Wigan no-show stuns Benitez

Liverpool boss demands response after shock defeat

Last updated: 9th March 2010   Subscribe to RSS Feed

Wigan no-show stuns Benitez

Benitez: Demanding more

We couldn't afford a performance like that before and we cannot now.

Rafa Benitez
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Liverpool boss Rafa Benetiz has told his players they can forget about qualifying for the UEFA Champions League if they keep producing performances such as the one at Wigan on Monday night.

The Reds missed the chance to leapfrog Manchester City and Tottenham into fourth place after a surprise 1-0 defeat to the struggling Latics at the DW Stadium.

Hugo Rodallega's 35th-minute strike was the difference between the sides and Liverpool remain in sixth following their ninth Premier League defeat of the season.

Speaking to Sky Sports straight after the match, Benitez questioned his player's attitude after an unacceptable first-half display.

Surprised

And the Spaniard has since told his squad they cannot afford to reproduce such ineptitude, especially with games away at Manchester United and at home to Chelsea to come in the season run-in.

Asked if Liverpool can still qualify for the Champions League, Benitez said: "It depends on us. If we don't show we can beat teams then at the end it will be the same (as the Wigan result).

"When you lose you have to be disappointed but the way you lose is sometimes more important and in the first half we were just not good enough.

"I was surprised. I don't know, really I don't. I cannot understand it.

"We couldn't afford a performance like that before and we cannot now."

The result at the DW Stadium could have been different had striker Fernando Torres not squandered a number of gilt-edge chances during the match.

Quality

The usually prolific Spaniard struck a post and spurned four other decent openings against the Latics, however Benitez refused to blame his star frontman for the defeat.

"Sometimes he is the difference," said the Liverpool boss, who said the only positive to come from the game was right-back Glen Johnson's substitute appearance after more than two months out with a knee injury.

"We had two or three chances but you cannot score if you do not win the ball, or give the ball away, and if you do not win the second ball you cannot create chances.

"If we don't change what we did in the first half we will have problems but in terms of the ideas and the quality I think we have enough offensive players on the pitch."