RAFAEL BENITEZ has dismissed criticism of his team’s style and believes Liverpool will “step forward” in attack with the return of their more creative players.

The Anfield outfit are in Bucharest to face Unirea Urziceni tonight aiming to seal progress to the last 16 of the Europa League and avoid an unwanted landmark in the process.

If Liverpool don’t score three goals then it will be their least productive spell in front of goal for more than 40 years.

Not since the 6-1 win over Hull City back in September have Benitez’s side scored more than twice in a single game, a run that has now extended to 29 games.

Indeed, in the last 17 away games, they have only netted more than once on a solitary occasion, the 2-0 derby win against Everton in November.

Benitez believes Liverpool have not been helped by the absence of influential creative players such as Fernando Torres, Yossi Benayoun and Glen Johnson.

Both Torres and Benayoun made their return from injury in the dismal goalless draw at Manchester City on Sunday with Johnson hopeful of resuming full training over the weekend.

And with the defence having kept six clean sheets in their last seven games, Benitez is convinced his team are now primed to remedy their attacking ills.

“Against City, we were moving the ball not so well and giving it away too easy sometimes,” said the Spaniard. “But it’s still a clean sheet against a strong, solid team and when we put Yossi on he was a threat. We were doing the right thing but we were not very precise in the final third.

“Both teams were doing well in defence and it is a credit to the defenders but we were trying to create chances.

“Ryan is a striker, Kuyt is a striker, Maxi can score goals and Gerrard also.

“You always want to score more but if you want to improve when conceding too many is to be stronger in defence.

Read the article on Liverpool Daily Post

Liverpool FC: Dismissive Rafael Benitez goes on the attack

RAFAEL BENITEZ has dismissed criticism of his team’s style and believes Liverpool will “step forward” in attack with the return of their more creative players.

The Anfield outfit are in Bucharest to face Unirea Urziceni tonight aiming to seal progress to the last 16 of the Europa League and avoid an unwanted landmark in the process.

If Liverpool don’t score three goals then it will be their least productive spell in front of goal for more than 40 years.

Not since the 6-1 win over Hull City back in September have Benitez’s side scored more than twice in a single game, a run that has now extended to 29 games.

Indeed, in the last 17 away games, they have only netted more than once on a solitary occasion, the 2-0 derby win against Everton in November.

Benitez believes Liverpool have not been helped by the absence of influential creative players such as Fernando Torres, Yossi Benayoun and Glen Johnson.

Both Torres and Benayoun made their return from injury in the dismal goalless draw at Manchester City on Sunday with Johnson hopeful of resuming full training over the weekend.

And with the defence having kept six clean sheets in their last seven games, Benitez is convinced his team are now primed to remedy their attacking ills.

“Against City, we were moving the ball not so well and giving it away too easy sometimes,” said the Spaniard. “But it’s still a clean sheet against a strong, solid team and when we put Yossi on he was a threat. We were doing the right thing but we were not very precise in the final third.

“Both teams were doing well in defence and it is a credit to the defenders but we were trying to create chances.

“Ryan is a striker, Kuyt is a striker, Maxi can score goals and Gerrard also.

“You always want to score more but if you want to improve when conceding too many is to be stronger in defence.

Read the article on Liverpool Daily Post

Postat de pe data de 31 ian., 2010 in categoria România în lume. Poti urmari comentariile acestui articol prin RSS 2.0. Acest articol a fost vizualizat de 434 ori.

Publica un raspuns