Benitez hails walking wounded

Reds boss delighted with his players' spirit

Last updated: 30th November 2009   Subscribe to RSS Feed

Benitez hails walking wounded

Benitez: Delighted with side's spirit

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Liverpool boss Rafa Benitez hailed his walking wounded after a spirited display in the Merseyside derby.

Steven Gerrard played a full 90 minutes in the 2-0 victory despite being still way short of match fitness.

And Yossi Benayoun, Glen Johnson, Albert Riera, Daniel Agger, Fabio Aurelio and Gerrard are all still at various stages of recovery but featured in some part of the game.

Benitez said: "Gerrard has found it hard. He has played three difficult games in a row without training for three weeks prior, and that is tough.

"People have to understand that some players are trying very hard to help the team when they are not really fit. But they want to play, and their attitude is very positive.

"Now we have a week of training, and that I hope will see a lot more of them much fitter for the next game."

He added: "There are several players who maybe should not be out there at the moment. They are not fully fit, they are not training and they have injuries.

Working hard

"But we are working so hard together. We are seeing players involved when they should really be on the treatment table.

"But they all wanted to play, to do a job for the team and to work to get us going again as a team."

Fernando Torres failed a fitness test with his groin problem and did not even make the bench at Goodison, but Benitez hopes the striker will be fit for Saturday's trip to Blackburn.

He added: "Fernando is close, but he still has some pain. We now have a week to work with him and for the physios to try to get him fit to play.

"We will monitor this every day and then decide. But we do not want to take any risks with him now, he needed three weeks of treatment and that is not fully completed yet.

"There is no deadline. We will have to decide after we have watched him working this week."

Springboard

Benitez also believes Sunday's victory can act as a springboard for the rest of the season.

He said: "We deserved more in recent games against Manchester City and Birmingham, we should have won them both. But we only managed draws so it was important to start winning matches again.

"We have now managed consecutive clean sheets, including a win against Debrecen, and that is something to build on for the rest of the season.

"Before the game we talked about how we could take advantage of the draws amongst the other sides at the top of the table. We won and we have found more confidence, and with players coming back from injury.

"It will give us confidence now for the rest of the season. We have played well in games and not managed wins, but this time we had to fight against a direct style and we got the victory."