BENITEZ AWARE OF PRESSURE

From Sporting Life

Rafael Benitez admits that his tremendous success at Valencia is making his task at Liverpool more difficult.

The Reds still trail rivals Everton by seven points in the battle for fourth place in the Barclays Premiership and they need to beat Fulham at Anfield on Saturday to maintain the pressure.

Liverpool's form in January was poor and attracted a lot of criticism but after reaching the Carling Cup final and beating Charlton on Tuesday, Benitez hopes that is now a thing of the past.

It is taking time for Benitez's methods to bear fruit and he admits the pressure on him is different from at Valencia, where he did not have a big reputation to live up to.

The Spaniard said: "When I arrived in Valencia, people said he is not a famous manager. Here I arrived with two leagues and one UEFA Cup, a lot trophies, and then it was different.

"The first year at Valencia was not good enough but after three years we had the best statistics in the club's history, and I would like to do the same here."

Benitez believes he has now emerged from his first really critical spell as Liverpool manager, when he faced intense scrutiny after losses to Manchester United, Burnley and Southampton in the space of a week.

He said: "I have had situations like this before in Spain. When you win, people pat you on the back. If you lose, a lot of people are around you talking about you. It is more difficult perhaps here, because trying to talk is difficult for me."

Benitez has always insisted that any transformation at Liverpool will take time and Norwegian midfielder John Arne Riise - who grabbed the winner at Charlton, his sixth goal of the season - agrees.

Riise said: "Everybody surely could see that a new man can't change everything straight away. But I think he, and the players, have showed the fans that we are playing decent football.

"We are keeping the ball more and have more options to play and we are working hard in training to get a system of playing.

"This season has been up and down, but we are in the final anyway of the Carling Cup and still in the Champions League, so it has not been a bad season. Hopefully next season is going to be even better."

Benitez's injury woes could be easing as the Fulham game approaches. Harry Kewell has started training again and could be involved, while Vladimir Smicer made his comeback at Charlton after a six-month recovery spell from a knee operation.

Smicer played 45 minutes of the reserves' win over Middlesbrough on Wednesday, a game which also saw the return of Antonio Nunez after a three-match suspension.

Mauricio Pellegrino - left on the bench at Charlton - also played in the first half while Anthony Le Tallec completed his second full game in five days after a period of inactivity while out on loan at St Etienne. Josemi are both also close to a return to training after lengthy injuries.