Yossi Benayoun is confident Liverpool can overcome a mixed start to the 2009-10 season and mount a strong challenge for the Barclays Premier League ti

Yossi Benayoun is confident Liverpool can overcome a mixed start to the 2009-10 season and mount a strong challenge for the Barclays Premier League title. The Reds suffered their second loss from the opening three matches of the campaign as Aston Villa claimed a shock 3-1 victory at Anfield on Monday evening.

However, Benayoun is adamant it is far too early for anyone to be writing off Rafael Benitez's side.

"Of course we are very disappointed. We didn't expect to lose but it was just one of those games," said the Israeli utility man.

"We need to try and improve and quickly, starting on Saturday against Bolton.

"We didn't play like we can play, we didn't move the ball like we did against Stoke in the second half.

"We missed our chances, particularly in the first half, and we conceded two goals from set-pieces.

"The second goal was a major blow. Losing 1-0 half-time you think you can get back into it, but 2-0 right on half-time put everyone down a little bit.

"We played a bit better in the second half, but everything went wrong for us.

"To lose two out of three is unusual for us. We lost only twice through the whole of the last Premier League season, and we have to show that we are still a strong team.

"We need to recover from this and look to work game by game, and work hard to play better.

"At a club like Liverpool, if you lose two or three games then people will ask if we are strong enough to win the league. But there is still a long way to go, everything can change.

"If we go on a long winning run then people will start talking differently about us."

Liverpool are back into action on Saturday afternoon when they take on Bolton Wanderers ahead of a two-week international break - and Benayoun acknowledges they must improve at the Reebok Stadium.

Nevertheless, the 29-year-old is hopeful a victory over the Trotters can kick-start an unbeaten run and he insists the Reds have the necessary quality within their ranks to go all the way in the race for the championship.

He said: "I don't think it's the senior players who need to come to the fore, it's all of the players. We know what we need to do to improve. This was one of those.

"I'm sure we have enough quality. We still think we can win the title. Maybe we cannot lose any more games until the end of the season, but we believe we are strong enough to be there at the end of the season. But it's too early to speculate, we just need to look to get a run of winning games.

"We have a lot of good players here already, enough to win the league. Aquilani is still injured and can bring us a lot of good things, we have a very strong squad, and we don't need to look at those kind of excuses after losing two games. We have enough quality to win games.

"It's important to get a winning run together, but maybe it's good that we have an international break coming up after the Bolton game.

"We have to try and come back stronger and we have games that we believe we can win. If we can win three or four games then the confidence can come back."

He added: "Because there are other teams that are stronger, I feel the big four will lose more points than expected. Villa have proven they can beat anyone, and I'm sure Man United, Chelsea and Arsenal will have tough games against the likes of Villa, Manchester City and Tottenham.
"Hopefully, at the end of the season we will still be there."
by:bilyl gun