LISTENING to the moans of armchair supporters that inundate the plethora of lazy radio and television phone-in shows, it would be easy to surmise Liverpool stand one defeat away from complete meltdown.

But rather than be alarmed, for Jamie Carragher, it’s merely that time of the year again.

More than a decade of life in the pressurised domain of the Liverpool first team has given the centre-back enough experience of dealing with a supposed crisis at Anfield.

And while “everybody is going nuts”, Carragher exudes the calm confidence of a player who has seen it all before.

Liverpool’s annual emergency has been prompted by an unconvincing opening to the Premier League season made worse by an uncharacteristic nightmare start to the Champions League.

Rafael Benitez’s side aim to begin rectifying the latter when they entertain Besiktas this evening, the first of three Group A games that must be won to secure progress to the knockout stages.

Despite remaining unbeaten in the top flight, the manager, his methods and his players have attracted some heavy flak following a string of frustrating performances.

But Carragher swats away any suggestions of serious problems at the club and believes recent performances indicate the corner is already being turned.

“I’ve been here 10 years and every year there’s a crisis at some stage,” says the 29-year-old. “In Rafa’s first year it was Burnley, then we lost to Crystal Palace in the Carling Cup and then there were the two Arsenal games close together last year.

We’re not playing great at the moment, we’d like to be better but it’s not all doom and gloom. I don’t think we’ve been too bad in the last few games.

“After we played Derby and Toulouse maybe the players themselves were a bit over the top with what they were saying, but it’s the same with the criticism. That’s the nature of football now, to hype things up.

“Against Everton, we went to Goodison which is as tough a place as any to go to, and created a lot of chances and got the three points. The Arsenal game was probably the game of the season up to now in the Premier League and we were happy with how we played then.

“Blackburn was a disappointing result, but again that’s a difficult place to go to, they’d won seven on the bounce and the chances we had we should have won.

“In the Champions League, it hasn’t been good enough, especially the Marseille game which was as poor as we have played in a long time.

“Hopefully, this is our period where everybody is going nuts about us then hopefully it will return to normal in a couple of weeks. Maybe it’s a sign of progress that we are having the crisis more early in the season!”

Despite that throwaway response, Carragher is acutely aware of the disgruntlement among sections of the Liverpool support, the first murmurs of which could be heard from the away end during the goalless draw at Blackburn Rovers on Saturday.

“I hear a lot of opinion on the streets and I know that a lot of people are disappointed with how things are going at the moment,” he says. “It means a lot to people in Liverpool, and with me being involved I get the brunt of it and I can understand the frustration of the fans.”

Even the usual safety net of the Champions League is in danger of being swept from beneath Liverpool after they followed an opening draw at Porto with defeats to Marseille and Besiktas.

Benitez’s side must now beat all three of their Group A rivals, and Carragher has called on his team-mates to note the calm, collected example set by their manager, whose grace under considerable fire has been severely tested by the barrage of criticism in recent weeks.

“I’ve been here for 10 years and I know you don’t gain anything from putting yourself under pressure or being nervous,” says the defender. “People are talking about the last game against Marseille being tough, but we have to forget that and just beat Besiktas first.

“The manager is very, very good at that. He very rarely gets flustered or nervous or lets things get to him. He is a very calm man and hopefully that can be shown in these next three Champions League games.

“He has stressed to us to forget about the other two games, concentrate on beating Besiktas and then move on to the next game.”

Having reached two of the last three finals of the Champions League, missing out on the knockout stage – and the millions of pounds qualification would ensure – is almost unthinkable for Liverpool.

Yet rather than be paralysed by the prospect of failure, Carragher is confident the Anfield outfit can harness the fear of missing out what he regards as the best competition in football.

“I don’t think the prospect of going out on Tuesday night will inhibit the players,” he says. “It should work the other way if you think you are going out of the Champions League.

“I think it’s the best competition in the world, and that’s including the World Cup and the European Championships, it’s where the best players play for the best teams. If you’ve got the fear of missing out on that at the back of your mind, it should drive you on.

“It wouldn’t make me nervous or anything like that, it would make me want to grab the position we are in by the throat and not hold back.

“People forget that we had a few problems in the group stage in 2005, we lost at Olympiakos and Monaco and drew at home to Deportivo. Hopefully we can get through like then and forget how badly we’ve been doing so far in the group.”

Those present at the Inonu Stadium in Istanbul a fortnight ago could not fail to be impressed by the magnificent backing the home fans gave Besiktas.

Now Carragher reckons it is the turn of the Liverpool supporters to show their mettle. “Our supporters played a massive role in getting us to Istanbul and getting us to Athens, and we need them at the moment, because we haven’t done as well as we would have liked in the first three games,” he says.

“The players and the manager need to play their part, but I’m sure the Kop and the supporters will also have a massive part to play tomorrow.”

Indeed, a noisy Anfield could mean a quiet few days on the phone-ins for Liverpool.