RAFAEL BENITEZ yesterday called for a sense of perspective on his Anfield achievements as Liverpool rallied around their embattled manager following an astonishing attack by an unnamed director.
The Spaniard's regime was severely criticised by an anonymous board member in the national media yesterday morning, prompting a swift response from chief executive Rick Parry stating the views do not mirror those of the upper echelons of the club's hierarchy.
An internal investigation is expected to begin soon to identify which of Liverpool's seven-man board is involved, with chairman David Moores understood to be deeply unhappy at the unattributed outburst.
Benitez has attracted growing criticism this week after Liverpool's tame defeat at Manchester United last week left them 11 points off the Premiership leaders, with his squad rotation policy again under intense scrutiny.
The Anfield manager was accustomed to directors speaking out of turn during his time in charge at Valencia.
Benitez reacted calmly to yesterday's reports, which called into question a tenure that has overseen success in the Champions League and FA Cup inside the last 18 months.
"We must keep a perspective on everything, it is clear," said Benitez. "It was the same situation in Valencia. When we talk about life, we are always in a hurry. Everything changes by the minute, especially with the internet now, and in
"There is a lot of media; newspapers, radio and television stations. And at the end of the day they need to talk about something. And each week people need something new to talk about.
"People forget things very quickly because each week there is a new history.
"I am not criticising the media. I am talking about this situation - there are a lot of people involved in football and it's just one person saying something."
Benitez added: "You can see it in internet forums, one person only has to say something and then everyone is talking about it."
Benitez also felt moved to once more defend his rotation policy, with the manager set to name a changed line-up for the 99th consecutive game when Liverpool entertain Aston Villa in the Premiership this afternoon.
"People have short memories," he added. "I don't remember people talking about rotation when we were beating Juventus, Bayer Leverkusen, Chelsea or AC Milan. And last season, when we won 11 games in a row, people were not talking about Gerrard playing on the right side and rotation. They were happy.
"Look at the other top clubs, their managers know it is not easy to play the same team in every game. It is more a question of me having confidence in my players."
Parry yesterday moved to reiterate Liverpool's backing for their manager.
"We understand the expectations at Liverpool but we are clearly moving in the right direction under Rafael Benitez," said Parry. "We unquestionably have a better squad than we did last year so it is not about making judgements at this stage.
"There are no trophies handed out at the end of October, with the exception of the Community Shield which we have already won. You can only judge our performance over the course of a full season. We all knew there was a sizeable job to do when Rafa was appointed and that is why we have never laid down any timescales."
Benitez added: "What is important is continuous year on year improvement. The wins in Istanbul and Cardiff were great achievements which we celebrated together. Some of the early results in the league have not gone as well as we would have wanted which is why we have a collective responsibility to pull together."
Liverpool's Carling Cup fourth round tie at Birmingham City will be played on Wednesday, November 8 (7.45pm) and will be shown live on Sky.
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