely understandable as I wrote both]:
Rafa Ben¨ªtez awoke this morning, toddled into his monochrome bathroom and gulped down a gourd-full of dolphin tears, dove blood and the mucus of six ring-tailed lemurs. He had, after all, already tried everything else. But so far nothing has worked - no tablet, no pagan concoction, no tactical quackery, no sidelined £20m Italian midfielder with the knack history of a crash-test dummy has yet been able to pearl jewelry cure the hangover from which Liverpool continue to suffer. As they stumble through the season, half-dazed, half-brooding, they increasingly resemble an outfit about as convincing as Weird Uncle Fiver's best court suit. For this reason, many are the soothsayers who foresee defeat by Lyon tonight, which will seriously jeopardise Rafa's ability to resort to his customary ploy of compensating for sick league campaigns with successful European campaigns.

But it is at times of such adversity that Liverpool revolt and produce some of their best performances. Why? Because while Rafa is an autocratic and cautious father, necessity is the mother of the invention he would otherwise strangle. Only when circumstances compels them to throw of the shackles imposed by their manager can Liverpool truly express their potential. So there is every chance of them winning tonight.

Speaking of potential, have you noticed how many players with impeccable credentials have failed to biwa pearl flourish under Rafa? Lucas Leiva was Brazilian player of the year before he arrived at Anfield; Ryan Babel one of the most coveted youngsters in Europe – and now look at them (it might be a too early to stick Daniel Agger in that bag too, but the signs aren't promising). Would their progress have stalled so much under, say, Arsene Wenger? (And what of the likes of, say, Stephen Warnock – who is surely better than Dossena, and Mark Gonzalez). When they go out to play under Rafa they are constrained by so many orders – when you get the ball in this position, go there; when you get it that position, pass here; whatever you do, don't think for yourself – that confidence and natural inclination is akoya pearl maimed or muddled. Wenger also gives tactical instructions, of course, but only to provide a platform on which players can indugle their talent and instincts. Kenobi-esque, his mantra is "trust in the force, Cesc and Co". A case in point: in much the same way that Gerard Houllier bought Jari Litmanen because he knew he was a good player, but couldn't find it with himself to unleash him regularly, Benitez cannot entirely trust Yossi Benayoun – whom Wenger, for example, would deploy every week. Instead Rafa prefer subservient dynamos like Dirk Kuyt, who at Arsenal would be a valued squad member rather than the symbol of a regime.

By rights a manager should not feel the breath of the mob on his neck five months after his team finished second in the Premier League with 86 points and two defeats but there was a sense at Anfield last night that Rafa Ben¨ªtez's reign is unravelling – not fast enough for him to go the way of Gérard Houllier yet but with sufficient speed to strain his bond with The Kop and encourage Manchester City, Spurs and Aston Villa that the Big Four are finally cracking up.

A fifth consecutive defeat, against Manchester United here on Sunday, would erase Anfield's Premier League title hopes and move United closer to the day when they surpass the pearl jewelry record of 18 league championships they currently share with the red half of Merseyside. Houllier was here to see the French club he once managed stretch Ben¨ªtez's credibility to its most frayed condition since the great Champions League final comeback of 2005 seemed to mark him out as an inspirational leader who wore some of Bill Shankly's stardust.

The Liverpool script discourages apocalyptic readings of a run of bad results. The club's intimate acquaintance with melodrama suggests United might be impaled at the weekend and Ben¨ªtez will wear his smuggest mask. But consecutive losses to Fiorentina, Chelsea, Sunderland and now Lyon speak of a deepening vulnerability. There are plenty of bit-part players in this Liverpool squad. If a rump decide that Ben¨ªtez's power base is dissolving, then the small core of genuine match-winners and diehards will end up isolated. They cannot save Liverpool's campaign without help from the army of also-rans Ben¨ªtez has imported to play alongside Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres, who are both struggling to be fit for the United game.

A shortage of firepower was last night's banner message to those in charge. Torres is the exception to You'll Never Walk Alone. The world's best centre-forward is doing pretty much that in a Liverpool squad agonisingly short of elite strikers. In the absence of El Niño against Lyon, goalscoring responsibilities fell chiefly to the 20-year-old David Ngog, who can count his goals for the great Anfield institution on the digits of one hand.

For the home of Ian Rush, Roger Hunt, Kenny Dalglish, Robbie Fowler and Michael Owen to be so short of marksmen suggests someone in authority needs to stay behind for extra maths. The blame game between owners and manager always renders it biwa pearl hard for The Kop to identify the culprit but Liverpool are stuck with a manpower shortfall in a part of the team famed for its predators. This imbalance has burdened Torres and Gerrard with the responsibility to net goals at the pace Lennon and McCartney used to churn out songs.

There was no Torres in this Champions League Group E match and soon no Gerrard either as the captain hobbled off after 25 minutes. Ngog, meanwhile, had made only 22 appearances since joining from Paris St Germain in July last year and has looked wispy and fragile in top-flight action. Nor is his control immediately redolent of the top French finishing schools. At this point in his development he is too easy to dispossess to be a credible deputy to Torres. His night ended ignominiously with a hamstring pull.

The forward shortage is explained by the club's failure to replace Peter Crouch and Robbie Keane, the two big sales in that department post-Owen and Fowler. Behind Torres, who has scored eight times this season but is hindered by abdominal trouble, a merry cast of hopefuls have laboured to fill the menace-void. Those four consecutive defeats have cast an unforgiving light on the sharp end of Ben¨ªtez's squad.

Beyond Ngog the options are Andriy Voronin (six goals in 35 appearances and a loanee to Hertha Berlin last season), Nabil El Zhar (one in 25), who is really an impact winger, Kuyt and Ryan Babel, who can play through the centre but is lost in the tundra of Ben¨ªtez's displeasure. Frost forms on those Ben¨ªtez considers to be inconsistent or unreliable.

For Liverpool to go into combat in akoya pearl 2009-2010 with only one top-grade centre-forward points to a bad tangle of politics, judgment and arithmetic. At least the £20m midfielder Alberto Aquilani is close to fitness and Javier Mascherano cannot be subdued forever. For The Kop, though, this was not meant to be another year of hole-plugging and Scouse defiance. It was supposed to be the campaign when a 20-year wait came to an end.

From last season's strong core Xabi Alonso has left, part of Mascherano is elsewhere and Torres and Gerrard are beset by injury. Anfield's best European roar was only briefly heard last night. Though Ben¨ªtez is still popular, a faith-deficit has crept back in. The Kop know the value of finishers, of goal-getters. They ask where all the red ones went

The Champions League has been a scene of spectacle for Liverpool on many occasions, but now they must achieve the highly improbable if they are simply to survive the group stage. They were defeated here as Lyon capped a comeback with the winner in the 90th minute, as César Delgado tuned in a perfect low cross from Sidney Govou.

The scorer was a substitute and so, too, the scorer of the equaliser, Maxime Gonalons. That is not simply a statistical curio. It will make Liverpool wince all the more when they recognise the contrast with their own depleted state. Rafael Ben¨ªtez had to pearl jewelry send out an improvised selection from the kick-off.

Steven Gerrard then lasted a mere 25 minutes until a recurrence of his adductor muscle injury forced him from the field. There was booing at the end, but that must surely have been a venting of frustration or a general comment on the condition of the club. A makeshift line-up could hardly have offered more.

The crowd was staring in horror at the broader circumstances. Their team have already been beaten four times in the Premier League and Manchester United will come here on Sunday with great hope of adding to that heap of dismay. This season, too, it now appears that there will be no exploits in the Champions League to compensate for a domestic problem that could be nothing more than a thankless slog.

If spirit were decisive in football, Liverpool would have held out against Lyon. The home support, however, has long understood that the squad is shallow in quality. With Gerrard's participation curtailed and Fernando Torres not fit to take part at all, the side had to deal with a match that was played on the edge of jeopardy.

Liverpool's fans will quibble anew about some of Ben¨ªtez's purchases, but the main target of rage will, once again, be the owners, George Gillett and Tom Hicks. The Americans, for their part, will be even less capable of assuaging the anger with January signings if early elimination chokes off the flow of Champions League cash.

Ben¨ªtez's side have not been knocked out yet, but the return with Lyon is next in this tournament, on 4 November. In addition, Liverpool have a single group match remaining at biwa pearl home, against Fiorentina, even if Debreceni will surely hand over three points in Hungary. This has the makings of far more than a rough season for Liverpool.

The pride within the line-up was vast here, but the outcome confirmed that such an attribute will not suffice. This could be a grim turning point in Liverpool's affairs.

It is rational to suppose that Hicks and Gillett would already be open to offers, but the size of bids to take the club off their hands will drop sharply. Like Mike Ashley at Newcastle United, they might simply see no acceptable way to shed their ownership.

Hicks and Gillett may be counting now on nothing more than the sheer peculiarity of football. This Liverpool side, after all, had appeared capable of extracting a win against Lyon despite every handicap. With Glen Johnson ruled out by a groin strain, the 19-year-old Martin Kelly made his first start, having only ever appeared before for a mere eight minutes as a substitute.

The Liverpool manager was naturally determined to limit disruption elsewhere. Despite the injury to Torres, Dirk Kuyt was kept in his now customary wide role, with the 20-year-old David Ngog at centre-forward. There was every cause for the side to be disjointed and the visitors might well have deepened the misgivings by taking the lead.

Liverpool did occupy territory and went on to akoya pearl make use of that foothold. F¨¢bio Aurélio, on for Gerrard, achieved prominence before the interval. It was his thrust from the left that led to Yossi Benayoun firing home in the 41st minute after the ball had deflected off Cristiano Cris.

The Lyon centre-half had to go off injured just before half-time and Liverpool had a period in which they seemed calm, but it did not last. Gonalons, who took over for the injured Cris, notched the equaliser. Each seemingly random event appeared to punish Liverpool.

Ricochets in the goalmouth never ferried the ball to safety in the 72nd minute. Reina blocked efforts by Jérémy Tolulalan and Govou, but he could not stop the header from Gonalons. Amid the mayhem, Kelly also collided with a post and had to make way for Martin Skrtel. Liverpool had no means left to transcend all the adversity.

Rafael Benitez, the Liverpool manager, conceded that he has a major task to restore confidence. Photograph: Nick Wilkinson/EPA

Rafael Ben¨ªtez was engulfed in the biggest on-field crisis of his Anfield reign last night after a 2–1 defeat to Lyon left Liverpool facing elimination from the Champions League and Steven Gerrard became a major doubt for Sunday's critical contest with Manchester United.

The Liverpool manager conceded he has a major task to restore confidence after César Delgado's stoppage-time winner consigned the Anfield club to a fourth successive defeat for the first time in 22 years. He is likely to be without Gerrard for the pearl jewelry Premier League match with United, with the captain aggravating an adductor strain for the third time this season, while Fernando Torres, Glen Johnson and Albert Riera are all doubts for Sunday, when a fifth straight defeat would leave Liverpool 10 points behind Sir Alex Ferguson's side.

The loss to Lyon left Liverpool, twice Champions League finalists under Ben¨ªtez, languishing third in Group E and likely to need to win their three remaining group games to reach the knockout phase, a feat they achieved two seasons ago. It also intensified the spotlight on the club's manager, who says he retains the appetite to resurrect Liverpool's miserable campaign.

"It is very disappointing. It was a difficult game for us but we were winning and had two or three chances to change everything," said the Spaniard. "Then we conceded in the last minute. We had too many problems before the game and it is really disappointing.

"It was a difficult game but we could have won and now we have to lift ourselves for Sunday. It is something we have to do. We have to prepare the players, push them and keep going. Now it is a question of doing things properly and to have the biwa pearl confidence that we can do it [against United]. Had we taken our chances tonight everything could have been different.

"For me it is simple, I have to prepare for the next game. That is my job and I will do that as soon as I finish this press conference. We have to be ready for our next game. For me personally, my staff and the players will be there, everyone who wants to see Liverpool winning."

Liverpool travel to Lyon in a fortnight where defeat, coupled with another Fiorentina victory over the bottom club Debrecen, could leave Ben¨ªtez's team with a mountainous task to escape Group E. "I think we need to win all our matches now," said the Liverpool manager. "We have done it before and we have to do the same again. We have to have the confidence that we can do it again."

Ben¨ªtez's team were floored by Delgado's winner, his fellow Lyon substitute Maxime Gonalons having equalised Yossi Benayoun's first-half opener, and events on the night conspired against Liverpool. Johnson was ruled out before kick-off with a tight groin and his replacement, the impressive 19-year-old Martin Kelly, was injured attempting to prevent Gonalons' leveller. But it was the akoya pearl loss of Gerrard that could have lasting repercussions.

The Liverpool captain missed Saturday's league defeat with an adductor problem collected on England duty and is likely to miss the United game after suffering a reaction last night. But Ben¨ªtez said: "It wasn't a risk to play Stevie. He wanted to play and the doctor said he was OK. He has trained for the last two days but sometimes it is bad luck. I think it is the same problem as before and we will check him and the other players tomorrow."

Ben¨ªtez was left in no doubt that supporters' patience is wearing thin. The manager's decision to replace Benayoun with Andriy Voronin in the 85th minute prompted a chorus of disapproval around Anfield but the manager was unrepentant.

"The fans know Yossi is a quality player but I thought he was looking a bit tired and I wanted to use fresh legs and quality," he said.