• 'It just means United have more points,' says
Liverpool manager
• Benítez says Ferguson benefited from greater resources
Rafael Benítez said Manchester United's lead in the
Premier League 'just means they have more points'.
Rafael
Benítez has
confronted the unpalatable prospect of Manchester United
equalling
Liverpool's record of 18 league titles by refusing
to recognise the champions-elect as the finest team in the
country. In a begrudging assessment of his fiercest rivals, he also
claimed Sir
Alex Ferguson is on course for a third
successive Premier League
crown thanks only to the
financial advantage he enjoys over Liverpool.
There was an element of pragmatism in Benítez's modest appraisal
of United yesterday, with Liverpool able to take the title race to
the final day should Arsenal triumph at Old Trafford this afternoon
and West Bromwich Albion be defeated at The Hawthorns tomorrow. His
refusal to concede defeat was secondary to a refusal to offer any
credit to Ferguson, however, following a campaign that has
fractured the once respectful relationship between the managers at
Anfield and Old Trafford.
Liverpool will become the first team to lose only two matches
and not win the title should they remain undefeated for the rest of
the season and United gain the point they require. Asked if the
best team always wins the league, Benítez responded: "It just means
they have more points.
"If United win the league it means they will have more points,
clearly, but there are some very good teams in different positions
in the table. It depends on the time of the season. I don't think I
ever said we were playing the best out of everyone, maybe just at
certain moments. I do have a lot of respect for the other teams,
but to say who is the best at one moment is not easy."
The Liverpool manager added: "There are a lot of good teams in
the Premier League. Without putting them in any order, I'd say
Chelsea, United, Liverpool and Arsenal are the best. This year we
have shown we are improving and that we are a better team than
before. We can still get better but we are in this position because
we are winning a lot, have played good football, scored a lot of
goals and not conceded many. Eighty points is good, 86 could be
much better, and we will try to get there and see what happens. If
United have more points, it only means they have more points,
that's all, nothing else."
Benítez insisted the only difference this season between
Liverpool and United, whom they have beaten home and away, lies not
on the pitch but on the balance sheet, with Old Trafford's greater
resources providing Ferguson with a deeper and more experienced
squad.
"For me, United have a bigger squad with top-class players, but
always they spend more than we can spend," said the Liverpool
manager. "If they make mistakes they can use different players, but
the level of the two teams is more or less the same. Maybe we have
to bring in some young players without the experience at this
level, and that could be the difference. United are a top side that
is spending big money every year on improving its squad and that is
the main difference between them and the other teams."
While Benítez takes pride in Liverpool's creditable pursuit of
United, the club's Spanish midfielder Xabi Alonso has insisted the
season cannot be classed a success should it end without a trophy.
"In terms of the Premier League it has been better than it has
before but if you don't win anything you can't consider it to be a
good season," said Alonso, who is likely to be the subject of
several transfer enquiries this summer.
"We have to be disappointed with ourselves, try to be critics
and try to analyse the things that we haven't done properly. Of
course you also have to think that we have made progress in the
Premier League and we have to keep working on this basis, but you
also know that success means winning trophies for Liverpool. It's
very painful to look back and think of the draws that we had and
the two defeats we have had also."
Benítez again revisited a disallowed goal in the opening minutes
of the home game against Stoke City as an example of the fine
margins that have worked against Liverpool this season. "It's only
natural to think where would we be if we had managed to get another
good result?" admitted Alonso. "But then all the teams in the
Premier League can say the same thing."
