RAFA Benitez. A tactical genius or just another foreign manager who's squeezing the passion out of the Premiership?

Opinion seems to be divided on Merseyside.

Speak to some Liverpool fans and I'm sure they'd tell you the Spaniard deserves a knighthood after the club were crowned the champions of Europe on an unforgettable night in May.

For others on the Kop, however, the jury is still very much out on a man who has struggled to comprehend exactly what Liverpool Football Club is all about.

The Reds have a rich and proud tradition in English football. They still hold the record for the most league championship wins, a marker which stands at 18.

But, amazingly, it's now 15 years since Liverpool last laid claim to being the kings of England and they look as far away from regaining that title now as they have ever done in those intervening years.

For me, Liverpool seem to be suffering from an identity crisis.

The team that turns out in Europe is totally unrecognisable from the one that performs so poorly in the Premiership on a week-to-week basis.

Benitez doesn't seem to share the same passion for the Premiership as he does for the Champions League and that's reflected in his players.

Take Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher out of that Liverpool side, for example, and where's the passion?

Benitez and Gerard Houllier, the Spaniard's predecessor at Anfield, have placed their faith in too many second rate foreigners who don't understand what you need to succeed in our game.

In contrast, Jose Mourinho and Arsene Wenger seem to have grasped how to merge English bulldog spirit with continental flair.

Both of those managers also seem to have more passion for the Premiership and that's reflected in their teams' performances.

Liverpool are a long way behind the big three and that gap at the top is only going to get wider if the penny doesn't drop with Benitez soon.

Without Gerrard, Liverpool are just an average Premiership team with average players and Mark Hughes will be looking to exploit that tomorrow when he takes Blackburn Rovers to Anfield.

I really hope Sparky sticks with the 4-4-2 formation that proved so effective at Old Trafford recently.

Liverpool are not exactly blessed with pace at the back so if Craig Bellamy is fit to resume up front then he could pose all sorts of problems for Jamie Carragher and Sami Hyypia.

If Bellamy fails to make it then I'm sure Mark will turn to Shefki Kuqi and Paul Dickov after their partnership bore fruit during the second half against West Brom.

I must admit I've been impressed with Shefki from the bits I've seen of him.

He's not the most graceful player ever to pull on a Rovers shirt but what he lacks in finesse, he more than makes up for in effort and endeavour.

He must be buzzing after scoring his first goals in the Premiership.

Every striker wants to get off the mark as quickly as possible when he joins a new club and it must have felt like a huge weight had been lifted from his shoulders when he bagged his first against West Brom the other week.

Once that went in, he suddenly looked like a different player and the way he brushed Dickov aside before scoring his second was a sign of his growing confidence.

Now he's got to build on that and where better to do that than at Anfield?