"I loved it there - the atmosphere, the fans, the players - although it was a difficult time for the club Part of me went with them when we went down at Bolton. The two teams were due to play again in the FA Cup final, and I thought I might get some kind of chance, but I didn't. I wasn't asking to walk into the side - I knew it was one of the best in Europe - but just for 20 minutes here and there to show what I could do."A season-long loan at Leeds United acquainted him with relegation and a club in turmoil, yet it also gave him a Premiership platform. There seemed to be no end product to the hard work I'd been putting in."I got a hat-trick against Southampton in my first League start, but it was the same again. When Arsenal were kicking off, I'd be going home after training. But it was hard for a 15-year-old boy to say no to Arsenal."One day Pennant was living at home on a rough, run-down estate in the East Midlands.
That failure, he believes, has left his team unbalanced and liable to the occasional poor result, but it has not altered his conviction that Liverpool will improve, albeit with a few important additions once the transfer window opens in January."If you win the Champions' League then people expect the Premier League the next season but it is not so easy," he said. "I am not afraid if people want more; I will try to give them more. I am not the kind of person to see a problem as impossible to solve. I am more anxious than ever to win every game, starting with West Ham."Benitez's confidence is augmented by the knowledge that, had he suffered the same sequence of results in Spain, he would enter this afternoon's fixture with his job under scrutiny. Sacked by both Valladolid and Osasuna, Benitez appreciates the support he receives at Anfield but is fully aware of the club's desperation for a sustained recovery.He added: "In Spain it is said that if you are not sacked you cannot be a good manager, but it is different in every country, even in every town.
There was a crisis in 1929 [the Stock Market crash which led to the Great Depression]; maybe for some people we are suffering one now but I don't think so In football everything can change in one week. I have been sacked and relegated, and I have learnt that you need to be calm and work harder to improve every week. I remember how amazing it was to see all the Liverpool fans out on the streets after we won the Champions' League and I want to bring them back out again."Allegations that Liverpool failed to build on their Champions' League success during the summer were levelled before the past week, but it was only yesterday that the manager was prepared to accept that criticism. Benitez, who will recall Steve Finnan at home to West Ham but rest Harry Kewell, admitted: "We've made two mistakes by not signing a right midfielder and a centre-back.