How do you put in to words the disappointment yesterday?
Here’s the reds versions.
Rafa Benitez fumes over the disallowed goal:
“Nobody knows why it was disallowed”
“The referee told Carra that he – and not the linesman – disallowed the goal but I don’t think he knows why. With the position the referee was in, how could he disallow it? It was unbelievable and we have to talk about it because it was a key decision.
“It is impossible to explain.
“The other thing we have to talk about when you forget about the massive mistake is the game. We had plenty of possession, tried from both sides and between the lines, had corners and free-kicks and long shots – but we couldn’t score. This is football sometimes, but the players worked really hard.
“Sometimes you need a bit more luck or sometimes a bit more ability in the final third.
“I don’t know how many attempts we had. It’s difficult to find a solution when you have 25 to 30 chances – you just have to do the same again and maybe it will be different next time.”
Dirk Kuyt:
“We thought we’d scored a goal through Stevie but the referee has said he disallowed it for offside. That’s frustrating but we still had time to overcome that disappointment and score another goal.
“We had a lot of possession and created a lot of chances but at the end of the day you have to score goals to win matches.”
“You always want to win your home games, especially against opposition like Stoke.
“It was like a game of attack against defence where they had 10 men behind the ball all the time. But it’s our job to break them down and although we made a number of openings we weren’t able to convert them.
“Sometimes football is like this. You deserve to win but at the end you are unlucky. After beating Manchester United last week it was a good chance to build up some momentum and it’s disappointing that we didn’t manage to do it.
“But we must look ahead now, go to Everton next week and put this result behind us with a win. We got a good win there last season and I have good memories from that game too, so hopefully it can be the same again.”
Stoke boss Tony Pulis:
“I would rather recall what a fantastic performance it was by my team.
“To come to Anfield against a really great team and get a point like that is very pleasing.
“My players fought for everything, they won everything in the air and that is pleasing because the longer it goes at Anfield with you under the cosh, the more chance is that they will finally get one.”