Rafa calls for urgent improvement
Rafael Benitez finds himself and his rocky Liverpool side under pressure before a ball has even been kicked in the new Premier League campaign.
After a shocking midweek Champions League performance away to Standard Liege, the Anfield chief faces another searching examination by Roy Keane’s new-look Sunderland tomorrow at the Stadium of Light.
And Benitez admits he must shake Liverpool out of their lethargy very quickly if they are not to start the top flight campaign with growing question marks hovering over them.
After the near-disaster in Belgium, Liverpool must get their act together quickly.
Benitez said: “We need to change our mentality quickly for the Premier League opener.
“Facing Sunderland away will be a very tough game, they have strengthened their squad and are always difficult on their own ground.
“We have a few minor injuries, bruises, and so on. Xabi Alonso and Yossi Benayoun have got some small problems but they will be okay for the game in Sunderland.”
However, there must again be a doubt over skipper Steven Gerrard’s fitness. He was eventually thrown into the Liege battle in desperation with 24 minutes to go, Benitez admitting he did not really want to risk the midfielder’s troublesome thigh injury.
Benitez said: “We would have preferred that he did not need to play, we waited and waited, but in the end we needed him because we were not in control of midfield.”
Gerrard played at virtually half-pace to help secure a goalless draw in the third qualifying round, first leg. Whether Gerrard is considered fit enough to face Sunderland from the start is now open to debate.
Benitez said: “Competition for places must improve, we have several away or injured. We need more players to out pressure on players.
“I do not like to talk about specific players, but clearly we were not the best. We were not good in midfield or the defence.
“If you have more players competing for positions in the team things are better. We need new players, but for the moment we must work to make the ones we have got better players.”
Dutch striker Dirk Kuyt added: “Now we are looking forward to Saturday and the first league game at Sunderland to show who we are and what we are.
“We know in Liege it was not our best game. But we want to step things up and we know there is quality in the team, we have shown that in pre-season and now we must show it in competitive matches too.
“We have some big games coming up. One of those is on Saturday at Sunderland. So we must not play again like we did against Standard.”
