Rafael BenÍtez must have believed that he was building a forward trio with the movement, flair and goalscoring ability to rival Carlos Tévez, Wayne Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo at Manchester United when Robbie Keane joined Fernando Torres and Dirk Kuyt at Anfield in July.

Even at £20.3 million, Keane looked a great signing, but the dream move has been more of a nightmare. He’s the same talented forward he was at Tottenham Hotspur but he simply does not fit at Liverpool. I can’t pick out one game where he has recaptured his form of last season and it’s down to tactics and teammates.

I played with Keane for Ireland and he needs the right partner to bring the best out of him. He did not gel with Darren Bent or Jermain Defoe at Tottenham, but struck up a superb understanding with Dimitar Berbatov. Had Peter Crouch stayed at Anfield, they would have worked well together. Crouch would have provided flick-ons and lay-offs to put Keane in the position he likes best: slipped in behind the defensive line, slightly to the left of goal from a central starting position, running towards the net with the ball at his feet.

Torres is too similar and there is no doubt that he is the main man at Anfield, so Torres will be accommodated, not Keane. The Spain striker looks to pull away from his strike partner and ghost into space. Keane needs someone like Berbatov who is not afraid to do the opposite: stick close to him and play one-twos or through-balls, even in congested areas, using possession to create room to run into rather than finding it moments earlier through clever movement before the ball arrives.

Whoever he plays with for Liverpool, Keane looks lost, as though he’s not sure where to go. He spends a lot less time in and around the box than he did at Tottenham, and when he does enter it he does not resemble the poacher of last season because he has lost confidence. Being dropped by BenÍtez will take its toll on his self-belief too, as will the knowledge that he did not establish himself while Torres was out of the side.

At Tottenham, everything was geared towards supplying the front two because the midfield was not productive. But Liverpool’s midfield is a great strength, especially with Steven Gerrard bombing on. They are not afraid to bypass Keane. And neither, it seems, is BenÍtez.