Benitez: Champions League Was A Tough Act To Follow
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Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez admits that early success in his career in English football has led to increased pressure at the club.
Benitez replaced Gerard Houllier as Liverpool manager in the summer of 2004, and went on to win the Champions League in his first season in charge, beating AC Milan in a historic final in Istanbul.
The next year, Liverpool succeeded in winning the FA Cup against West Ham United, however their title winning credentials have consistently been shrouded in doubt.
Benitez accepts that with success comes expectation, but suggests that Liverpool’s inability to win the league has more to do with the progress of the teams around them, than as a result of their own failings.
He told the Times: "In some ways it (Champions League success) made things more difficult because the expectations became so high. Then we won the European Super Cup and FA Cup the following season and so suddenly everyone was saying, 'OK, the next step will be the Premier League title.'
"But then, when you don't win it, people say, 'Oh, you can't go to that next step,' when, maybe, we were operating at the next level up, but because the other teams around us were progressing as well, it didn't seem that way.
"In some respects, we were maybe our own worst enemies, but, of course, I'd prefer to have that problem, to be talking as a Champions League winner. People are talking now about us not having won the league for 18 years, but it was 21 years since this club had last won the European Cup."
The Spaniard regards the Premier League as the toughest competition in the world, and is under no illusions about the enormity of the task that Liverpool must undertake in order to break their near two decade duck.
"The key is not to say that we can win the title because it's clear that it's the most difficult league in the world to win,” he continued.
“Look at the final of the Champions League last season, it was between Chelsea and United, who are at the top of the table in England.
"It's clear that we are going in the right direction and progressing. We have got good young players coming through who will be important, while those with experience are settling down now so it could be a very good season for us.
"Everybody can see that the team and squad is improving every year and that now we are much better, but will that be enough to win the title? That's the big question because it depends on the other teams as well." -
u nv win the league becos u s-u-c-k
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he already find an excuse if next season he dont win the EPL.
smart move
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Yeah, the faggot.