Rafa Benitez Demands Liverpool Response

Posted by Geronimo Boosh on December 14, 2009 · Leave a Comment

Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez has called on his players to show unity following his side’s disappointing defeat to Arsenal.

The 2-1 reverse at Anfield deepened the crisis surrounding the club, and extended a poor form run of form that has seen Benitez’s men win just three of their last 15 matches in all competitions.

The loss sees Liverpool sit in seventh place in the Premier League table, five points behind fourth-placed Aston Villa – putting their UEFA Champions League hopes for next term in peril.

The Reds were unceremoniously dumped out of the competition and into the Europa League last month, meaning they have to finish in the top four to qualify next time around.

Billed as title contenders prior to the season, they are also some distance behind leaders Chelsea and a campaign that was weighted with such high expectations looks destined to end in disappointment.

But Benitez has issued a rallying cry to his charges, and is challenging them to respond by picking up a win over Wigan in midweek, a game which now carries added significance.

“The main thing now is that we have to show confidence, we have to show character,” Benitez said.

“They play for Liverpool. We have to improve, we have to show character when we have problems and we must keep our confidence high.

“The only way to change things is to keep working hard and in this situation, when you are making mistakes, you have to be strong and try do things properly in the future.”

Dirk Kuyt had fired his side ahead four minutes before half-time to cap a superb opening 45 minutes for the hosts, who had bossed the encounter.

But Glen Johnson gifted Arsenal a way back into the match, poking the ball past his own goalkeeper five minutes after the restart.

Arsene Wenger’s side were in the ascendancy and it was left to Russian Andrey Arshavin to rattle home a stunning winner on 58 minutes.

The turnaround left Benitez baffled by his side’s lacklustre second-half display, and the Spaniard conceded he was unsure why the performance was below-par.

“We cannot be complaining, we cannot be arguing about anything,” he insisted. “We must keep going and try to discover why we were so bad in the second half in terms of confidence.

“We must discover why we couldn’t do the same things in the second-half that we did so well in the first period.

“It is difficult to explain what went wrong in the second-half, we were very poor and we have to improve on this.”

Wigan visit Merseyside on Wednesday in need of points themselves, although the Liverpool boss said his side must make up lost ground with a win.

And he reiterated his belief that an upturn in fortunes can only happen if the squad is united.

He added: “We kept giving the ball away against Arsenal, it is something we have to improve on.

“Now we play Wigan on Wednesday here and we know we have to do better.

“We were not bad against Arsenal, we just made a big mistake that changed everything. The only way to change is to stick together.”