England Premier League Media

Rafael Benitez has said Wigan chairman Dave Whelan should concentrate on his own club rather than worry about what is going on at Liverpool.

Whelan claimed the Reds were in a “mess” following Wigan’s 1-0 victory over Benitez’s side on Monday.

Whelan said: “Liverpool are in a mess. The owners, being American, I don’t think they feel what we [fans] feel.”

Reds manager Benitez hit back: “I do not talk about Wigan. He [Whelan] should talk about his own club.”

Whelan also admitted he felt sorry for Liverpool fans after Hugo Rodallega’s volley consigned them to a seventh league defeat away from Anfield this season, and their ninth loss in total.

“The big sympathy I have is for the Liverpool supporters because they are a fantastic lot,” Whelan added.

“I’m really, really sorry for their supporters. We went to Anfield earlier in the season and there was absolutely no atmosphere and no heart at all.

“The supporters feel that and I think the players are starting to feel it.”

Monday’s result left Liverpool in sixth place in the Premier League table, one point behind Tottenham and Manchester City who have one and two games in hand respectively over the Reds.

Aston Villa, who are three points behind Liverpool, have three games in hand as the race for fourth spot, and a place in next season’s European Champions League, gathers pace.

Benitez was highly critical of his side’s performance at the DW Stadium, accusing them of lacking attitude and character.

But the Spaniard has little time to dwell on the defeat with the Reds travelling to France to take on Lille in the Europa League on Thursday.

“Hopefully there will be a reaction in Lille,” said Benitez. “This is an opportunity to put things right and try to get a good result.

“In football you sometimes prefer to rest but at this time it is good to have a match quickly after what happened at Wigan.”

Meanwhile, the Football Association has confirmed Steven Gerrard will face no disciplinary action over an apparent ‘V’ gesture at referee Andre Marriner during the game against Wigan.

It is understood Marriner saw the incident at the time but did not deem it worthy of further punishment. Under those circumstances, the FA cannot take retrospective action.

Europa League
Venue: Stadium Lille-Metropole Date: Thursday 11 March Kick-off: 1800 GMT Coverage: Commentary on BBC Radio 5 live sports extra from 1800 GMT and then BBC 5 live from 1900; text commentary on BBC Sport website and mobile phones. Also live on Five TV

Yossi Benayoun is doubtful for the first leg of Liverpool’s last-16 Europa League tie against Lille on Thursday after sustaining an ankle injury.

The midfielder suffered discomfort in the defeat by Wigan and his fitness will be monitored ahead of the match.

Centre-back Daniel Agger should be available having recovered from a sickness bug which reduced him to the role of unused substitute on Monday.

The Europa League represents the Reds’ only realistic chance of silverware.

Liverpool team (from): Reina, Johnson, Degen, Agger, Carragher, Kyrgiakos, Insua, Gerrard, Lucas, Aquilani, Benayoun, Riera, Rodriguez, Ngog, Kuyt, Torres, Cavalieri, Pacheco, Spearing, Darby, Babel, Kelly.

Footballer Steven Gerrard compared sport to science when he opened a new facility at a university on Merseyside.

The Liverpool midfielder toured the 25.5m Tom Reilly Building at Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU).

The centre will house the School of Sports and Exercise Sciences, School of Natural Sciences and Psychology.

The England star said the university’s sports degrees meant football and other sports were no longer seen as “only a game, but as science”.

‘Everton supporter’

“It’s a great privilege to be launching the building named in honour of Professor Tom Reilly.

“Like me, his two great passions in life were football and family.

“I’ve been told he was actually an Everton supporter but he loved the game as a whole and I’ve been assured that he would have been happy for me to officially launch the new facility.”

The centre houses equipment for each of the schools – from a scanner for measuring body fat, muscles and bone density, to lie detectors and eye-tracking equipment.

LJMU Vice-Chancellor Professor Michael Brown said: “In order to have ‘fit for purpose’ graduates you need ‘fit for purpose’ buildings, where students can gain both a thorough grounding of their chosen academic discipline and secure, vital work-related skills and experience.”

Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher has said he would have “no problem” leaving Anfield should his hometown club decide not to extend his current contract.

The 32-year-old has just over a year left on his contract, but has yet to begin negotiations over a new deal.

He told the Sunday Times: “I’ll still play my best and if I have to move then I’ll move. It wouldn’t bother me.”

Carragher has spent his entire career at Anfield, making over 500 appearances for the club over the last decade.

The Bootle-born central defender, who made his debut against Middlesbrough in 1997, is one of the few home-grown products to regularly make Liverpool’s starting line-up.

He has been a mainstay of the side this season, with only midfielders Dirk Kuyt and Lucas Leiva making more Premier League appearances for the Reds.

However, Liverpool’s vice captain acknowledged he may have to look elsewhere if he wants to continue his playing career.

“The club will give me a new contract if they want to,” he added. “It’s a club thing. It’s down to them. I’ll keep playing and see where it takes me.”

The versatile defender quit international football in 2007 after becoming disillusioned with a lack of opportunities in the England team and said he was “not scared of making big decisions”.

Manager Rafael Benitez said the player wanted to concentrate on completing this season before beginning talks on a new deal.

“There is no news about Carragher,” said Benitez. “We have spoken to him and he was very clear that at this moment he just wants to concentrate on doing his job.

“I think Jamie prefers the situation as it is. The information I have is that he is comfortable with how things are and that he wants to wait.”

Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez says goalkeeper Jose Reina and midfielder Javier Mascherano are close to signing new contracts with the club.

“I think we will have news about Reina and Mascherano very soon and that will be very positive for the future,” said Benitez of the Spaniard and Argentine.

“Everything is very close and there are no problems.”

Reina, 27, has been at Liverpool since July 2005, while Mascherano, 25, joined the club in January 2007.

Reina, who arrived from Villarreal, has kept 12 clean sheets for Liverpool this season and Benitez insists the Spain international is now the best goalkeeper in the Premier League.

“He is the best in England, miles away from the others, and we are really pleased to keep him here for a long time,” the Anfield boss said.

“I remember at the beginning people said ‘for England, in the air, he is not the best’.

“But he is always organising the defenders and is more than a keeper. Sometimes the style of goalkeepers is for them to be really good in the six-yard box, Pepe is really good in the 18-yard box.”

Benitez highlighted Reina’s brilliant stoppage-time save from Christopher Samba’s goalbound header in their 2-1 victory over Blackburn as evidence of his class.

“When you talk about a goalkeeper in a top side he normally doesn’t have much to do,” he added.

“To be involved in this game, especially at the end, and that save shows the level of the player.”

Mascherano, who signed from West Ham, was linked with a move to Barcelona last summer but Benitez is convinced Argentina’s captain is keen to stay on Merseyside.

“I was talking with him and his agent the other day and it is true Javier is happier,” Benitez said.

“The conversations were very positive. When you talk with Javier he is very settled and happy. Everyone knew about some clubs being interested in him but talking with us he was fine.”

Liverpool defender Martin Skrtel will miss much of the remainder of the season because of a broken metatarsal.

The 25-year-old Slovakia international will not need surgery but is likely to be unavailable to manager Rafael Benitez until the end of April.

He was forced off during his team’s 4-1 aggregate win over Unirea Urziceni in their Europa League tie on Thursday.

Manager Rafael Benitez said after the match: “It was a good result but then we had the bad news about Martin.”

Skrtel was injured in a second-half clash with Antonio Semedo as the Reds won 3-1 in Romania to reach the last 16 with a 4-1 aggregate score.

He has been a mainstay of Liverpool’s central defence this season, featuring 29 times and scoring one goal, in the 2-2 draw at home to Manchester City in November.

Benitez will at least be comforted with better news regarding Skrtel’s fellow defender Glen Johnson.

The 17m signing is nearing a comeback, having not played since late December because of a knee injury.

“He’s doing well. He was training [on Friday] with the team – a light training session,” said Benitez.

“I was watching him and he was quite sharp but Sunday will be too soon.”

The Premier League is considering a proposal to introduce a play-off for the fourth Champions League place.

The top four currently enter the tournament but the new idea would mean the teams from fourth to seventh playing in a mini-knockout competition.

Any change would need the agreement of at least 14 of the 20 top flight clubs, but there will be no changes for three years as the next TV deal is in place.

Everton boss David Moyes said the idea “was something worth looking at”.

But the Scot warned against the dangers of making too many changes to the traditional structure of the sport in England.

“I always think your league position is judged over all the games and where you finish is where you finish,” said Moyes, whose side have finished in the seven in five of the last seven seasons.

“So to give a team that finishes three or four places down the table could be a little bit unfair.

“Nevertheless, the Championship play-offs for promotion into the Premier League have worked very well so it might be something worth looking at.

“However, I do not know if the teams would be madly interested in another three, four or five games at the end of the season. I think it’s not a bad idea.

“You have to make sure that you’re not tinkering too much. Before you know it, will finishing seventh or eighth be considered really good success? It shouldn’t do – it should be a good season but enough to maybe make you the fourth best team in England.

“I am for it in some ways, and against it in others.”

BBC sports news correspondent Gordon Farquhar said the Premier League has been presented with “a number of ideas for altering the competition’s format”.

The move is widely thought to be seen as a way of increasing competition in the Premier League because Manchester United, Chelsea, Liverpool and Arsenal have filled the top four positions in five out of the past six seasons.

The proposal was raised at a meeting of all 20 clubs on 4 February and will be considered again when they next meet in April.

The top four in the Premier League is the same so far this season, although Manchester City, Tottenham and Aston Villa are putting concerted pressure on Liverpool, who are fourth.

Two years ago the Premier League was widely condemned for a proposal to play a 39th game of the domestic season in Asia.

The Football Association, the sport’s world governing body Fifa and European body Uefa all rejected the idea and the Football Supporters’ Federation (FSF) condemned the proposal as being motivated by money, dubbing it Game 39.

A similar system to the idea of play-offs was introduced by the Dutch Eredivise in 2005-06, with teams finishing from second to ninth competing for a place in both the Champions League and what was then the Uefa Cup.

That idea was scrapped in 2008 for the Champions League, with teams finishing fifth to eighth now vying for a place in the rebranded Europa League.

Versions of the play-off system are also in use in rugby union’s Guinness Premiership and rugby league’s Super League.

Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez has dismissed speculation that striker Fernando Torres could return to action at Manchester City on 21 February.

Torres suffered a knee injury in last month’s shock FA Cup loss to Reading.

Benitez told Liverpool’s website: “I think it [the match at Eastlands] will be too early.

“He is training with the physios and the fitness coach, but he’s still not involved with the team. We will see next week how he progresses.”

The 25-year-old Spanish international is Liverpool’s top goalscorer with 12 this season despite being restricted to 21 appearances by injuries.

A niggling groin problem also curtailed his involvement earlier in the campaign.

Benitez is hoping that vice captain Jamie Carragher will be fit to feature against top four rivals Manchester City.

The veteran defender suffered an adductor injury in the midweek defeat at Arsenal and is unlikely to feature in the Europa League tie against Unirea Urziceni on 18 February.

With Sotirios Kyrgiakos suspended for the next two Premier League games and Glen Johnson still out, Liverpool could be facing a defensive crisis.

Benitez said of Carragher: “I am not sure if he will be available for Thursday against Unirea, but maybe he will have a chance against City.”

Johnson, meanwhile, is planning to return to training within a month after six weeks out with a knee injury.

The England international tore a medial ligament at Aston Villa in December.

The 25-year-old, signed for 18m from Portsmouth last summer, is now jogging again and feels he is making good progress.

Johnson said: “I’m definitely over the worst of it now and I’m about two or three weeks away from training, so I’m getting there.”

Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard thinks the Reds should have had a last-gasp penalty in the 1-0 defeat by Arsenal at the Emirates on Wednesday.

A Gerrard free-kick seemed to hit Arsenal’s Cesc Fabrebgas on the arm.

“It’s a penalty. The ref told our wall in the first half ‘if anyone raises his hands, I’m going to give a penalty’,” Gerrard told BBC Radio Merseyside.

“But for some crazy reason he hasn’t given the decision. He said to me he never saw it.”

The result leaves the Reds in fourth place in the league, level on points with Manchester City who have two games in hand.

With the race for the final Champions League spot hotting up, the midfielder thought his side deserved more from the match, although he admits his side needed good fortune.

“I thought the way we played over the 90 minutes we certainly deserved a point here,” he continued. “The lads are gutted in the dressing room.

“They put all that effort in and have come away with nothing. But sometimes that happens and we’ve got to get on with it.

“You play against a fantastic Arsenal team with such quality with [Andrey] Arshavin and [Cesc] Fabregas, players who can open any defence in the world and they haven’t created many chances.

“It’s just one mistake in our defence and they score from it.”

He concluded: “I’m really happy with how I played myself, but I get nothing from that. We come away with nothing, but my form is improving.”

Liverpool and England international Steven Gerrard came face-to-face with himself when he met his own Madame Tussauds waxwork at Anfield.

The Reds captain spent five minutes examining the waxwork before he said: “You’ve missed a few spots haven’t you?”.

He also fixed the figure’s hair as he posed for photographs with his two daughters Lilly-Ella and Lexie.

“It’s an absolute thrill to have my very own figure,” the 29-year-old said.

It is one of the first times a waxwork has been unveiled outside London – the ceremony took place in Liverpool due to his training schedule.

The “new” Steven Gerrard, which cost 150,000 to create, will be positioned near England teammate David Beckham in the museum’s Sports Zone.

It is the first time a footballer has been immortalised in wax at Madame Tussauds since 2005 when Wayne Rooney entered the museum’s hall of fame.

Liz Edwards, of Madame Tussauds in London, said: “His inclusion is in response to huge demand from the public and we know fans are going to enjoy getting up close to him in the run-up to the World Cup in June.”