Steve Hunter 24 December 2007
Dirk Kuyt claims Liverpool have to keep on winning during the festive period to stay in the title race.
Rafael Benitez's side face Derby County, Manchester City and Wigan Athletic over Christmas and Kuyt believes the team are capable of taking maximum points from these games.
The Dutch striker said the Reds are capable of challenging the likes of Arsenal and Manchester United in the quest for glory, but acknowledged that the team has to go on a winning run in order to achieve their aims.
"We have to win our next three now at Derby, Manchester City and at home to Wigan and if we can get nine points from those games I think we will get closer to the other teams," said Kuyt.
"We want to go on a run and win a lot of games. Every defeat in the league is big one for us because you just want to win and compete with Arsenal, Manchester United and Chelsea so we can't afford to lose many more.
"We just have to look at the next games and look forward."
The Dutch striker is confident that Liverpool can go on a good run, especially with a certain number nine in Fernando Torres leading the attack.
"Fernando is unbelievably quick and it's what the team needs," added Kuyt. "Quick players and clever players.
"We have got everything in our squad now and we can do something really good so we'll see how far we can go this season."
Monday, December 24, 2007
KUYT: WE NEED TO KEEP WINNING
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
OLYMPIQUE MARSEILLE 0 - 4 LIVERPOOL
The local paper
The greatest Spanish striker of his generation? A cool £20m. A thrilling young Dutchman? £11.5m. A proven international class centre-forward? That will set you back another £10m. But the joy experienced by 2,800 Liverpool fans in the old French port of Marseille last night, and hundreds of thousands of Liverpool fans worldwide? Priceless. Utterly priceless.
The Echo
The broadsheet
Benitez's men had known how daunting this place could be, how they would have to stick together to survive one of European football's most intimidating arenas. "England Is Our Kingdom" read one banner in the heaving mass of humanity that constitutes the north end of Stade Velodrome. Gerrard was having none of that. Marseille soon became an Englishman's kingdom.
The Daily Telegraph
The tabloid
Not only did they reach the lucrative knock-out stages of the Champions League, not only did they produce their best performance of the season, not only did they take poor Marseille apart, but they also offered a serious statement of intent for the rest of the season. Let's not under-estimate this win. With the incredible pressure Liverpool faced coming into this winner takes-all showdown, this was a display that ranks alongside the great European nights Benitez has enjoyed with the Reds.
The Mirror
The local paper
A magnificent individual performance from the club record signing helped Liverpool secure their passage to the knockout stages of the Champions League at the expense of Marseille and ease the pressure on Benitez. The undoubted highlight was Torres's sensational 11th-minute strike, the striker slaloming through three home challenges before slipping the ball home. A goal that will withstand constant replaying, it epitomised an outstanding team display from Liverpool when Benitez needed it most.
The Daily Post
The boss
I am really proud. It was a fantastic team performance, and that was the key. It was a bad pitch, a windy day but we were compact, worked hard together, were good on the counter-attack and didn't concede. Everything was almost perfect. I say 'almost' because we could have scored more goals. You can never be completely perfect, but the team played really well tonight and I can't have any complaints from them. Rafa Benitez
The opposition boss
It is an extreme shame to have lost this last game. But we have to salute our adversary, who played like they had to here. I have to reckon that our tactics were useless because Liverpool were far too good. I did not say anything to the players - I could have regretted it. Eric Gerets
The player
I always believed we could do it. Even at the time, I said that if there's one team that can win three games in a row, it's Liverpool. This is a club that's proved over the last few years that it can deal with big games. We knew every game would be a final and we won three finals. Yossi Benayoun
The former player
To go over there in a must-win situation, well for Rafa it couldn't have gone any better. We played so well in the first half that we didn't want it to end, but then we made the perfect start again in the second half with the early goal from Kuyt. We were so comfortable then that we could sit back and relax and keep our energy for the Man Utd game. David Johnson
The fan
A challenge marker was put down in front of us: do something no English side had done and win at the Stade Velodrome - or face dropping out of the CL at the first hurdle. What followed was a display straight from the book "Reds in Europe: How to win must-win games".
