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Was it really only two months ago that Liverpool were seven points clear? Incredibly, sadly, yes, it really was.

"You could almost say when we scored our second goal that it was the moment they lost the title," said Middlesbrough's centre-half David Wheater. "It's Manchester United all the way, most people know that."

Including, it would seem, Rafa Benitez. "Clearly the Champions League is the best option we have now," admitted the Spaniard in one of his rare moments of clarity on Saturday.

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So that's that then. Another year, another failed title bid. The cruelty of this year's tilt is that for so long it masqueraded as realistic. Only when they dared to dream did reality prove ruinous.

It's a peculiar argument to make because it implies that Liverpool are victims of their own limited success, but only by clambering up so high has it been discovered why Liverpool, in their current guise, are unable to reach the summit. The last mile is the hardest and it has been too hard for Liverpool and their manager. The verdict on Rafa Benitez mirrors that of his own team: this might be his most successful season yet in the Premier League but there are now more doubts, and doubters, about his ability to win the title than ever before.

After the defeat at Middlesbrough, the post-mortems can begin on Liverpool's demise. Some will start with the infamous Rafa Rant but that was background music, not a cause. If Benitez's outburst was a mistake, it was only an error in strategy because it made him a hostage to success and left him exposed and vulnerable to cheap comebacks in the event of failure. So it has proved.

Fundamentally, Liverpool have failed because they are simply not good enough. Too many of their players are average, too few are top quality. The acid test of any aspiring team is how many players would claim a place in Manchester United's first eleven. Beyond Fernando Torres and Steven Gerrard, the list at Liverpool is short. Go further and Liverpool's inadequacies run even deeper: there is not a single back-up player at Anfield who is the equal of his opposite number at Old Trafford. Shallow depth has sunk Liverpool, a slump in form occurring at exactly the time of year when squad strength is critical.

Their flaws are greater than an on-form Robbie Keane could have solved, yet his departure, without the prior acquisition of a replacement when Liverpool were fighting on three fronts, remains a puzzle that is impossible to ignore. "I do not think it was a gamble to sell Robbie," said Benitez at the time. "If Fernando Torres is injured we have Dirk Kuyt, Ryan Babel, David Ngog," That justification crumbled as a glut of chances went a-begging at the Riverside.

Benitez takes responsibility for the Keane error - if he had to be sold, then it ought to have been in the summer - and if he assumes total control of Liverpool's transfer activities in the wake of Rick Parry's exit then he will have no excuses in the event of another year of shattered dreams. The Spaniard has plenty of work do in the summer; a conservative estimate is that Liverpool require as many as five changes to their squad. Whether he is the man to do that is the question that still needs answering.