Benitez denies Gerrard ‘problem’

Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez denied there is a problem with captain Steven Gerrard following the 1-1 draw with Stoke City.Stoke City 1-1 Liverpool
Tony Pulis: “You can look at all sorts of decisions. I did not think it was a free-kick before they scored and probably (Thomas) Sorensen will have to take the blame for conceding a poor goal. But we got up a fair momentum in the end and I felt we deserved the draw.
“I certainly did not think that there was anything wrong with Liverpool’s performance. Their commitment and attitude was spot-on, they had a real go.
“I can understand where Rafa is coming from in complaining about the penalty decisions but you do that when you are on one side of the fence. I would do the same but these things are just part of the game.”
Rafael Benitez: “I was very pleased. It is something we can build on. Talk of problems in the dressing room are not true. You could see the response from the players’ point. Is someone saying there is a problem with Steven Gerrard? Not true. He was here today supporting the team, that says everything.
“You can watch them a hundred times on replay and you would always say they were penalties, the decisions were wrong. The players were angry afterwards, everyone could see there were two penalties. But you have to keep going when things are not going your way. The main thing for me was that the players were positive from start to finish, they produced a real performance for the club.
“You can watch them a hundred times on replay and you would always say they were penalties, the decisions were wrong. The players were angry afterwards, everyone could see there were two penalties.
“But you have to keep going when things are not going your way. The main thing for me was that the players were positive from start to finish, they produced a real performance for the club.”
Chelsea 7-2 Sunderland
Carlo Ancelotti: “We have just given maybe our best performance of the season. This is how we should continue to play from now until the end of the campaign.
“I took John Terry and Ashley Cole off at half time because John had a problem with his back, while Ashley took a knock on his ankle. But it was just a precaution.
“As for Ashley’s goal – it was fantastic. Fantastic movement, and a fantastic pass from John Terry.”
Steve Bruce: “There’s no getting away from it, we have had our backsides well and truly kicked.
“We’ve got a lot of players missing defensively and this is a hard enough place to come when you have a full strength side.
“But we couldn’t get near them today, it was a procession, and we can only hope that we pick ourselves up, dust ourselves down, and respond.”
Manchester United 3-0 Burnley
Sir Alex Ferguson: “Dimitar Benbatov was feeling his knee again. He played through it today but he could have come off at half-time. We will have to look at it again on Monday and see what the situation is.
“He was the player who looked most like scoring today. A couple of shots went just by the post, he also had a couple of headers over the bar. He had so many attempts he was probably relieved to get one in the end.
“We could have been embarrassed. We had a number of opportunities to punish them in the final third but there was a bit of nervousness and anxiety about our game.
“You need a goal to open teams up in matches like that, although while they will probably feel 3-0 was unfair, I didn’t believe it was too unjust.”Brian Laws: “If you look at key moments in games we should have taken the lead when Nugent went through. When you come to places like this you have got to take your chances. I don’t think there are many teams who come to Manchester United and have the chances we had.”
Brian Laws: “If you look at key moments in games we should have taken the lead when Nugent went through. When you come to places like this you have got to take your chances. I don’t think there are many teams who come to Manchester United and have the chances we had.”
Tottenham Hotspur 0-0 Hull City
Harry Redknapp: “The keeper has had an unbelievable day and will never play like that again in his life. They were miraculous saves, five or six incredible saves. They played six minutes of stoppage time at the end of the game, four in the first half. The referee needs to book players quicker, that’s the way to deal with it.”
Phil Brown: “It was a fantastic performance from Boaz Myhill. He must have pulled off half a dozen world-class saves. When he was beaten by the first shot at times he followed it up another one. He did that one a couple of occasions. It was a fantastic display from all the players, none more so than Boaz.”
Wolverhampton Wanderers 0-2 Wigan Athletic
Mick McCarthy: “The referee put a block in on David Jones which impeded him for the first goal. When Marcus (Hahnemann) made the save, I would have like one of my players to have the chance to get the rebound rather than be blocked by the ref. But I’ve got no problems with the sending off – it was not the most sane thing I’ve seen from Richard Stearman.”
Roberto Martinez: “We looked very dangerous on the break and created good chances in the first half. It looked like it might be one of those days the way their keeper played – we’ve had a few occasions like that. But instead of feeling sorry for ourselves we showed maturity – it was a complete performance.”
Everton 2-0 Manchester City
David Moyes: “I don’t think you can have a great deal of argument. If you pull someone’s shirt and it is as blatant as that then there’s no argument. From the start to the end we were tremendous. I think we have been playing that way recently, just haven’t got the goals.”
Roberto Mancini: “During the game, I had to change the situation because I can’t play with five strikers. For me it was no penalty. Everton played better than us. I think we can play better, tonight we were so-so, but we have a problem with injuries.”

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