Rafael Benítez’s media addresses are often filled with pointed subtexts directed at club owners but even by his standards his latest comments were striking. When Newcastle’s manager said it would be “a miracle” if they stayed up and refused to commit to seeing out the season at St James’ Park, it seemed maybe, just maybe, he really has reached the end of his tether.

After Saturday’s dismal 0-0 home draw against Fulham, Benítez looked as disillusioned as he has ever been since taking charge at St James’ Park almost three years ago. He returns to Anfield on Boxing Day effectively at war with Mike Ashley. “My focus now is trying to find the right team to play Liverpool,” was all he would say when asked whether he intended sticking around for the remainder of the season.

Benítez has never been scared to challenge boardroom consensuses but he went further than normal, playing with fire. “We will be in the bottom half of the table for the whole season, and if we can be better than three teams it will be another miracle,” he said. “Even if we strengthen in January it will be a miracle.”

It is the sort of comment which, in a different context, at a different club, could get a manager sacked and hardly sent out the most positive message to Peter Kenyon, Garry Cook or whoever’s consortium is supposedly the latest frontrunner to buy out Ashley and assume control of Newcastle in the new year.

Benítez’s problem is that, for the second Christmas running, there is a sense that much excited takeover talk could well come to nothing, leaving Ashley still the owner and a skinny squad striving to survive.

Newcastle’s manager wants to see the club prosper but he also needs to protect his reputation as one of Europe’s finest managers and, at 58, he is keen to have another crack at winning more of the game’s glittering prizes.

As Ashley headed off on his festive holiday in the United States last week, his manager participated in a club transfer summit. It appears it did not go well, leaving his hopes of signing the £25m-rated Paraguay and Atlanta United playmaker Miguel Almirón severely diminished.

Atlanta United’s Miguel Almirón, here kissing the MLS Cup, is wanted by Rafael Benítez. Photograph: Curtis Compton/AP

Most regular Newcastle watchers would agree that he also needs a left-back, a winger and another striker and, after that draw with a Fulham side who spent £100m last summer, his comments were either about sending the owner a not-so-subtle message in the hope of forcing significant January investment or fashioning an exit strategy.

Benítez is not a quitter and has never walked out on a club but he feels the £20m transfer market trading profit Ashley was so proud of last September is in peril of being consumed by the cost of relegation. It is plain he does not expect to collect many, if any, points from the impending trips to Liverpool and then Watford on Saturday before Manchester United visit St James’ Park on 2 January.

The trouble is that by finishing 10th last season he overachieved and Ashley seems convinced Benítez’s coaching and tactical ability will keep Newcastle up.

Not surprisingly, Benítez begs to differ. “My team is trying a lot of things but, sometimes, it’s still not enough to get the points,” he said. “If we think we can beat teams which spent £100m during the summer every game, we are wrong; 100% wrong.”

If Ashley may be angered by reading between the lines he should remember Benítez has always been brave when confronted by “strong men” owners. This is a manager, who, during a brief stint at Chelsea, used the aftermath of a fifth-round FA Cup win at Middlesbrough in March 2013 to tick off Roman Abramovich. Fed up with being abused by Chelsea fans, Benítez told journalists Chelsea had made a “massive mistake” in naming him as interim manager rather than manager. Many people were convinced he would be sacked the next morning but, instead, Abramovich let it pass, allowing him to win Chelsea the Europa League two months later, by which time they had also finished third in the Premier League.

Benítez had taken a calculated risk by hurling a curve ball at Abramovich and he has done something similar with a different owner. Saturday’s provocative words carried an undercurrent of “back me or sack me”. Although Ashley is highly unlikely to do the latter the chances of the retail tycoon heeding his manager’s advice appear almost as slim.

At Anfield two sets of supporters will chant Benítez’s name but when he waves to those wearing black and white some may see it as the start of a mutually painful farewell.