Jamie Carragher refuses to write off Euro hopes

Feb 18 2008 by Ian Doyle, Liverpool Daily Post

DETERMINED Jamie Carragher believes it would be foolish to write off a beleaguered Liverpool’s Champions League chances against Inter Milan tomorrow.

But the centre-back admits that even beating the Italian champions would not make amends for the shock FA Cup exit against Barnsley on Saturday.

Rafael Benitez’s side slumped to a 2-1 home defeat to the Coca-Cola Championship side in their fifth round tie.

Despite taking the lead through Dirk Kuyt in the 32nd minute, Liverpool allowed Stephen Foster to head Barnsley level 12 minutes after the break before Tykes skipper Brian Howard netted a dramatic winner with practically the last touch of the game.

The Champions League is now Liverpool’s final chance of silverware this season, with the competition resuming at the first knockout stage tomorrow night. And Carragher has recalled the events of 12 months ago – when Benitez’s side were underdogs ahead of facing Barcelona – as proof that the Anfield outfit should not be underestimated.

“We’re devastated, obviously,” said Carragher of Saturday’s defeat. “It’s a major, major blow to go out of the competition to a lower league team at Anfield. We realise that’s not good enough.

“We’ve got a massive game coming up against Inter in a few days’ time, so we are going to have to get over this quickly because the Champions League is massive for us now, it’s the only thing we have left that we can win.

“We realise how poor we were against Barnsley, but we have got to get over it.

“This clearly isn’t the best preparation for Tuesday. But we had the same situation last season, when we lost to Arsenal twice in the cups and people were saying we were finished before we’d even played Barcelona.

“But we got through on that occasion and hopefully this can be the same again.”

Carragher added: “There will be a great atmosphere against Inter Milan as there always is on European nights and it’s up to us to put on a performance for the supporters. The fans will be up for it, and it’s up to us to match that.

“I don’t think that beating Inter Milan would make up for losing the FA Cup tie in the way we did, but it would give everyone a boost if we can get a result on Tuesday. But we know how difficult that will be.”

Liverpool have now won just three of their last 11 games and must rouse themselves for a battle to retain their place in the Premier League’s top four.

And Carragher said: “I wouldn’t call this just a bad spell, it’s been a lot longer than that. We realise we are not playing well enough.

“It’s not a matter of putting your finger on one reason, it’s simply because we have not been good enough.

“The sooner we get out of this run the better. We’ve still got the Champions League to play for and we have to fight for that fourth place, so every league game is going to be important.

“We have to make sure we are in the Champions League next season.”

Carragher, whose booking against Barnsley was his fifth of the domestic campaign and rules him out of Saturday’s league visit of Middlesbrough, accepts the flak Liverpool are receiving for their shock FA Cup exit is deserved.

“At every club there are ups and downs, but we realise we are going to get a lot of criticism in the next few days and rightly so,” he added. “Hopefully we can turn that around on Tuesday night.

“You get feedback from supporters all the time. Obviously they are not too happy about things at the moment.

“Myself and Stevie, because we are local lads, we hear a lot from supporters and we are supporters ourselves. We aren’t stupid, we know what is being said. The supporters are as disappointed as we are.”

There were further protests against the club’s American owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett after the game, but Carragher has reiterated that only by winning games can Liverpool ease the speculation surrounding Anfield.

“We can’t do anything about all the things that are happening off the field,” he said. “We just have to concentrate on improving the football side.

“There’s nothing we can do about it, we’re paid to play football and if we can start winning matches again then a lot of the other stuff can be put to bed.”

Meanwhile Barnsley’s match-winner Brian Howard claimed Benitez’s selection decisions had backfired.

Howard said: “I wasn’t surprised Gerrard was not in their side from the start, that’s what they do.

“He (Benitez) must have felt the players he did use were good enough to win the game.

“It does give you a boost to see the Gerrard’s name is not in the starting line-up, he’s their best player and he was not starting.

“I do understand why they do it, but it has backfired on them and they are out of the FA Cup. They are well behind in the league and they must produce it in the Champions League now because that is all they have got left.”