Rafa Benitez warns: Beware the underdog

Dec 25 2007

Rafael Benitez will be wary of the threat posed by the underdog when Liverpool take on Derby in the Barclays Premier League at Pride Park tomorrow.

After an easy win over Portsmouth at the weekend and a 6-0 demolition of the Rams at Anfield earlier this season, many will see another Reds success as a mere formality.

But Benitez has already seen such expectations blow apart to his cost once this season - when Liverpool lost 3-1 to unheralded Reading - and he will therefore be urging his players to take nothing for granted.

“Everyone is expecting us to beat Derby, but we have had experience of Reading - so we will have a lot of respect for Derby and will try to win this game,” he said.

“When you play away against a team which is battling relegation it is always very difficult.”

Benitez knows also that three good performances in the next week will go a long way to lifting the speculation still hanging over him about his future at Anfield.

But he remains happy to continue his controversial rotation policy over the festive period.

“Sometimes you can use the same player; sometimes you use the squad,” he explained.

“I like to use the squad, because this is the key if you want to reduce the gap (to the teams at the top) - it is using the right players at the right moment.

“When you play four games in 12 days it is such a short time you can change players and they can understand.

“Sometimes when you play one game a week and you leave six players out of the squad it is more difficult to explain - but this situation is easier.”

With Liverpool still facing the damaging prospect of being cut adrift from the ’big three’ in the title race, key defender Jamie Carragher has called for the side to keep their nerve.

With the backdrop of continued uncertainty about the club’s ownership, finances, Benitez’s own future as well as problems with the new ground, Liverpool could be facing a tough new year off the pitch.

But on it, Carragher insists there is still hope.

“It does not really matter who the leaders are, as long as we keep them in sight,“ he said.

“At the moment it is Arsenal up there, so we just need to make sure we keep hold of them for now. I am sure a time will come this season when they start to find it difficult, especially with all the young players they have in their side.

“There is no secret they are a great side, but I am sure they will be tested at some point. We just have to make sure we are there to capitalise when it happens.

“I am sure that Arsenal, Manchester United and Chelsea will keep winning - so it is up to us to prove we can stay with them. It would be really exciting if it is a four-horse race with 10 games to go.”

Liverpool now play Derby, Manchester City and Wigan in a week, games they dare not lose.

Carragher added: “Christmas is always a crucial time of the season. You can look at this period almost as a separate group of games in that sense.

“From these three games we would always say that seven points would be fine, but nine would be excellent. That would make a massive difference heading into the new year - I hope we can them be a lot close to Arsenal by then.”