Rafa happy with narrow win

Benitez: Looking to improve over the summer

Related links

Teams

• Liverpool

Also see

• Liverpool fixtures
• Liverpool stats
• Liverpool forum

Rafael Benitez refused to condemn his side for missing a host of chances against Manchester City.

The Liverpool boss led his team to a 1-0 victory over City at Anfield on Sunday, but knows that the Reds should have won by a greater margin.

With both sides having nothing to play for heading into the contest, Benitez revealed that he expected the game to be open.

Pressure

"I think that was a game with a lot of opportunities," he told Sky Sports.

"Usually when you play these type of games without any pressure both teams play open so we had plenty of chances, they had one or two, but we had clear chances."

"But it is good news, another goal another clean sheet.

"I think we deserved to win and the only thing we can be disappointed about is that we had two or three chances that we could have killed the game off with."

Progress

Benitez is also confident that Liverpool can bolster their squad over in the summer, enabling them to mount a concerted bid for the Premier League title next season.

"I think we can progress and try and sign the players we want," he said.

"It's clear that we are too far behind (in the league), but I think that in some crucial moments we were close.

"I think the key was maybe one or two of the draws, and it could have made a massive difference."

Priorities

Despite Liverpool set to end the season empty-handed one again, Benitez insists that he will not focus all of his attentions solely on achieving league success next season.

"I think that is not easy to say, 'I will concentrate just on the league and forget the other competitions'," he continued.

"For me the depth of the squad is important and allows you to try in every competition, and after it depends if you progress or not that you decide which to go for.

"But I can assure that we will try and do our best."