Defiant Rafa vows to fight on

A DEFIANT Rafael Benitez has vowed to fight on as Liverpool manager despite the club’s season hitting a new low this week.

His team crashed out of the FA Cup in a third-round replay at home to Championship side Reading on Wednesday to increase even more pressure on the Spaniard.

Liverpool’s faltering season has already seen them exit the Champions League at the group stage – the first time that has happened since Benitez took over, drop out of the Premier League title race and fall behind in the running for a top-four place.

“We are not playing well and everyone here feels sorry for our fans,” said Benitez, who insists he is focusing all his efforts on today’s must-win match at Stoke.

“This is a bad moment, we are not doing well during the season and we know have to improve and we have the belief we can do it.

“How can we improve? Winning on the pitch. How can we be sure we win on the pitch? By training well.

“If I am worried about my position or the future of the club at this moment I will lose my focus.

“Stoke is the most important game now and we have to prepare properly.

“I cannot be worried about the other things. My future is Stoke now.”

Benitez last season signed a new long-term deal worth anything between £3 million (3.4m) and £4m (€4.5m) a year.

He stressed he is a fighter and is determined to get through Liverpool’s recent difficulties.

“It is true I like to do my best every time. If I decided to stay here and signed a five-year contract it is because I wanted to fight,” he added.

“Things are not going well, we know, but if I waste my time talking about all these things (speculation about his future) all the time I will lose my focus and it will be worse and worse. I don’t need any assurances of anything. I promise you I am preparing for the next game and, in football, things can change the next week.”

Stoke boss Tony Pulis, meanwhile, has defended the under-fire Liverpool boss.

“With the result on Wednesday there’s added speculation about what’s happening and what’s not happening at that football club,” assessed Pulis.

“But I think Rafa has been a little unfortunate this year in the respect that his best players have either been injured or not really on top form. They’ve not performed like they can do.

“Against Reading, (Pepe) Reina didn’t play, and he is arguably the best goalkeeper in the Premier League.

“(Javier) Mascherano was missing, and he’s the best holding player in the Premier League, and then you’ve Gerrard and Torres who have played with injuries and who have come off. You also had a quality right-back in (Glen) Johnson who didn’t play through injury.

“So there are five players who, if they were available and playing to their maximum, would make Liverpool a completely different team.’’

With Liverpool being 12 points behind leaders Chelsea Benitez is targeting fourth place, from which they are only five adrift.

And with injuries starting to cripple the squad, having lost influential trio Fernando Torres (knee), Steven Gerrard (hamstring) and Yossi Benayoun (rib) for the foreseeable future, the Liverpool boss has called for a greater sense of unity within the squad.

One player who will not be involved against Stoke is forward Ryan Babel, who has been dropped from the match squad – a decision he chose to announce on his Twitter page.

Despite Benitez’s suggestions that he wants to keep the Holland international he will be sold if Liverpool receive the right offer.

“When you have problems everyone has a different reaction,” said the manager.

“It is more than just football; agents, money, TV, radios and internet everyone needs to talk – everyone has a Twitter or something like that.

“It is impossible to stop people talking, it is not like in the past.”

New signing Maxi Rodriguez has pledged to “put himself on the line” to help lift his new team-mates out of their current slump.

The Argentina international joined from Atletico Madrid in midweek on a three-and-a-half-year contract, claiming yesterday that he considered the long-term picture when he decided to leave Spain.

“If you decide to come to a club you don’t look at recent form and whether results are going for or against you,” said Rodriguez.

“They are a great club with great tradition and you don’t change your mind on something like that because of a short period of results.’’