Liverpool v Manchester United: Javier Mascherano seeks inspiration from Argentina
Javier Mascherano has urged Liverpool to follow the example set by Argentina, who broke a losing run to book a place in the World Cup finals, insisting victory over Manchester United could have the same rejuvenating influence on morale.
Rafael Benítez’s management has been openly questioned this week, although Mascherano has made it clear that the fault lies with the players, not the manager.
And the Argentina captain can see a parallel between his country’s dramatic late qualification for South Africa and Liverpool’s current crisis.
He said: “I am relaxed now that Argentina have qualified for the World Cup finals, I can concentrate only on Liverpool.
“I can think of Liverpool and not Argentina. This is not a good situation at the club, and I want to give Liverpool my best.
“I am captain of my country, and we were really under pressure in the final two qualifying games; people said we were out, that was very difficult.
“But we won both those games. We have qualified. Maybe it will be the same for Liverpool now if we start to win, things will start to happen for us like they did for my country.
“We must not think of the past. We must beat United for ourselves, for our supporters, for the team. We must keep going.”
Liverpool, who suffered a 1-0 Champions League loss to Lyon in midweek, expect to have Fernando Torres and Glen Johnson back from injury, but captain Steven Gerrard is a serious worry with his groin problem.
“We have a very important game now with Manchester United. We must stop thinking and worrying about what happened against Lyon,” said Mascherano
“If we can beat United then the confidence will be back, it is important to do that.
“We beat them twice last season. We know what we are capable of. Hopefully our form will be like that on Sunday.
“We have to do the right things and put away our chances.
“It is a difficult situation, we have lost four in a row. But do not forget that is a team who last season were doing very well, we must keep going and working.
“We must win the next game, against Manchester United. If you have confidence you can do anything.
“The team is not playing well, and a lot of players are not in the best form. That is not good and we are losing confidence, but we have to believe that we can overcome this.”
“Even without Steven, or Fernando, we believe we can still win matches. We won a lot of games last season without the pair of them on the pitch together.
“But obviously they are our key players and we do need them back against United.
“We are trying all the time to give our best. Maybe now we have to show character, personality and hard work.
“It is difficult. Liverpool is not a team that loses a lot of games. Now we have lost six games this season, that is different for us and difficult.
“We cannot let that bother us. We must think only of winning on Sunday. That will bring back the confidence.
“We can still win the league, but we must start winning and stop dropping so many points.”
Telegraph
Logged
