Liverpool FC

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Dire Reds earn Rafa's wrath

09 Mar 2010 - 08:26:55

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Rafael Benitez attacked his under-performing players after Liverpool slumped to their ninth Premier League defeat of the season, 1-0 at Wigan Athletic.

The loss leaves the Reds struggling to clinch a top-four finish this season as rivals Manchester City, Tottenham and Aston Villa all have at least one game in hand on Benitez's side.

The former Valencia manager said after the match: "I'm really disappointed. The first half we didn't do anything and we didn't show the attitude that is required. It's difficult to explain.

"At half-time we talked about the things we weren't doing well - the attitude and the character. We made too many mistakes and played too quickly.

"We didn't deserve anything in the first half. The second half we worked harder but Wigan defended really well. We gave the ball away, we didn't win any first or second ball, and that is difficult to explain.

"I think it was a question of attitude in the first half, sometimes we played too quickly, we were in too much of a hurry. It was a poor half.

"We didn't show the right attitude and even though we worked harder in the second half, we played without game intelligence.

"We had some chances but we didn't play well. If you approach the game in this kind of way you cannot win this kind of game or maybe any game. Everyone is very low. There are too many things we cannot understand.

"We have to keep going. We have an important game on Thursday (against Lille in the Europa League) and then we have to keep going and keep winning games if we can.

"We have to win games. We cannot approach an important game like this and then play in this way. You have some good games, bad games, but at this time in a crucial moment I think we could do better.

"Sometimes you play badly but it is not a question of remembering too many games, it is a question of analysing why we didn't show the character."