Gerard Houllier has admitted that criticism heaped on himself and Liverpool in their current slump hurts - but refuses to buckle under the pressure.
The Liverpool boss has hit back at the critics following the club's crisis run that has seen them fail to win in 11 Premiership games.
Houllier claims he's particularly disappointed by attacks by former players, but insisted: "Nobody likes being treated unfairly. When people give their opinions you respect them.
"But when things are said and written which are unfair, then they hurt. But I really don't care. If this means some of the pressure is taken off the players then all the better."
Houllier, speaking in the new edition of the club magazine, insisted they were not as bad as the statistics appear to show.
He claimed: "There is a fine line between winning and losing. Imagine that we had taken just six more points during this run - even though we were capable of taking more - then we would be second. If we had got 15 points then we would be first.
"There is no escaping the fact that we lost five points against Sunderland. We could have drawn against Charlton, Fulham and Middlesbrough. We could have even got something out of the Manchester United game."
He added: "There have been games where we have had enough opportunities to win them three times over. Now it's time for us to put a positive sequence of results together."