Rafa Benitez has once again bemoaned the international break, saying that it has once again come at just the wrong time for Liverpool.
Liverpool went in to the last international break having scored 10 goals with no replies in the final two games. Since the break the reds have stuttered in both the Premiership and the Champions League. With most of the main players away again, Rafa is more than a little annoyed.
“Is it a nightmare? Yes it is a bit.
“In the last international break we were top of the league, now we are saying maybe the break is good for us.
“But we cannot train with the players, we cannot control what they are doing, we just have to cross our fingers and wait.
“It’s difficult when you have a lot of players away. You cannot control them, then you have important games and maybe you will have problems.
“We cannot do much. The players left behind trained with the reserves today and they played head-tennis.”
Hopefully we should be bagging the goals in from the crosses in the coming months then.
However Benitez reminded reds fans that our start to the season (16 points from 8 games) is still an improvement on previous seasons, and despite mediocre performances – the results have not been too bad.
“This isn’t a time for being negative, it’s a time for being positive. We’re still unbeaten, qualification for the Champions League depends on us and we’re still in the Carling Cup.
“We are in a better position than last year. In the Premier League we have five more points than at this stage last season, we’re closer to the top of the table and with one game in hand. We just have to get our confidence back because we have lost it at the moment.
“At the start of the season we were playing well, with confidence and scoring goals. Now we just need to keep working hard. It’s difficult with so many players away but we have spoken to the ones who are here and tried to analyse what has been going wrong.”