May 26 2008 by Nick Smith, Liverpool Daily Post
RAFAEL BENITEZ has revealed that improving his defence will be a key factor to Liverpool’s challenge next season.
Although the Anfield side only conceded 28 goals in the Premier League, that was still two more than runners-up Chelsea while Manchester United conceded just 22 on their way to the title.
Benitez has already made inroads in the pursuit of Udinese’s £8million left-back Andrea Dossena as he tries to strengthen up the flanks that are set to be vacated by the departures of Steven Finnan and John Arne Riise.
But addressing the lapses in concentration that cost Liverpool vital goals, especially from set-pieces, is one of Benitez’s priorities as he searches for ways to further close the gap on the top two.
“We have been really good in defence for three of four years, but I think we need to improve a little bit if we want to be at the top of the table,” said Benitez.
“We have analysed a lot of things this year. For example, we have conceded a lot of goals from set-pieces. We need to understand why because the season before we conceded six, now it’s 16, yet we’re doing more or less the same things.
“We talk about how to do things properly and yet we continue doing the same things sometimes. We can improve some things.
“We also need to keep the team scoring in open play while at the same time improving a little bit in defence.”
Liverpool also fell down in the number of wins they accumulated in the league last season as they failed to convert one point into three on 13 occasions.
The statistics back up the manager’s confidence that the spine of his team is in place but finding the extra touches to improve on those results will be the focus of his summer spending.
“We know our weaknesses and our strengths. We know where we need to improve, so we’ll try to build a new team looking at these things,” said Benitez. “We will try to do our best but the key for me is to not talk about the title.
“The key is to be near the top, to be contenders. If we stay close then I think we are capable of doing it.
“It’s always the same – during the season you must do your job with the players you have and afterwards, in the summer, you need to do your job with the staff.
“It’s really important to sign the right players with the right mentality – a winning mentality. You want players who are desperate to come here and win trophies.”
Udinese’s sporting director Pietro Leonardi has refused to back up his coach Pasquale Marino’s assertion that Dossena was set to complete his move to Anfield this week, but admits that negotiations are on-going.
“We have not got an agreement yet with the English side,” Leonardi said. “We are negotiating, but we will talk again next week. For the moment, nothing is done.”
And Dossena’s agent Federico Pastorello, seemingly in a move to engineer a higher price for his player, has hinted that he is interested in joining up with Fiorentina coach Cesare Prandelli, who he previously played under at Verona.
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RAFAEL BENITEZ has revealed that improving his defence will be a key factor to Liverpool’s challenge next season.
Although the Anfield side only conceded 28 goals in the Premier League, that was still two more than runners-up Chelsea while Manchester United conceded just 22 on their way to the title.
Benitez has already made inroads in the pursuit of Udinese’s £8million left-back Andrea Dossena as he tries to strengthen up the flanks that are set to be vacated by the departures of Steven Finnan and John Arne Riise.
But addressing the lapses in concentration that cost Liverpool vital goals, especially from set-pieces, is one of Benitez’s priorities as he searches for ways to further close the gap on the top two.
“We have been really good in defence for three of four years, but I think we need to improve a little bit if we want to be at the top of the table,” said Benitez.
“We have analysed a lot of things this year. For example, we have conceded a lot of goals from set-pieces. We need to understand why because the season before we conceded six, now it’s 16, yet we’re doing more or less the same things.
“We talk about how to do things properly and yet we continue doing the same things sometimes. We can improve some things.
“We also need to keep the team scoring in open play while at the same time improving a little bit in defence.”
Liverpool also fell down in the number of wins they accumulated in the league last season as they failed to convert one point into three on 13 occasions.
The statistics back up the manager’s confidence that the spine of his team is in place but finding the extra touches to improve on those results will be the focus of his summer spending.
“We know our weaknesses and our strengths. We know where we need to improve, so we’ll try to build a new team looking at these things,” said Benitez. “We will try to do our best but the key for me is to not talk about the title.
“The key is to be near the top, to be contenders. If we stay close then I think we are capable of doing it.
“It’s always the same – during the season you must do your job with the players you have and afterwards, in the summer, you need to do your job with the staff.
“It’s really important to sign the right players with the right mentality – a winning mentality. You want players who are desperate to come here and win trophies.”
Udinese’s sporting director Pietro Leonardi has refused to back up his coach Pasquale Marino’s assertion that Dossena was set to complete his move to Anfield this week, but admits that negotiations are on-going.
“We have not got an agreement yet with the English side,” Leonardi said. “We are negotiating, but we will talk again next week. For the moment, nothing is done.”
And Dossena’s agent Federico Pastorello, seemingly in a move to engineer a higher price for his player, has hinted that he is interested in joining up with Fiorentina coach Cesare Prandelli, who he previously played under at Verona.
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utusanLFC : it would be interesting if we accept Rafa's interview as some kind of a surmon. hihihi
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