Thursday, April 9, 2009

PEPE: DON'T BLAME ZONAL MARKING

Jimmy Rice 09 April 2009

Pepe Reina admits Liverpool must improve their defending from set-pieces after two headed goals from Branislav Ivanovic during the 3-1 defeat to Chelsea.

The Spain international was disappointed at the manner of the goals in Wednesday's Champions League quarter-final first leg but insists it would be ridiculous to blame zonal marking.

"You are always disappointed when you concede, but especially from set-pieces," Reina told Liverpoolfc.tv. "It's something we'll have to work on.

"It's always the same when we concede goals from free-kicks - people start talking about man marking and zonal. But we've done it for five years and, although I don't have the statistics, I know we're one of the teams that concedes fewest from set pieces."

Didier Drogba added the third as Liverpool slumped to their first home loss in 14 months.

Reina accepts he and his teammates were second best on the night, but insists their dream of reaching the final in Rome is not over.

"They were the better team and they deserved the victory," he said. "We now have to improve on everything we did on the night and be ready for the second leg.

"It's going to be much tougher to win the trophy now - we have to go there and win 3-1 or 3-0. But we can go to any stadium and win.

"Of course the 4-1 at Old Trafford gives us hope - it shows us what we can do at any stadium. We won like that at Old Trafford, why not at Stamford Bridge?

"It has to be a perfect performance. We have to have a great day and they must have one of their worst."

The Reds now need to focus on Saturday's early kick-off against Blackburn, a chance to overtake leaders Manchester United.

Reina added: "It's another competition and we are very much alive in the title race. It's an important game, and early kick-offs are never easy against a rested team, so we have to be ready.

"It's our job to be ready. Whenever we lose games we have to come in the next day and forget about what happened so we can try to move forward and improve.

"We now have to prove to ourselves and our fans that we're still there in the league."

http://www.liverpoolfc.tv/news/drilldown/N163955090409-0941.htm

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