Rafa Benitez dismisses talk of Reading ‘surrender’

Dec 10 2007 by Ian Doyle, Liverpool Daily Post

RAFAEL BENITEZ has dismissed the notion he surrendered Liverpool’s unbeaten Premier League start by substituting Steven Gerrard on Saturday – and believes his protective stance could help earn a place in the Champions League knockout stages.

The Anfield manager replaced his skipper after 71 minutes at Reading, shortly after the visitors had fallen 3-1 behind.

Gerrard had been Liverpool’s best performer, having equalised Stephen Hunt’s contentious 17th-minute penalty with a well-worked striker 11 minutes later and striking the woodwork in the second half.

But after two goals in seven minutes midway through the second half by Kevin Doyle and James Harper sent Reading on their way to a first-ever win over Liverpool, Benitez substituted Gerrard for Ryan Babel.

Liverpool face a make-or-break Champions League decider in Marseille tomorrow night, and Benitez admitted that became his priority once Reading had taken a two-goal lead.

But the Spaniard baulked at suggestions he had given the game up, and said: “I try to win every game. But sometimes when it is not easy and you have options on the bench and you can protect key players, then you have to.

“It was clear some players were tired. We knew it would be a difficult game at Reading and wanted to change some players because we knew they were tired and it could be a risk. The pitch was heavy, but 3-1 down and time running out I thought we needed fresh legs and to protect our key players. If we are fit and have fresh legs, then maybe we can score the winning goal in the last 10 minutes in Marseille.”

Fernando Torres was also replaced in the second half as a precaution after sustaining an ankle injury, although the striker is expected to be fit and will travel with the squad to France this morning.

Benitez also substituted Jamie Carragher late on having already rested Sami Hyypia to the bench, and he added: “When you take decisions it is because you believe it is the best. In this case, I was trying to protect the players.

“I know Steven wants to play to the end of every game, the same with Carra and Torres, but I needed to think about whether I could change things in the game and, if it’s difficult to do that, I start thinking about the next one.

“Some of our players have been playing a lot of games in a row. Sami Hyypia is 34 years old now and was really tired, so as a manager you need to make decisions because you know your players. I was thinking about what is best for my players.”

After controversially awarding Reading a penalty despite Jamie Carragher fouling Brynjar Gunnarsson outside the area, referee Andre Marriner then waved away two strong penalty claims when Torres was felled by Reading centre-back Ibrahima Sonko.

However, Benitez said: “I am not happy with the decisions but we didn’t take our chances and that was maybe the key.

“We had a lot of confidence before the game. I think that the key in this kind of game is to take your chance against opposition that has a very good team spirit, pressed and played a physical game.

“We needed to move the ball, pass the ball and take our chances and it would have been easier for us, but we couldn’t do it.”