It is so hard to believe that we will be in the mix this season after another puzzling and woeful performance away from Anfield in the Premiership.

After winning the Champions League and FA Cup in successive seasons, expectations of Liverpool fans across the world have never been higher, so the way we are falling at the moment is very hard to take.

After watching all five away games in the Premiership so far this season, we have got one point from fifteen and that came from an extremely fortunate penalty in the very first game. Playing a team just promoted in the first game is always going to be a tough one especially when it’s in their own back yard. A draw might have been a fair result, but the performance was nothing to shout about. Even the most blinkered of Liverpool fans would have to admit that when Rob Styles pointed to the spot for the penalty it was hard to hide any embarrassment.

Since that game, we’ve gone to Everton, Chelsea, Bolton Wanderers and now Manchester United and come away with a lot more questions than answers, it’s like watching several episodes of Lost over and over again.

Goodison Park, Stamford Bridge, Reebok and Old Trafford are hard places to get victories at, it’s possible but not impossible. In fact only Arsenal has come away from those grounds with all the spoils in a total of nineteen games all together. But does that statistic make our record away from home any better? In a word, no.

Rafa Benitez must shoulder some of the blame for our performances this season, as well as the majority of the players - even the established ones. We’ve just not clicked once this season on our travels. Even the games in Champions League have been dire and nail-biting stuff.

New players brought in this season have yet to show the fans why Rafa bought them in the first place with the exception of Kuyt and Agger. In fact several of Rafa’s signings have still to convince me and possibly others that they are the real deal and can bring that elusive #19 to Anfield.

The defeat at Goodison Park was a real low point, but you get on with things and stick the Istanbul dvd on, but we can't live on that night for ever. Chelsea was a frustrating defeat, even with a man advantage we still couldn’t find the net. Bolton was a joke, we were defeated before we went on the park with Rafa’s pre-match rant about Bolton’s tactics. All Big Sam had to do was stick the papers on the dressing room wall and let his team read them before they went out.

And now Old Trafford, and enough is enough. Never have I seen a Liverpool side so gutless, so clueless, so inept, unable to find a team mate with a simple pass, so quick to give up and look to the referee to blow his whistle.

This Liverpool side at the moment is a shambles and a disgrace, and there is no hiding place for anyone including the management and the players, not one person is immune.

As Liverpool fans we demand, we expect to win things but most of all we expect commitment, passion, a never-say-die attitude. At the moment none of those three have been evident and that is so hard to take. Far too often there are no options for the man on the ball, far too often a simple pass is misplaced. I can understand Rafa mimicking Arsenal’s recent tactics at Old Trafford, but there is a difference. Arsenal stick to the same team more-or-less, they know where to be on the park. Our players don’t even know if they are going to be in the team next week or not. We need a settled side as soon as possible to turn this around.

Last week, the Nat West was robbed of a reported £2m, our players must be close to robbing the club of the same figure in wages this season.

We have now played nine Premiership games and scored only nine goals, only three more than Charlton who prop up the division. That is clearly not good enough, and the worst thing is that we are hardly creating chances. Rotation may have won Rafa the league in Spain, but it will not win the Premiership, it has won us the Champions League and FA Cup, but it will never win the league here.

We have now lost 4 Premiership games and in the last 10 seasons the team that finishes top of the pile have only lost a maximum of 6 games. Are our title aspirations already over in October? The old lady is not singing just yet, but she’s gargling water in her dressing room and waiting for the five minute call as our next two Premiership matches are against the only unbeaten team in the league so far - Aston Villa, and our first trip to Arsenal’s new stadium.

Pass me the valium.