Rafael Benitez reckons Sir Alex Ferguson must now accept Liverpool as a major threat to Manchester United’s domestic supremacy.
And the Spaniard feels his team have shown the rest of the Premier League how to beat the leaders.
United were subjected to a 4-1 home humiliation on Saturday as Liverpool notched their biggest win at Old Trafford in 73 years to give them renewed hope of catching the Premier League leaders.
It was the first time Benitez had come face-to-face with Sir Alex Ferguson since his fact-filled attack on the United manager in January.
But the Spaniard dismissed any suggestion it played a part in their weekend walloping of the European and World champions – and that United will now regard Liverpool as serious challengers.
“I can guarantee you that I was calm and I am calm,” said Benitez. “The players on the pitch can win and they can lose and the manager can affect things but I didn’t see a big difference when I was talking about the facts and I don’t now.
“Ferguson’s a fantastic manager with a very good team and we will try to improve and be as close as possible. Hopefully he will see Liverpool as a new contender.”
Asked if he spoke to Ferguson after the game, Benitez added: “No, I shook hands and that’s it. He was not talking about bad blood.
“Maybe sometimes my English is not good enough or I don’t understand the Scottish accent.”
It was Benitez’s first triumph away at United since taking charge at Anfield in the summer of 2004 and marked the 100th victory of his tenure.
For United, the defeat was their first in the league since November and ended their unbeaten home record and a run of 11 consecutive top-flight wins.
And Benitez believes Liverpool’s win – which ensured their first double over United since the 2001-02 season – has demonstrated how the Old Trafford side can be beaten.
“We have shown the way,” said Benitez. “United have been playing with so much confidence. At least people will now see that they can lose.
“The message is there for everyone. In attack they are fantastic. You can see the quality they have. But in defence they have some weaknesses and we tried to exploit them.
“They have a lot of quality in attack, they are strong in defence and they have plenty of possession. But when they don’t have the ball and you move the ball quickly and play behind the defenders, you know you can beat them.
“We knew that they are really good at playing between the lines with penetrating passes so we needed to stop these passes, and put the midfielders under pressure every time they were going to receive the ball.
“Then we tried to play simple and go forward quickly, because it’s an offensive team and they are always high.
“Targeting Vidic was one of the ideas. We knew that maybe with the movement of Torres we could create problems for the defenders.”
Benitez added: “Now we have confidence we are playing well so we have to enjoy this situation and try to get three points in every game until the end of the season.
“I don’t think we can talk about different philosophies compared to United. The mentality of our club it to win, to win everything and I think United have the same mentality.
“You can play in a different way if you have different players, the money is a massive difference. You have to try to get the best from your players but if you have these resources sometimes it’s easier.
“If you cannot spend big money on players you have to work hard as a team. This is the mentality we have now. If we can add some good players in the future we will improve and maybe we can maybe we can get closer or overtake them.”
And the Spaniard feels his team have shown the rest of the Premier League how to beat the leaders.
United were subjected to a 4-1 home humiliation on Saturday as Liverpool notched their biggest win at Old Trafford in 73 years to give them renewed hope of catching the Premier League leaders.
It was the first time Benitez had come face-to-face with Sir Alex Ferguson since his fact-filled attack on the United manager in January.
But the Spaniard dismissed any suggestion it played a part in their weekend walloping of the European and World champions – and that United will now regard Liverpool as serious challengers.
“I can guarantee you that I was calm and I am calm,” said Benitez. “The players on the pitch can win and they can lose and the manager can affect things but I didn’t see a big difference when I was talking about the facts and I don’t now.
“Ferguson’s a fantastic manager with a very good team and we will try to improve and be as close as possible. Hopefully he will see Liverpool as a new contender.”
Asked if he spoke to Ferguson after the game, Benitez added: “No, I shook hands and that’s it. He was not talking about bad blood.
“Maybe sometimes my English is not good enough or I don’t understand the Scottish accent.”
It was Benitez’s first triumph away at United since taking charge at Anfield in the summer of 2004 and marked the 100th victory of his tenure.
For United, the defeat was their first in the league since November and ended their unbeaten home record and a run of 11 consecutive top-flight wins.
And Benitez believes Liverpool’s win – which ensured their first double over United since the 2001-02 season – has demonstrated how the Old Trafford side can be beaten.
“We have shown the way,” said Benitez. “United have been playing with so much confidence. At least people will now see that they can lose.
“The message is there for everyone. In attack they are fantastic. You can see the quality they have. But in defence they have some weaknesses and we tried to exploit them.
“They have a lot of quality in attack, they are strong in defence and they have plenty of possession. But when they don’t have the ball and you move the ball quickly and play behind the defenders, you know you can beat them.
“We knew that they are really good at playing between the lines with penetrating passes so we needed to stop these passes, and put the midfielders under pressure every time they were going to receive the ball.
“Then we tried to play simple and go forward quickly, because it’s an offensive team and they are always high.
“Targeting Vidic was one of the ideas. We knew that maybe with the movement of Torres we could create problems for the defenders.”
Benitez added: “Now we have confidence we are playing well so we have to enjoy this situation and try to get three points in every game until the end of the season.
“I don’t think we can talk about different philosophies compared to United. The mentality of our club it to win, to win everything and I think United have the same mentality.
“You can play in a different way if you have different players, the money is a massive difference. You have to try to get the best from your players but if you have these resources sometimes it’s easier.
“If you cannot spend big money on players you have to work hard as a team. This is the mentality we have now. If we can add some good players in the future we will improve and maybe we can maybe we can get closer or overtake them.”
No comments:
Post a Comment