Benitez stung by criticism

Rafael Benitez admitted he had been taken aback by the criticism he has received this week after watching his Liverpool side win 3-0 at Watford today.

Benitez came under fire for fielding a weakened team for the midweek Carling Cup match at home to Arsenal, which the Reds lost 6-3.

Two goals from Peter Crouch and one from Craig Bellamy were enough to see off bottom club Watford in today’s Barclays Premiership match, but Anfield chief Benitez’s mind was still on the pressure he has come under after suffering successive cup defeats by Arsenal.

“I was surprised,” he said. “Sometimes, people do not understand what you are trying to do and what we are trying to analyse.

“But we cannot do anything about it. We have to keep doing our job.”

Liverpool will now go into next weekend’s home match against champions Chelsea in buoyant mood, but today’s experience was chastening for Watford manager Adrian Boothroyd.

Boothroyd revealed the Hornets had now received an improved offer of £8m - believed to be from West Ham – for star forward Ashley Young, but said he had not yet had chance to discuss the bid with his board.

Today’s result made Watford look certainties for an immediate return to the Coca-Cola Championship, and Boothroyd found his side’s display hard to digest.

“I felt Liverpool were there for the taking today,” Boothroyd said. “They had a dodgy result in midweek, and, if we had got into them as we normally do, we could have got something.

“When we play a team from the big four, a choke goes on for some of the players.

“They come up against people they are used to seeing on the television, and some of them cannot cope with it sometimes.

“Along with our defeats by Sheffield United and Chelsea, this is the most annoyed I have been after a game this season.

“We do not have world-class players, but we have heart and soul and passion.

“At the end of the day, those things might not prove to be enough, but I expect them and I did not get them today, so I am very disappointed.”

Benitez’s decision to operate for the first time with a three-man strikeforce of Crouch, Bellamy and Dirk Kuyt paid off, with Bellamy, in particular, showing irresistible form as Liverpool won for the seventh time in eight league matches.

The Spaniard continued: “After the defeats in the cup competitions, I said we needed to show character, and I could see the team were really focused on controlling the game and creating chances.

“The strikers did a good job, and the rest of the team did well to support them.

“It was difficult, because the pitch was not good, and we could not move the ball properly.”

With David Beckham now unlikely to play again for Real Madrid before he moves to LA Galaxy in the summer, a loan move to the Premiership for the rest of the campaign is a possibility.

But Benitez claimed he had no interest in bringing in the former England skipper, adding: “I have Jermaine Pennant (for the right wing) and I am happy with him.”