Source: Telegraph
Rafa Benitez calls on Liverpool players to 'take responsibility and help move us forward'
An own-goal from Lucas Leiva, a Curtis Davies header and an Ashley Young penalty put an end to Liverpool's 18-month unbeaten home record the longest in the Premier League as Aston Villa became the first visitors to win at Anfield since December 2007, meaning Benitez's team have now contrived to lose as many games this term as they did in the whole of last season. [LNB]Benitez refuses to be drawn into kneejerk assessments writing off Liverpool's championship credentials, insisting, as always, that he is 'thinking only about our next game at Bolton, not anything else,' but he admits Liverpool's stars must now shoulder the burden of lifting the gloom settling around Anfield before more ground is lost to their title rivals. [LNB] Related ArticlesCrisis looms as Benítez hunts for answersLiverpool 1 Aston Villa 3Benitez confident of beating VillaLiverpool v Aston Villa: previewBenitez pledges future to LiverpoolHe said: 'The team has to improve, and that depends on the senior players to take responsibility and help us move forward. With this squad, we won a lot of games last year and it has to be the same this season. The only thing we can do now is beat Bolton and the people will be behind us again.' [LNB]Benitez, clearly fuming at Villa's second from a disputed corner after the allotted period of injury time refused to blame referee Martin Atkinson for the goal which effectively did for his team, instead choosing to highlight Liverpool's shortcomings. [LNB]'It does not matter,' he said. 'We have lost and we cannot change anything. We had our chances in the first 20 minutes and if we had scored early, like we did against Stoke, it would have made a big difference. But we were giving the ball away against a team that are good on the counter attack. [LNB]'I thought we might have got a point after Fernando Torres scored, we were pushing harder and playing better, but then we gave away the penalty. We made too many mistakes at important moments.' [LNB]The hosts' failings, though, should not detract from a performance and result which provided Martin O'Neill's side with the perfect riposte to those fans who had booed them from the field at half-time during their opening day home defeat to Wigan. [LNB]'We've won at Anfield and the team were simply brilliant,' said the Villa manager. 'If you've not played well at full-time and you've lost, I can understand fans booing. But at half-time, I don't. I didn't see Liverpool being booed off at half-time here. We were effectively booed off 45 minutes after finishing sixth in the Premier League.' [LNB]O'Neill confirmed he plans to reinforce his squad despite the fillip of an unexpected victory at Anfield, admitting he 'would like to bring in some experience in defence in the next few days'. He is believed to be monitoring Sylvain Distin's future at Portsmouth, while he is also thought to be hoping to sign Newcastle's Steven Taylor for around £6 million. Villa have enquired about Matthew Upson but are yet to furnish West Ham with a firm offer. [LNB]
