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Metro "Gerrard: I'll make Reds great again"

Steven Gerrard has revealed his Carling Cup despair has made him more determined than ever to win trophies with Liverpool. The Anfield captain scored an own goal as Liverpool lost the first major cup final of the season to Chelsea at Cardiff on Sunday. But the England midfielder wants to look forward and said: "We have to stay focused on qualifying for the Champions League. If we come fourth it will feel like we've won a cup final now because Everton have a big lead over us. This has made me more determined than ever to help us get into the top four. And I haven't given up my dream of lifting a trophy as Liverpool captain. It is going to be tough for us to win anything this season but we will give it our best shot in the Champions League - out hopes are still alive."

Picture caption: Hungry for success: Steven Gerrard

Cup pain will not derail our season By Andy Hunter, Daily Post

RAFAEL BENITEZ last night insisted he would not allow a Carling Cup hangover to derail Liverpool's twin buttault on the Champions League.

Liverpool were mentally and physically shattered after Sunday's agonising extra-time defeat to Chelsea at the Millennium Stadium.

But rather than send their season into freefall Benitez hopes to witness an immediate response to the setback as they attempt to claim fourth place from Everton and reach the quarter-finals of the Champions League.

Liverpool face a testing trip to in-form Newcastle on Saturday before taking their 3-1 advantage over Bayer Leverkusen to Germany next week. And Benitez said: "I don't think the Carling Cup result should be a big problem for the rest of our season.

"We must recover quickly from the final, that is the most important thing. If we can do that it won't be a problem.

"Once we get over the final and start to concentrate on the Newcastle game it will be different for the players. We still have a lot to work for and, as I told the players after Sunday's game, they have a lot to be proud of," he added.

The Liverpool manager, however, was not enamoured with Harry Kewell's latest injury, which forced the Austrialian off in the 57th minute in Cardiff and added to the bitter debate over his fitness.

"Harry said he needed to come off," said Benitez. "I told him to give it five more minutes but after that he said he still felt sore and so we had to change. I don't know exactly what the injury is."

Steven Gerrard, meanwhile, wants to ease the misery of his crucial own goal by meeting and beating Chelsea in the Champions League this season.

The Liverpool captain has called on his team-mates to bounce back instantly from what he described as "the worst day of my life" to keep their Champions League prospects alive.

It was Gerrard's unfortunate 80th-minute header that allowed Chelsea back into Sunday's final but he has already envisaged a fitting response against his Stamford Bridge admirers.

"It is going to be tough for us to win anything this season now," said Gerrard. "But we will give it our best shot in the Champions League. Our hopes are still alive.

"If we get through and Chelsea get through I would like to meet them again because I would fancy our chances."

He added: "I've never scored an own goal in my life and I can't believe it happened in a final. It was a freak goal that turned the game their way.

"I really felt we were going to hold on to the win. I am gutted for the lads and the supporters but we have to stay focused on qualifying for the Champions League. If we come fourth it will feel like we have won a cup final now because Everton have a big lead over us.

"This has made me more determined than ever to help us get into the top four. And I haven't given up my dream of lifting a trophy as Liverpool captain."

* LIVERPOOL'S Premiership game with Blackburn, originally scheduled for last Saturday, will now be played at Anfield on Wednesday, March 16 - four days before the Merseyside derby.

Liverpool Daily Post, 1 Mar 2005 Dearth of clbutt was as key as lack of luck By Mark Lawrenson, Daily Post

IN THE build-up to the Carling Cup final I talked about luck, and how Liverpool's was changing for the better. It turns out that in football, as in life, you make your own luck, and that was something that Liverpool failed to do.

Being 1-0 up thanks to a fantastic goal, the stage is set to go on and kill off the game. If you can't do that then plan B is to keep the ball and prevent the opposition from building up any momentum.

The fact Liverpool couldn't do either showed the basic flaw in their make-up, which is a lack of clbutt in several players and positions.

As far as the second goal went, Dietmar Hamann had a good chance and Steven Gerrard was unlucky with his miss. Keeping the ball was another matter altogether, with possession being surrendered much too easily throughout the match.

I know as a footballer that if you can make the opposition work to get the ball, they will struggle to break you down. It is a fact that you feel more tired when you are running back towards your own goal than when you are going forward to score one.

While Chelsea's cutting edge was dulled by the excellent defensive work of Jerzy Dudek, Jamie Carragher, Sami Hyypia, Steve Finnan and Djimi Traore, ahead of them the creative players just couldn't hold onto the ball for long enough, or do enough with it to force Chelsea back.

That in turn meant that Fernando Morientes - although dangerous when he had the ball - was a peripheral figure as a lone striker, and also freed Chelsea's defenders to come forward.

In those situations where attack follows attack, it is inevitable that something will go against you and the dam will burst. So it was for Gerrard's own goal.

Looking at the game now, Chelsea obviously have a stronger squad than Liverpool, but Rafa Benitez will have seen again just where he needs to strengthen.

However one area he does not need to look at is the left side of the team, which is very strong at the moment. Traore particularly has impressed me after his Burnley howler. Instead of retreating into the reserves, the defender has turned in some excellent displays, playing to his strengths of solid tackling and good recovery.

He could still stand to improve his distribution, but that apart he has been forceful at left-back.

That has meant John Arne Riise is free to plant on from left midfield, where he gives the team real impetus and always looks capable of getting you a goal, as we saw on Sunday. He has really flourished under Benitez and has been back to his best.

The manager will need a few more players to play up to their reputations in the next few weeks if they are to catch Everton, starting against Newcastle.

Graeme Souness appears to have turned it around up in the North East and the trip is a tough one by anyone's standards. It is up to the Spaniard to pick up his players and explain they were beaten by probably the best team in the country, and it is still in their hands to bounce back.

However with just 11 games left and Everton eight points ahead, on the Blues, or else they will hold onto fourth at a canter.

Everyone is talking about the derby game, but that could almost be irrelevant if Liverpool do not start closing the gap soon.

Liverpool Echo, 1 Mar 2005 Reds have to put cup heartache to one side By Ian Rush, Liverpool Echo

THERE is no point Liverpool feeling sorry for themselves. They can't afford to.

Losing the Carling Cup final was a mbuttive disappointment, but the Reds have two other big games coming up.

They have to think positively. They are still in the Champions League and are competing for fourth spot in the Premiership.

They are scoring goals regularly and the right results against Newcastle on Saturday and Bayer Leverkusen next week will really lift them.

The players have to believe they will be successful. Everton are not untouchable and a Champions League quarter-final is not beyond Rafa's men.

Although it was a great goal from Riise, they probably scored too early at Cardiff. It took Chelsea some time to get going, but when they did they kept coming at the Reds. To hold on for 20 minutes is one thing, but to try and do it for 90 minutes is much harder.

If Gerrard had made it 2-0 in the second half that would have end the game off and Milan Baros had half a chance near the end.

No doubt Baros will have been disappointed to start on the bench, as any player would. However, cup finals are tiring games and a manager can't just rely on his starting eleven. He needs fresh legs to call on and Baros looked lively when he replaced Morientes.

Jerzy Dudek has had his critics recently, but he kept Liverpool in the game with some good saves. You have to keep faith with him.

* JAMIE CARRAGHER was my man of the match at Cardiff. He was different clbutt.

It baffles me that he is not involved more in the England team. No one knows his best position because he is so good wherever he plays.

He is a great utility man and would be an important member of any side. He is also a great lad to have in the dressing room.

Jose still has a lot to learn

ALTHOUGH I was at the final, I must admit I didn't see Jose Mourinho's antics on the touchline.

If he really was gesturing to the Liverpool fans then he deserves all he gets.

If, like he claims, he was aiming it at those in the press box who have been on his back recently then that's a bit different.

He should realise, though, that any manager will get criticism. You just have to take the rough with the smooth.

Mourinho is a great manager. Speaking to the Chelsea players after the game they all love him.

But he still has things to learn about the English game.

More City frustration

IT was a bad weekend all round for me.

Like Rafael Benitez, I'm left to lift my players after a 5-0 defeat to Shrewsbury.

We have no money available to strengthen the side, so we can only work with the players we have.

We will have a team meeting to get the thoughts of the lads. I have always thought it important to let players have their say. It brings everyone closer and managers can learn things from it.

Like Liverpool we can't afford to feel sorry for ourselves after a defeat like that. We just have to work hard in order to improve things.

Liverpool Daily Post, 1 Mar 2005 Owens worried about firepower Academy Football with Chris Wright, Daily Post

SUBSTITUTE Phil Townley helped Liverpool under-18s to a point in Saturday's derby match after his ball into the box was turned into his own net by Everton defender Patrick Boyle in a 1-1 draw at Netherton.

With John Owens's side trailing at the break, the introduction of three attacking players in Townley, Karl Noon and Adam Hammill enabled Liverpool to gain a share of the spoils in Saturday's FA Premier Academy League Group C clash.

Liverpool still await their first league victory of 2005 and are bottom of the Group C table, but the point at title-chasing Everton could provide the boost for the remainder of the campaign.

Neil Dewsnip's Everton side took the lead in the first half through defender Sean Wright, but Liverpool came back after the break. Owens's substitutions paid dividends as they got the vital equaliser. Townley's run and cross forced Boyle to try to clear, but as his goal-keeper came to do the same, the defender sliced into his own net.

Owens said: "We were disappointed to be 1-0 down, but in the second half we got a goal back through an own goal. I felt it was deserved, but again with it being an own goal it means we haven't got someone who can find the net.

"It was a creditable draw. In the past we have had some games were we deserved a bit better than we have got. Obviously you don't always get that in this game, but we were pleased in the end that we had not lost.

"I was very disappointed in previous weeks with the performance, so certainly it was better. We needed to play better than the Blackburn game the previous week, and we did."

There were some fine individual performances, especially in defence, including Adam Hitchen back after a combination of injuries. Owens said: "I thought Adam Hitchen had a good game at centre-back. James Smith and Danny O'Donnell as well in the back four, did particularly well. It was good to see Adam back after his problems."

Liverpool gave trialist Luke Coleman, who has been playing local football in the Kent area, some action, but he was replaced at the break by striker Noon and will be given another chance to impress next week.

LIVERPOOL UNDER-18s: Willis, Hitchen, D Smith, J Smith, O'Donnell, Guthrie, Wilkie (Hammill 60), F Smith, Coleman (Noon 45), Platt (Townley 60), Barratt.