So the detractors and non-believers slithers off into a dark corner. And there have been plenty of blinkered, if not blind, comments directed Liverpool's way this season.

Ahead of the two massive fixtures this week - away to the French champions Marseille and home to Manchester United - the shotgun was being loaded and the turkey that would be Rafa Benitez would be well and truly stuffed before Christmas. Well, bah humbug, the old bird lives to fight another day, and well done to the Reds!

Criticism is something that creates a healthy balance, for and against, pros and cons. But mindless criticism has turned into an epidemic this season and Liverpool suffered a great deal when they lost their unbeaten start to the season last weekend at Reading. With one eye on the game in France, Rafa came in for some stick  for his many changes, but his actions were vindicated by the fresh performance of Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres in the Stade Velodrome.

'Criticism is something that creates a healthy balance, for and against, pros and cons. But mindless criticism has turned into an epidemic this season'


Benitez can’t win. He rotates his team and the criticism is “oh no, you can’t predict his team from one game to the next." But wouldn’t a predictable team be easier to play against, and continuity is honed on the training pitch as much as 90 minutes on a Saturday. How can players be accused of not being familiar with each other - they train six days a week together!

On the flip side let’s say he plays the same 11 or 12 players’ week in week out - the opposition know who faces them, they know what to prepare for! No window for integrating new players, younger players that need to play with the senior lads. A player gets injured; a player comes in with little or no first team action under his belt. A player gets injured due to the high demands of Premier League and Champions League football. And all this criticism when it's proven that Liverpool rotate no more or less than other top teams. If they rotate more then that’s only because they have a depth of squad that allows them to.

Commentators, pundits and scribes alike are entitled to opinion; whether that is accurate, expressed form the heart or the head. However some commentating personalities and pundit teams are losing fans and face. Why?  Because the beating drums of negativity directed towards Liverpool are becoming a faint ding. Their credibility eroded with ever passing pearl of wisdom, and this from ex professional players who should know better, along with fat cat journalists who are too consumed by their own celebrity.

Liverpool will march on regardless; the blood is still flowing around the giant that is Liverpool Football Club. Up next, the big one, the acid test for Liverpool, the one they say will define their season (again a repetitive foreboding). No one knows how the game will pan out, but one hope is that Manchester United don’t fall fowl of the commentators who brand all Liverpool’s beaten foes as worthless rubbish.

If Liverpool can overcome the team Sir Alex Ferguson is branding as his best ever, containing the alleged best player in the world, then maybe, just maybe, the tag of useless will not be branded on them and Liverpool will get the credit they deserve.

Can Liverpool stamp their quality on Europe and the Premier League this season? Yes, as Rafa says “for sure."