Rotting Reds - Liverpool are in crisis and Carragher admits they've been decaying for too long

Defender Carragher — captain in the absence of Steven Gerrard for Saturday's shock FA Cup home defeat by Barnsley — said: "I wouldn't call for and we have to fight this just a bad spell, it has been a lot longer than that."

Admitting Benitez's team are in crisis and that fans' patience is stretched to the limit, Carragher added: "We realise we aren't playing well enough.

"It's not a matter of putting your finger on one reason: it's simply because we haven't been good enough. The sooner we get out of this run the better. We've still got the Champions League to play for that fourth place, so every League game is important. We have to make sure we're in the Champions League next season.

"You get feedback from supporters all the time. Obviously they're not too happy about things. Myself and Stevie, because we're local lads, hear a lot from supporters and we're supporters ourselves.

"We aren't stupid, we know what's being said. The supporters are as disappointed as we are."

Benitez must now surely deliver the Champions League to stay on beyond this season, but even that is no guarantee after their shocking result against a Championship side.

As Benitez struggles From Back Page to turn things around on the field, talks are on-going between Hicks, who is considering attending tomorrow, and Gillett and the DIC group.

Despite denials from the Americans, it is understood that talks continue daily.

However, Carragher stressed that events in the boardroom cannot be used as an excuse by his team-mates and called on the Liverpool players to raise themselves for tomorrow's game.

Carragher said: "We can't do anything about all the things off the field. We just have to concentrate on improving the football side. If we can start winning matches again then a lot of the other stuff can be put to bed.

"There'll be a great atmosphere against Inter.

The fans will be up for it and it's up to us to match that.

"I don't think that beating Inter would make up for losing the FA Cup tie the way we did, but it would give everyone a boost if we can get a result. We're devastated.

"It's a major, major blow to go out of the FA Cup to a lower league team at Anfield. We realise that's not good enough.

"But we're going to have to get over this quickly because the Champions League is massive for us now. It's the only thing we have left that we can win.

"We realise how poor we were against Barnsley, but we have to get over it."