It seems that Benitez wants to go with a back line of:
Josema (sp?) Carragher Hyypia Riise
From what little I've seen, he was an idiot to bring in Josema, who's no better a right back than Carragher or Finnan, while neglecting the centre of his defense. Hyypia is indeed an excellent defender, but he's slow enough that he needs a pacy partner in defense in order to free up the midfield from some of its covering duties. Instead of buying someone for there, he's using Carragher, the only defender I can think of who is actually slower than Henchoz! Riise is a good player, but his confidence can't be that high after Houllier ignored him last season, preferring the less attack-minded Carragher in left-back!
There's a lot of work to be done there before Liverpool are able to press the top three.