As a Liverpool Supporter I Have Finally Had Enough...

For Liverpool, it has certainly not been the start to a campaign that many predicted it would be. On the back of last season's impressive run, it looked very likely that Benitez and his team would finally cross the finishing line which has evaded the club for almost 20 years.

The 2-2 draw at home to Birmingham on Monday night has led to the Merseyside club falling 11 points behind first placed Chelsea.

Liverpool's poor form in the Premier League has also been accompanied by an unusal failure in Europe, which could see Benitez and his players eliminated from the competition without even reaching the knockout stages.

It is still only November, but quite frankly, I have simply had enough.

However, my loss of patience is not aimed at the Manager or the players. I consider myself a supporter and that loyalty and faith to the current team will remain until the very final minute of the season, and not as single second before.

My anger is directed somewhat towards the over-the-top media representation of the club, but mostly towards the Liverpool supporters and ex-players turned pundits who consistantly put the boot in when the team and the manager are on the floor.

I could sit here and fight the sea of propaganda and ill-informed opinions until the proverbial cows climb out of the taxi and ring my front door bell. But I wont. Especially as other more well informed supporters have spent a great amount of time doing so already.

But presenting people with facts and substantiated truths will not change a single thing with supporters who have already made their minds up, or ex-players with their own personal agendas to maintain.

I am sick to death of the blatent lies presented as fact from misleading newspaper articles that serve only to fuel the opinions of Liverpool supporters, biased towards an opinion the majority clearly know very little about.

Every day there is more and more widespread propaganda filling national and international media sources, a system that reaches far more people than the sensible independant journalists who actually research their work, but don't have the platform needed to get to the wider audience.

The media know full well it is increasingly easy to manipulate people who are too lazy to do their own research. They know printing lies and mistruths will generate debate on their websites, as people leave comments arguing against the ever expanding pool of low-quality journalists.

The Sun for example have once again led the back pages with misleading headlines and pathetic paraphrasing of current players, as they strive to make out their is an increasing unrest with the squad against Rafael Benitez. A quick look at the backpage and apparently Glen Johnson provided a "damning judgment on boss, Benitez" by claiming "We're awful, and a laughing stock".

Knowing the culture of a society that looks at headlines and subheadlines to base their opinions on, this amazing "outburst" by Glen Johnson on his Liverpool manager took up the entire back page on Wednesday's issue of the newspaper. One of the country's most popular and well read tabloids.

However, if you take the time to read the entire article entitled "What a Joke", convienantly hidden from the back page, you will find the entire quote provided by the Liverpool rightback, and a few more that completly go against the claim that Johnson is providing a "damning judgment on boss, Benitez".

"The record sounds awful, and it is awful for a club like Liverpool. But Things like this happen, You stick together and you keep fighting".

Sound advice for some Liverpool supporters to pay heed to in times of crisis, but by now the backpage paraphrasng damage has been done and people glancing at the article have already had the subtle suggestion of discourse implanted in their subconscious.

Glen Johnson also stated that "Rafa's done a fantastic job here, a couple of bad results does not make him a bad manager. To say his job is on the line is ridiculous. It's good to see people like Kenny Dalglish backing Rafa and the team, and it proves everyone is together".

Not exactly the "damaging judgment on Boss, Benitez" that is blatently suggested, and the full quote that contradicts the author's initial opinion is pushed to the end of the full article. Somewhere the majority of readers would never have bothered to get to.

At a time when manager, players, and supporters should be working in harmony for the good of the club; outside forces are doing everything they can to create division and unrest. We can only speculate as to the reasons why newspapers and journalists would print lies and one sided articles, but we can be certain that it does happen.

Some might say what harm does it do if supporters moan about managers and players on forums, after all, everyones entitled to their opinion. But that mislead anger starts to spill over in to the stadiums and can effect the players and the manager, adding even more pressure to an already volitile situation.

Im pretty certain none of us would like to be unjustily vilified on a regular basis by the apparent supporters of the club we chose to play for. We would also not like to read blatent lies about us in the national newspapers on a consistant basis.

And when we are on the floor, for what ever reason it might be, we would certainly not like people to put the boot in to make sure we dont get up again.