IT was a moment of gallows humour during a week in which there has been little to smile about at Liverpool.

As he sat down in front of a media throng primed to inflict a grilling in the wake of the dismal FA Cup exit against Reading, Rafael Benitez took a moment to compose himself, then reached inside his pocket and unfolded a small piece of paper.

“These are the facts,” stated the Spaniard, ahead of today’s visit to Stoke City. “We’re not playing well and feel sorry for our fans.

“I have experience as a manager and know that ever week things can change in football, so I have confidence we will improve and Stoke is the first opportunity to do that.

“We will try to do that and just focus on that game now. Everyone has to take responsibility, starting with us.”

Of course, it was almost a year ago to the day and ahead of his team’s last trip to the Britannia Stadium that Benitez made his initial outburst of ‘facts’, largely against Sir Alex Ferguson and Manchester United.

He may be losing games, but clearly the Liverpool manager hasn’t lost his sense of humour.

And later explaining the decision, Benitez says: “It was just to relax the atmosphere because there were so many people here. We know we’re not doing well and have to improve – that’s why I produced it.

“It was to keep a sense of humour, but I am quite serious about this. We have to be disappointed after the game but my message is very clear – the most important thing is Stoke now. Everything can change in one week. It’s the only way in football.”

As with his outburst 12 months ago, there can be few genuine arguments with much of what Benitez is saying.

Wednesday’s dreadful defeat to Reading – their 12th loss of the campaign – saw Liverpool plumb new depths in a season that has proven tortuous for everyone associated with the club.

“The mood obviously can’t be fantastic because we lost,” says Benitez. “But I spoke to one the senior players and he said that if we won one or two in a row – and we have been very close – then it will change.

“For the staff it isn’t easy. In terms of training the players have done well, but we have to improve on the pitch. But on Wednesday, even without playing well, we were winning after 91 minutes. There were still things I didn’t like in the game but we were winning to that point.”

With Fernando Torres and Steven Gerrard both limping out by half-time on Wednesday, it again raised doubts of Liverpool’s ability to produce without their stellar forward duo.