Rafa today stood by Pennant and Bellamy, two players undergoing their own crisis of confidence, but conceded that his loyalty would need to be repaid by both players.
Jermaine Pennant was booed off by sections of the Anfield crowd in yesterday’s game after another lack-lustre display. Craig Bellamy meanwhile was absent after a late finish to his court trial. Craig and Jermaine were considered two of Rafa’s most strategic signings this summer, but by Liverpool’s high standards neither player has delivered.
On Pennant, whom Benitez brought off with 6 minutes left last night (probably to spare him a second yellow card), Rafa had this to say:
“We told Pennant to be confident, to get in his crosses and to beat defenders.
“He was trying really hard, I was pleased with that. But he must do things in a simple way, get his crosses in and hope the forwards can reach them.
“He was getting in plenty of good crosses but sometimes the forwards were not up in support.
“As long as he keeps trying and working I am happy. But the moment he becomes afraid to try things then he will not improve.”
Concerning Bellamy, Rafa hoped the end of his trial may relieve some stress on the Welshman, and rubbished rumours that he was looking to offload the striker to Tottenham in a swap deal with Jermaine Defoe.
“It is important that this is over as far as he is concerned.”
“It is good that he can now focus on football and that he will start to play to his true level and we will see some good goals from him.
“I have seen some interest in him, but only in the media. We are not thinking about swapping him for anyone, all we want is to see him scoring goals.”
“I hope that he will be back to his best and scoring goals. You never know what the player is thinking about in such a situation, even if they are bright and seem happy,” added Benitez.
“Now he has finished with this I hope he will be really focused on football and that can only help his general play.
“I do not really know whether it was all playing on his mind more than he showed. When I have been talking to him, it was clear he was trying to do his best on the pitch but maybe if you can analyse such a situation, it could well have been more of a problem for him in his head.
“He is a bright, bubbly lad. But having to spend five days in court is hard.”
Jermaine and Craig have a lot of work to do in the next few weeks if they want to be considered worthy of wearing the Liver Bird on their shirts.
