Friday, November 27, 2009

Rafa Benitez Looks For Return Of Liverpool's 'Winning Mentality'

Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez claims that his side's early exit from the Champions League has not placed any extra pressure on him.

But he does admit that his team needs to rediscover a "winning mentality" soon, especially with a view to Sunday's trip to Goodison Park to face local rivals Everton.

"I do not feel under any greater pressure, Liverpool are under pressure in every single game, anyway, whatever the competition. This is nothing new for me," Benitez said, according to Press Association Sport.

"My aim is just to help the players, working and preparing the team.

"The players know we are better than our results suggest, they can see that we could have won in every game, even if not playing well.

"We have played better than many of our opponents in this run, we have had plenty of opportunities to score. They know the situation.

"We have ideas, we have solutions to problems, and plans for matches. The players know we have been a lot better than people are saying.

"We need a winning mentality to return, but we have not planned any differently for matches, just the same organisation.

"Things are still positive, we have players coming back from injuries. We have been positive in recent league games against Birmingham and Manchester City, things have been improving."

Benitez has indicated injuries to key men, in particular Fernando Torres, played a major part in the Reds' Champions League failure.

He does expect to see captain Steven Gerrard back in action on Sunday though.

"Steven Gerrard has started to play 90 minutes again, so there are a lot of things that give us confidence that we are improving," he added.

"Some players are fitter now. So we can manage the team and matches in a different way. If you do not have a strong bench, it is difficult to change games.

"Now with more options it can be easier for us in such circumstances.

"When you have injuries it is always difficult. But it has been worse recently when we have had to contend with two or three injuries during a game."

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