Benitez reveals the pressures that threaten to tear Liverpool apart

Another Champions League final last week may have been historic enough, but Liverpool are entering one of the most critical periods — maybe even one of the most significant weeks — in their illustrious history, according to Rafael Benitez. And that is without contesting a match.

The game, instead, will be played out in meetings, on the phone, by email and fax, with the manager warning that if his club do not win it, they will end up as Premiership also-rans.

Scroll down to read more:

Within minutes of Liverpool traipsing the disconsolate march of losers back to the Olympic Stadium dressing room after defeat in Athens by Milan, Benitez used the post-match press conference to launch a calculated agenda about the need to sign new players — and now.

By the following morning at a naturally subdued team hotel, where Steven Gerrard sat forlornly on the staircase, the manager’s force had increased almost to storm warning, his mood darkening with each interview.

Benitez repeated his message about the need for large sums of money immediately. On top, he even speculated key players like Gerrard and Jamie Carragher might look elsewhere if they are not soon locked into long-term contracts.

Indeed, in what is a risky strategy that could well antagonise the new American owners, Benitez painted a picture of a club superficially thriving, with George Gillett and Tom Hicks talking about grand plans and new stadiums, but, beneath that, desperately in need of leadership and a new structure if he is to get the players he needs to deliver the vision.

"They tell me they want to win the Premiership and the Champions League," said Benitez. "They can do it, but they need to understand the business here. We need to do things quicker than Chelsea and Manchester United.

"If you don’t spend money, change things, improve in a lot of areas,we could fight to finish fourth. The owners understand and support me, and say they will back me. But if we don’t change things we will not be contenders."

Benitez had meetings scheduled with Gillett and Hicks for three days at the end of last week. Gillett was even quoted as saying: "If Rafa wanted to buy Snoogy Doogy we’d back him."

Benitez, though, is growing frustrated by talk without action to back it up. He believes that unless things move quickly, he will miss out on his top targets, who could include Barcelona’s Samuel Eto’o, Carlos Tevez — lately of West Ham — Sevilla wing-back Daniel Alves and Benfica winger Simao Sabrosa. Tal Ben Haim, the Bolton defender out of contract, is also believed to be on his wish-list as a squad player.

Benitez, off on holiday this weekend but with mobile phone in hand, will be ‘disappointed’, he says, if they do not make at least one big signing

He said: "We have the names to improve the squad but we need to do it. This is a crucial time. The conversations with the new owners are really good. They say: 'You can do this and this and this'. OK, I’m trying to do this and that, but when?

"I start to do this and then we cannot finish. It is something to do with the structure of the club and we must change it. If we don’t, we will lose targets."

Benitez sighed with frustration when he pondered the protracted negotiations for contract extensions with Gerrard, Carragher, Jose Reina and Xabi Alonso.

"Have Carra and Steve signed contracts?," he said. "I am asking you. Xabi or Reina?

"I was with Xabi and others after the game. We talked about the opposition, the tactics we had. It’s normal. It’s usually players like Xabi, Reina, Gerrard, Carra. They want to know you have good players ready to sign.

"We were talking about the fact that to renew the contracts of key players would send a message to other players, that we want to build a strong team. It’s the same when you’re signing players. If you bring strong, top-class players to the club, other players say: 'This team are going forward and growing’. But if we waste time, we can’t sign the players we want."

Gerrard, too, is on message: "If you look at the way we’ve performed in the league in the past couple of years, changes need to be made. But a positive feeling has been here since the takeover happened. The team will be strengthened, no doubt about that."

Michael Owen, it appears, is not on Benitez’s wish list, even if Gerrard and Carragher — and, for commercial purposes, the owners — might want him back. "All good players are an option," was the best Benitez could manage when asked about him.

Behind the Liverpool manager’s comments lies a power struggle within Anfield, with the usually understated but politically astute Spaniard seizing his moment. He knows the owners are not likely to sack him an that even if they did, he would not be short of offers, with Real Madrid having approached him in the past year.

Too often, he believes, he has missed out on top targets, above Juventus striker David Trezegu last summer and Serbia defend Nemanja Vidic, now with Manchester United, because the club were slow to act It is clear he has been at loggerheads with chief executive Rick Parry, not only over transfers but the pre-season programme, with Benitez unhappy trips to Holland and Asia in July have been scheduled when he wanted a longer training camp.

However, Parry may no longer be such an important figure, with Gillett’s son, Foster, lined up to take on a senior administrative role.

‘But he is not here now,’ said Benitez who,when asked if the problem was that nobody could sign cheques, added: ‘OK, you know. You are clever enough.’ The manager emphasised:‘I am really pleased here, with the supporters, everything. I have a good staff with good players working hard. But other top sides have good players and good staff and their structure is good.We need to improve in a lot of areas and we can’t wait until August because the gap will get bigger.’

Liverpool fell short against Milan due to lack of penetration, against ageing and unambitious opponents there for the taking. It all strengthened Benitez’s hand for more durable players than Bolo Zenden, who is going, probably along with Mark Gonzalez and Craig Bellamy.

Benitez has to shoulder some responsibility, too, for the current condition. Gerrard, for instance, is no Kaka — no second striker — and must be played in central midfield where he can see the game in front of him and attack space with the ball. And, having spent £100million in his three years with few conspicuous successes, the Anfield boss also has something to prove.

‘He is a great manager except in buying players,’ one coach in Spain said privately.

But with many other Premiership clubs in the market this summer, Liverpool need to reinforce fast, then get off to a good start and show immediate signs in August that they are capable of bridging the gap with the top two, let alone hold off Arsenal. They certainly need the lift of a major signing or two.