Steven Gerrard: ‘Off-field problems affecting our form’

Jan 22 2008 by Chris Beesley, Liverpool Daily Post

LIVERPOOL captain Steven Gerrard admitted that the club’s off-the-field problems are affecting the players on the pitch after last night’s 2-2 draw with Aston Villa at Anfield.

Despite taking the lead through Yossi Benayoun in the first half, Liverpool had to come from behind in the second half to salvage a point after the break thanks to a late Peter Crouch equaliser.

Gerrard said: “I have to be careful what I say about the situation, but it’s not helping.

“As players we know what’s going on. We have a job to do on the pitch and you try to push what’s happening off it to the back of your minds.

“But it’s almost impossible when it’s happening every day. It’s not just this week. It’s been going on for some time, and it’s certainly not helping the players.”

The result leaves Benitez’s side 14 points adrift of Manchester United at the head of the Premier League table and two points shy of neighbours Everton in the battle for fourth place and the final Champions League qualification spot.

Gerrard said: “It’s not good enough. We’ll keep going because it’s not over until it’s over, but it’s certainly not good enough.

“We should win all our home games with the squad we’ve got so we’re disappointed with a draw, although give credit to Villa. They maybe deserved a point today.”

During the game there were large-scale protests against the club’s US owners but manager Rafael Benitez is unsure whether the disharmony is the reason for his team’s stuttering form on the pitch.

He said: “I think it is not easy to know (if the off-the-field uncertainties are affecting the players) but clearly if we’d have scored the second goal (first) we’d be talking about a great game where we’d played well and scored goals.

“We couldn’t so you can say that it’s maybe affecting the players.

“Clearly today it’s difficult to explain because we had all the control and all the chances.”

Benitez added: “I can understand if any player says it is affecting him or not. For me it would be easier but I do not want to use this explanation.

“I want to analyse the game and why we made these mistakes and why we cannot score.”

Two goals from Villa in the space of three minutes turned the game on its head but Benitez felt that Liverpool should have already but the game beyond the visitors’ reach.

He said: “I think that sometimes you need luck when you are playing well and creating chances you need to score the second goal and finish the game.

“I was talking about this before. We’ve conceded two set-pieces, a second ball and a deflection in three minutes and a game we were controlling and creating all the chances and doing everything but we couldn’t win.

“In the end you must be happy with a draw because we could have lost a game we deserved to win.

“If you analysis two or three games that we’ve drawn at home, we were creating enough for winning but we couldn’t score the second goal and we’ve conceded a bad goal.

“It’s a situation you were watching where we were attacking, had chances but we could not score the second goal and finish the game.”

Substitute Crouch netted to earn Liverpool a share of the spoils but Benitez believed he was right to start with goal-shy striker Dirk Kuyt.

He said: “We have played some games with (Peter) Crouch and more or less it’s the same situation.

“(Dirk) Kuyt is always around, he’s always creating chances for himself. Maybe if you use another player he will have these chances.

“For me, if we were using Voronin, Crouch or Kuyt it is more or less the same situation.”