The classless, faceless, nameless coward who set about destabilising Liverpool is probably feeling quite proud of himself this morning. Just about every Liverpool fan site has condemned his comments, condemnation also coming yesterday from Rick Parry. Rafa Benítez also had to defend himself, from someone supposedly part of the same club he works so hard for.

Other newspapers have now had a chance to put their own opinions into the mix. The Guardian starting off by putting Rafa’s views forward, and seemingly being in support of Rafa more than the coward who should (in our view) fall on his own sword today.

Benítez has club’s backing despite criticism from boardroom - Guardian Unlimited Football

Manager reacts angrily to claim his policies have put Liverpool out of title hunt, writes Dominic Fifield

Rafael Benítez pleaded for a sense of “perspective” last night in the wake of criticism attributed to an unnamed club director, though the Liverpool manager admitted that he had expected his side to perform more coherently in the Premiership this season after their heady cup successes in his first two years in charge at Anfield.

…

Benítez was visibly annoyed by the criticism. “People have short memories,” he said. “I don’t remember people talking about rotation when we were beating Juventus, Bayer Leverkusen, Chelsea or Milan. And last season, when we won 11 games in a row, people were not talking about [Steven] Gerrard playing on the right side, and rotation.

“If you haven’t won the most important trophies for years then there will be expectation. That’s normal. But we won the Champions League [in 2005] and something changed. Because we won that, and the next year we won the Super Cup and the FA Cup, then people - all of us - were waiting for us to become contenders for the Premiership. But we started really badly away from home and now it’s a similar situation to last season. Then we worked hard, changed some things and the team was better. We will try to improve now by working harder and better.

“I hope to see the same things happen this year as last year, but you need to have perspective and analyse the situation. Manchester United went 26 seasons without winning the league, and at Valencia it was 31 years. These things happen in football. You can improve a lot, but if the other teams are improving as well then it is more difficult.”

…Liverpool were sufficiently alarmed by the comments to launch an internal inquiry yesterday in order to unearth their source.

The Independent were also coming down more on Rafa’s side than on the side of the faceless  director who despite a fair length of time in office clearly doesn’t understand the Liverpool way. Andy Hunter referred to football losing its marbles.

Independent Online Edition - Benitez shakes off boardroom criticism
By Andy Hunter

Proof that football has lost the last of its marbles emerged at Anfield yesterday, when the only Liverpool manager to lift two major trophies in his first two seasons at the club was forced to defend his record against vehement criticism from within his own boardroom.

Liverpool have opened an internal investigation into the attack on the style and transfer policy of Rafael Benitez, from one unnamed director in a tabloid newspaper, and quickly announced that the comments did not mirror the views of chairman David Moores, a staunch ally of the Spaniard whose majority shareholding prevents dissenters from having an influence on the manager’s future.

At a club that prides itself on unity, however, the exposure of a fundamental rift within the Liverpool hierarchy, along with the despondency at the team’s poor start to the Premiership season, has come as a jolt. It was boardroom stability that had a major bearing on Benitez’s decision to resist overtures from Real Madrid and Internazionale earlier this year. With the club now in the third year of its search for new investment to fund a proposed stadium move, as well as the ambition of a manager who has had to sell to buy, the outburst has attracted little support…

The Times meanwhile talk about the sacking of managers in general. Stuart Pearce has been under threat recently, as have Alan Pardew, Iain Dowie and Gareth Southgate. Pearce has spoken of his desire to see the equivalent of transfer windows but applied to managerial appointments and dismissals. The turncoat director who peddled his tripe to the Mirror is probably even prouder today to see that he has managed to get Rafael Benitez pigeon-holed with those four.

Times Online - Pearce in urgent call for chop window
By James Ducker
Click here to see the odds on who will get the boot this season

STUART PEARCE called for the introduction of a transfer window for managers yesterday in an effort to bring an end to the culture of “farcical” kneejerk reactions that he believes is blighting the game.

The Manchester City manager wants a system similar to that which exists for players that would make it impossible for a club to dismiss a manager outside two “windows” in the winter and summer…

A 4-0 thrashing by Wigan Athletic at the JJB Stadium last weekend — City’s fourteenth defeat in 17 away games — prompted an angry reaction from John Wardle, the club’s chairman, who gave warning that a repeat performance would not be tolerated, but Pearce is by no means the only Barclays Premiership manager to be feeling the heat.

Alan Pardew, the West Ham United manager, Iain Dowie, in charge of Charlton Athletic, and Gareth Southgate, the Middlesbrough manager, have all come under varying degrees of pressure of late, while Rafael Benítez’s position at Liverpool was called into question last night after an astonishing attack from an unnamed Anfield director.

…

Having woken to discover an anonymous Liverpool director questioning the direction in which he was taking the club after a poor start to the season that saw them slump to eleventh position in the Premiership after a 2-0 defeat by Manchester United last Sunday, Benítez called for a little perspective yesterday.

“Some people have short memories,” the Spaniard, who has won the Champions League, European Super Cup and FA Cup in less than 2½ years at Anfield, said.

The tabloid that got the scoop from the fruit-loop puts Rafa’s views across today. The fact they didn’t ask him for his opinion the night before so they could be added to their article yesterday suggests that perhaps they were worried Liverpool might try to stop the story getting out. Or that it would then be a balanced article. Not all of the journalists at that paper hate Liverpool though, so expect some more interesting articles in the coming days. For now, they’ve stuck with this one:

Mirror.co.uk - RAFA’S FURY AT ENEMY WITHIN
By David Anderson

ANGRY Rafael Benitez last night hit back at his Anfield boardroom sniper when he said that criticism of the club should be kept private.

The Liverpool boss was shocked by the attack on him by an unnamed director in yesterday’s Mirror, who questioned his leadership and transfer dealings after defeat at Manchester United effectively ended their title challenge.

Benitez claims his critics have short memories and pointed to his Champions League and FA Cup successes in his two years at Anfield.

He said: “Everyone is in a hurry for success. But Manchester United did not win the league for 26 years and in Valencia it was 31 years before we won the league.”

It will be interesting today to see how the fans react as a whole. Most Reds are frustrated at the lack of, well, wins this season, but only a very small minority would want Rafa sacked. And of that minority, most would accept that doing so now without a replacement lined up would be absolutely, well, stupid.

Expect to hear Rafa’s name sung loudly and proudly. And if you hear any Christmas carols being sung listen carefully to the words being used!