Just a few days ago on his TalkSport radio station, pundit and ex-Liverpool forward Stan Collymore suggested that he had heard from some sources that both Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carrigher had lost faith in manager Rafa Bentiez. Now you can say what you want about Collymore, but I listen to his show a lot and while he tries to be controversial, he is generally a good pundit, he is serious about what he talks about and you certainly don’t get the impression he makes crap up for the fun of it. He also has the connections in the game that when he says ’source’ you know there might be something to it.

So, could the Liverpool players really be starting to lose faith in their manager?

The run of results, the form and the way the heads have been going down - even from their captain - suggests all is not well. The team is more talented than their league position suggests so something isn’t right. The minute the players lose faith in a manager is the minute the manager either needs to walk, or be pushed, though I think we all know the pushing is not going to come as quickly as some of us might hope.

Four wins in 17 matches is quite unacceptable for Liverpool regardless of whether you think they have a devine right to compete for the title every year. They host Wolves in their next game on boxing day and anything short of a win will cause further dismay amongst fans and see the team slide further down the table.

Liverpool will be without Mascherano who is suspended for three games and it’ll see the mysterious Alberto Aqualani draw into the line-up. It’ll be his first Premier League start since moving to the team in the summer for a blinding twenty million pounds. It’s nothing against Aqualani who did what I would do, but the signing of an injured player who once fit has still not found a way into the team has left a lot of fans questioning the validity of the signing considering the team is so weak up front. Here is hoping this weekend the Italian can prove his place.

But it’s Gerrard that I’ll be watching. Rafa today called him out publicly saying that they talked about his performances needing to improve. Has Gerrard’s head gone down? His performances have not dropped away thatmuch I don’t feel - there is only so much a player can do on his own - or with Torres if you count him in as the only other capable game winner in the line-up.

The Christmas season is a vital one for Liverpool and not for the reasons we might have hoped it would be at the start of the season. Many fans, myself included believed the festive period would be a run of games that would keep them in the title race, but right now they just needs wins to stay in touch with the Champions League places.

On the subject: Liverpool, Rafa Benitez, Steven Gerrard | ALL SUBJECTS |

............................................................................................................................................................................