Wednesday 8th March 2006
ANFIELD ONLINE LFC NEWS

BENITEZ LOOKS FORWARD

Rafael Benitez is refusing to blame his strikers, insisting the reds win or lose as a team. He also commended the supporters who he said deserved a better result.

"If you analyse the game you can see the chances we created in the first 20 minutes. Then we conceded the goal, and we leave more space. In the second half we played with three defenders to try to go forward, and they played good counter-attack. For me, the key was the first 20 minutes.

"I had confidence because we were creating chances; then we made a mistake, and everything changed. "We had to score a goal before the other team - and if we didn't it would be more difficult."

"What happened was clear. We started well, made chances and then made a bad mistake and conceded a goal. From then on the game changed," he said.

"But I will not blame my strikers. Mistakes were made at the back, and that is why we lost. "Once we had conceded that first-half goal, we tried to come forward but left gaps and failed to control midfield.

"For the first 20 minutes we were better than them - but when the goals didn't come Benfica improved and played very well. "I had great confidence in my side and I know how much they wanted to retain the trophy. You could look at their faces beforehand and know they also believed they could win this time - but their faces now show their hurt.

"I told them that they had the best fans in the world behind them and they owed them a top-class performance. "I cannot criticise their effort - and I will not criticise individual players, because mistakes were made by the team."

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