Are Rafa Benitez's side the worst Liverpool team in 50 years?

Bert Slater, Alan Jones, Ronnie Moran, Johnny Wheeler, Dick White, Robert Campbell, Fred Morris, Roger Hunt, Dave Hickson, Jimmy Melia, Alan A' Court. That was the largely undistinguished Liverpool line-up in a Division Two game at Anfield on December 12 1959 as Cardiff City thrashed the hosts 4-0 in Bill Shankly's first game in charge.

"Shankly has never been afraid of hard work as a manager. I fear he's going to get plenty of it within the next few months," sniffed the local News Chronicle. And he did. Inside four seasons Liverpool were Division One champions, with only Moran and Hunt still featuring from the side which lost so heavily to the Bluebirds.

Liverpool have won 39 major trophies since that Cardiff defeat, so it's been fair to call Shankly's first team the worst Liverpool side in half a century. Until, perhaps, last night, when a shapeless and spineless outfit almost entirely bought by Rafa Benitez slumped out of the FA Cup in disgrace, outplayed on their own ground in only the third round by a team lying fourth bottom of the Championship, with a caretaker manager at the helm.

Diego Cavalieri, Philipp Degen, Jamie Carragher, Daniel Agger, Emiliano Insua, Alberto Aquilani, Lucas Leiva, Dirk Kuyt, Ryan Babel, Yossi Benyaoun, David Ngog. Let's give the team which finished the 90 minutes against Reading some credit and say they are unquestionably stronger than the Shankly side which lost to Cardiff. But even with the addition of crocks Steven Gerrard, Fernando Torres and Glen Johnson, plus the suspended Javier Mascherano and rested Martin Skrtel and Pepe Reina, Benitez's current squad has the same disjointed, disappointing feel as the outfits which got Graeme Souness, Roy Evans and Gerard Houllier the sack in 1994, 1998 and 2004 respectively. Could this really be the worst Liverpool side in 50 years? Let's look at the evidence

GOALKEEPER

Benitez '10: Reina. Arguably the best all-round keeper in the Premier League and Liverpool's most reliable since Ray Clemence.

Houllier '04: Dudek. Good keeper and one of the heroes of Istanbul, but offered no more than the hastily-dispatched Brad Friedel or James.

Evans '98: James. Had all the attributes - and still does - but occasionally and famously shaky in front of an unconvincing back four.

Souness '94: Grobbelaar. In his mid-30s and more error-prone than ever, the Zimbabwean was a liability and was quickly replaced by David James once Evans replaced Souey.

Ratings (best-to-worst): Benitez 1, Houllier 2=, Evans 2=, Souness 4

DEFENCE

Benitez '10: Carragher, Skrtel, Agger, Johnson. One full-back is ageing, the other is over-adventurous and the unit struggles with the zonal marking from set pieces which Manchester City's much-maligned defence has settled into so quickly under Roberto Mancini. But could improve.

Houllier '04: Finnan, Carragher, Hyypia, Riise. Fifteen clean sheets in the league and another 12 games in which they conceded only once. But not wholly convincing because of the full-backs.

Evans '98: Jones, Babb, Matteo, Bjornebye. A botch job whose decent mid-season work was undone by a run of 22 conceded in 11 crucial games (with no clean sheets and only three wins) from the end of January to the start of May.

Souness '94: Jones, Dicks, Wright, Ruddock. So much wasted potential here and you have to wonder what would have happened had Ruddock and Dicks been choirboys rather than Spice Boys. As it was a unit also comprising the classy Rob Jones and Mark Wright looked better on paper than on grass, recording only seven clean sheets in 26 league games before Souey's departure.

Ratings (best-to-worst): Houllier 1, Benitez 2, Souness 3, Evans 4

MIDFIELD

Benitez '10: Mascherano, Gerrard, Aquilani, Benayoun. Not many would swap the first two but lookalikes Aquilani and Benayoun are struggling.

Houllier '04: Gerrard, Hamman, Murphy, Kewell. Solid but, Gerrard aside, unspectacular four which was overhauled by Benitez with the additions of Alonso and Garcia.

Evans '98: McManaman, Ince, Leonhardsen, Redknapp. Easy to spot the odd man out here as the plodding Norwegian undermined an otherwise effective unit.

Souness '94: Barnes, Redknapp, Clough, McManaman. With Barnes' powers in decline and McManaman's yet to fully bloom, this was a stylish unit albeit one whose lack of steel often exposed the defence.

Ratings (best-to-worst): Evans 1, Houllier 2=, Benitez 2=, Souness 4

ATTACK

Benitez '10: Torres, Kuyt. Among current Premier League strikers only Rooney and Drogba deserve to be mentioned in the same breath as Torres, but Kuyt (who we've played upfront here to allow Gerrard to move back to the midfield) is in the worst form of his Liverpool career and is not being pushed by Benitez's buys. The arrival of Maxi Rodriguez should help.

Houllier '04: Owen, Heskey. Just 23 goals between them over the season despite missing only an average of 5.5 games apiece means more flattery to deceive from an Anfield front two.

Evans '98: Owen, Fowler. Scored 27 goals between them and it would have been 40 had Fowler not begun to struggle with injury.

Souness '94: Fowler, Rush. Finished Fowler's first season with 26 goals between them but again, the mix of advancing age and inexperience means this partnership was better in theory than in practice.

Ratings (best-to-worst): Evans 1, Souness 2, Benitez 3, Houllier 4

BENCH

Benitez '10: Lucas, Insua, Ngog, Babel, Degen. Arguably Liverpool's weakest bench in memory - and all expensively acquired by Benitez.

Houllier '04: Henchoz, Biscan, Baros, Diouf, Smicer. Relatively strong second-string who all played important bit-parts through the season.

Evans '98: McAteer, Riedele, Carragher, Berger, Murphy. Solid and largely local supporting cast.

Souness '94: Molby, Walters, Nicol, Stewart, Bjornebye. A confusing combination of greats coming to the end and misfiring buys.

Ratings (best-to-worst): Evans 1, Houllier 2, Souness 3, Benitez 4

Verdict: Souness' still is the worst Liverpool side since the dawn of Shanks... but Benitez is running him close. Evans just has the edge on former co-manager Houllier.