Friday, January 23, 2009

Reds Must Stop Blunders

Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez has told his players they must cut out the sort of mistakes that cost the Reds two valuable points in the Merseyside derby.

There will be a re-run for Liverpool against Everton on Sunday, this time in the FA Cup fourth round, but the pain of conceding a late goal in Monday's Barclays Premier League draw is still felt at Anfield.

Benitez blamed two mistakes - first Yossi Benayoun conceding a needless free-kick in a dangerous position, and then the Liverpool defence giving Tim Cahill a free run to score with a header.

The Liverpool manager told his club's official website: "We have talked about both things. We had to be careful and not commit silly fouls, and then after we had to defend the set-piece.

"Okay, we made the mistake - and maybe we can learn from it for the future.

"Clearly we have talked about this. The players realise we have to improve. But we are not conceding too many goals, and it is always going to seem worse when you concede such an important goal in a derby.

"We work on these things every week, practising set-pieces for and against."

Benitez hinted he is likely to rotate his squad, especially with league games against Wigan and Chelsea to follow. Fernando Torres is likely to begin again against Everton.

"We have to think about Wigan and Chelsea," added the manager.

"Anyway, I think we have enough quality in the squad [to rotate].

"I was impressed with Torres on Monday. It is not easy to play in a derby when it is so intense. He was exhausted at the end but he did well.

"He is very close to full fitness - now it's just about getting match fitness. He needs to play games.

"You know a striker needs to play games and be in front of the goal a few times. That's the key - getting the confidence. The more chances you get the more likely you are to start scoring goals. I hope he can score this weekend."

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