LinkBenitez admits side have lost confidence
Oct 10 2007 by Ian Doyle, Liverpool Daily Post
RAFAEL BENITEZ admits Liverpool have lost their confidence after winning just two of their last seven games.
But the Anfield manager has urged the club’s supporters to remain positive as he confirmed both Xabi Alonso and Daniel Agger are closing on a return to first-team action.
Benitez has attracted further criticism after Liverpool followed last week’s shock Champions League defeat at home to Marseille with a lacklustre 2-2 draw against Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday.
Despite the gloom that has threatened to engulf Anfield during the last few days, Liverpool remain unbeaten in the Premier League this season and are enjoying their best-ever start to a season under Benitez.
And the Spaniard has moved to quell growing concerns over his team’s continued under-whelming form.
“This is not a time for being negative, it is a time for being positive,” said Benitez. “We are still unbeaten in the league, qualification for the Champions League depends on that and we are still also in the Carling Cup.
“We are in a better position than last year. In the Premier League we have five more points than at this stage last season, we are closer to the top of the table and with one game in hand.
“We just have to get our confidence back because we have lost it at the moment.”
Benitez added: “At the start of the season we were playing well, with confidence and scoring goals. Now we just need to keep working hard.
“It is difficult with so many players away on international duty but we have spoken to the ones who are here and tried to analyse what has been going wrong.
“It is difficult with the players being away but we just have to manage. We have no control over what they do for the next couple of weeks. I just hope they don’t come back with any injury problems.”
Liverpool’s next game is the Merseyside derby at Goodison against Everton on Saturday week, and Benitez expects one of injured duo Alonso and Agger to be available.
The pair have been missing since suffering broke metatarsals ahead of the opening Champions League game in Porto last month, with an initial diagnosis of six weeks on the sidelines.
And while cagey on the issue of their return, Benitez admitted Alonso is ahead of schedule to return.
“Agger and Alonso are still not ready,” said the Anfield manager. “We said six weeks for them to be out and it is getting close to that by the time the international break is over.
“We will now have a two-week break for the internationals and we will see how they are after that.
“But even after that, it may not be quite the time. It could be another week or so before they can be considered after that.
“We’ve got to be careful and we’ll have to wait and see about Xabi. I think he has a better chance than Agger of being back next week.
“It is too early to say anything at the moment. They are both progressing well but I’ll need to speak with the physio and the doctors next week before we know what the situation is.”
Meanwhile, Jamie Carragher reckons Liverpool must improve a home form that has seen them win just two of six games at Anfield in all competitions this season.
“The results away from home have been fantastic but it’s at home where we’ve had a few problems,” he says. “It’s something we have to put right. I don’t know the reason for it, but we can’t go on giving points away at Anfield.
“We’re just not playing well as a team at the moment. I think we all have to look at ourselves and make sure when we come back for the Everton match that we can find our form again because that is a massive game.”
I'm totally, terribly, frustratingly and thoroughly upset with Rafa's statement in the "Daily Post" dated 10 oct 07 with the heading "Rafa admits side have lost confidence". This is a very very bad and negative statement for our club with such a proud history. Does he understands what he is saying and the damages that he had brought to the club? His statement is totally uncalled for and it makes the club looks as if it is in a total wreck. You never tell the whole world your players are suffering from "lost confidence" (even if it is so), it sends shock waves to the supporters world wide and oppoisiton managers would be clapping their hands and perhaps opening a bottle of champagne by now.
You can say the players are suffering from "poor form" but not "lost confidence". Hey, the club don't pay millions of pounds having players with low or no confidence, they are professional players and are expected to be able to take care of their own confidence, otherwise you're not fit to play for Liverpool. You got a problem with your confidence you better build that up and built that up fast because LFC don't pay players 30k to 60k pounds week in and week out with low confidence.
Never in my 33 years of followjng LFC had I ever heard of a manager putting up such a negative statement. Simply shocking and disgusting. Have Rafa lost the plot??? I began to suspect so. He's got a bunch of world class players and they simply can't play world class football, something is very wrong with his tactics and my guess is he does not even know where it has gone wrong. I sense the beginning of the end of the Rafa era.
I'm still in a state of shock!
