Chelsea manager Luiz Felipe Scolari today told the critics to get off Rafael Benitez's back ahead of their meeting with Liverpool at Anfield on Sunday.

Benitez is under intense pressure after his team drew at Wigan on Wednesday when he substituted both Fernando Torres and skipper Steven Gerrard and only used substitute Robbie Keane for the last five minutes.

Liverpool are now third, two points behind Manchester United, and have not won in the four matches since Benitez attacked Sir Alex Ferguson and his treatment of referees at the start of the month.

Benitez's tactics were lambasted by former Liverpool players Alan Hansen and Mark Lawrenson during the week, but Scolari has sympathy with the Spaniard and said he can understand the reasons behind the controversial rant against the United manager.

"It's one of his ideas and I haven't spoken to him about it," said Scolari today. "Maybe I will at the weekend.

"I understand that, sometimes, when we play there [at Old Trafford] and at Stamford Bridge, I know what happens."

Liverpool have drawn four out of their last five home games in the Premier League but Scolari still expects a difficult encounter.

"Rafa may have more problems at the moment but if you work in the same place for three seasons or so, then you know how to react to that," Scolari added.

"I don't know what's happened there and I don't know what's happened with Benitez.

"He is still a fantastic coach with good players and we'll need to adapt more than in the other games for this match. I think about my job, not his. I've lost 14 points at Stamford Bridge and I'm not a bad coach because of that.

“I like Benitez very much and I wish him all the best. Not in our game but all the best in his life and the rest of his career.

“He's a very good coach who knows the Premier League more than me because he's been here four or five years.”

Chelsea have yet to beat any of the other recognised members of the big four' this season but Scolari is unconcerned.

He insists his side have a psychological edge after their victory over Middlesbrough in midweek lifted them above Liverpool into second place on goal difference.

“We started the Middlesbrough game under pressure because we were in fourth position,” he said.
“[Aston] Villa had won and the other teams were in front of us.

“But our confidence is very good and we've played better in the last four or five games. We've also shown more heart.”

Liverpool ended Chelsea's 86-match unbeaten home League run earlier in the season but the Brazilian refuses to crank up talk of a revenge mission for his side.Any victory is very good for me,” Scolari added. “It's a game that maybe will decide the direction of winning or not winning the Championship.”

Scolari has also signalled that Chelsea's big-spending days under Roman Abramovich may be
over and fears the Blues' belt tightening in the wake of the global economic crisis will last for up to three years.

The time when Abramovich set the standards in big-budget transfer moves, splashing £30million for Andriy Shevchenko and £21m for Shaun Wright-Phillips, is a distant memory.

Instead, it is Manchester City — bank-rolled by the oil-rich Abu Dhabi United Group — who have become English football's financial big-hitters.
Scolari has been forced to work within relatively tight fiscal constraints ever since his arrival at Stamford Bridge last summer.

He said: “There is no frustration — I understand what is happening in the world. Things change and the fans, players and coaches need to understand the changes.

“Now, for two or three years minimum, everyone in football and other places needs to think about the future.

“There will be no more transfers, in or out [in this window]. There have been no offers too.”