Aquilani return boosts Rafa as Liverpool unites

Underfire Liverpool boss Rafa Benitez has received some welcome backing in the city's morning newspaper, the Liverpool Daily Post, as well as good news about the return of a potential star on the pitch, Alberto Aquilani. In a comment piece headlined 'Sticking together is Liverpool FC's only option as winter of discontent begins to bite', Dan Kay calls on the Anfield faithful to remember "that unity of spirit and action is both the club's bedrock and its salvation".

While noting Benitez’s appalling run of luck, with injuries to key players Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres and such freak occurrences as the rogue beach ball that deflected in Sunderland's winning goal on Saturday, Kay also accepts that Benitez has been guilty of making bad decisions.

"Too many people - from the owners to the manager to the players - are making too many poor choices at the moment. Some of the players in Liverpool's squad aren't good enough right now and some of Rafa Benitez's decisions aren't up to scratch either," he says, before asking if the club is "doing a very convincing impression of a club on the verge of a nervous breakdown?"

The author ends by invoking the stirring words of Benitez himself in Istanbul during the half time of the 2005 Champions League final, when Liverpool found themselves 3-0 down to AC Milan: "Don't let your heads drop. You have to hold your heads high for the supporters. Believe you can do it and we will. Give yourselves the chance to be heroes."

Benitez also received a vote of confidence from one of the club's two American owners, George Gillett, who responded to attacks on his manager by reaffirming his support for the Spaniard. "We have just entered into a long-term agreement with Rafa. Our family is extraordinarily pleased with him, we think he is absolutely as good as there is in the business and I am sure the Hicks [family] feel the same way. We just extended his contract."

The show of support may surprise Benitez, because earlier this month Gillett had happily badmouthed the manager to the member of a fans' group, blaming him for making bad transfers. Gillett went on to say: "I think the run of results disappoints everybody. Certainly, it disappoints the fans and it disappoints Rafa... but we are in this together. I think we all saw the same thing [Benitez's obvious despair on Tuesday night] but that's not something I am going to comment on publicly."

With Manchester United coming to Anfield on Sunday in the Premier League, Liverpool are sweating on the fitness of Gerrard, Torres, Glen Johnson and winger Albert Riera. Johnson claimed yesterday that the injury which kept him out of the Lyon game had passed, and offered an optimistic picture of the others' niggles: "I think I will be all right for Sunday. We haven't tested it today, just soft tissue work and massage, but it seems a lot freer than it did. I think Nando [Torres] might be all right for Sunday but I am not too sure about Stevie."

The sight of summer signing Aquilani turning out for the reserves last night against Sunderland (above) will also have cheered up Benitez no end. The non-availability through injury of the £20m attacker had been a matter of some concern to supporters, worried that their manager might have splashed out a fortune on a crock.

Indeed Benitez could actually be in a stronger position now than before the Lyon game, having tapped a wellspring of public support and forced a show of faith from his bosses. If his charges manage to get anything out of the next two games against Man Utd and Arsenal in the Carling Cup next week, the Liverpool boss could have another chance to launch his season.