Anfield Red

Liverpool are 1-0 down to Chelsea after a late first half goal from Drogba.

Ballack was given a straight red after stamping on Sissoko, Can the reds get forward against a ten man Chelsea?

Liverpool goalkeeper Pepe Reina says he beleives in himself to forget about the Everton game.

Reina has admitted he made a mistake, and was criticised in the press for doing so, but Pepe has forgotten about it and is ready to face Chelsea this weekend.

"It was important not just for me to keep a clean sheet, but the whole team. It's better news for us,"

"As a goalkeeper, I know I always have to walk the line between making a mistake and making a save.

"I made a mistake on Saturday, but I always try to forget about it quickly.

"That's harder after a derby when there are people to remind you what happened. I know it was a mistake in an important game, but you just have to keep on going.

"I have experience, and I have made mistakes before and recovered. I have belief in myself."

Reina knows he cannot afford any more mistakes, but a good performance against PSV on tuesday shows it was a one off.

Rafa Benitez has said he is ready to put the ongoing dispute with Jose Mourinho behind him.

Each time Liverpool and Chelsea meet, there is a war of words about each other, about not shaking hands, Chelsea not admitting defeat etc, but Rafa has said he wants to put all that behind him and concentrate on winning.

"If he wants to shake hands, I don't have any problems with that. I will shake, I'll give him the opportunity to shake hands, if he wants. We'll go down there and be his guests on Sunday. I prefer to talk about football than these small things."

"At the end of the game, I will wait and see if he offers his hand. If he does, then I'll shake it, not a problem.

"Normally, when a manager comes to Anfield and comes to see me, I'll welcome him and offer him all the best for the season. I've never spoken about his team, so it's time to finish with this situation."

"People should be talking about football. We should be talking about things on the pitch, not matters off it"

Liverpool face Chelsea this weekend, and hopefully another win against the premiership champions is on the cards.

Steve Finnan has said everyone is over the defeat to Everton last weekend.

Liverpool lost the game 3-0, and have been criticised since, but then played PSV with an under strength side and still got a draw, nearly winning the game at the end; and Finnan now beleives they are ready to take on Chelsea this weekend.

It was good to get that weekend derby defeat our system and I think confidence has now been restored, which is important seeing as we’ve got a big game at Chelsea to come next,”

“It had been a difficult few days for us after losing the derby but a lot of the criticism after Saturday was a bit over the top. We don’t just turn into a bad side overnight and I think we proved that against a very strong PSV side.

“It was probably a fair result in the end but I think we played quite well and could have won it with a bit more luck in front of goal.

“They came at us more in the second half and had a lot of the ball but overall I don’t think there could have been too many complaints if Stevie’s shot had gone in at the end. Hopefully, we can now kick on in the Premiership and although we haven’t won at Stamford Bridge for a few years we don’t fear going there."

“There’ll obviously be a lot of hype surrounding the game because we’ve met in so many high profile encounters in recent seasons but this one can’t be labelled a make-or-break game for our league season. It’s far too early for that.”

Gabriel Paletta has spoke of life at Anfield and how he is settling in at the club.

Paletta signed in the summer from Argentine club Banfield, and has not made a first team appearance yet, but is enjoying being at the club so far.

I was surprised in the way we did training during the pre-season,"

"Nearly all what we did was to work with the ball and then some physical exercises but most of all playing with the ball.

"Another thing that surprised me was when Gerrard returned from the World Cup he came to where I was and presented himself.

"Everyone is patient with me and try to explain to me the things I don't stand in the language. Even the Spanish players talk to me in English. I am full time with my English lessons"

When Paletta signed, Rafa stated Gabriel as the type of player he needed at Liverpool :

"Paletta is very tough and he's exactly the sort of player we need who will suit the Premiership."

Rafael Benitez has said he will continue his squad rotation policy this season.

Liverpool started the PSV game with key players missing, such as Gerrard, Alonso, Hyypia and Crouch, but Rafa insisted this was to ensure everyone was at 100% for every game.

"Steven was on the bench as were several other senior players, Xabi Alonso, Peter Crouch, Sami Hyypia, but people only mention Gerrard,"

"We must accept that nobody can play at 100% for every match, it was a very difficult game against Everton and you can see that the players who were involved for all that game were on the bench.

"If you are not 100% fit and ready then you will be rested like that. It will happen to different players."

Speaking about Gerrard coming on as a sub, Benitez commented:

"He came on at the right time, We had needed to cover and work to stop their penetrating passes and that is why Momo Sissoko started."

"He has fantastic stamina, better than Alonso or Gerrard can reach.

"Now we have more options and we can use players in this way.

"We were intent on a clean sheet after that happened on Saturday, and we defended well and created enough chances to have won the match

Liverpool drew 0-0 with PSV Eindhoven in the Champions League.

Liverpool started the game with Gerrard and Alonso on the bench, with Rafa opting for Zenden and Sissoko in midfield.

Kuyt partnered Bellamy upfront, but neither could create anything good enough to find the back of the net, Bellamy came closest in the 38th minute, but his shot was tame and didnt trouble the keeper.

PSV nearly scored through Mendez, who shot from 35 yards and was only just wide, but Liverpool were resting key players for the big game against Chelsea and were happy to play for the draw.

Daniel Agger stood in for Hyypia, and again showed good composure and rarely let the side down.

Steven Gerrard was introduced, and with 2 minutes to go nearly scored a beast of a goal with a sweet volley that beat the keeper but was denied by the post.

Liverpool's next game is a visit to Stamford Bridge to face Chelsea on sunday

Rafael Benitez says the international break did him no favours in the run up to the PSV game in the Champions League.

Liverpool had over 10 players on international duty, and Rafa says this could cost Liverpool in Europe.

It is more difficult to find the right team and balance with players returning from injury and from internationals,"

"The question over Carragher being just back from injury was that he had trained three days with the squad. I was keeping an eye on him throughout those sessions – he was fine. I had more worries about John Arne Riise, who is now injured again."

"The problem was not that we used Carra, but that we used so many players coming back from international games as well. Altogether, that was a gamble."

"We had Sami Hyypia, Gerrard, Xabi Alonso, Peter Crouch, Luis Garcia, and others, all back from a very busy international period. Could we afford to leave all those players on the bench? I don't think so, not for a game like that.

"They all had very hard periods away with their countries, playing two games. They are all big names and we decided to mix things up with players who had not been away and those that had.

"With smaller clubs, it is easier. They may only have two or three internationals but we have 10, sometimes 14. It is not easy to select a side.

"We have more possibilities now with Daniel Agger and Gabriel Paletta – we must look at the options"

Rafa Benitez faces Ronald Koeman again, after coming up against him last season where he was in charge of Benfica, who knocked Liverpool out of the Champions league.

Speaking about tonights game, Rafa said :
PSV are strong, experienced and with an experienced manager,"

"I remember Benfica when Koeman was there. They beat us last season and we need to rectify that memory

"We have a very important game to be able to get the bad result out of our system, Many teams cannot say they can do that with a Champions League match, but we can and we will make use of it.

"The group is dangerous, Bordeaux and Galatasaray are both good sides. It is our aim to give our fans some good news now to change their feelings of disappointment."

Ronald Koeman has also spoke about playing Liverpool again, and reckons it will not be much different from last year when he knocked the reds out europe:

"Liverpool were hard to beat last year, and will be the same again this time round, They have given themselves more options in a number of positions, but they still have Rafael Benítez as coach, and I don't think there will be a great deal of difference about the way they play."

"I have learnt from the double leg that they are hard to beat. That's why I think the result of the Everton game does not mean that much

Dirk Kuyt wants to continue his goalscoring exploits in Holland by bagging a goal against PSV tonight.

Kuyt came from the dutch league with an impressive goalscoring record, that won him the Dutch player of the year award recently, and is ready to continue scoring against Dutch opposition by hopefully finding the net against PSV.

"I have scored three times in my last two games against them(PSV) and it would be great to get my first Liverpool goal here, and in Holland"

"It's extra special to have my Champions League debut for Liverpool in Holland. PSV is a great club and I'm looking forward to the game

"My record for Feyenoord against PSV wasn't too bad. I missed the last game but think I scored three goals in two games against them."

"I also scored in this stadium for Holland last week. That gave me a good feeling and if I can score against PSV again it will give me another good feeling.

"Even though I played for Feyenoord I'm sure the PSV fans don't hate me and I'm sure the reception I'll receive will be fine."