Benitez thrashes out Liverpool´s title meltdown with Anfield stars

Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez admits he held a meeting with his players in the aftermatch of their defeat against Middlesbrough to discuss the team’s title meltdown.

Benitez’s side wasted a chance to close the gap on leaders Manchester United as they crashed to a 2-0 loss at the Riverside Stadium on Saturday.

The Reds are now seven points behind United, having played a game more than Sir Alex Ferguson’s side, and their title hopes look in tatters.

Benitez, whose side host Sunderland on Tuesday, sat down with the squad to thrash out what went wrong at Middlesbrough and where they go from here.

The Spanish coach believes injures to stars like Fernando Torres have played a key role in Liverpool’s failure to keep pace with United because they have placed too much pressure on the squad’s youngsters.

“We have talked about the mistakes we made (at Middlesbrough) and the future. And the immediate future is playing Sunderland, trying to get three points and then waiting to see what happens with Manchester United,” Benitez said on Monday.

“The title was difficult before, it is more difficult now. What we have to do is take our chances, and that is something that has been the same problem the whole season.

“Maybe if Torres had not been injured so much things would be different, but we cannot change the situation now. Everybody has players who get injured.

“Since the Champions League win in Madrid we have had some problems, several players have been injured, among other things.

“The worst thing has been the injuries to Torres. He has been our main striker and scored a lot of goals for us last season. And this season could have been totally different with him.

“At this stage of the season when every point is important, having your best players available is the most important thing because they have the experience.

“It is not fair to expect young players to come in and change games, that is when you need your more important players to bring something more to the side.”

Benitez refused to be drawn on whether he would sign a new contract soon but he confirmed that talks “will take place in maybe two days, maybe two weeks”.

He also side-stepped questions over whether he had discussed the squad’s lack of depth with the club’s American owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett, as well as his players.

He said: “We must keep going in the title race, to try to win each game as it comes along.

“We have learned we must be more clinical, to finish games when you have chances.

“We played with anxiety at Middlesbrough, we gave the ball away too easily with simple passes. These are things we have to improve if we are going to fight for the title.

“But we must not forget that our league performance is better than last season.

“Still, we have to improve. Yes, we have had key players injured and maybe that could have cost us four or five points.

“In this title race that would be a massive difference. We are in a good position but we could be in a much better position.

“We are now rated in the UEFA rankings as the best team in Europe over the last five years, that underlines how we have done in those seasons.

“The squad is good, but there are too many games when things go wrong and that makes a massive difference.

“We had confidence and we were in a very good position for a long time. It has been our best performance for several seasons.

“But when we need fresh legs when senior players are injured, things are not easy.”