Benitez plots recovery after Chelsea mauling
The Spaniard, very much one of the new breed of lap-top managers, has found his side's 4-1 mauling by Chelsea very hard to take because it was brought about by the very things his meticulous planning cannot control individual mistakes.
But before Liverpool face Blackburn at Anfield on October 15, Benitez will have carefully studied the Chelsea defeat and isolated it for what it was a loss against an outstanding team.
Chelsea have the money, the vast strength in depth and a wonderful squad that could have done what they did to Liverpool to any team in the land.
Benitez will tell himself and his players that they are good enough to beat any other side in the Barclays Premiership if they play as well as they did for the first half hour against the champions.
There is a defiant streak in Benitez which is mirrored by his skipper Steven Gerrard.
Gerrard said: "We're a long way behind but I'm not going to concede any title in October. I am the captain of the club and it is my job to drive the lads on. I don't think there is a massive gap between the teams and I do not think the gap is 4-1.
"We played really well and the scoreline does not give a true reflection of the game."
That is all logical stuff from Benitez and Gerrard, but it does not paper over the fact that Liverpool have made their worst start for 13 years and 13th place is not good enough for the club certainly not after raising the bar so high by becoming European champions.
Benitez has tried hard to explain the reasons for the Chelsea defeat, Liverpool's worst at home for 36 years.
He said: "To lose one game like that, it's hard to say anything. People can see the result and Chelsea scored four goals.
"But look at the goals, all of them. They were big mistakes and we were playing really well. You have to go forward when you are behind and have made mistakes. But that invites other mistakes and it makes it very difficult.
"Yes they were ruthless, but if you look at the video you will see that up until the penalty they had done nothing. I told the players to get their heads up because we had played really well for a long time. And if you play at this level against Chelsea you will beat other teams if we do the same things.
"If we do that against the other teams in the Premiership we will not be thinking about conceding four goals or that we are 17 points behind the leaders."
There have been improvements but Liverpool have been handicapped by their failure to bring in new players in the transfer window.
Michael Owen slipped away but the Reds still maintain it would have been folly to pay double the £8million they had sold him for less than a year ago.
They also failed to acquire the central defensive cover or a specialist right winger they sought, both of which could have been important against Chelsea.
Sami Hyypia had to play while sick and Peter Crouch still lacks the support from the flanks that Chelsea can give Didier Drogba via Damien Duff, Joe Cole and Arjen Robben.
Liverpool are left searching for width through full-backs like John Arne Riise and Steve Finnan and there have been attempts to turn Florent Sinama-Pongolle into a winger.
None of this helps Benitez make the Crouch plan work well. And it is something he can do nothing about until January.
Fernando Morientes will be fit soon but has not convinced the Kop of his physical presence despite having a sublime technique and first touch while Djibril Cisse is erratic.
For now Benitez will search his video for positives.
He said: "I think we are improving and playing well, but we need to learn about the mistakes we make. We went forward and then conceded possession in midfield and that gave them their third. We had talked about that and emphasised the importance of not giving them the ball in a position like that, but it still happened."
He added: "The fourth came from a throw-in, another mistake we could have avoided. But we must get our heads up and look to the future."
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