Anyway do you think Roy inherited a worse squad than Rafa?
For me, Rafa inherited some of the best players we've ever had in the Premiership era - Carra, Sami, Didi, Stevie in their prime unlike now where Roy has inherited a past his best Carra and a Gerrard reaching the final years as well. And Rafa inherited a solid back line, with the exception of the keeper, Finnan, Carra, Sami, Riise. He also inherited the Euro 2004 top scorer (Baros), our record signing (Cisse) and a few other decent players i.e. Murphy/Owen both of whom left shortly after Benitez' arrival though.
So it wasn't a dreadful squad that Benitez inherited. It was, like has been for so many times in the Premiership era, short of that one or two extra players.
Now Hodgson inherited a world class keeper but the back line is shaky to say the least. The midfield he inherited was decent (Gerrard, Lucas, Mascherano, Aquilani) but Mascherano was pushing off from two years ago and Aquilani's injury record was against him as was Lucas' fragile reputation. He didn't inherit much in terms of forwards with the exception being Torres of course. I'd say Baros, Cisse, Owen, Pongolle would all be ahead of Ngog in the pecking order.
The squad left by Benitez is still short of quality, especially down the flanks. Pretty much where we struggled under Houllier. And the depth wasn't really there for either.
I would say they were on a par in terms of squads. Houllier left some quality players with a lot of average players as did Benitez. If I had to choose though, I think I'd take the squad from 04-05 simply because that had the base from which to build and every good side is built from the back. We may have more options now, but Carra and Sami (in 04-05) would stroll into the centre half pairing now.
We also had forwards flying with confidence as I mentioned, Baros was coming off the back of the Euro's in 2004 where he was the top scorer and Cisse was coming with a huge reputation whereas Torres was coming off the back of the World Cup this season down on confidence because he didn't put a foot right in South Africa. And his future was in major doubt when Roy arrived. (I'm not saying Baros or Cisse are a patch on Torres by the way).
Rafa inherited possibly our best central midfield in the Premiership as well - Stevie/Didi. Lucas and Masch don't comapre if we're being honest.