Rafa sorry for Reds fans

Liverpool's shock FA Cup exit at the hands of Championship strugglers Reading has heaped the pressure on Rafa Benitez.

The Spaniard's long-term future has been questioned in the wake of Liverpool's poor form, but Benitez is refusing to consider his own position and is focused on this weekend's trip to Stoke.

Benitez started his news conference on Friday by reading from a statement of 'facts', in what was a light-hearted reference to the famous tirade he launched almost exactly a year ago against Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson.

"Some facts - we are not playing well and we feel sorry for our fans," said Benitez as he read from a piece of paper.

"We know every week things can change in football and we have confidence we can improve.

"Stoke is the first opportunity to improve and we will try to do it."

Coy

"We want to concentrate and it's better we talk about football," added Benitez. "We must not talk too much about the other things."

Benitez admits everyone involved at the club must take responsibility for their faltering form.

"Everyone has to take responsibility starting with us," noted Benitez. "The main thing we can do now is prepare properly for the game and we will try to do this.

"We will see against Stoke if we can improve and the best thing for me and the team is to prepare for the game properly and try to start winning games.

"We have a lot of things that we know went wrong, now we have to improve our game and the players know that too.

"We are professional and we have experience so it is a question to change things on the pitch."