Tony Barrett: Facts To Prove All Is Not Lost For Liverpool Boss Rafa Benitez

Back in 1992, Elizabeth II made the annual Queen's speech notable for once by describing the year as her "annus horribilis".

For those of us whose grasp of Latin is only marginally better than our understanding of Aramaic, it didn't mean much, apart from the fact that it seemed a couple of divorces in the family and a house fire at Windsor Castle had darkened her majesty's mood.

Rafa Benitez – a man who can speak four languages, four of them directly derived from Latin – knew exactly what she meant and after the start he's made to 2009 he knows this year could end up being as horrible as Liz's was if every month turns out as bad as January.

In the first month of the year, the Reds boss has seen his team fail to win a league game and lose top spot to Manchester United; had his sanity questioned by all and sundry; had a third operation to cure him of painful kidney stones; seen his captain attend court and has had to cope with the knowledge that his outburst against Alex Ferguson has inspired his great rival instead of unsettling him.

December had been so positive, with 2008 ending on the high with the thrashing of Newcastle which was so impressive it even led to some of the Spaniard's biggest critics changing their tune and backing Liverpool for the title.

But, within 31 days of that magnificent performance in the north east, their hopes had been written off as everything that could have gone wrong did go wrong, while United went on their annual winning spree.

Liverpool have lost momentum and some belief during January. Their manager has made some mistakes, with the timing of his tirade against United and the substitution of Steven Gerrard at Wigan being the most obvious.

Despite what some would have you believe, though, Benitez has not lost the plot.

He is the same manager who took Liverpool to the Premier League summit and who presided over the statistical improvement which made 2008 the best year, points wise, that the Reds have had since he took over the Anfield hot seat.

Like every other manager, Benitez is not above criticism and there has been plenty to criticise in the last four weeks as Liverpool have run out of steam quicker than Meatloaf running a marathon.

But sometimes disappointment can cloud perspective and there are certain facts, to use Benitez's favourite word, that suggest all is not yet lost.

Going into February, Liverpool have still lost just one league game all season; are currently eight points better off than they were at the same stage of last season; their current tally of 48 points after 23 games has only been bettered by three Liverpool teams since three points for a win was introduced in 1981.

In some ways, Benitez is paying for raising expectations. Had Liverpool had a bad November but recovered to get within two points of the leaders hopes would today be high.

But a bad January on the back of five promising months means understandable disappointment, and the voicing of fears the plug may be about to be pulled on another title bid.

Strangely, the first month of last year wasn't any better, as Liverpool also failed to win a league game. And, like at Wigan on Wednesday, they ended January with points being dropped, thanks to another late penalty – at West Ham.

But things did get better in the months that followed, with the Reds picking up 36 points out of the 45 available to them.

Benitez will therefore be hoping that the form his team showed in February, March, April and May 2008 will be repeated this year. Should it be so, 2009 could yet turn out to be Liverpool's annus mirabilis.

Meanwhile, Jermaine Pennant claimed Liverpool's Spanish manager turned against him because of his nationality, an interesting way for Pennant to explain away his own inability to nail down a regular place for the Reds this season.

His Englishness did not go against him when Benitez decided to shell out £6.7m (that's English pounds not Euros, Jermaine) to bring him to Anfield from Birmingham in the summer of 2006.

Nor was it a problem when Pennant started a European Cup final against AC Milan, one of 75 appearances he made for the Reds in his first two seasons at the club.

Everyone has their own idea about why Pennant fell out of favour so dramatically with his manager, with theories ranging from his ongoing struggles with punctuality to his inability to influence matches.

I have my own theory and no, it doesn't have anything to do with that infamous picture of the 26-year-old swigging from a Jack Daniels bottle.

The truth lies in statistics and the one which damns Pennant's disappointing spell with Liverpool most tells us that he scored just three goals in his time at Anfield.

It is the fact that he failed to do this to any great effect, and not his nationality, which made him surplus to requirements at Liverpool at a time when their manager is actively pursuing home-grown players.

He only has himself to blame.