Star striker Benitez?

Last updated : 21 March 2005 By Rich Middleton
With Dietmaar Hamann, 'Nando Morientes, John Arne Riise, Stephen Warnock and Luis Garcia all picking up injuries, the boss has joked he may have to get his boots on and start up front against Bolton in two weeks.

"I will have to train now because we do not have any strikers left! But it is very difficult, and maybe the reason we are so inconsistent, we do not have enough players in the right positions," Benitez said.

But despite the widespread injuries, Rafa praised the side, and highlighted the teams ability to produce clear goal scoring opportunities, even with a substantially weakened team.

"We played the second half with 10 players, virtually nine because Riise could barely run with an ankle problem. But we created two clear chances and it is difficult to play better with nine or 10 players out there," he said. 

Rafa also discussed Milan Baros' unnecessary red card, adding: "Maybe Milan deserved a red card but it's easy to show a red card in that situation. I would like to see the three or four other possible yellow cards that could have been shown."

However, Benitez preferred to concentrate on the superb result, concluding: "It was a fantastic result, we have put pressure on Everton and will try to do the same in the next game."