Rafa and Stevie on tonights game
http://www.liverpoolfc.tv/news/drilldown/N166403091109-1559.htmAhead of tonight's Anfield clash with Birmingham City Rafael Benitez and Steven Gerrard have given their thoughts to the official matchday programme. Read it now online.
Rafael Benitez
After the disappointment of the game at Fulham, I was very pleased with the reaction of the players in Lyon on Wednesday.
Of course it was frustrating to concede a goal so late on because I thought we deserved to win the game as the team showed their character, created chances and played well.
Clearly it is difficult for us to qualify for the group stages of the UEFA Champions League, but not impossible. We have to win our game in Debrecen and see what happens in the game with Fiorentina and Lyon. We have a chance and the main thing is to play well against Debrecen and then see what the situation is for our last match.
The players realise that if they work as hard as they did in France they will win matches. We need to reach those levels tonight as we welcome Birmingham City to Anfield. We need to start playing well again in the Barclays Premier League and three points is especially important tonight after the Fulham game.
That was a particularly frustrating match as I thought we were really unfortunate not to be ahead at half-time as we were in complete control of the game. But in the second half we made too many mistakes and we paid for them.
Now we have to produce a positive response, make sure we can get a victory and look to take things forward from there.
That will be tough against Birmingham City, who have proved a difficult team for us to beat in the league during recent seasons.
Although we have had some good results against them in the cups, we have had a difficult time in the league and drawn our last two home matches against them. We know that we have to improve on that record but every year is different.
Birmingham have different players and a different manager from the last time we met here so hopefully the result can be different as well.
As against any Barclays Premier League team it will be tough because Birmingham work hard for each other and they also have a good manager in Alex McLeish, who has plenty of experience, including managing at international level.
I thought they were unlucky not to win against Manchester City last weekend and that underlines the size of our task this evening.
Everybody knows about our injury problems at the moment and, although we do not use that as an excuse, I cannot ever remember a time in my managerial career when so many players have been unavailable.
We had a lot of injuries but then also had players affected by a virus. Both came together so it has been a difficult time but we have to try to manage with the players that we have.
Playing on a Monday night is a little unusual but maybe it will be good for us as it will give more time for one or two players to become available which will help because at this moment we do not have too many options.
In our last home game against Manchester United, we played really well. The atmosphere was fantastic and the relationship between the fans and the players really shone through. We need to try and maintain that momentum by showing the same mentality and intensity on and off the pitch.
It is always difficult for fans when the team is not winning but they know the only way to help turn that around at any club, and especially this one, is to keep pushing and supporting the players and then it will be easier for them to perform.
Earlier in the season, we put together a good run of six successive wins and our idea now is to get back to that kind of sequence.
We need to be positive and if we can put together a row of wins, it will be easier for the players as winning always breeds confidence to keep playing well.
Steven Gerrard
LIKE everyone else I was devastated by how the game in Lyon ended on Wednesday night.
The lads played so well, took the lead and definitely deserved the three points. So to concede an equaliser at that late stage was a real blow. It actually felt like a defeat for us because we obviously wanted the three points.
It means that our job of qualifying for the last 16 won't be easy. We need Lyon to do us a favour, while we have to go to Hungary and get a win.
If that happens then it all boils down to the last game. We've been in that situation before and can take plenty of inspiration from how we've come through it in the past against Olympiacos in 2004 and Marseille two years ago. I believe we can do it again.
Over the two games with Lyon, late goals have really cost us dearly. That's something we've got to make sure doesn't happen again this season. However, we can take a lot of heart from the display in France.
It was encouraging to see the lads control the majority of the match against a decent side away from home and create plenty of opportunities. Now we've got to do the same again tonight against Birmingham City.
At the time of writing these notes I'm still not sure if I'll be involved. Obviously I desperately want to play and help the lads because the last thing you want as a player is to be missing games, especially when we've had a few defeats.
It's been a frustrating three weeks for me but whether I take part or not, it won't be an easy match for us.
I watched Alex McLeish's team against Man City last weekend and thought they performed well, made life tough for the opposition and would have won, only for a great penalty save by Shay Given.
So that performance and result will certainly give them a lot of confidence coming to Anfield.
They've been doing well since getting back into the Premier League. Nobody's hammered them and they've been tough to beat.
The likes of Christian Benitez, James McFadden and Kevin Phillips coming off the bench can cause problems for the opposition if you give them any time or space.
We know what to expect; they'll be well organised and keep things tight. We've got to match them and convert our chances when they come along. If we perform like we did against Lyon then I'm confident we'll get the victory.
That would give us a huge boost going into the international break. The last time we all went away with our countries we'd just lost at Stamford Bridge and it's not a good feeling to have to wait so long for the next Liverpool game and a chance to put things right. We don't want that to happen this time.
Chelsea entertained Manchester United yesterday and that's a match I was keeping an eye on. They're our rivals and we don't want them getting any further ahead than they already are.
That's why it's so important to take the three points tonight.
