Liverpool: Must Do Better (A Lot Better!)

Rafa has called on "the real Liverpool" to show up against Lille on Thursday in the Europa League. The Spaniard was critical of the players after our defeat at Wigan, which was fair, on Monday and wants them to respond when we go to France tomorrow for the first leg of the last 16 tie, as he explained to Liverpoolfc.tv:

'It was a surprise the other day, but hopefully it was just a blip and we will see the real Liverpool on Thursday.

'The players know we have to improve in some specific areas. Sometimes how you play depends on the other teams, on quality, match fitness and things like this.

'But you cannot afford not to fight from the first minute until the last because it is really important for the club and all of us.'

The Reds Boss thinks that it's better for us to be playing again quicker rather than having to wait for too long and expects a reaction, he then expects to see one when we return to Premier League action against Portsmouth on Monday as well because he knows that we're now faced with an even more difficult task of finishing in the top four now and can't afford many (if any) more mistakes, as he also explained:

'It was really difficult before and will be more difficult now, so we know we cannot make too many mistakes.

'We have to carry on and try to get three points in the next league game against Portsmouth. But first we have the Europa League.

'It is very clear this is an opportunity for us to do things right, try to get a good result and be ready for the next game.

'In football sometimes you prefer to have some time to rest, but now I think it is better to play games quickly.'

We really are at the stage now where any more slip ups, particularly against sides we shouldn't be slipping up against really, are most likely going to cost us dear. Many more and we can kiss goodbye to the Champions League next season and if we do that we may well have to kiss goodbye to some of our star players as well.

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