Benitez vows to press on

Rafael Benitez has been forced to defend the quality of his Liverpool squad but insists he has not been given the resources to compete with the likes of Arsenal counterpart Arsene Wenger.

The Reds manager has endured arguably the worst few days of his reign on Merseyside after an FA Cup exit at the hands of Arsenal last weekend was followed up by an ignominious 6-3 Carling Cup defeat by the same side on Tuesday night.

Benitez said: "There is a lesson in this for the whole of our club. If you want to compete at top level you must spend a lot of money and not just on your first team, but on young players and reserves."

The fact that the Carling Cup defeat - Liverpool's worst home defensive performance since 1930 - was inflicted by a team comprised mainly of youngsters has drawn inevitably heavy criticism.

And, when Benitez may have been forgiven for believing that matters were at their lowest ebb, the news that the Spanish forward Luis Garcia will be out for six months with a ruptured anterior cruciate ligament has come as a crushing blow.

Liverpool went into the season with a squad many thought was capable of challenging for the Barclays Premiership title.

But realistic hopes of league glory were gone well before Christmas, and with both domestic cups now out of their grasp only the Champions League offers any hope of silverware - though holders Barcelona loom large in the last 16.

Questions have been asked of Benitez's transfer dealings given that the squad appear to have made little progress since last season despite heavy investment, but Benitez said: "I do not really like to talk now about who we want and who Arsenal have signed, that would be too easy.

"But they have two or three players that we were monitoring and we couldn't sign because we didn't have the money.

"But we have to keep going, to do the same thing as Arsene. But if you want top-class players you must spend money, not only at senior level but at youth level too."