Thaindian News

London, Dec 13(ANI): Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez has said that he still has the backing of his players as he attempts to get the club’s Premier League season back on track.

Benitez is entering the most critical phase of his career at the club after Liverpool was dumped out of the Champions League.

“The players are behind me. You can see that in some of the big players - Torres, Gerrard and Reina. They are positive and know they have to work hard for the club and the fans. The players know we are not performing at the level we need. Sometimes they have doubts about us, but that’s part of the game,” News of The World quoted Benitez, as saying. “They are focused, they are working hard and trying to win games. When you lose one or two it becomes more difficult,” he added.

Benitez further said that the team needs to have confidence in its abilities and try to reduce the gap in the Premier League and see what happens.

“When you are not winning lots of games in a row confidence can be very low. We made mistakes in the Champions League, but we can improve. Can we improve in attack by bringing back Torres? Yes. Can we improve in attack with Gerrard fitter? I think so. It will be easier for me, doing more or less the same things with different kinds of players,” Benitez said. “We will be much better in attack - 100 per cent. As a manager you have good and bad moments, but we are in a situation where we have to improve. Everybody was expecting Liverpool to be top of the table at this time and to have qualified for the Champions League. We have to be positive,” he added. (ANI)