Rafa Benitez is ready for an almighty scrap to save his Anfield career, after admitting he is prepared to take another massive selection gamble.
The Liverpool manager will rest key players for tomorrow's tricky FA Cup visit to Luton, even though he knows that if the risk backfires, his position will be placed under unbearable pressure.
He will give Fernando Torres (right), Jamie Carragher, Javier Mascherano and Steven Gerrard - who has a slight knock - the day off, and with Alvaro Arbeloa and Fabio Aurelio injured, a vastly-changed Liverpool side will give Luton real hope of a huge upset.
While that may seem foolhardy following two desperately disappointing performances in the last week which saw them slip out of the title race, Benitez is adamant he should be allowed to use an expensively assembled squad in cup competition.
And defending himself against charges emanating from within the club his selection policy undermines results, Benitez insisted resting his top stars tomorrow must not be seen as a gamble.
"If you can't change players for an FA Cup tie at Luton, then you can't compete to win the three competitions we're left in," he said.
"I believe all the players in my squad are good enough to play against Luton. It does not matter if you use Torres, Crouch or Voronin, for instance, because for me, it is more or less the same.
"So where is the risk? We have three players injured because they played too many games in a row, so it's more of a risk to use Jamie Carragher again and Torres again than to use Crouch, Voronin or Kuyt, for example."
Benitez accepts that should his side lose at Luton then his position at the club will become almost untenable and crucially, he seems to have lost the support of the board at Anfield.
But he said: "We finished third in the last two years, we had 82 points which was the Premier League record for the club.
"We've won four trophies, including one Champions League and reaching another final, so the progress is clear."
The Liverpool manager will rest key players for tomorrow's tricky FA Cup visit to Luton, even though he knows that if the risk backfires, his position will be placed under unbearable pressure.
He will give Fernando Torres (right), Jamie Carragher, Javier Mascherano and Steven Gerrard - who has a slight knock - the day off, and with Alvaro Arbeloa and Fabio Aurelio injured, a vastly-changed Liverpool side will give Luton real hope of a huge upset.
While that may seem foolhardy following two desperately disappointing performances in the last week which saw them slip out of the title race, Benitez is adamant he should be allowed to use an expensively assembled squad in cup competition.
And defending himself against charges emanating from within the club his selection policy undermines results, Benitez insisted resting his top stars tomorrow must not be seen as a gamble.
"If you can't change players for an FA Cup tie at Luton, then you can't compete to win the three competitions we're left in," he said.
"I believe all the players in my squad are good enough to play against Luton. It does not matter if you use Torres, Crouch or Voronin, for instance, because for me, it is more or less the same.
"So where is the risk? We have three players injured because they played too many games in a row, so it's more of a risk to use Jamie Carragher again and Torres again than to use Crouch, Voronin or Kuyt, for example."
Benitez accepts that should his side lose at Luton then his position at the club will become almost untenable and crucially, he seems to have lost the support of the board at Anfield.
But he said: "We finished third in the last two years, we had 82 points which was the Premier League record for the club.
"We've won four trophies, including one Champions League and reaching another final, so the progress is clear."
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