Reds have spirit to win title - Carra

Jamie Carragher reckons Liverpool's comeback at Portsmouth is all the proof the Premier League needs that the Reds are fighting for the title.



Rafa Benitez's squad has been stretched to the limit, and the fitness of Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres appears the key to their challenge to Manchester United - but spirit has never been in question.

With a reputation for spectacular comebacks after their famous 2005 Champions League win in Istanbul, they needed Torres to climb off the bench to secure a 3-2 victory over Portsmouth on Saturday - after going into the final five minutes at Fratton Park 2-1 behind.

"There are a few times that we've come back - so that tells you about the spirit of the team," said centre-back Carragher.

Benitez is short on numbers after offloading Robbie Keane to Tottenham, illustrated by how he expects youngster Krisztian Nemeth to return from a loan spell at Blackpool to play his part in the run-in.

At least the Liverpool manager is seeing the qualities needed to maintain pace with United.

"It is 'desire'," said the Spaniard. "The team showed 'character', and the mentality is very good. The confidence is high - and for the rest of the season that is very important."

Victory at Pompey divided opinion on Benitez - is he a genius or just lucky?

Torres, Dirk Kuyt and Xabi Alonso were on the bench - and defeat looked likely until they were introduced, with David Nugent and Hermann Hreidarsson giving the hosts leads between Fabio Aurelio's strike.

Torres then set up Kuyt for another equaliser, before the Spain striker sealed the points with a powerful header in stoppage-time.

Carragher said: "It's always a gamble when your big names are on the bench.

"But we had extra-time against Everton in the week, so it wasn't about big names but fresh players. They came off the bench to make a difference - and that's what they did."

Dutchman Kuyt added: "It's the choice of the boss. Of course, as a player you always want to play. But it is the manager's choice - and he was right."

Kuyt led the praise for Torres, who will now travel to Spain for his country's friendly against England on Wednesday in Seville.

It was Torres who scored twice against Chelsea a week ago to snatch another victory.

"He was very important against Chelsea, very important against Portsmouth - and I'm sure he'll be very important for the rest of the season," said Kuyt.

Carragher, standing in for Gerrard as captain, added: "In the last two games, he's earned us four points in massive games."

Liverpool needed that touch of class, despite Benitez insisting: "You can see players like (Ryan) Babel, (David) Ngog, (Yossi) Benayoun playing really well, Aurelio as a midfielder - and there is (Daniel) Agger. We have quality."

The facts were that Benayoun and Babel missed open goals in each half, Ngog struggled on his league debut - and full-back Aurelio was playing in an unfamiliar role.

This post has been edited by solstice818: Feb 8 2009, 11:39 PM

Rafa is a mad genius!!! MAD!!!

i dont rate rafa tactic at all...he is crazy man..we just got lucky..coz torres alwiz bring luck to our team...

for babel..he is a good players...is rafa fault not play him enough...even gerrard when too many time at the bench will lost his confident..i rate babel coz u can see wat he doing for us in his 1st season at liverpool..he needs to play..

i'm a fan and i love liverpool fc but i never really fond of our manager as a person.
he is a good manager a great tactician and he knows his tread well but i would rate sammy thomo houlier a better bloke then the spainian
its just his way of approach things .. like his contract talk, transfers, treating player like hyypia benny alonso ..
its just so lali ga real madrid where you have your club president sporting director and the power struggle and you have to use the media to get the fans on your side blah blah blah ..
my club have changed and it needs to or else we'll be swept a side..
you win some you lose some eh ?
YNWA


This post has been edited by Halfhearted04: Feb 9 2009, 12:31 AM

why all the babel hate. for someone that young to play is premier league is not easy. when he scores, he gets all the cheers and when he missed just that one tap yesterday, ppl are hating him. he didn't play badly at all against pompey. he switches position with ngog to try and find space. he ran everywhere and had a couple of good passes.

what i do agree with is that he's not getting enough field time with liverpool. on his "good" day, he'll be a constant menace on the wings just like when he played against man u. i thought at 10.5 mil, he's a bargain and certainly a keeper

I bet some of us here hate him not because he missed a sitter.Hate him because he is a selfish guy.

Oh well come next game probably Mancs will see us off by 8 points.

What a uphill task. Bring them on.

luck is important too..remember that...

5 points ler...

its 5 points... and we're not going down without a fight!! Shanks, Fagan & Paisley will be guiding us from above...

what's important now is, just focusing on the remaining games we have!
it's gonna be difficult for Liverpool..
as we have CL n BPL to focus now! every single game, is a turning point for us!

Its rare to open up a paper, and see the BPL table and looking that we're still fighting for the title. If in other season, we would be fighting for 4th place right now.

can be consider

CL match next or International break?

international first bro...
n then city n real madrid...

Totally.

I don't mind him trying to beat a right-back or what because he has the burst of speed to run over them, but beating two people in one go? Come on.. and he does this all the time. I prefer Ngog to Babel. Ngog, even though he is not yet comfortable in his striker position, he PASSES.

Here's the problem I have with Babel. He holds up the ball really well, make no mistake about that. However by doing so it distruptes the momentum of the team. He may be playing to instruction but I feel that he is more concerned with beating defenders on his own rather than utilising teammates. To me he has the "Milan Baros syndrome" in that he keeps his head down and tries to do too much on his own. To be honest we were amazing against Portsmouth towards the end of the 2nd half. We were executing quick one two's to perfection. When a player keeps the ball too long, it disrupts the runs made by other players and everyone else ends up standing around waiting to see what he's going to do with the ball. He may have good individual skills but he needs to be more of a team player if you ask me.

Well said Duke Red.

Now, i think Rafa should hand Benny a few starts. He's on fire at the moment, and the back-four system used in the Pompey match, impressed me alot. By doing that, Agger will get more first team appearances, and that would make me a happy person.

Babel... meh Rafa should have sold him instead of Robbie. Saw how he played against the Gunners'? Causing problems for the back four all the time.

nope . still the same old robbie . no goals

yeah..no goals..but he played very well.....credits to him....

Agreed. Even though he did not score, he created several chances, hit a volley really well (Went wide by a good few inches though), and caused a lot of problems in the Arsenal back four. He is something like Dirk Kuyt. We need these sort of players, instead of selfish players who want glory all for themselves.