Source: Telegraph
Rafael Benítez: Liverpool did everything badly against Fiorentina
Teenager Stevan Jovetic scored twice in a blistering first-half performance that left Liverpool shattered.
"Our mentality in that opening period was just not right, we were bad all over the pitch and I cannot really recall a performance like that," said Benítez.
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“The first half was the worst performance I have seen in my time here. We were doing everything wrong. Fiorentina pressed us well and made us make mistakes. When you make mistakes at this level, you get punished. I was not happy with the challenging all over the pitch in the first half. The mentality was not good enough. We were too nervous. They did well, but we did everything badly.”
Liverpool were without the injured Javier Mascherano, but were still expected to take something back from Tuscany with them. Instead, they now have to lift morale in time for the trip to Chelsea on Sunday.
"We now have Chelsea away at the weekend in an important Premier League game. I believe you will see a different Liverpool in that match, a totally different performance with a different mentality.
"Then we have Lyon home and away in this group, they are the leaders and it means we have to now win them both.
"We certainly will not be as bad again. If you make too many mistakes against such sides, you will be punished. It is very simple.
"Mentally we will have better days than this. We did improve, but we needed to score early in the second-half. We had the chances but we failed to take them."
Fiorentina coach Cesare Prandelli was delighted with his own team. The former Juventus player said: "We were fantastic, that is the best performance I have seen by a Fiorentina side in the four years I have been in charge.
"Liverpool did not play well, but that was because of the performance of my team. We were outstanding."
