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We won't be as bad at Chelsea, vows angry Benitez
David Yuill30.09.09
Fiorentina 2
Liverpool 0
Rafael Benitez insists Chelsea will face a "very different" Liverpool side from the one that crashed to a 2-0 defeat away to Fiorentina last night.
The Reds failed to score in Europe for the first time since March 2007 as they were beaten by a brace of goals from 19-year-old Montenegro forward Stevan Jovetic.
Benitez blasted his side's bland performance and quickly got to thinking about Sunday's clash at Stamford Bridge.
"We certainly will not be as bad again," said the Liverpool manager. "If you make too many mistakes against such sides, you will be punished. It is very simple.
"We now have Chelsea in an important Premier League game. I believe you will see a different Liverpool in that match, a totally different performance with a different mentality."
The result gave the Italians their first points in Group E of the Champions League and left Liverpool third in the table.
Benitez said: "Our next games in this group are against Lyon home and away. They are the leaders and it means we have to now win them both."
Jovetic scored in the 28th minute when he latched onto Cristiano Zanetti's intricate pass to expertly slot past Pepe Reina.
He grabbed his second nine minutes later when he deflected Juan Vargas's shot beyond Reina's near post. Benitez was critical of his side's defending for both goals and said he had done his homework on the talented Jovetic.
He added: "Our mentality in that opening period was just not right, we were bad all over the pitch and I cannot really recall a performance like that.
"They did not produce anything we didn't expect. We had watched them, we knew about Jovetic but we still played badly."
Reader views (3)
Liverpool faces many problems. Not one player can strike the ball like Vargas of Florentina. Liverpool players are side-footers of the ball and consequently no threat to goalkeeprs.
Liverpool players don't mark the opposition. Instead they mark zones, but zones don't play football and zones don't score goals. Hence Liverpool has conceded 10 goals from set pieces because they stand by guarding zones and watching the ball!
Kuyt and Babel are strikers but they are played as wingers! Hence their ineffectiveness.
Carra ism good ball stopper but he cannot track back. He is too slow.
Long balls from the backline to Torres is useless.
Reina doesn't come out for high balls in the penalty box. He should be dominant and rule supreme here but he stands on the goalline watches the ball being headed into goal!
- Satha, Penang, Malaysia
Liverpool have no midfield and poor defence and if Chelsea attack them,this could be Liverpools biggest defeat in years.
- Dave, london
Did your homework on him did you Rafa? Sorry mate, but you get a C- and a "Could do better"
- Barry Chapman, Welwyn England
