Benitez gives up on Liverpool winning anything this season!
Benitez - Who needs trophies?
After the great promise of last year, when Liverpool ran Man Utd close in the Premiership race right until the end of the season, it now looks like everything has fallen down around Rafael Benitez’s ears.
Yesterday’s sixth defeat in seven matches has left the Reds nine points behind Chelsea in the Premiership, and could drop to sixth place if Man City manage just a point at Birmingham today.
Liverpool were also dumped out of the Carling Cup by Arsene Wenger’s young Arsenal team last week, and having lost to both Fiorentina and Lyon in the Champions League already, they now have to travel to France this week, knowing that anything less than a win will probably consign them to elimination from Europe’s premier competition.
Liverpool also have their captain and leader suffering from a serious groin complaint which may leave him in danger of missing a lot of games this season, and top striker Fernando Torres has been playing through the pain of his own groin problem for the last two weeks, but how long can he keep doing that without causing permanent damage?
Add to that the three recent red cards for Phillip Degen, Jamie Carragher and Javier Mascherano, who will all miss the crucial match against Man City in a few weeks time, and it looks like it is going to be a long hard season ahead for Rafael Benitez.
But Benitez has tried to put a brave face on it, and says that the club don’t HAVE to win trophies to be successful.
“I always say you have to be there, you have to be close, you have to create a group of players who can fight for trophies.” he said.
“We got 86 points last season, yet some people were saying that it wasn’t good because we finished second.
“I think reducing the gap between the top team and Liverpool to four points was a massive achievement.
“Trophies mean a lot to everyone. But the most important thing is to see progression and evidence that you are improving and able to fight for trophies.
“It’s not just about one year. It is about what we can achieve in the future.
“People say that I have now been here five years. I say, look at the differences here now.
“Look at the value of the club before compared to the value of the club now.
“Look at the value of the squad before compared to the value of the squad now. You can see the progression.”
But the problem is the fans see that Liverpool lost two Premiership games in the whole of last season, but already they have lost FIVE in the league, plus two more in the Champions League.
Where is the progession there Rafa?
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