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RAFA BENITEZ will take his battered Liverpool troops to Goodison Park on Sunday with far more at stake than simply three points.
The Kop manager could well find that if things go belly up once again, it finally does signal the beginning of the end.
Reds' managing director Christian Purslow was defiant in his support of the under-fire Spaniard minutes after Tuesday's embarrassing Champions League KO.
Current and former players alike have been equally unanimous in their insistence that dumping Benitez would be a clanger of the highest order.
Yet as commendable as their leaping to the gaffer's cause may be, there is one set of people who will ultimately play a far, far bigger role in determining his fate - the supporters.
Make no mistake, few Liverpool managers will go into a Merseyside derby under quite as much pressure as Benitez.
Failing to escape the group stages of Europe's premier competition was a bitter enough pill for those die-hards to swallow.
Following it with defeat to your next-door neighbours, who you can be sure will have penned plenty of taunting chants at the Reds' Euro woe, really would be too much for a lot of them.
The terrace backing for Benitez, while far from the 100 per cent some would have you believe, currently vastly outweighs any murmourings of discontent from other sections.
Yet if Everton - who, do not forget, have more injury worries than the ones Liverpool are constantly at pains to stress - rub their noses in it, that certainly will not be the case for long.
And before anyone starts whining on about it being just one game, just the chance of another three points, remember there is something already carved in Anfield history to blow that one away.
February 20, 1991, an FA Cup fifth-round replay with their bitter rivals - and a game which saw Kenny Dalglish take his leave as Liverpool manager.
Dalglish left on health grounds - could there be a more glaring example of the pressure a Merseyside derby brings?
FLOP ... Ryan Babel
And do not forget, that was with the team riding high on top of the table, rather than lumbering along in seventh place.
So if Benitez and Co think he has the unequivocal and unfaltering support of Koppites per se, it could be the biggest mistake he has made in his five-year reign.
Yes, the Reds have enjoyed some of the finest wins in their history under his command.
They will go a long way to find anything comparable to the Istanbul triumph of 2005, when they fought back from 3-0 down at half-time to beat AC Milan and lift their fifth European Cup. They will rarely enjoy such an emphatic victory over a real European giant as last season's 4-0 drubbing of Real Madrid.
But there are two sides to every coin, although any poor results at the moment seem to be accompanied by an explanation - or, more to the point, a reason - why it is not Benitez's fault.
True, Benitez has hardly the best of fortunes, what with injuries to key men like Fernando Torres and Steven Gerrard at crucial times. Yet who is the man to blame for the fact there is no serious back-up to the club's two major players?
No prizes for guessing the answer to that one...
Benitez can cite bad luck as much as he wants - some of which, admittedly, is true.
But if anyone deserves the sympathy of supporters, it is two of the true stalwarts of Liverpool FC. Not him.
For too many players, pulling on the red shirt is simply another job.
For skipper Gerrard and Jamie Carragher, it is a way of life.
No one hurts more than those two when things are going badly. You only had to look at their pained expressions in Budapest to have that rammed home.
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A glance at a few of the others and you would never have guessed the importance or size of what they had just lost.
And, ultimately, whatever money he has or has not been given, only one man can stand responsible for the playing staff that includes flops Ryan Babel and Andriy Voronin - and it sure as hell ain't Carragher or Gerrard.
There is a worrying argument that Liverpool have not just stopped progressing, they have started sliding backwards.
After all, just eight months ago they hit five in two games against Real. This term, they managed two in 180 minutes against Debrecen - effectively the Lincoln City of this year's Champions League.
Manchester United fans, never slow to bask in the misery of slip-ups down the M62, have been quick to make the most of their rivals' cock-ups. Already the websites are full of mocking "Liverpool end-of-season party" comments.
Already they are telling Koppites without Sky how lucky they are to be in the Europa League as they do not need to subscribe to watch Five.
And for a city so proud of its unequalled humour - and every Scouser will tell you that is true - how comically fitting that Hungary witnessed the end for a bunch of fans increasingly starved of success.
One thing Benitez has always managed to conjure up is a big-game victory when the future seemed at its bleakest.
Failure to deliver and it could turn into the straw that broke the camel's back. Or at least the Koppites faith.
Never mind vowing to make next term's Champions League. The way they're going, they'll be lucky to be in Europe at all.
The Kop manager could well find that if things go belly up once again, it finally does signal the beginning of the end.
Reds' managing director Christian Purslow was defiant in his support of the under-fire Spaniard minutes after Tuesday's embarrassing Champions League KO.
Current and former players alike have been equally unanimous in their insistence that dumping Benitez would be a clanger of the highest order.
Yet as commendable as their leaping to the gaffer's cause may be, there is one set of people who will ultimately play a far, far bigger role in determining his fate - the supporters.
Make no mistake, few Liverpool managers will go into a Merseyside derby under quite as much pressure as Benitez.
Failing to escape the group stages of Europe's premier competition was a bitter enough pill for those die-hards to swallow.
Following it with defeat to your next-door neighbours, who you can be sure will have penned plenty of taunting chants at the Reds' Euro woe, really would be too much for a lot of them.
The terrace backing for Benitez, while far from the 100 per cent some would have you believe, currently vastly outweighs any murmourings of discontent from other sections.
Yet if Everton - who, do not forget, have more injury worries than the ones Liverpool are constantly at pains to stress - rub their noses in it, that certainly will not be the case for long.
And before anyone starts whining on about it being just one game, just the chance of another three points, remember there is something already carved in Anfield history to blow that one away.
February 20, 1991, an FA Cup fifth-round replay with their bitter rivals - and a game which saw Kenny Dalglish take his leave as Liverpool manager.
Dalglish left on health grounds - could there be a more glaring example of the pressure a Merseyside derby brings?
FLOP ... Ryan BabelAnd do not forget, that was with the team riding high on top of the table, rather than lumbering along in seventh place.
So if Benitez and Co think he has the unequivocal and unfaltering support of Koppites per se, it could be the biggest mistake he has made in his five-year reign.
Yes, the Reds have enjoyed some of the finest wins in their history under his command.
They will go a long way to find anything comparable to the Istanbul triumph of 2005, when they fought back from 3-0 down at half-time to beat AC Milan and lift their fifth European Cup. They will rarely enjoy such an emphatic victory over a real European giant as last season's 4-0 drubbing of Real Madrid.
But there are two sides to every coin, although any poor results at the moment seem to be accompanied by an explanation - or, more to the point, a reason - why it is not Benitez's fault.
True, Benitez has hardly the best of fortunes, what with injuries to key men like Fernando Torres and Steven Gerrard at crucial times. Yet who is the man to blame for the fact there is no serious back-up to the club's two major players?
No prizes for guessing the answer to that one...
Benitez can cite bad luck as much as he wants - some of which, admittedly, is true.
But if anyone deserves the sympathy of supporters, it is two of the true stalwarts of Liverpool FC. Not him.
For too many players, pulling on the red shirt is simply another job.
For skipper Gerrard and Jamie Carragher, it is a way of life.
No one hurts more than those two when things are going badly. You only had to look at their pained expressions in Budapest to have that rammed home.
Advertisement
var RStag = "";try{RStag = segQS;}catch(e){RStag = "";}document.write('');
A glance at a few of the others and you would never have guessed the importance or size of what they had just lost.
And, ultimately, whatever money he has or has not been given, only one man can stand responsible for the playing staff that includes flops Ryan Babel and Andriy Voronin - and it sure as hell ain't Carragher or Gerrard.
There is a worrying argument that Liverpool have not just stopped progressing, they have started sliding backwards.
After all, just eight months ago they hit five in two games against Real. This term, they managed two in 180 minutes against Debrecen - effectively the Lincoln City of this year's Champions League.
Manchester United fans, never slow to bask in the misery of slip-ups down the M62, have been quick to make the most of their rivals' cock-ups. Already the websites are full of mocking "Liverpool end-of-season party" comments.
Already they are telling Koppites without Sky how lucky they are to be in the Europa League as they do not need to subscribe to watch Five.
And for a city so proud of its unequalled humour - and every Scouser will tell you that is true - how comically fitting that Hungary witnessed the end for a bunch of fans increasingly starved of success.
One thing Benitez has always managed to conjure up is a big-game victory when the future seemed at its bleakest.
Failure to deliver and it could turn into the straw that broke the camel's back. Or at least the Koppites faith.
Never mind vowing to make next term's Champions League. The way they're going, they'll be lucky to be in Europe at all.
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