Watch Liverpool

Posts Tagged ‘disappointment’

• Dutchman saddened by Rafael Benítez’s Anfield departure
• Everyone wants to keep Stevie at the club, he says

Dirk Kuyt has expressed his disappointment at Rafael Benítez’s departure from Liverpool and hopes the Spaniard will not be followed out of Anfield by the captain, Steven Gerrard.

Benítez left Liverpool this month and has since taken over at Internazionale, bringing an end to a six-year tenure at Anfield which included the highlight of winning the Champions League in 2005.

Kuyt was signed by Benítez from Dutch side Feyenoord a year later and the 29-year-old admitted he would be forever thankful to the Spaniard for giving him his chance in English football. “I was sad to see Rafa go. He was the manager who brought me over to Liverpool and I think he is a great manager,” said Kuyt.

“He was very important for Liverpool. He won the Champions League and did wonderful things for the club. I would just like to thank Rafa for bringing me to Liverpool and making me the player I am now.”

Following Benítez’s departure there have been fears on Merseyside that Gerrard could follow him out of the club, with the new Real Madrid manager, José Mourinho, reportedly keen on luring a player he almost signed while he was with Chelsea.

That would be a major blow to Liverpool’s hopes next season in the eyes of Kuyt, after they could only manage a seventh-place finish in the Premier League last season. “I wouldn’t like to see Stevie G go. Everyone wants to keep Stevie at the club,” Kuyt said. “He is the captain of the team, he’s very important and his heart is bleeding Liverpool.

“So it must be a very good offer or a very good club if he wants to leave. But I don’t know what will happen. It’s just up to him and the club. I have spoken to Stevie while I have been here. We wished each other all the best before the games started but we just talked about football and not his future.”

LiverpoolSteven GerrardRafael BenítezTransfer windowguardian.co.uk

• Dutch winger admits morale is low at Anfield
• ‘We can’t create a kind of confidence with winning games’

Ryan Babel has admitted Liverpool’s confidence is at such a low ebb that they were lacking in self-belief prior to their defeat at Wigan Athletic.

Liverpool had hauled themselves back into contention for the fourth Champions League qualifying place with a run of only one defeat in 10 league games before the trip to the DW Stadium yesterday. Their subsequent performance and first ever league defeat against Wigan prompted rare public criticism from the manager Rafael Benítez towards his players, who he accused of having the wrong attitude and showing a lack of character in the first half of the game.

Babel suggests Liverpool’s problems are more deep-rooted, however, with the frank admission their hard-fought recovery in the Premier League could not remedy fragile confidence in a season of frequent set-backs. “It is disappointing that we can’t create a kind of confidence with winning games. One defeat seems to spoil all the confidence that we have and then we have to start again,” said the Dutch international.

Liverpool remain in sixth following yesterday’s defeat and only one point behind fourth-placed Tottenham Hotspur, although Spurs, Manchester City and Aston Villa all have games in hand in the congested race for Champions League qualification.

Babel added: “We still have hope and faith that we can get fourth place. It will be harder in every game. It was going to be difficult even before this game. We needed to get three points and that’s why the disappointment is so big that we failed.

“We will analyse everything. We have made it a little difficult for ourselves. We had space in the first half to play football but then they scored and it upset things. They stayed behind the ball and it was hard for us.”

Roberto Martínez, the Wigan manager, admitted his tactics had succeeded in producing a frustrated reaction from Liverpool at the DW Stadium, where they collected five bookings. The Spaniard said: “You have to give us credit. We caused them to be frustrated. They couldn’t find a way through and there was a frustrated reaction from Liverpool, but that was down to the work ethic and understanding between the Wigan Athletic players.”

Liverpool travel to France on Thursday ahead of the Europa League last-16 first-leg tie against Lille, who are fifth in Ligue

• Lyon keen to finish top of Group E after defeat
• French club seek ’surge of pride from Liverpool’

The Lyon president Jean-Michel Aulas still hopes Liverpool can do his club a favour in the final round of Champions League group games, despite his own team’s failure to secure a result against Fiorentina that would have kept Rafael Benítez’s side in the competition.

Lyon are second in Group E, behind Fiorentina, and have already qualified for the last 16 of the competition. However, the French side want to finish top of the group to secure a favourable draw in the knockout stage, and they need Liverpool to get a result against the leaders Fiorentina to make that possible.

“First place is important, notably because the second-leg match in the last 16 would be played at home,” said Aulas. “We have the match against Debrecen remaining and we hope that at the same time Liverpool can beat Fiorentina.”

The defender Jean-Alain Boumsong echoed Aulas’s view, and the former Newcastle and Rangers player believes Benítez’s side will want to sign off in style, despite their disappointment.

Boumsong said: “We must win this last game and hope for a surge of pride from Liverpool.”

Champions LeagueLiverpoolLyonFiorentinaguardian.co.uk