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http://www.mirrorfootball.co.uk/news/Liverpool-boss-Rafael-Benitez-insists-he-won-t-quit-and-claims-even-Bill-Shankly-had-bad-times-at-Anfield-article288691.html
Rafael Benitez has insisted he won't quit, claiming even Bill Shankly had lean spells at Anfield.
The beleaguered Liverpool manager remains defiant as he grapples with the biggest crisis of his six-year reign and he faces the boot if he cannot claim a Champions League spot.
Benitez is staying calm in the eye of the storm raging over Anfield and claims the "proper" fans - as he calls them - remember how Shanks went seven years without a trophy between 1966 and 1973.
He insists he can still deliver on his guarantee of a top-four finish, but says his main focus is on beating Stoke in today's lunchtime clash at the Britannia Stadium.
"Clearly I want to fight," said a belligerent Benitez. "If I signed a contract for five years it is because I want to fight. And I will fight because I'm a fighter.
"Our fans, they are very clever. They know Bill Shankly, our most famous manager in the history of the club, was a lot of years without winning. They know that the club has had good moments and bad moments.
"The proper fans, they know for years this club is a massive club and that we have won things and lost things. We are frustrated because we want to do well. Because the last year was so good, we wanted to be closer.
"I have to believe we can finish in the top four. I have the belief that we can do it, but we have to win the next game and that is what I am concentrating on.
"I have said before that top four is the target, but I have changed a little bit the message. We cannot be talking about long term, we have to be talking about the next game.
"To be as close as possible to the top four, we have to win against Stoke. If we win against Stoke and Tottenham, we will be closer."
Benitez, who is without Steven Gerrard, Fernando Torres and Yossi Benayoun to add to his problems, is drawing on all of his 26 years' coaching experience to handle this crisis and poked fun at himself yesterday to defuse some of the tension.
The lines of TV cameras and photographers in the press room at Melwood must have seemed like a firing squad for the Spaniard and he reacted with some gallows humour by skitting his "facts" rant from a a year ago.
To the bewilderment of the watching TV crews, he pulled a new list of "facts" from the pocket of his tracksuit before a question had been asked and detailed that Liverpool weren't playing well and that he felt sorry for the fans.
"I did it to relax the atmosphere because they were so many people," he said. "But I am quite serious about things.
"We know we are not doing well and that we have to improve. We are disappointed after the game the other day and we have to be disappointed, but my message is very clear - I have to prepare for the next game against Stoke. That is our most important game."
Benitez has spent all of his six years at Anfield struggling to cope with fans' expectations and he feels that is behind the boos which greeted Wednesday's humiliating FA Cup exit to Reading.
"Who has won the league in the last years?" he said. "And who has won the Champions League? And who has won the FA Cup? Who has won the Carling Cup?
"If you analyse who has won in the past, that is reality and against this reality, Liverpool have won four trophies, got to seven finals, got 82 points and 87 points.
"We were doing well for years. We have good memories of the last year when we were scoring a lot of goals. Two years ago, we scored 119 goals. All these good memories now maybe are against us now because we're not playing at the level we can.
"I said before and I say now, we are progressing. We are in a bad moment. We are not doing well and we have to improve.
"Every club has problems. Sometimes, the period you have the problems is longer, but we will try our best from now."
Desperate or what? And those suckers will fall for it hook line and sinker
KRIOC!!!!
Rafael Benitez has insisted he won't quit, claiming even Bill Shankly had lean spells at Anfield.
The beleaguered Liverpool manager remains defiant as he grapples with the biggest crisis of his six-year reign and he faces the boot if he cannot claim a Champions League spot.
Benitez is staying calm in the eye of the storm raging over Anfield and claims the "proper" fans - as he calls them - remember how Shanks went seven years without a trophy between 1966 and 1973.
He insists he can still deliver on his guarantee of a top-four finish, but says his main focus is on beating Stoke in today's lunchtime clash at the Britannia Stadium.
"Clearly I want to fight," said a belligerent Benitez. "If I signed a contract for five years it is because I want to fight. And I will fight because I'm a fighter.
"Our fans, they are very clever. They know Bill Shankly, our most famous manager in the history of the club, was a lot of years without winning. They know that the club has had good moments and bad moments.
"The proper fans, they know for years this club is a massive club and that we have won things and lost things. We are frustrated because we want to do well. Because the last year was so good, we wanted to be closer.
"I have to believe we can finish in the top four. I have the belief that we can do it, but we have to win the next game and that is what I am concentrating on.
"I have said before that top four is the target, but I have changed a little bit the message. We cannot be talking about long term, we have to be talking about the next game.
"To be as close as possible to the top four, we have to win against Stoke. If we win against Stoke and Tottenham, we will be closer."
Benitez, who is without Steven Gerrard, Fernando Torres and Yossi Benayoun to add to his problems, is drawing on all of his 26 years' coaching experience to handle this crisis and poked fun at himself yesterday to defuse some of the tension.
The lines of TV cameras and photographers in the press room at Melwood must have seemed like a firing squad for the Spaniard and he reacted with some gallows humour by skitting his "facts" rant from a a year ago.
To the bewilderment of the watching TV crews, he pulled a new list of "facts" from the pocket of his tracksuit before a question had been asked and detailed that Liverpool weren't playing well and that he felt sorry for the fans.
"I did it to relax the atmosphere because they were so many people," he said. "But I am quite serious about things.
"We know we are not doing well and that we have to improve. We are disappointed after the game the other day and we have to be disappointed, but my message is very clear - I have to prepare for the next game against Stoke. That is our most important game."
Benitez has spent all of his six years at Anfield struggling to cope with fans' expectations and he feels that is behind the boos which greeted Wednesday's humiliating FA Cup exit to Reading.
"Who has won the league in the last years?" he said. "And who has won the Champions League? And who has won the FA Cup? Who has won the Carling Cup?
"If you analyse who has won in the past, that is reality and against this reality, Liverpool have won four trophies, got to seven finals, got 82 points and 87 points.
"We were doing well for years. We have good memories of the last year when we were scoring a lot of goals. Two years ago, we scored 119 goals. All these good memories now maybe are against us now because we're not playing at the level we can.
"I said before and I say now, we are progressing. We are in a bad moment. We are not doing well and we have to improve.
"Every club has problems. Sometimes, the period you have the problems is longer, but we will try our best from now."
Desperate or what? And those suckers will fall for it hook line and sinker
KRIOC!!!!
