Benitez expects win to kick-start Liverpool´s season

February 7, 2010

Rafa Benitez expects 10-man Liverpool’s battling 1-0 win over Merseyside rivals Everton to prove a defining moment in their bid to land a Champions League place.

After a dismal run in the first half of the campaign threatened to wreck Liverpool’s hopes of securing a top four finish, Benitez’s team are now unbeaten in seven league matches and back in the hunt for a European spot.

For much of the season, Benitez has been forced to find excuses for Liverpool’s failings and at times he has looked in danger of losing his job.

But the spirit in Liverpool’s dressing room remains strong judging by the way they recovered from Sotirios Kyrgiakoss’ first half dismissal to beat Everton thanks to Dirk Kuyt’s second half header at Anfield.

The game will be remembered as a bad tempered affair, Liverpool forced to play with 10 men for almost an hour after Greek defender Kyrgiakos was sent off for a two-footed challenge on Marouane Fellaini.

Fellaini was fortunate not to be red-carded in the same incident after appearing to stamp on Kyrgiakos while Steven Pienaar, who was later dismissed in stoppage time after his second yellow card, escaped after a poor challenge on Javier Mascherano as tempers boiled over at Anfield.

But Benitez could afford to take a cool view of Kyrgiakos’s dismissal and he believes his side can kick-on after such a “massive’ result”.

“It’s always important to win a derby, but to win a derby with 10 players at Anfield is even more important,” Benitez said. “We did well from the very start and my players worked so hard.

“It’s a credit to us that Everton didn’t put us under much pressure in the second half because we played so well.

“Hopefully, we can now stay in and round fourth spot. There’s still a lot of games to go and it’s a long race.”

As Benitez savoured his team’s gutsy effort, Everton manager David Moyes insisted his side did not deserve to lose the 213th Merseyside derby.

Moyes insisted both Kyrgiakos and Pienaar both deserved to be sent off by referee Martin Atkinson. But the Scot said Everton did enough to stretch their unbeaten Premier League run to 10 games.

Instead they entertain title-chasing Chelsea on Wednesday looking to avoid back-to-back defeats after Kuyt’s winner cemented Liverpool’s fifth straight home league win.

“There have been a lot of derbies quite similar to what we have seen here,” Moyes said.

“Merseyside derbies are not run of the mill games, sometimes there is a bit extra and I think we saw that.

“What did I think about Kyrgiakos’s red card? It was a two-footed tackle, both feet were off the ground. Fellaini’s gone to have an x-ray.

“I didn’t see the incident surrounding Pienaar’s sending off at the time. I’ve seen it since on the tape and he can’t have much argument about it.

“We certainly didn’t deserve to lose. We might not have done enough to win it but we didn’t deserve to lose it.”

Liverpool have now secured a Premier League double over Everton in three of the last five seasons.

Benitez, like his counterpart, refused to get embroiled in any controversy afterwards.

“I think there were too many tackles to analyse and I prefer not to comment on the referee,” he said.

“You can talk about 20 different tackles and have different opinions. To keep everyone calm in a derby is almost impossible. Sometimes it’s difficult to play with your heads and your hearts.”

LIVERPOOL, England (AFP)

Tags: Benitez, champions league, CHELSEA, David Moyes, defining moment, dirk kuyt, dismal run, dressing room, England, game, gutsy effort, Javier Mascherano, job, Liverpool, martin atkinson, mascherano, Merseyside, Moyes, premier league, referee, rivals, Scot, spirit, steven pienaar, stoppage time, tempers

Furious Terry lays into Chelsea after Wigan shock

September 28, 2009

Chelsea captain John Terry accused his team-mates of giving up without a fight after Wigan handed the Blues their first defeat this season.

Carlo Ancelotti’s side had won all eight of their matches in all competitions until last weekend, but were out-fought by Wigan as the Latics claimed a shock 3-1 victory at the DW Stadium on Saturday.

The win was Wigan’s first against one of the ‘big four’ in 35 attempts and Terry was furious with Chelsea’s lack of spirit.

“The least we expect from every player is that we work hard and fight and we did not do that,” he said in The Sun.

“We didn’t win our headers and we didn’t win our tackles and that’s simply not good enough.

“You can go anywhere and not play well. But when you come to places like this, you’ve got to match their work-rate.

“We didn’t do that, the whole team. That’s the most disappointing thing.

“All the other big sides had emphatic wins, so it’s even more disappointing we’ve thrown away three points.”

Even Didier Drogba, who had started the season in superb form, was subdued on Saturday and the Ivory Coast striker described the performance as the worst of his five-year Blues career.

Drogba told the Evening Standard: “We didn’t play very well. We lost all the battles, all the duels. We didn’t win anything. We were poor.

“This is the worst game I have played in since I have been at Chelsea. We need to think about it, correct what was wrong and try to go again.

“We equalised just after half-time and we were trying to improve our game, but then there was the penalty and a red card (for Petr Cech), which I think was a bit harsh.”

LONDON (AFP)

Tags: attempts, captain john, captain John Terry, carlo ancelotti, cech, CHELSEA, competitions, Drogba, duels, DW Stadium, game, Ivory Coast, john terry, latics, london, Petr Cech, shock, spirit, striker, tackles, team mates, Terry, victory

Wigan closing in on Vallecano duo

August 13, 2009

Premier League side Wigan Athletic have been in talks with Segunda Division side Rayo Vallecano for the signing of duo Antonio Amaya and Mohamed Diame.

And it now seems that the Latics, after holding talks with the Segunda Division side and now a fee for the pair have been struck.

With discussions over personal terms being done, three-year contracts are said to be on the table.

Manager Roberto Martinez is hopeful of landing defender Amaya and midfielder Diame as he believes they would both add much to his side for the new Premier League season.

He told the Wigan Evening Post: “We are quite close to agreeing everything, and the main thing now is thrashing out the personal terms.

“Hopefully that will be done quite soon and they will be excellent signings for the future.

“I’ve followed their progress and development for a long time, and they will bring something different to our squad.

“I’m happy with the way the squad is developing, there’s a tremendous work ethic and a fantastic spirit in the camp.

“I’m very excited about the challenge ahead and the players are very focused and ready for that challenge.

“I’ve got huge confidence in the quality of the squad, we have a good core of players and we are getting stronger every day.”

Abhimanyu Rajput

Tags: antonio amaya, confidence, contracts, latics, long time, Manager Roberto Martinez, mohamed, personal terms, premier league, roberto martinez, spirit, wigan evening post

Toure happy to leave leaderless Gunners

August 2, 2009

Defender Kolo Toure insisted Sunday he made the right decision in swapping Arsenal for Manchester City because his former club have lost too many big names.

The Ivorian believes the failure to replace a host of star players has made the club a less attractive proposition than Mark Hughes’ City.

The 28-year-old said: “I came to Man City because when you look at Arsenal you see all the great players have left the club and are now in the past.

“Look at what has happened there. Thierry Henry has gone, Patrick Vieira has gone, Ray Parlour has gone.

“These were the players that brought success to Arsenal and I believed it was right at this stage of my career to also move on.

“We lost too many leaders at Arsenal. When we were winning the league title the spirit was fantastic, we were like a band of brothers.”

Toure also defended City’s spending policy, which has seen them criticised in some quarters for distorting the market.

“The best teams are at the top only because they have the best players and to get those players you have to spend a lot of money,” he said.

“You can’t be successful in football without money. This is the football business. City have a project to build a big team and so it is natural it is going to cost money.”

MANCHESTER, England (AFP)

Tags: arsenal, band of brothers, business city, Defender, England, failure, football business, gunners, ivorian, man city, Manchester, manchester city, manchester england, Mark Hughes, patrick vieira, quarters, ray parlour, right decision, spirit, star players, thierry henry

Benitez wants Liverpool to show spirit of Istanbul

April 15, 2009

LONDON (AFP) – Rafa Benitez will call on Liverpool to show the spirit of Istanbul in Tuesday’s Champions League quarter-final second leg against Chelsea.

Benitez’s side trail 3-1 from the first leg at Anfield last week and need an heroic peformance in west London to reach the semi-finals.

History is against Liverpool, who have never won away from home in Europe against an English team and have not scored three goals at Stamford Bridge since 1989 when they won 5-2.

As if that wasn’t enough to discourage Liverpool, they will also have to become the first team to score three times at the Bridge in a European match.

But Liverpool are no strangers to European miracles under Benitez. Their most famous comeback was in the 2005 Champions League final against AC Milan when they fought back from 3-0 down to beat the Italian team on penalties.

Liverpool have already won 1-0 at Chelsea this season, while Bolton scored three times in their defeat there on Saturday and Benitez believes the Reds can produce another Istanbul-style revival on Tuesday.

“The experience of Istanbul will help us, it shows you can come back from a big score. And it is important to realise that Bolton scored three there on Saturday, anything can happen,” Benitez said on Monday.

“We have already won at Stamford Bridge this season. We ended their long unbeaten home record and that is a massive boost to our confidence.

“We can do it, if we work together and we score in the first half. If we do not do that it becomes increasingly more difficult, mentally.

“If we score a second goal then they will be under real pressure. But we know we must be almost perfect.

“People have written us off. Maybe we have nothing to lose, which means we can be positive, relax and hopefully then not make mistakes.

“We want to score an early goal, that is very important. But we will need to be calm and not lose our concentration. Bolton scored three, so it can be done, but Chelsea had already scored four, so you can see how hard it is to beat them at Stamford Bridge.

“Chelsea are a very good team and it will be very difficult, but we have been scoring a lot of goals against Manchester United, Real Madrid, Aston Villa and now Blackburn, so our form is very good.”

Benitez is ready to risk captain Steven Gerrard after resting the midfielder in Saturday’s 4-0 win over Blackburn to aid his recovery from a groin injury.

“Steven is getting better, he will train with the squad and we will make a decision nearer the match. Obviously we want him in the side, winning is easier with him than without him,” Benitez added.

“Everything can change if he can play, and plays well, and it is not a massive risk if we use him.”

Benitez, who will also have Javier Mascherano available after the Argentina midfielder missed the first leg through suspension, was encouraged by the way his side destroyed Blackburn so soon after the Chelsea defeat.

“The team produced a superb display, scored plenty of goals and certainly showed that we can score three goals in a match,” he said.

“And Blackburn have a lot of very tall players, and we handled that well, and that gives us another positive message ahead of the second leg.”

Liverpool goalkeeper Jose Reina agrees with Benitez that the Istanbul triumph – which came before he joined the club – is the perfect inspiration.

“Istanbul should be the inspiration for us. We know that the tie is really difficult, but still we have hope,” Reina said. “We know already that if anyone can turn this around, it’s Liverpool.

“We have to attack and score three goals. Even if we concede one, we’ll have the chance to go to extra-time.

“We won 4-1 at Man United this season and no-one expected us to do that. We know already it’s going to be almost impossible, but if there’s someone who can do it, it’s going to be Liverpool.”

Tags: ac milan, Argentina, Bolton, captain Steven Gerrard, champions league, CHELSEA, concentration, confidence, Europe, Istanbul, italian team, Javier Mascherano, Jose, Liverpool, london, MADRID, Manchester, match, Milan, miracles, rafa benitez, reds, Reina, semi finals, spirit, stamford bridge, Steven, style revival, three times, UEFA Champions League, west london

Benitez wants Liverpool to show spirit of Istanbul

April 13, 2009

LONDON (AFP) – Rafa Benitez will call on Liverpool to show the spirit of Istanbul in Tuesday’s Champions League quarter-final second leg against Chelsea.

Benitez’s side trail 3-1 from the first leg at Anfield last week and need a heroic peformance in west London to reach the semi-finals.