Source: SKY_Sports
Rafa remains positive
Liverpool boss Rafa Benitez is confident his side can ride out the storm and turn their season around.
Benitez has come under-fire after seeing Liverpool lose their last three games in all competitions ahead of two massive matches against Lyon in the Champions League and the visit of Manchester United in the Premier League.
Rather than focusing on the negatives, Benitez is trying to remain positive and believes two good results against Lyon and United could revive Liverpool's faltering season.
"I have some experience in difficult situations - all managers do - but at this time we have lost four games and people are talking about the quality, the depth of the squad, but the main thing is to be calm, work hard and find solutions to the problem," insisted Benitez.
"That is the only way in football. This week we have an opportunity to change everything. It can change everything for the positive.
"My obligation is to be positive because I think we have more quality than we are showing now. As soon as we play well twice, hopefully this week, people will start saying maybe I am right.
"In the last two training sessions I was really pleased with the response of the players, and you could see that everyone was positive. Everyone knows what to do.
"If we can know these things together, it will be easier. If we win tomorrow and Sunday we have to keep going and hope that things change.
"We're not short of numbers this season, we are short of confidence because we are not winning some games that we could win."
Meanwhile, Benitez has rejected suggestions that he is a cold manager towards his players.
Star trio Steven Gerrard, Jamie Carragher and Fernando Torres have all questioned Benitez's man-management style in their autobiographies accusing him of not showing a personal touch with the players.
Torres recalled in his autobiography of the time his team-mates congratulated him on the birth of his daughter, Benitez patted him on the back and remarked: "I was really pleased with the way you attacked the near post for the corners."
Benitez has brushed off the claims and feels he has been unfairly portrayed to help the sale of the books
"If you repeat a lie a lot of times, it becomes the truth," added Benitez. "I have a lot of conversations with my players, both as individuals and in a group.
"I have conversations with them about the positives and negatives of football and we analyse all of it. Each of them has a DVD [on their performances]. Gerrard wanted to talk about the negatives of his play but I said, 'No: let's concentrate on the positives'.
"If they do well, I say well done. I say this 100 times, especially if we win. I was surprised with Fernando - it's true what I said about the goal against Chelsea, but in the dressing room it is a different situation. You cannot be close friends because you have to make big decisions about their future."
