JAVIER MASCHERANO has applied perspective to Liverpool’s critical victory over Manchester United by insisting the result will assume lasting significance only if it ignites a sustained run of form from Rafael Benitez’s side.
Despondency around Anfield and pressure on Benitez were lifted in Sunday’s emphatic response against the champions, with goals from Fernando Torres and David Ngog ending a run of four successive defeats to leave Liverpool fifth in the table and six points behind the leaders, Chelsea.
Mascherano, however, admits Benitez’s team still have little margin for error in the English Premier League and, having beaten Manchester United at Anfield last season only to draw with Stoke City in their next league game, cannot waste the momentum offered by their third consecutive league win over Alex Ferguson’s champions.
“We talked after the Lyon game about needing to beat United because it was a massive game and also about starting again,” said the Argentina captain. “The win is important, but it’s only three points. We have to keep going.
“It’s good for our confidence, but we know we cannot drop important points in the future. If we want the three points against United to be of value we have to show this kind of performance again. It was difficult for us, losing four games in a row. Now we have won we cannot stop. We have to keep this going.”
Liverpool travel to Fulham next in the league, but face Arsenal in the fourth round of the League Cup tomorrow, a game that dominated Benitez’s thoughts even in the immediate aftermath of the United victory.
The Liverpool manager will have a delicate balancing act at the Emirates Stadium, where the temptation to utilise his squad is offset by the need to progress in the competition, and has selection dilemmas throughout the team.
Torres may not be risked from the start for the second time in four days, despite his impact while only “80 per cent fit”, according to Benitez, against United, while the Spaniard is yet to decide whether to include the €22 million summer signing Alberto Aquilani in the travelling party.
One decision that has been taken for the Liverpool manager is the absence of Mascherano, who will be suspended against Arsenal as a result of his two yellow cards on Sunday and whose place may be taken by the youngster Jay Spearing.
“I made a mistake for the sending-off,” said the midfielder. “I didn’t want to touch (Edwin) Van der Sar. I went to try and stop the pass but the grass was very slippery and I went perhaps into the tackle with a lot of power. It was a foul, so I think I deserved to be sent off. It was difficult to manage in that kind of game when you’ve already had a yellow card.”
Mascherano has begun to recapture top form after a poor start to the season and admits he was affected by the pressures of Argentina’s troubled World Cup qualifying campaign, although that helped him deal with Liverpool’s recent slump.
“I had a difficult three or four months with Argentina recently, and maybe that’s given me the experience to help Liverpool through what’s been happening. Rafa has experience of these problems too. He’s had bad times as a manager, so he knows how to handle these moments. We’ve shown we have a good squad, not just a good team, and we are pulling together. We have to keep showing what we did against United. We cannot relax just because we have won this game.”
GuardianService
