Beware the embattled beast! After a series of shocking performances and an ever-increasing army of critics, Rafa Benitez may just prove his doubters wrong and take my club to a sixth Champions League title.

We face a mammoth task against Inter Milan tonight. It’s going to be one hell of a battle, but I believe we can overcome the Serie A champions. I know that many will find the idea of such a result simply impossible to believe; after all we have just been beaten at home by Barnsley in the FA Cup!

Need I remind the sniggering masses about 2005? The parallels are there, we finished fifth that year and we were also dumped out of the FA Cup by lowly opposition. I can still see that disastrous own goal from Djimi. And guess what; we also won the Champions League, so why can’t it happen again?

'We must stick by Rafa, even though the media and opposition fans have not missed an opportunity to stick the knife in'


After all we were under achieving on the domestic front in that season but still got past giants Juventus, Chelsea and AC Milan to lift the most important trophy in European football. Arguably that season was even worse in terms of league form. We lost an unprecedented 14 matches, compared to only three so far this term. Any embarrassed fellow Anfield fans should remember that as we cheer our boys on against Roberto Mancini’s all-conquering Italians.

Yes, we were appalling on Saturday. In fact we haven’t had a truly good day since we eased past Portsmouth 4-1 in December. However, I remember in 2005, we had some nightmares that year also. Most vividly I remember defeats at home to Birmingham (and away!), against Southampton and especially Crystal Palace, all truly horrid performances. But we still recovered and finished the season with the match of a lifetime in Istanbul.

We must stick by Rafa, even though the media and opposition fans have not missed an opportunity to stick the knife in, which is to be expected. No doubt we would be tempted to do exactly the same should a sworn enemy struggle as we have in recent months.