Dalglish Is My Agony Aunt

Rafa Benitez is using Liverpool legend Kenny Dalglish as agony aunt for his Anfield crisis.

Dalglish - rated by many as the greatest-ever Reds player - is back at the club working as an ambassador and with the Academy.

This week he found himself fighting manager Benitez's corner after Liverpool slumped to four defeats on the bounce for the first time since 1987.

Benitez is adamant he is not feeling the heat - but also revealed the crucial role King Kenny has played alongside him in lifting deflated spirits.

He said: "I had a chat with him as he has the experience, he knows the club, the city, the fans.

"He won all those trophies and knows the history. It was a really good decision bringing him back here. The thing is in England you have 60 million managers who all have an opinion and are all right after the game.

"But you can't listen to everyone. It is important to know who can give you good advice."

Dalglish is equally defiant that those calling for a change in command have got it all wrong.

He insisted: "Everyone within the upper echelons of this club has no doubt whatsoever about Rafa - I know that for a fact. He's the right man to get the club through this.

"No one is panicking. Everyone is being as helpful and supportive as they possibly can be to the manager. It's important everyone sticks together to get through this."

On Tuesday, Benitez was roundly booed for replacing Yossi Benayoun with Andriy Voronin minutes before Lyon netted a late Anfield winner in the Champions League.

Another slump at home to Manchester United tomorrow would see Liverpool lose five successive games for the first time in 56 years.

They face trying to stop the rot without skipper Steven Gerrard, whose groin injury keeps him on the sidelines but hitman Fernando Torres is set to start after a similar problem.

For someone with the world on his shoulders, Spaniard Benitez cut a remarkably chipper figure yesterday - and mounted a strong defence of the players who have been labelled simply not good enough.

He insisted: "Our squad is much better than people think. If you have three, four or five players who are normally in the side but can't play, you cannot say it's not good enough.

"If you took four or five out of the United, Chelsea or Arsenal side it would be difficult for them.

"Maybe there are those who don't see the bigger picture, but you can't change the vision of some people.

"Our fans know what this means to everyone. For years this club was really successful, with a great history - but even going so long without winning the league they are still right behind us.

"Igor Biscan once said if you work hard, the fans stay behind you - that's the difference between our fans and others.

"Over the last two days the fans have been really supportive and very, very positive. I was in a shopping centre and four or five came up.

"No one was asking me about substitutions or anything like that, the main thing they were saying was 'just beat United'.

"I have a lot of confidence in this squad. We know we have to improve and we know we have to win. As a manager you know sometimes it'll be like this and when you win the first game everything can change.

"This week some players were down, others were really positive. I told them 'you were doing really well before, remember this game or that.' You have to remind them what they've done in the past."

Bookies were so convinced Benitez is walking a tightrope, they slashed his odds on him becoming the next Premier League boss for the boot. Yet the Spaniard himself has no such fears.

Benitez said: "I'm really relaxed in terms of my position as I know how we work on the training pitch.

"We need to do the right things. Now the right thing is to make sure we're ready because when it's 11 versus 11, we can beat anyone.

"We've won against United at home without Torres and Gerrard in the past - it isn't as bad as people think."

Former Liverpool hero Michael Owen returns to Anfield playing for bitter rivals United.

But Benitez steadfastly refused to reveal whether he regrets not signing Owen on a free this summer.

He replied: "I had a lot of good players before in my squad and I have now. I'm just working with the ones I have.

"I'm really happy with Torres, he's really good. Dirk Kuyt is a fantastic striker and David Ngog. Ryan Babel and Voronin will be there too. I'm really pleased with my players."

The same question will be asked should Owen score a dramatic winner.