Liverpool Football Club News

• Nickname:Reds
• Founded:1892
• Manager:Kenny Dalglish

• Ground:Anfield
• Capacity:45,362

Rafa defends Reds changes

09 Dec 2007 - 11:00:24

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Liverpool boss Rafael Benitez admitted he had half on eye on next week's high-profile matches after substituting key players during Saturday's surprise 3-1 defeat at Reading.

The Spaniard hauled off Steven Gerrard, Fernando Torres and Jamie Carragher despite the Reds trailing at the Madejski Stadium.

Afterwards, Benitez revealed he was attempting to protect his players with a must-win Champions League meeting with Marseille coming five days before the visit of Premier League rivals Manchester United nest weekend.

"We knew it was tough, because some of our players were playing a lot of games in a row," he said.

"We were losing 3-1 and so I was trying to protect the key players for the next game.

"We had quality on the bench and we tried to change things with different players who had pace.

"The positives are no injuries and no yellow cards."

Meanwhile, Benitez was unhappy that referee Andre Marriner awarded Reading a penalty for a tackle by Jamie Carragher on Brynjar Gunnarsson which appeared to be outside the area.

Torres also saw two penalty shouts go unrewarded which further angered the Reds boss.

"I'm not happy with the decisions," he added.

"But we also had chances that we didn't take and maybe that was the key.

"The difference was that one penalty was given and one was not. But we had the chances and we needed to take them, but in the end we didn't."