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| Rafael Benitez © Action Images |
Rafael Benitez insists Liverpool can take heart from their battling 2-2 draw with Manchester City even though their Premier League title challenge looks all but over.
Benitez's side needed a late Yossi Benayoun strike to salvage a
point at Anfield on Saturday after Martin Skrtel's opener was
cancelled out by goals from City's Emmanuel Adebayor and Stephen
Ireland.
The Reds remain in seventh place and have won just one of their
last ten matches in all competitions.
Premier League leaders Chelsea look out of sight for Liverpool
but Benitez refused to be downbeat as he tries to lift his players
for their vital midweek Champions League trip to Debrecen.
"I'm disappointed with the result but you can't say anything
because the players were working so hard," Benitez said.
"We had a lot of problems and conceded two goals but you could
still see the character of the team. In the circumstances it was a
very good performance."
Benitez, who was already without Fernando Torres, was rocked by
first half injuries to Danish defender Daniel Agger and Dutch
forward Ryan Babel that left both doubtful for the Debrecen clash.
The Liverpool boss admitted his side will struggle to end their
slump until all his stars are fit.
"With some players available and fit we are much better," he
said. "We are still bringing players back from injury it will be
could. Gerrard was tired, (David) Ngog was tired and we had to make
two substitutes early on.
"Agger has five stitches and Babel has a problem with his ankle
so we have to wait to see if they will be fit."
City boss Mark Hughes was frustrated to see his team settle for
a sixth successive league draw after causing plenty of problems for
Liverpool's defence.
"It's disappointing because I think we were the better team,"
Hughes said. "We were in a winning position and that is the
frustration at the moment. We are allowing those situations to go
away from us.
"If we had defended that moment correctly we could have seen the
game out because Liverpool weren't causing us too many problems."
City striker Emmanuel Adebayor scored his side's first goal as
he took advantage of Liverpool's zonal marking to head home in
yards of space from a corner.
The former Arsenal star admitted he was surprised to have been
granted so much room to take the chance.
"When you have (Martin) Skrtel, (Jamie) Carragher and people
like that at the back it is very difficult," he said.
"On the corner, I don't know where they were. I was very happy
to be on my own and it was a good finish."
Hughes admitted City had planned to take advantage of
Liverpool's marking system.
He said: "A running jump will aways beat a standing jump. If
you've got a guy in the box like Adebayor you've got a chance if
you can find him. I thought it was a magnificent header."
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