RAFA AND BRUCE POST THRASHING REACTION!

Wednesday 22nd March 2006
ANFIELD ONLINE LFC NEWS

RAFA AND BRUCE POST-THRASHING REACTION!

Rafa was pleased and Steve Bruce was totally humiliated as the 'men played the boys'. Here are the two managers post match reaction. Read the match report for video footage.

Explaining why his front-men have now hit the goal trail after a barren start to 2006, Benitez blamed bad luck in the early part of the year.

"I'm delighted with the final result and also the performance of the players," Benitez told Sky Sports.

"They worked really hard played well and scored goals.

"Sometimes you cannot score goals after 30 attempts, as against Charlton for example, today every time we shoot, it was a goal.

"We had some players with fresh legs and we say to them we need to keep going and they were thinking about the clean sheet and also to score more goals, if possible.

"I say always sometimes it is luck, we have quality the strikers are really good, but sometimes you need luck and in this case, we had a lot of luck."

With The Premiership seemingly out of sight and his side already out of the UEFA Champions League, Benitez also insisted the club were determined to claim another piece of silverware under his guidance.

"It's important for us to win trophies and if you can play well and go forward in a competition like this, it's very important for us," Benitez added.

"We know it is important for them (the fans) and the players want to win another trophy and they will try."

Birmingham City were humiliated and damaged by their 7-0 home drubbing by Liverpool in their FA Cup quarter-final on Tuesday, manager Steve Bruce said.

"It's damaged us, let's hope not beyond repair," said Bruce, whose side are also fighting for Premier League survival.

"You just have to try and take it on the chin, realise you've been humiliated in front of the nation, in front of your own supporters and go again tomorrow morning if you can.

"You feel shell-shocked and disappointed...I don't think we had touched the ball and we were already 2-0 down. We gave ourselves a mountain the climb," he told Sky Sports after Liverpool went two up in the opening five minutes.

"In the end it was men against boys," said Bruce after City's worst FA Cup defeat since the club, founded in 1875 and twice runners-up, were called Small Heath Alliance and lost a tie 6-0 125 years ago.

"We were just chasing the game and trying to do something about it. Liverpool picked us off at will...They were a far, far superior team on the night," said Bruce, who won the FA Cup twice as a player for Manchester United in the 1990s.

At halftime he said he told his players: "Try and win the second half, if you can, show a bit of pride in your performance, pride for your supporters.

"Unfortunately, we gave away some terrible goals," added Bruce, who has been at Birmingham since December 2001 and steered them to promotion to the Premier League in 2002 but is now staring at likely relegation.

"We have some damaged egos and some damaged players in there, that's for sure," said Bruce, adding with sarcasm that "we've got two easy games coming up, Man United and Chelsea. We simply have to go again...it's a big test for us all."

It was six-times winners Liverpool's biggest away win in the world's oldest competition and equal second biggest at any ground after their 8-0 home victory over Swansea in January 1990. They have scored 15 goals in their last three games.

Discuss this news item with other fans in our forum