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Posts Tagged ‘champions’

• Liverpool looking to equal club record run of seven away wins
• ‘We’ve had the luck away that helps you go over the line’

Kenny Dalglish has described Liverpool as a “work in progress” and pinned their impressive away form on the good fortune he claims has been lacking at Anfield. Liverpool will equal a club-record seventh successive away win in all competitions should they triumph at Fulham on Monday night, a feat last achieved in 1988, and, despite the loss of the influential midfielder Lucas Leiva for the rest of the season with a knee injury, they are high on confidence after two wins at Chelsea and an encouraging display against Manchester City.

Liverpool won only one game away in the league under Roy Hodgson in the first half of last season but Dalglish, who has collected more points away from home than at Anfield this term, attributes the transformation to little more than luck. “The players have gone about their work the same way away as they have at home but we haven’t got the result our performances have deserved at Anfield,” he said. “But away from home, maybe we’ve had at times that little bit of luck that helps you go over the line.”

Dalglish’s assessment is in keeping with his attempts to maintain perspective on Liverpool’s run. He denied the 1-1 draw with City represented a positive result for a club with ambitions of qualifying for the Champions League and insisted improvement was required.

“We are plodding on. How the players go about their work and their quality will give them their reward,” he said. “We’ve beaten some good teams and we’ve deserved it on the day. We are still a work in progress and we will continue to work. We have to remember how we got those rewards – by working for each other and playing for each other. If we stand beside each other we have a better chance. We are much more difficult to beat as a team rather than an individual.”

Liverpool produced arguably their best away performance since Dalglish’s return at Craven Cottage last season, a 5-2 win that included a hat-trick for Maxi Rodríguez. The Argentina international also scored in the recent Premier League and Carling Cup wins at Chelsea but has frequently been overlooked for a starting role this season.

“I’m tempted to play Maxi in every game. He has a fantastic recent goalscoring record,” Dalglish said. “He is an intelligent footballer and he must have been some player five years ago when he was in his prime. He might be getting a bit towards my age now [Rodríguez is 30] but he is still a clever, intelligent footballer. He knows how to play and he knows how to finish. He’s just an intelligent footballer who understands the game on and off the pitch. The same as everybody should do. The squad is more important than the individual.”

Fulham (probable, 4-4-2): Schwarzer; Baird, Hughes, Hangeland, BH Riise; Duff, Etuhu, Murphy, Dempsey; Dembélé, Zamora.

Liverpool (probable, 4-2-3-1): Reina; Johnson, Skrtel, Agger, José Enrique; Spearing, Adam; Bellamy, Kuyt, Rodríguez; Suárez.

TV Sky Sports 1, KO 8pm.

LiverpoolKenny DalglishFulhamAndy Hunterguardian.co.uk

• Manager concerned by crowd’s tension during home games
• December’s games are key to season, says Portuguese

André Villas-Boas admitted that Chelsea had lost their way at Stamford Bridge and become anxious when they play there, after they slumped to a third home defeat in four matches and were knocked out of the Carling Cup by Liverpool.

The manager was candid in his post‑match assessment, describing the performance as “not good” and admitting that Liverpool were “superior” and worthy winners. Although he urged patience and understanding for Fernando Torres in the wake of the £50m striker’s latest anonymous display, he suggested that Didier Drogba would return in his place for Saturday’s Premier League fixture at Newcastle United.

Villas-Boas also admitted that he and the team faced their do-or-die moment next Tuesday, when they play Valencia in the final Champions League group tie. They need a win or a 0-0 draw to avoid what would be a damaging exit. The match is also at Stamford Bridge.

“Away from home, we’ve been more solid, statistically and as a team,” Villas‑Boas said. “That is a fact. At the moment at home, we’ve just not been good enough. I think we need to get our fans behind us when we play at home. We need to get the emotions right. I know, and you can feel, that Stamford Bridge has become anxious about Chelsea playing at home but we need their full support behind us. That’s the only way you can build the atmosphere to take us through this period.

“The Champions League is a competition which is life and death and this standard won’t be enough. We need to up the tempo and play that game [against Valencia] with the ultimate desire.”

Villas-Boas is pinning his hopes on his players finding form and results during a testing December. If they were to win what he suggested were six-pointers against some of their rivals, they could yet challenge for the Premier League title. He did not have to spell out the consequences of failure, although he did insist that all would not be lost.

“Regarding the Premier League fixtures, for our challenge to be alive, we need to make the most out of the December fixtures,” he said. “You know they include Newcastle, Manchester City and Tottenham. If we do that, we’ll be back on track. It will have a major impact by the end of December. We recovered two points at the weekend. But for us to continue to challenge, we need to make the most of the December fixtures. That is our challenge.

“In the situation we are in, 10 points behind, it can invert what can happen in the Premier League in four months’ time. I’m not a wizard and I won’t say what will happen afterwards can’t have an impact – the FA Cup, Champions League and Europa League come into play – and March and April can be as decisive as December. But it’s a fact, given we play the top teams, that we can put our challenge back on track.”

It can be painful to watch Torres on evenings such as this and his impact was measured in the fact that the travelling Liverpool supporters hardly booed him. It was because he hardly touched the ball.

“It must come with confidence and time,” Villas-Boas said. “We believe in him and will continue to pursue his individual form. Our task, as technical staff, is to get the best out of a player so if we don’t do that we’ve failed. He faces tough competition. We’ll go back to 4-3-3 against Newcastle and he’s still going to have to compete. Didier is showing good signs of returning. Fernando has shown that ability before and he can again.”

Carling Cup 2011-12André Villas-BoasChelseaLiverpoolCarling CupDavid Hytnerguardian.co.uk

• Kuyt hopes displays lead to Champions League qualification
• ‘The way we have played has been fantastic’

The Liverpool forward Dirk Kuyt believes their performances against the top sides have improved their chances of regaining Champions League football.

Kenny Dalglish’s side were unlucky not to have ended Manchester City’s unbeaten start to the Premier League campaign on Sunday. The match finished 1-1 but only the brilliance of the England goalkeeper Joe Hart kept the visitors in the game in the second half.

Liverpool have not lost in the league to either City, Manchester United, Chelsea or Arsenal since September 2010 and this season have two wins and two draws from their matches with those teams. And having beaten Chelsea at Stamford Bridge the previous weekend Kuyt thinks that gives an indication of the direction the team is heading.

“In my opinion City have so far been the best team in the Premier League so we can take lots of positives from our performance,” said the Holland international. “I think if you had said we would take four points from Chelsea away and City at home you would probably have signed up for it – but I think we could have walked away with all six points.

“That’s football and we can’t blame ourselves. We worked really hard, did everything we could, and we just have to keep going from here.

“The way we have played against the top sides has been fantastic – we beat Arsenal and Chelsea away and I think we deserved more against United and City. We will keep going in this way. We have also played well against the other teams and I think the future is bright.

“We are on the way forward. That’s what we want and we need to keep going and hopefully we can do enough to qualify for the Champions League at the end of the season.”

Liverpool are now unbeaten in 10 matches in all competitions but that will be tested when they return to Stamford Bridge tomorrow for a Carling Cup quarter-final.

“We can be very satisfied with that,” added Kuyt. “To be unbeaten for a long time says something about the team, the squad and the management.”

The scheduling of the tie has been heavily criticised by Dalglish, who at one stage threatened to play a youth team, but Kuyt said the players just had to accept it.

“Normally in football you get a couple of days to recover and to prepare for a game – especially a big game like the quarter-final of the Carling Cup against Chelsea,” he told liverpoolfc.tv. “It’s tough to play again in 48 hours but it is like it is and we’re looking forward to the game and want to win.

“It would be a great achievement for this team to get another good result at Stamford Bridge. Every game is different. We have lots of confidence from our win there and from the year before. We will go there to try and beat them again – hopefully we can do that.”

Liverpoolguardian.co.uk