Steve Bruce
In my opinion we were robbed. It is a joke that we have not come away from this match with something. The referee got the first booking for Valencia wrong.
The Liverpool player took the kick and Valencia did not encroach towards it until the ball had been kicked. So he got that one wrong.
Then there is the tackle on Alonso, in which I felt the lad touched the ball. I felt that was harsh. Those decisions changed the whole course of the game. With 11 against 11 we would not have lost. But there were a lot of tired bodies out there and we could not hold out.
When you are at Anfield you need some things to go for you. I keep hearing the word respect but I did not think we got that from the referee's performance.
Rafa Benitez
I told the players at the end of the game that they had to make things easier for themselves. We started the game really badly. They were winning a lot of second balls and controlling the game. We started to get better but then they got the second goal.
We needed to change a lot of things and the team showed a lot of character. We were pushing and pressing and passing the ball. In the end, thanks to this belief, we won the game.
I would like to score one, two or three goals in the first half. But the Premier League is very tough and when you show the kind of character we did today, it's important for the games ahead.
We will see if we can show this kind of character against Chelsea next weekend, but I would like to be calmer on the bench! We were talking about Kuyt not scoring too many goals in the league but today, playing as a striker, he got two. The understanding between him and Robbie Keane was good.
It is always the same. Kuyt is a player every manager would want in his squad. He showed again that he can score goals - something we know he can do.
It was between Pepe Reina and Daniel. Daniel was not waiting for the pass and then he had to dribble quickly because Zaki was there. But his reaction was very positive. He kept going forward and created the first goal.
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