Benitez Admits Liverpool´s Title Hopes Are Fading

Sunday, March 1, 2009

Category: Sports. Tags: English Premier League, Football, Liverpool FC, Rafael Benitez.

Benitez admits Liverpool´s title hopes are fading Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez admits his side’s Premier League title hopes are fading after a shock 2-0 defeat at Middlesbrough.

Benitez concedes the title is now Manchester United’s to lose thanks to Saturday’s meltdown at the Riverside Stadium.

Xabi Alonso’s own goal plus a Tuncay Sanli second-half strike ended Liverpool’s 15-game unbeaten league run to leave them a daunting seven points behind runaway leaders United.

Liverpool have also played a game more to make their key trip to Old Trafford later this month assume must-win proportions as they bid to keep their slim hopes alive.

Even that might not be enough to prevent their bitter rivals from bagging their latest Premier League crown.

Benitez knows Sir Alex Ferguson’s leaders are strong favourites to retain their title and he said: “It depends on Manchester United. Will they slip up? Maybe, I don’t know. The ball’s in their court now.

“We will have to make sure we beat Sunderland in our next game now. Before this game winning the title was a difficult task, clearly now it’s even more difficult.”

After seeming to sort out their behind the scenes problems by announcing Rick Parry – the chief executive who enjoys an uneasy working relationship with Benitez – will leave at the end of the season, Liverpool’s on the field frustrations look set to continue, as does their near 20-year wait for a top flight title.

Benitez refused to blame the continued speculation about his long-term future for this latest damaging setback.

With his new contract yet to be signed, he added: “My advisers are in talks with the advisers of the owners. Maybe they will have a conversation and we’ll see if we can progress.”

The Spaniard also would not use Liverpool’s tough 1-0 midweek Champions League victory at Real Madrid as an excuse for a below-par display which saw his side badly run out of steam after the opening half hour.

He added: “We had some problems with injuries and some players who were tired but we should have had the game won in the first 30 minutes when we were in control so it’s disappointing that we lost.

“It was a frustrating game for us because we created around five chances in the opening half hour but you have to take those chances. If you want to win, you have to score. To stay at the top of the table you have to score, if you don’t it leaves you in a bad position.”

Liverpool are now without a win at Middlesbrough’s Riverside Stadium for seven years, a venue where they have failed to score in six of their last seven visits after they were denied early on by Australian keeper Brad Jones.

Alonso’s deflected own goal from Stewart Downing’s corner broke Middlesbrough’s near nine-hour Premier League goal drought, before Tuncay’s angled drive secured the hosts’ first league win for 15 games to lift them out of the bottom three.

Middlesbrough manager Gareth Southgate is backing United for the title, and he added: “United are winning so regularly that it’ll be difficult for anybody to catch them. For all the top teams chasing United is a formidable task at the moment.”