Monday, October 27, 2008

Jamie Carragher: Liverpool Can Bridge Gap After Historic Victory

JAMIE CARRAGHER believes Liverpool have gained a psychological lift from their historic win at Chelsea.

A 10th-minute goal from Xabi Alonso ended the Londoners’ 86-game unbeaten home league record and put Rafael Benitez’s side three points clear at the top of the table.

Carragher was the outstanding performer as Liverpool comfortably withstood the Chelsea revival

And the centre-back said: “It puts us top of the league and should give us a confidence boost.

“There’s a long way to go but psychologically it should give us a big lift. Before today I’d probably say Chelsea were as good as anyone in Europe with the way they’ve been playing this season.”

Asked about the significance of breaking Chelsea’s four-year run, Carragher added: “It was a great record but obviously it couldn’t go on forever. They had to lose sometime and I’m just delighted it was us.

“We’re top of the league now, there’s a long way to go. Chelsea and Manchester United have been up there for the last four or five years but hopefully we can bridge that gap this season.”

Chelsea coach Luiz Felipe Scolari, beaten for the first time since taking charge in the summer, admitted his players had resorted to long-ball tactics in a bid to save their unbeaten home league record.

Liverpool became the first team to beat Chelsea at Stamford Bridge in the league since Arsenal’s 2-1 success in February 2004 and Scolari admitted his players had been left “very sad” by their defeat.

But the Brazilian coach was more concerned with the loss of three points than a long-standing record he had little to do with.

“We did not expect the result,” said Scolari. “But we need to understand that Liverpool have a very good team.

“They didn’t play better than us but they took their chance. In the first half we dominated the game and in the second we had more possession of the ball and passed it well until we got near their penalty area.

“After this we crossed many balls but they had a good defensive line and dealt with every one. We didn’t play as we have done in other games because we didn’t have the space.

“We only had space to cross. This is not the football we play normally. We need to try and play on the ground, not high balls, because I don’t have big strikers.

“But this is what happened today and they won. It is just three points. Now, they are three points in front of us, that’s it. I say sorry to the fans but we were not better than Liverpool today and they won.

“I saw my players try to do their best and I don’t ask for more than that. Tomorrow we will have a meeting with the players and we need to think about Hull on Wednesday. This game is finished.

“The players are sad, but it is normal. But it is only one game. I didn’t want my players to play high balls.

“I don’t need them to put the ball in the box all the time. But they lost the confidence to touch the ball and were afraid of not changing the result. I said to them ‘Look, try to keep on playing’ but they didn’t listen.”

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