Rush - Liverpool must believe they can win title

http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/spor...s/exclusive-liverpool-fc-must-believe-6724283

Anfield legend reckons Daniel Sturridge will come back strong after missed chances against Arsenal

Ian Rush admits Liverpool are outsiders for the Premier League crown but says Brendan Rodgers’ side must believe they are capable of winning the title race.

The Kop legend is confident that last Sunday’s controversial FA Cup exit at the hands of Arsenal won’t dent the feelgood factor which has grown since the turn of the year.

A run of five wins and two draws in their past seven league matches – including ruthless thrashings of Everton and the Gunners – has lifted the fourth placed Reds to within four points of leaders Chelsea.

The primary objective is nailing down a top-four finish but Rush believes the quality of Liverpool’s recent performances means they can climb even higher.

“We are still the outsiders to win the title but the fact we’re still in the race at this stage of the season shows how far we’ve come under Brendan,” Rush told the ECHO.

“You have to start believing that winning it is possible. We have to be looking up rather than down.

“Before maybe we were looking over our shoulder and thinking fourth, fifth or sixth, but now with the position we’re in we should be targeting fourth place and upwards.

“We’ve still got Man City, Chelsea and Tottenham to play at home. Even if we don’t win the league, we will have a big say in who does win it.”

City and Chelsea boast greater strength in depth but Rush says that advantage could be negated by Liverpool’s less hectic schedule.

While their rivals are involved in European ties this week, the Reds have time to rest and prepare for Sunday’s league clash with Swansea City at Anfield.

“Going out of the Cup was frustrating because we did more than enough to win the game,” added Rush, who is Liverpool’s all-time leading scorer with 346 goals.

“We played really well, created chances and a big refereeing decision went against us. We were the better team and it was just unlucky.

“We all wanted to do well in the Cup but that’s gone now and we need to concentrate on the league. Hopefully losing in the Cup will prove to be a blessing in disguise.

“All our focus is on the 12 league games. Others have bigger squads than Liverpool but they also have the Champions League to concentrate on and that will take it out of them.”

A bitter war of words has erupted between Jose Mourinho, Arsene Wenger and Manuel Pellegrini in recent weeks. In contrast Rodgers has refused to rise to the bait and Rush has been impressed by the Northern Irishman’s approach.

“I like the fact that Brendan hasn’t got involved in all the mind games,” he said.

“The message has been ‘we’ll just concentrate on ourselves, try to play our best and finish as high as possible’.

“People have been saying Liverpool are in the frame but we are doing our talking on the pitch.

“The pressure is on Chelsea and Man City as they are the favourites and we can continue to play with freedom.”

With just five points dropped at Anfield all season, Liverpool are enjoying their best campaign on home turf since 1987/88.

Rush says the 5-1 demolition of Arsenal earlier this month will serve as a warning to City and Chelsea, who both have to visit L4 in April.

“The opening 20 minutes against Arsenal was just phenomenal,” he said.

“We were 4-0 up and could have had even more goals. We’re starting games quickly and that makes a big difference. An early goal always gets the crowd going.

“If you’re going to be successful then you need to be winning your home games. Now teams are coming to Anfield fearing what’s going to happen.

“They are thinking ‘we can’t really attack too much because we will get done’. Trying to just defend isn’t working for visiting teams either as we have learned how to break teams down.

“Brendan has got the players believing in themselves and you can see that confidence levels are high. We’re playing attacking football which is exciting to watch.

“The crowd sense that belief at Anfield and they really get behind the team. If we go into those games against Chelsea and Man City knowing if we beat them we could go above them then I think the crowd will make a big difference for us.”

Rush’s optimism is fuelled by the form of Liverpool’s prolific front two. Luis Suarez and Daniel Sturridge have netted 42 goals between them already this term.

Suarez hasn’t scored in his last four matches but Rush has still been impressed by his contribution. The former Reds striker expects the Uruguayan to complete a Golden Boot and Player of the Year double come May.

“There isn’t a better front two in the Premier League than Suarez and Sturridge – their scoring record has been brilliant,” Rush said.

“Even though Suarez hasn’t been scoring recently he’s still playing really well. His overall play is excellent and his work rate is first class.

“He has been operating out wide a lot and been doing a job for the team. He has become a better all-round player under Brendan. He’s very unselfish.

“Suarez is on course for the Golden Boot and he should get Player of the Year too. No-one else comes close.

“I thought last year Suarez and Gareth Bale were the two best players in the league. This season Suarez has surpassed the level he was at last season. Considering he missed the first five league games, to score 23 league goals has been amazing.”

Sturridge would have set a new club record if he had scored for a ninth successive appearance last weekend.

However, his scoring run came to a halt as he missed three glorious chances at the Emirates.

But Rush insists Sturridge has no reason to feel down having netted 19 goals in 22 appearances so far this season.

“Daniel had nothing to apologise for,” Rush said.

“He played really well and was unfortunate not to score.

“All strikers have games like that where things don’t quite go your way. You have to forget about the ones you miss.

“Daniel has been superb this season. The big thing has been keeping himself fit and making sure he’s been able to play regularly. I think he has learned from playing with someone like Suarez and has become a better player.

“He has to keep getting into those great positions. If he gets three chances against Swansea on Sunday I know he will score at least one or two of them.”

 

'12 massive games but focus on Swans'

http://www.liverpoolfc.com/news/latest-news/155608-12-massive-games-but-focus-on-swans

If you will spare him the clich̩, former Liverpool striker John Aldridge has described his old club's Barclays Premier League run-in as '12 cup finals' Рbut with none more important than Swansea City this Sunday.

Back-to-back victories over Arsenal and Fulham last week strengthened the Reds' position in the top four as their quest for a Champions League qualification spot approaches its final stages.

With a swashbuckling, attacking style, Brendan Rodgers' team have claimed three points in 16 of their 26 fixtures and fired 66 goals, with Daniel Sturridge and Luis Suarez hitting more than half of those between them.

Aldridge, a championship winner with the club in 1987-88, believes Liverpool must retain their maximum concentration in their dozen remaining games, and not least for the visit of the Swans at the weekend.

He told Liverpoolfc.com: "We can't take our eyes off the ball now. You've got to concentrate on every single game; you've got 12 cup finals.

"Excuse the pun, but that's what it is now, to get in the Champions League and try to get above Arsenal. Why not? I think they are catchable.

"I don't know about Chelsea and Manchester City, they have got to come here. There is a lot of scope in this team, we can score a lot of goals between now and the end of the season. If we can tighten up at the back, away from home in particular, you don't know where we can end up.

"We can get third place. To get top is asking a lot. First and foremost, you've got to beat City here and hope they slip up somewhere down the line, and beat Chelsea here. Once it's there, you've got to go for it; we have to go for it and see where it leads us.

"We all know the top four is huge for us, then build on what Brendan has achieved at the moment. We are playing some fantastic football and going forward it's a joy to watch.

"We've got to do what we're good at - feed the lads up front. The four lads up front are doing tremendously at the moment; they will make things happen for us.

"We have got to try to get clean sheets between now and the end of the season, to get us the maximum points. Swansea is a game that you would hope we can get the three points, of course."

The Reds were eliminated from the FA Cup at the fifth-round stage last Sunday, with a 2-1 defeat by Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium ending the side's hopes of lifting that particular trophy for an eighth time.

In contrast, Liverpool's rivals at the summit of the division are each in European competition - a scenario many suggest could be crucial in achieving their objectives. Aldridge is in agreement.

The 55-year-old explained: "There are no distractions, unlike City - they are going for a treble - and Chelsea, they are in the Champions League. Arsenal are in three competitions. We've got 12 massive games.

"You don't look any further than Swansea; that's a cliché, but it's true. Make sure we go about it as we did against Everton and Arsenal respectively. Get the three points in the bag when other teams are playing each other.

"Then you look towards the next game and so forth. I do think it's advantageous to us to just be the only ones who are looking at the league programme. Tottenham have got the Europa League as well as a distraction."

Both Sturridge and Suarez have been in prolific form as a tandem in 2013-14, with the former narrowly missing out on setting a club record by scoring in a ninth consecutive appearance, against Arsenal.

Aldridge envisaged impressive performances from the England international when he sealed a switch from Chelsea, but the No.15 has surpassed the pundit's expectations so far this season.

"He has been brilliant," 'Aldo' commented. "It's hard, coming to a club like Liverpool with the expectation of scoring goals. He had a little bit at Chelsea, but he has taken like a duck to water.

"I always knew he had the capabilities to score a lot of goals; Brendan has seen him as a kid many times and worked with him on the training ground.

"I have to say, he has exceeded my expectations, to score so many goals in so few games. It bodes well. It is a tremendous effort. You have got to try to stay at the club for as long as you can.

"I was only at the club for 104 games and scored 63 goals, so people always remember goalscorers. There is no reason why he won't be at the club for a long time and hopefully break records."

 

So basically now we know... foredeck dave is one of my biggest heros in rush.

take a bow dave, take a bow!

 

i know sturridge and luis have missed chances in games, but we need to see more goal contribution from midfield, then i would say we have a chance at title.

with just strikers mainly for goals, will always get miss and hit games, but if others ie midfield are chipping in as well with goals its less of an issue,and gives us more options for potential game winners.

 

12 wins out of 12 difficult but not impossible. Have to do something with our away form.

 

Ie; we're looking at you Coutinho

Gerrard scores from the spot but other than that, how many as he, Hendo, Lucas and Allen got between them? I'd expect at least ten between then. -D Must do better

 

defenders as well, skrtel got a couple the other day against arsenal which set the match up the way it did, and our strikers grew in confidence.

they missed quite a few as the scoreline should have been more, but point is skrtel set that up really and their misses between them didn't have much of an impact(apart from should have absolutely mullered them obviously, but 3pts, need to see more of it.

we need another hyypia and dare i say it someone like Redknapp for midfield who isnt afraid to try 30 yrd shots,(miss gerrards belters!

 

I think Sakho can be our Hyypia, he should certainly get more goals (can't get any less can he ).

With Agger, Johnson and Enrique available you would expect more goals too but then, I'm not sure how many games we'll see Agger play, I'm not overly keen on seeing Johnson back and Enrique is injured for eternity it seems.

I also think Agger is a bit of a red herring. He has a reputation for scoring but rarely gets on the scoresheet. He also has a reputation for being able to hit a worldie but only hit that one early on in his Liverpool career.

 

Can win title.

Most likely won't.

Nothing new in his sentiment; I think its what most of us believe.

 

goal against west ham?

not sure why he hasn't been given more license going forward when he is capable of doing things like that, maybe brendan hasn't seen his skills going forward lol.

also dont see the point in him coming up for corner as he doesn't seem to want to attack the ball like skrtel does.

 

Can't remember if it was West Ham or not, it was a while ago now.

Agger's not great in the air in either box. Best goal he's scored was the set-piece against Chelsea; Gerrard passed it short and Agger passed it first time into the near corner. Great team goal.

 

Pretty much like this (first one)....

[video=youtube;pFxLlcTTusw]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pFxLlcTTusw[/video]

 

On phone so can't see the video.

 

And quickly. After Swansea we have 3 away games on the #bounce.

 

well last year it was our home form. this year we've been quite good.

I think as an improvement its goals up fornt form the two that were delivering last year from january prior to suarez brainfart... so we've improve at home and jumped up the table.

We need more power, physicality and pace to call on away form home to grind.

its not coming until next season. All we can do is play positively and go for the wins and see what happens.