Liverpool boss Rafa Benitez insists the upheaval at the end of last week was no factor in their defeat at Middlesbrough yesterday.

The Spaniard denied that the club's off-field problems - his contract remains unsigned, while it has been announced that chief executive Rick Parry will leave Anfield at the end of the season - were a factor, but also revealed that his own situation could progress soon.

He said: "My advisers are in contact with the advisers of the owners, so maybe they will have a conversation and we will see if we can progress."