Rafa Benitez: Defensive errors were ‘unbelievable’

Oct 8 2007 by Ian Doyle, Liverpool Daily Post

ANGRY Rafael Benitez slammed the “unbelievable” defensive mistakes he believes cost Liverpool victory over Tottenham Hotspur yesterday.

The Anfield side needed an injury-time header from Fernando Torres to maintain their unbeaten league record and secure a point from an absorbing 2-2 draw against the Londoners.

Andriy Voronin had given Liverpool the lead in the 12th minute by capitalising on a mistake by Tottenham goalkeeper Paul Robinson.

But two goals in three minutes either side of half-time from Robbie Keane appeared to have earned Tottenham only their sixth-ever win at Anfield before Torres struck.

Both Keane efforts came after Liverpool had failed to defend a Dimitar Berbatov flick-on from a long punt upfield by Robinson, and Benitez was fuming at his team’s defending.

“I cannot say too much now,” said the Spaniard. “It was so clear. Two mistakes changed the game. It was unbelievable.

“In the first half, we could have scored two or three goals and maybe the game would have been over.

“Now we need to explain why we conceded two goals like that and why we could not score the second or third goal in the first half.

“If you analyse both goals, it is difficult to explain. They were both so easy to defend against and we’ll watch the two goals for a long time to try and explain why.”

Keane’s first on the stroke of half-time was the first Premier League goal Liverpool had conceded in 523 minutes and first from open play this season.

The Anfield outfit remain in the top four but lost ground on main title rivals Arsenal, Manchester United and Chelsea over the weekend.

And Benitez admitted the absence of Daniel Agger is placing a strain on Jamie Carragher and Sami Hyypia, the only available senior centre-backs.

“We haven’t been conceding goals, and it was not normal for us to concede, especially those kind of goals,” said the Liverpool manager.

“But it’s clear that they (Carragher and Hyypia) are playing a lot of games in a row.”

Voronin’s strike was his fourth of the season while club record signing Torres now has seven goals in nine starts.

And Benitez added: “In the first half we were really good. We had chances and we were better than Tottenham. I always say when you are 1-0 up and you have good chances you have to take them. But the game changed because we conceded two goals that we would not normally concede.”