Benitez We must keep our heads up
Oct 3 2005
By Chris Bascombe, Liverpool Echo
RAFA BENITEZ today urged his players not to allow yesterday's 4-1 beating by Chelsea to derail Liverpool's season.
The Anfield boss is worried his side's confidence could be damaged by the defeat to the Premiership champions.
But today he delivered a defiant message, insisting his players must recognise the scoreline was not a true reflection of their performance.
"I could see at the final whistle a lot of the players' heads were down because they were disappointed, but I said to them they should keep their head up," said Benitez.
"It's going to be difficult for them going on an international break now, but they should remember the reaction of the supporters after the game. At most grounds, the fans would leave when their side is losing 4-1.
"You do not see this at Liverpool. Our fans stayed to sing 'You'll Never Walk Alone'. That meant a lot to me, the club and players because it showed they knew the score did not reflect the game.
"I'm disappointed for everyone by the result, but we must stay positive. For the first 25 minutes we played well. Until the penalty we were the better of the teams.
"We must remember this is the first league game we've lost this season and we were beaten by a good team. We made mistakes which cost us, but we will learn from them.
"I think it's important that I support the play-ers rather than criticise their mistakes."
Liverpool's fixture list over the next few months doesn't appear as tough as its been over the first few weeks of the season, and Benitez will be hoping his side makes progress when the international break is over.
IS Michael Sheilds innocent 3980At 12:41:12 on 04-10-2005, Diablos Rojos delighted uk.sport.football.clubs.liverpool by announcing: Ah yes, so it would seem. I should have said 'properly identified' Q&A with Oleg Atanbuttov, defending lawyer...
"When you look at the teams near the top of the table, I know we can do well when we play these clubs," said Benitez. "At this moment, we are probably one win short of where we should be after the games we've played, but this can change."
Meanwhile, Benitez today confirmed Harry Kewell has been allowed to join the Australia squad for a get together with new national coach Gus Hiddink.
But Benitez said: "I don't expect him to be playing in any games."
Fernando Morientes won't be in the Spain squad, he continues his recovery at Melwood.
