
RAFA HOPING FOR A STRONG OFFICIAL
Rafael Benitez has called on referee Steve Bennett to be strong willed during Saturday's visit of Bolton Wanderers to Anfield after voicing his concerns at the visitors' style of play.
Bolton beat Liverpool 1-0 at the Reebok Stadium at the start of the season in August and it was a defeat that was hard to take for the Liverpool manager. Benitez said it was a real welcome to English football for him and the Spanish players.
There was also a controversial decision when Luis Garcia's debut goal was wrongly ruled out for off-side.
Benitez says Bolton have a somewhat unique style of play and can be very difficult to play against and is expecting a physical battle at Anfield on Saturday.
Benitez said: "They always play with the same system and have their way of playing football. I learned a lot about their style when we played them earlier this season and lost 1-0.
"I learned a lot about the new rules and the throw-ins when a player has both feet on the line or just one foot in the air to give them ability to throw it further.
"When they take free-kicks and corner kicks they use two players in front of the goalkeeper but they are not offside. When the centre forward catches your defender with two hands around them and then the defender tries to clear the ball, you have to be careful because it's then a free-kick against you.
"They played with different rules and I learned a lot. The only thing is you want the referee to see the same thing you see this time.
"We know how important a game this is for us. We need to win as we are four points behind Everton and we want to reduce the gap."
