Small details a big problem for Benitez

"Their lad hits the bar and it goes in, then Fernando Torres hits the post at the end and it stays out," said the former England defender after a shambolic 1-0 defeat by Marseille on Wednesday. "Small details make all the difference."

So do large ones and Rafa Benitez had better get used to the central plank of his Liverpool strategy being used as a weapon against him after presiding over the most disjointed European performance Anfield has witnessed in years.

The Liverpool manager tires of being asked about his rotation policy but it keeps coming back on to the agenda as the main item in any post-match inquest.

If the danger signs from recent results were there for Benitez, they went unheeded.

His team sheets may change but he does not. Sticking to his guns as defiantly as ever, the Spaniard claimed he was "100 per cent right" to name £20million-plus record signing Torres among the substitutes two weekends running.

Benitez described it as an essential precaution for keeping sharpness and speed at the required levels for the final push for honours.

His phenomenal record of delivering success deserves the utmost respect but Benitez knows it cannot offer immunity from the sort of searching questions that will inevitably follow such ineptitude.

His selection on Wednesday looked riddled with misjudgments, such as the pairing of the jaded Fabio Aurelio and Sebastian Leto on the left flank and the recall of Momo Sissoko at the expense of Javier Mascherano in central midfield.

Argentine Leto, 21, looked hopelessly out of sorts, possibly even out of his depth.

Already there are worrying similarities to another Latin misfit, Chile winger Mark Gonzalez, who was supposed to resemble a hare down the left touchline but was more like a rabbit caught in a car's headlights.

Mascherano's omission was just as baffling, given that the Argentina midfielder appears capable of running all day, every day and seems the last player who needs rotating.

The search for answers to Liverpool's sudden mini-slump will be no easy task, judging by Carragher's appraisal of the Marseille defeat.

"We just never got started, didn't perform on the night and we have to hold our hands up," he said. "We have done all right in the Carling Cup and Premier League, so it's difficult to put your finger on why we have started so slowly in the Champions League.

"We've made it tough but it is up to us to show the character and quality to go through. If it goes down to the final group game in Marseille it is not going to be easy, but we have risen to the challenge before."