[EPL] Liverpool 2-2 Man City
-
Liverpool v Manchester City
Live on Ch27 @ 8:45pm tonight!
-
Rafael Benitez today called on his players to serve up a repeat of their performance against Manchester United last month when Liverpool cross swords with Manchester City at Anfield on Saturday.
The Reds are looking to halt a run of one win in nine matches, though that victory came against United in October as goals from Fernando Torres and David Ngog secured a fully-deserved triumph in front of the Kop.
Benitez is eager for a similar display when Mark Hughes' City arrive on Merseyside.
"We have to do our job, play well and if we play at the same level we can beat anyone," the boss told his weekly press conference at Melwood.
"If we can beat United by playing well, I think we can do it against City."
The game with the Citizens kicks-off an important week of fixtures for Liverpool, with trips to Debrecen and Everton to follow.
"It is an important week, but at our club every week is always important," said Benitez.
"Hopefully in April we will be talking about another important week and it will mean we are playing for something.
"The first thing we have to do is try to win against City and then afterwards concentrate on Debrecen and then Everton. We will take things one step at a time."
City will travel to Anfield with genuine aspirations of breaking into the top four this season.
The Eastlands club currently sit one point and place ahead of Liverpool in the table, but Benitez believes it is too early to be predicting the season's potential outcome.
Asked if this match would go some way to deciding which teams will make up the top four come May, the gaffer replied: "It is too early to tell, but it will be an important game for both sides.
"Clearly we know things can change every week in football. You have to try and win and wait and see what happens afterwards, but I am not worried about what people say.
"I am only worried about what the mood is like in our dressing room and if we play well and win.
"We have to approach the game with confidence that we can win. We cannot be thinking about every game and whether it is more or less important than others. This one is the most important for us because it's the next one we have to play."
He added: "City are playing well. They are a good team, have good players and a manager with experience, so it will be a tough and important game for us.
"Afterwards, we have the Champions League and then Everton and we know every game from now will be important because we want to progress and be higher in the table.
"If we can do things well, I am sure we will be in the top four."
Meanwhile, Benitez was asked for his views on the controversy surrounding France's decisive goal in their World Cup qualifying playoff with Ireland on Wednesday evening.
Quizzed by reporters on whether the use of video technology could have prevented the incident in which Thierry Henry seemingly handled the ball before setting up William Gallas' equaliser, the manager said: "Clearly it was handball. I am always talking about how video technology can maybe help. Everyone could see it was handball and that's it.
"To use it (video technology) properly is not easy, but for an incident like this I think it can help 100 per cent.
"For the other things such as technical points it will be more difficult, but maybe one day we will find a way." -
Rafa Benitez today revealed how four of his injured stars could be fit for Man City after flying to Serbia for 'special treatment'.
Albert Riera and Yossi Benayoun were due to be out for another two weeks with hamstring problems but could now feature on Saturday after the much-publicised journey to eastern Europe.
Benitez was so pleased with the treatment they received that he sent Fabio Aurelio and Glen Johnson to Serbia for work on their muscle injuries.
All four players are now back in Merseyside and have taken part in full training sessions for the past two days.
Benitez told Liverpoolfc.tv: "You know people have talked about them going to Serbia for special treatment and that's true. We had a lot of reports of international players going there, so we sent some players.
"They are now training so we will see if they can play. They have trained for the last two days.
"It has been good. There are other names from different teams who have been doing this treatment for seven years.
"It is a curative program for players with muscle injuries and it works well."
The major injury headache confronting Benitez before the international break has now almost cleared, with Steven Gerrard, David Ngog and Daniel Agger all passed fit for City.
Fernando Torres is the only senior star still in the treatment room.
Benitez added: "He is improving. He had a plan of two or three weeks, he's following this and improving." -
nothing much ... no excitement yet
-
Ryan babel ankle injury out , need to fly to Belgrade for treatment hhahahah , looked like whole squad need to see the Belgrade's Physiotherapy
-
Torres not playing ......
-
So far, a boring match.
Ah Ben still do not want to unleash the 20 million italian.
Babel just have no mood to play since he ording in Jan 2010.
Dunno what Liverpool is playing for.
-
MC not likely to win ....
They don't have the shape to do so ...
Liverpool will win .
-
Toure stupid to tahan with that hip injury , not worth .
-
De Jong do some muscular job in the middle ....
Gerrard not that mobile he used to be ....
Should sent in Aquilani to put more strength in our middle . Ngogu should go out for Aquilani .
Play Kuyt upfront enought . Put extra men in the middle that could did the trick .
-
There is no one to score for Liverpool.
They are like headless chicken.
Just crowd round the 6 yard box and Liverpool is STUCK.
-
i have to admit , after alonso , there is no one currently can control the pace of the game .
-
ok i saw some consolation , Insua doing a good job on S W Philips
-
i mean , Alonso , with his one pass , can create from defense into attack . And that can scared opponent down .
-
Liverpool 1-0
It's Skrtel's !!! Definitely
-
City scored... they deserved 1..
-
My god ireland makes it 2!
-
WOW now its 2-2!!
-
2-2
-
but draw is bad for pool.... as well..
-
who gonna be the come back king?
city or pool?
-
Lucas = FIFA World Player of the Year
-
Man City 2nd goal .... how can Kyrgiakos allowed SWP to turn and have a shot like that ? Defensive errors ....
Man City 1st goal .... how can Skrtel not kept a watch on Adebayor ? Another defensive blunders
Our defense , yet again , caused our downfall for 3 points .
-
Originally posted by Poolman:
Man City 2nd goal .... how can Kyrgiakos allowed SWP to turn and have a shot like that ? Defensive errors ....
Man City 1st goal .... how can Skrtel not kept a watch on Adebayor ? Another defensive blunders
Our defense , yet again , caused our downfall for 3 points .
look on the bright side
1 point is better than 0 points
-
The past few matches i've seen tells me one things...
Kuyt should be replaced... He is not a clutch player, nor clinical enough..