Benitez to appeal both red cards

Rafael Benitez will appeal against both red cards after nine-man Liverpool slumped to a humiliating 3-1 defeat at Craven Cottage.

Benitez said: "They were two incidents in a few minutes when we were losing and they were difficult to take. The first one was a yellow card. The second one you can clearly see that Carragher was kicking the ball."
 
"It's hard to take the defeat, especially when we were in control of the game. The first half was one-sided. We made one mistake and we conceded a goal. The second half they were more offensive and we made a massive mistake when we conceded the second goal. We worked hard with nine players but it was very difficult."
 
Benitez could now be without Torres and Steven Gerrard for the crucial Champions League clash against Lyon on Wednesday. The Liverpool boss said he would "have to see how Gerrard progresses" with his troublesome groin injury, while Torres is still not fully fit.
 
Benitez said: "We decided to play Fernando Torres against Manchester United (last Sunday) and it was a difficult decision because he was not 100 per cent fit. He needed four days to be ready and is still not 100 per cent fit. We decided to put him on the pitch but we had to protect him and that's why we took him out after 60 minutes. I don't want to lose an important player like Fernando for one month."
 
Benitez, however, dismissed talk of being under pressure. He said: "We have confidence we can do it but we have to take our chances and not make mistakes like today. You have to be calm and keep working hard and find solutions. We have to be realistic. We have to get three points in the league in the next game against Birmingham."
 

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