Source: SKY_Sports
Benitez hails Reds
Rafa Benitez praised Liverpool after his side beat West Brom 2-0 at the Hawthorns to strengthen their grip on second place in the Premier League.
Reds keeper Jose Reina had to pull off a fine double reaction save to deny Jonathan Greening as Liverpool were put under the cosh early on.
But the game changed when Steven Gerrard scored on 28 minutes after dispossessing Shelton Martis and coolly beating Dean Kiely.
Dirk Kuyt then doubled the advantage on 63 minutes with a fine shot from the edge of the box, although the Baggies exerted late pressure, hitting the post via Luke Moore, while Marc-Antoine Fortune had a goal disallowed for offside.
Afterwards, Benitez told Sky Sports News: "That was difficult - credit to them because they were working very hard.
"They put us under pressure and then, you know when you have some quality, if the other team make a mistake, they paid for them - in this case the first goal of Gerrard - and after it was an open game but they were working very, very hard, it was very difficult."
Jamie Carragher and Alvaro Arbeloa were involved in an exchange of words and pushes near the end but Benitez was not too critical of the pair.
"They were talking because we wanted to win without conceding," he said, adding while they showed character, he was disappointed "because it would have been better to do it in another way."
Benitez said his side were closer to Manchester United in the league this season and he is confident of further improvements to come.
"We're closer this year - we won against United both games and they are a top side so closer (but) still we can improve, if we have Gerrard, Torres on the pitch all the time without injuries maybe it will be a little bit better so (I'm) confident it will be better in the future."
He agreed that United's squad is better then the Reds' and he hopes to bring in more players in the summer, although he does not believe it will be many.
"It depends also on the market but at this moment we don't want to sell anyone so you have to wait and see really what we need - it depends on the movements in the market," he said.
Benitez has been linked with a move for Carlos Tevez and asked if the Argentinian would interest him, the Reds boss replied: "I don't know - he's not our player so at this moment we have to concentrate on the next game."
