• Liverpool manager bemoans defeat at
Middlesbrough
• Torres out for trip to Sunderland tomorrow
Liverpool's manager Rafael Benitez watches his side
lose at Middlesbrough on Saturday as their title challenge
continues to falter.
Tuesday, 3 March
2009
Channel 21: "Live"
Liverpool
v
Sunderland -
3:45 am
Liverpool's
manager, Rafael
Benítez, has blamed his side's struggles up
front for the 2-0 defeat at Middlesbrough on Saturday, adding that
if Fernando Torres had been playing there might have been a
different result.
"The title was difficult before, it is more difficult now," he
admitted. "What we have to do is take our chances, and that is
something that has been the same problem the whole season.
"Maybe if Torres had not been injured so much things would be
different, but we cannot change the situation now. Everybody has
players who get injured.
"We have had some problems [following the 1-0 Champions League
win at Real Madrid], several players have been injured, among other
things. The worst thing has been the injuries to Torres. He has
been our main striker and scored a lot of goals for us last season.
And this season could have been totally different with him."
Liverpool will be aiming to cut Manchester United's Premier League lead to four points when
they play Sunderland at
Anfield tomorrow – with Torres again absent – and then hope that
the Carling Cup winners, who have a game in hand, trip up at
Newcastle United on Wednesday.
In the wake of the reverse at Middlesbrough Benítez is acutely
aware recriminations are beginning to fly with Liverpool having won
only one of their last seven league games.
Referring to his contract negotiations, Benítez would only say
that talks "will take place in maybe two days, maybe two weeks".
The Spaniard also side-stepped questions over whether he had
discussed the squad's lack of depth with the club's American
owners.
He admitted he had talked to co-owners Tom Hicks and George
Gillett, as well as his players: "We have talked about the mistakes
we made [at Middlesbrough] and the future. And the immediate future
is playing Sunderland, trying to get three points and then waiting
to see what happens with Manchester United.
"But we played with anxiety at Middlesbrough, we gave the ball
away too easily with simple passes. These are things we have to
improve if we are going to fight for the title. But we must not
forget that our league performance is better than last season.
"Still we have to improve. Yes, we have had key players injured
and maybe that could have cost us four or five points. In this
title race that would be a massive difference. We are in a good
position but we could be in a much better position.
"We are now rated in the Uefa rankings as the best team in
Europe over the last five years. That underlines how we have done
in those seasons. But we must go forward for the rest of the
season, and in the future. The squad is good, but there are too
many games when things go wrong and that makes a massive
difference.
"We had confidence and we were in a very good position for a
long time. It has been our best performance for several seasons.
But when we need fresh legs when senior players are injured, things
are not easy. To improve in attack is not easy, you can improve in
defence with hard work but forwards need accuracy and
confidence."
Benítez's mood was hardly improved by being asked whether he
admired Sir Alex Ferguson's achievements. He said only: "Manchester
United are a good team, they have very good players and they have a
good manager."
