Liverpool boss Rafael Benitez remains adamant that he made the right decision to substitute skipper Steven Gerrard late on in the 2-1 Merseyside derby victory at Everton.
Gerrad reacted badly to being substituted 19 minutes from time at Goodison Park, with Benitez opting to bring on Lucas Leiva in the England man's place.
However, the tactic worked as the Reds stole victory with a last-minute penalty, in a controversial clash dominated by the bizarre decisions of referee Mark Clattenburg.
Benitez told the Daily Post: "The idea was clear. We were playing with 11 players against ten, we had plenty of possession and we needed to control the ball. I needed to change a player for playing between the lines around the midfielders. Gerrard is a fantastic player, there is no doubt about this, but you are playing the game and you need to take decisions to win the game. If I'd had needed to change Pepe Reina because he was nervous I would do it. Sometimes you need to wait, sometimes you need to do it. He wanted to play for sure. I tried to talk to him, but he was disappointed. The clever decision will be to look at it with him later and analyse why the decision was made. I think he will understand, because it is normal to do the best for the team."
05 10 2007
Luis Aragones has again omitted Raul from his Spain squad as the Real Madrid captain was left out for the crucial Euro 2008 qualifier against Denmark next week.
Despite his impressive form for Los Merengues, Raul has failed to win his place back with la Seleccion and the national team coach remains loyal to his favoured forwards.
Spain take on Denmark in the crunch Group F encounter on October 13, where a victory for the visitors to Aarhus would push them to the cusp of qualification for the European Championships in Austria and Switzerland next summer.
Carles Puyol is back in the squad, having missed last month's matches through injury, while Valencia's Raul Albiol and Espanyol's Albert Riera are the surprise inclusions.
"Our qualification for EURO 2008 is at stake," Aragones said. "I know Riera from my time at Mallorca and he's technically a great player."
After playing Denmark at the weekend, Spain then travel to Helsinki to take on Finland, who are well placed in Group A, in a friendly.
Defenders: Pablo Ibanez (Atletico de Madrid), Mariano Pernia (Atletico de Madrid), Carles Puyol (FC Barcelona), Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid), Carlos Marchena (Valencia), Joan Capdevila (Villarreal), Raul Albiol (Valencia).
Midfielders: Cesc Fabregas (Arsenal), Andres Iniesta (FC Barcelona), David Silva (Valencia), Xavi Hernandez (FC Barcelona), David Albelda (Valencia), Miguel Angel Angulo (Valencia), Joaquin (Valencia), Albert Riera (Espanyol).
Forwards: David Villa (Valencia), Fernando Torres (Liverpool), Luis Garcia (Espanyol).
04 10 2007
Liverpool goalkeeper Pepe Reina admits there is no excuse for his side's performance in their 1-0 Champions League defeat against Marseille.
Pepe Reina finally had his record broken last night, being beaten by a wonder strike from Mathieu Valbuena as The Reds crashed to their first defeat of the season, against Marseille.
After early season promise, Liverpool have failed to put in an inspired performance for some time, apart from Fernando Torres' glorious hat-trick at Reading in the Carling Cup.
For a campaign that promised much, the indication is that there's still some work to be done at Anfield.
Reina had very few positives to take out of last night's performance.
The Spaniard told Liverpoolfc.tv: "To lose at home is always difficult, especially for us because we're used to winning every game here. We have to sort it out. Everything went wrong. It was disappointing because we never play like this. We were late and almost always behind the ball. Last year we were brilliant in the Champions League but started the Premier League poorly. Today it looks like it's the other way round. I don't know if we are more focused on the league but we need to learn from these mistakes. We have to talk about it today, analyse and stay calm. There is pressure but there's pressure on any game – there's always pressure to win when you wear a Liverpool shirt. We have two tough games against Besiktas now and then we host Porto – we have to make sure we do better. Now we must think about Tottenham on Sunday. We need three points because we're at home and we will still be confident."
