Liverpool boss Rafa Benitez called on his side to put their recent woes behind them, and took the liberty of calling Sunday's Premier League clash with Arsenal at Anfield the start of a 'new season'.

Sound familiar? That's because it is. Benitez made the all too familiar claims after watching his side lose, again, at 'fortress' Anfield and therefore ending their UEFA Champions League without so much as a whimper against Fiorentina.

The reeling Spaniard searched in vain for excuses for the defeat and for the positives, before predictably turning his attention to Sunday's visit of Arsenal, which he explained was yet another fresh start.

Before the defeat to La Viola, which incidentally saw the Reds scratched as seeds for the Europa League, so poor has their European showing been, Benitez was calling on his players to end their dismal campaign on a high.

"We want confidence from a victory, from playing well and giving our fans a good game to watch," he told the Daily Mirror.

Scrap that, then. 'Rafa' was referring to Liverpool's cherished six-game unbeaten run - that's top seven form for you! But then again, its far from the first time that his ambitious rallying calls have fallen on deaf ears.

Prior to his side's home draw with Manchester City last month, Benitez gave exactly the same lamentable call to arms to his clueless players, only to watch as his side were lucky to escape with a point.

"Maybe we can start the season now. I am 100% sure everything will be totally different if we can win the game against City," he told BBC Sport. 100 per cent? Again, let's not dwell on that one, eh Rafa?

He clearly thinks that by swearing 100 per cent that his side will start winning, his players and the media might believe him. It's a shame, then, that so often the percentages don't go in his favour.

"We have to keep working and in one month or two months I am 100 per cent sure that we will be higher in the table and it will be totally different."

Those were his comments prior to another 2-2 draw at Anfield, this time to the might of Birmingham City. That was a month ago, and it's not yet 'totally different' by a long shot, in fact, it's more or less the same.

Finally, going way back to the beginning of their dismal run, Rafa was assuring the Liverpool fans that never again would his side be as bad as they had been in their 2-0 defeat at Fiorentina's Stadio Artemio Franchi.

"I cannot really recall a performance like that. We certainly will never be as bad again."

A shame, then, that many former Liverpool players and football pundits alike discerned that the Reds' 3-1 defeat at Fulham just a month later was just that - the worst display by a Liverpool side that they could remember.

Incredibly, the Reds have managed just two meaningful victories since that Fiorentina defeat, albeit against rivals Manchester United and Everton, and not including the 1-0 win over Hungarian minnows Debrecen.

Benitez has come out with these po-faced boasts after every set-back, with little consequence, and failure to beat Arsenal will leave him surely running out of excuses. It's time to walk the walk, Rafa.