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Posts Tagged ‘confidence’

• Former Tottenham director of football moves to Anfield
• Comolli scouted 17-year-old Gareth Bale for Spurs in 2007

Tottenham Hotspur’s former director of football Damien Comolli – the man who signed Gareth Bale from Southampton in 2007 – has joined Liverpool’s staff to oversee player recruitment.

Comolli, whose job title for the club will be Director of Football Strategy, has left St Etienne to work alongside manager Roy Hodgson to “identify exciting young footballing talent”, according to the club’s new owner John Henry.

Henry told the club’s website: “Today’s announcement is just the first step in creating a leadership group and structure designed to develop, enhance and implement our long-term philosophy of scouting, recruitment, player development and all of the other aspects necessary to build and sustain a club able to consistently compete at the highest level in European football.”

Hodgson welcomed Comolli’s appointment, saying: “I am looking forward to working with Damien whom I have known for many years. We are engaged in an exciting project here and he will bring a lot to the table.

“We all want to see moves to strengthen the squad and support player development over the next few years. John Henry and I are totally united in delivering on that ambition.”

Comolli, who scouted Bale as a 17-year-old before Spurs signed him for £5m, also spoke today about Bale’s performances against Internazionale, suggesting Tottenham face a battle to hold on to him.

Comolli said: “When I watched him for the first time I was gobsmacked. He was already showing the strength, the technical ability, the confidence to take people on, the pace, the quality left foot, the work-rate. He had it all.

“I remember coming back from scouting him and thinking ‘I’ve seen the new Paolo Maldini’.

“Spurs are desperate to hold on to Gareth but I know last summer there were big, big clubs sniffing around. If they are ambitious and want to do well in the future they have to keep hold of him and Champions League football should help them do that.”

Liverpoolguardian.co.uk

The Liverpool manager says his team ‘have to keep winning to get fourth place’, starting at Villa Park tomorrow

Rafael Benítez has said that Liverpool’s confidence and Champions League credentials will be under scrutiny at Villa Park tomorrow. The Spaniard is considering whether to give the midfielder Alberto Aquilani a second start in four days.

Liverpool are five points behind Aston Villa after their Boxing Day win over Wolverhampton Wanderers and Aston Villa’s subsequent loss to Arsenal but they have not won successive league matches since September and have several injury problems. Fábio Aurélio and Yossi Benayoun missed the Wolves match, with calf and hamstring problems, and there are doubts over whether Aquilani, who made his full league debut against Wolves, and Fernando Torres can start games in such quick succession.

“After the win over Wolves we will have more confidence and that will be very good for the whole team but we know we have to keep winning to get fourth place,” said Benítez.

“We must discover if we have the confidence now to win there and to get closer to the top of the table. But we know Villa are a very good team who are ahead of us, and one we must beat. To get back to where we want to be we must start winning games in a row. If we do that at Villa it will be easier for us to keep our confidence higher.”

Aquilani said he had been taken aback by the pace of the game against Wolves, who had a man sent off after 52 minutes.

“I really enjoyed the game as it was important for me; I want to improve my fitness,” said the Italian, who has been dogged by injury this season. “It was so different to anything I have experienced, as it was so quick and you never really had much time. The football we played was so fast. The most important thing, however, was that we won.”

Benítez denied that his guarantee, earlier in the season, of a top-four finish had increased the pressure on his players.

He said: “People keep asking me why I said recently that I would categorically guarantee that we will be in the top four – but what do you expect from me? I have to say that.

“We have confidence and we have to do it because we are a top side.”

Rafael BenítezLiverpoolPremier LeagueAndy Hunterguardian.co.uk

• ‘The players are the people that have to find a solution’
• ‘Obviously we need players,’ admits Liverpool striker

Fernando Torres has said it would be wrong for Liverpool to sack their manager, Rafael Benítez, blaming himself and his fellow players for Liverpool’s poor run of form.

“I think sacking the manager is not a solution,” he said. “The manager is not playing so we have to be positive with him, try to work with him. We are the main reason, the players are the people that have to find a solution to the situation. The manager is not playing, so we have to play much better.”

Torres said Liverpool needed to buy but although the club have admitted they cannot afford to buy top-class players in the January transfer window. “Obviously we need players,” he said. “If we can bring quality players it should be really positive for us, but I think the situation is really difficult because I think we don’t have money to bring in the best players.

“It’s a difficult situation but every top team in the world goes sometimes through a bad situation like Liverpool now. Like every top team in the world, Liverpool will get over the situation. I have confidence in myself and my team. I know we are good enough. We were playing really well last season with the same team. We have to just recover the mentality and the confidence in ourselves and everything will be different.”

Fernando TorresRafael BenítezLiverpoolPremier Leagueguardian.co.uk