JOSE REINA has dismissed suggestions that Rafael Benitez has lost his players’ support as Liverpool prepare for Sunday’s Merseyside derby at Goodison Park in the wake of their Champions League exit and a disastrous run of form.
Liverpool have won just two of their past 11 competitive matches and are 13 points adrift of the Premier League leaders, Chelsea, but Reina has backed the manager to turn things around. The Spanish goalkeeper did, though, accept that Liverpool need players to return from injury, saying they are a different side without Fernando Torres, who he says is better than most players in the world – even when not fully fit.
“Benitez has 100 per cent credibility and support among the players,” Reina said. “He is a great coach and he knows how to get the best out of his players. He has done important things for Liverpool and will continue to do so. When he is under pressure, that’s when he brings out the best in himself. He is perfectly capable of turning the situation around at Liverpool.
“The fans know that, for a number of reasons, results are not good now but they will be again. We need a bit of good luck for things to get back to normal: we have had so many players injured – like Torres, Benayoun and Riera.”
Reina believes the absence of Torres has been particularly important. The striker has scored 10 league goals this season despite suffering with injury and is unlikely to be fit to face Everton.
“We all know that Torres at 70 per cent fit is still better than lots of strikers on the planet at 100 per cent,” Reina said. “It’s important for us that he recovers and recovers fully. Liverpool are one team with Torres and another, different team without him. It’s not that we depend on him but he is very important because he inspires respect in the opposition.”
Liverpool’s dependence on Torres and the lack of back-up – Dirk Kuyt, Ryan Babel and David Ngog have just eight league goals between them – has led to speculation that Benitez may look to buy the Real Madrid striker Ruud van Nistelrooy, but a lack of funds makes a move difficult. There is little resale value on a 33-year-old who has only just returned from injury and is understood to want an 18-month deal, which Liverpool would be reluctant to offer.
The former Manchester United striker has played only 11 minutes this season, during which he scored. His contract at Real expires at the end of the season but he admitted that he will seek a departure from the Bernabeu during the winter transfer window if he does not get more opportunities between now and January. He has ambitions of securing a place in the Netherlands squad for the World Cup.
Benitez has insisted that he does not feel under extra pressure following Liverpool’s exit from the Champions League and believes his team are “better than their results”.
Meanwhile, Gary Neville, the Manchester United captain and a serial Liverpool-baiter, has told Rafael Benitez’ team that they got what they deserved in their early exit from the Champions League.
Neville was part of the United side beaten by Besiktas on Wednesday but the Premier League champions had already qualified, and the defender put his own’s team disappointment into perspective yesterday when he compared it to the intense frustrations being felt at Anfield.
“Well, you get what you deserve as a team, don’t you?” the former England international replied when it was pointed out to him that Benitez’ team would not be joining United, Chelsea and Arsenal in the knockout phase.
“We are where we are because we deserve to be there. And it is the same with Liverpool. We went out of the competition ourselves after the group stage a few years back. They haven’t performed well enough in the Champions League this season to get the results, as simple as that.”
United had not lost a group game at home in the Champions League since a 3-2 defeat against Deportivo La Coruna in October 2001. However, Alex Ferguson’s team were already guaranteed a place in the knockout stages and there was no more than mild criticism of United’s performance from Neville.
