LIVERPOOL manager Rafael Benitez believes that his side must follow Chelsea’s example by showing the character to bounce back after a first Premier League defeat of the season.
A shock last-minute 2-1 defeat to bottom club Tottenham on Saturday saw Liverpool surrender both the last unbeaten record in the Premier League and first place in the table as Chelsea returned to the summit on goal difference.
Liverpool had taken the lead through Dirk Kuyt in the second minute and dominated proceedings for long periods – hitting the Tottenham woodwork on three occasions when leading 1-0.
However, a Jamie Carragher own goal gifted the hosts an unlikely equaliser and substitute Roman Pavlyuchenko snatched victory for Harry Redknapp’s side in the final minute.
The loss came just six days after Liverpool had climbed to top spot in the capital courtesy of a 1-0 win at Stamford Bridge which ended Chelsea’s 86-game unbeaten home record.
Since then, Luiz Felipe Scolari’s side have recovered to win 3-0 at Hull City in midweek and then crush Sunderland 5-0 on Saturday, to reclaim pole position thanks to a goal difference of plus 23 which is 15 better than Liverpool’s current total of 8.
Benitez believes that his own team must now follow their title rivals’ example by showing the mental strength to immediately recover from their setback.
He said: “Chelsea have shown that they’re a good team and we have to show the same. We have to show the same character now.
“It’s football – sometimes you can win, you can lose but after this last game we don’t need to be worried about the performance of the team, their character or quality.
“The key is to keep the confidence in the team and keep working as hard as we did against Tottenham and we will be there.”
Liverpool were on top for such long periods at White Hart Lane with Steven Gerrard striking the crossbar, a Darren Bent miss-clearance hitting an upright and Xabi Alonso missing a golden opportunity with a free header. Benitez was at a loss to try and explain where it all went wrong.
He said: “It’s not easy for me to define where the turning point was in Spanish – and it’s even more difficult in English!
“We were so dominant. We were controlling the game, we were controlling everything. It was a surprise. At half time we were talking about how we needed to score a second goal to finish the game.
“It’s really difficult to explain how we conceded two goals and lost this game.
“Harry said ‘Sometimes you need luck’ and I agree with him.
“I have had some experience here in England of playing well, creating chances and conceding goals in the last minute but that’s the Premier League.
“It’s very difficult to win every game now because some of the other teams are really good.”
However, after a collection of dropped points, mostly from a series of home draws in games they dominated, prevented any serious title challenge from Liverpool last season, the Spaniard emphasised how important it is to be clinical in front of goal.
He said: “We could see that the team is really good, the players have quality and the mentality is good but sometimes it’s the last pass. Taking your chances is the key mentality for winning titles.
“I think we have a good mentality but we still need to take our chances.
“We’ve been winning without Fernando (Torres). We know when we have Fernando we have another option which is different.
“But (Robbie) Keane was doing well with Gerrard and after that (Ryan) Babel with Kuyt – it was always a threat.
“You cannot talk about Torres because the rest of the players were doing so well it would not be fair.
“Clearly when you have a striker with the quality and potential of Torres he will be a good addition for us.”
Benitez’s big summer recruit, £20m striker Keane emerged from his first return to White Hart Lane still waiting to score his first Premier League goal for Liverpool having been withdrawn midway through the second half but the striker laid on Kuyt’s opener.
“Robbie was okay. He was doing a good job keeping the centre-back busy and Gerrard had space so he was doing his job properly”, said Benitez.
“I was thinking about changing things (by substituting Keane) because we were so dominant I wanted to control the pace more. They were attacking and they were high but Babel has pace.”
A shock last-minute 2-1 defeat to bottom club Tottenham on Saturday saw Liverpool surrender both the last unbeaten record in the Premier League and first place in the table as Chelsea returned to the summit on goal difference.
Liverpool had taken the lead through Dirk Kuyt in the second minute and dominated proceedings for long periods – hitting the Tottenham woodwork on three occasions when leading 1-0.
However, a Jamie Carragher own goal gifted the hosts an unlikely equaliser and substitute Roman Pavlyuchenko snatched victory for Harry Redknapp’s side in the final minute.
The loss came just six days after Liverpool had climbed to top spot in the capital courtesy of a 1-0 win at Stamford Bridge which ended Chelsea’s 86-game unbeaten home record.
Since then, Luiz Felipe Scolari’s side have recovered to win 3-0 at Hull City in midweek and then crush Sunderland 5-0 on Saturday, to reclaim pole position thanks to a goal difference of plus 23 which is 15 better than Liverpool’s current total of 8.
Benitez believes that his own team must now follow their title rivals’ example by showing the mental strength to immediately recover from their setback.
He said: “Chelsea have shown that they’re a good team and we have to show the same. We have to show the same character now.
“It’s football – sometimes you can win, you can lose but after this last game we don’t need to be worried about the performance of the team, their character or quality.
“The key is to keep the confidence in the team and keep working as hard as we did against Tottenham and we will be there.”
Liverpool were on top for such long periods at White Hart Lane with Steven Gerrard striking the crossbar, a Darren Bent miss-clearance hitting an upright and Xabi Alonso missing a golden opportunity with a free header. Benitez was at a loss to try and explain where it all went wrong.
He said: “It’s not easy for me to define where the turning point was in Spanish – and it’s even more difficult in English!
“We were so dominant. We were controlling the game, we were controlling everything. It was a surprise. At half time we were talking about how we needed to score a second goal to finish the game.
“It’s really difficult to explain how we conceded two goals and lost this game.
“Harry said ‘Sometimes you need luck’ and I agree with him.
“I have had some experience here in England of playing well, creating chances and conceding goals in the last minute but that’s the Premier League.
“It’s very difficult to win every game now because some of the other teams are really good.”
However, after a collection of dropped points, mostly from a series of home draws in games they dominated, prevented any serious title challenge from Liverpool last season, the Spaniard emphasised how important it is to be clinical in front of goal.
He said: “We could see that the team is really good, the players have quality and the mentality is good but sometimes it’s the last pass. Taking your chances is the key mentality for winning titles.
“I think we have a good mentality but we still need to take our chances.
“We’ve been winning without Fernando (Torres). We know when we have Fernando we have another option which is different.
“But (Robbie) Keane was doing well with Gerrard and after that (Ryan) Babel with Kuyt – it was always a threat.
“You cannot talk about Torres because the rest of the players were doing so well it would not be fair.
“Clearly when you have a striker with the quality and potential of Torres he will be a good addition for us.”
Benitez’s big summer recruit, £20m striker Keane emerged from his first return to White Hart Lane still waiting to score his first Premier League goal for Liverpool having been withdrawn midway through the second half but the striker laid on Kuyt’s opener.
“Robbie was okay. He was doing a good job keeping the centre-back busy and Gerrard had space so he was doing his job properly”, said Benitez.
“I was thinking about changing things (by substituting Keane) because we were so dominant I wanted to control the pace more. They were attacking and they were high but Babel has pace.”
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