Winter has bitten for the first time this week but, like the rest of his team-mates, Fabio Aurelio has kept himself warm by basking in the glow of a Merseyside derby victory.
Last Sunday’s hard fought 2-0 win over Everton has, at long last, released some of the pressure that had been building on Liverpool and given Rafa Benitez and his players reason to breathe out a little.
After all, many Reds came away from Goodison Park feeling a corner had been turned and the autumn gloom which had enveloped their club was finally starting to disperse.
No wonder. When a Javier Mascherano shot from 30-yards that was going wide loops into the opposite corner of the net he was aiming for and Pepe Reina makes a save which he had no right to, it’s easy to see why people are saying Liverpool’s luck has changed.
But as happy as Aurelio is going into the next assignment on Liverpool’s agenda – a trip to Blackburn Rovers tomorrow – he is also mindful of making any rash predictions as it is not too long since they were in a similar situation.
You only need go back six weeks to be reminded that, unless the focus is good and the application matches, football has a nasty habit of ensuring that frustration follows the days when elation rules.
Manchester United’s visit to Anfield should have been the defining afternoon of the campaign but that was wiped out by a wretched performance six days later at Fulham, when Liverpool lost 3-1 and finished the game with nine men.
So despite Benitez’s men being odds-on to record back-to-back wins for the first time since September at Ewood Park, Aurelio is quick to sound a note of caution, as Sam Allardyce will inevitably have the Carling Cup semi-finalists fired up.
What’s more, if Liverpool don’t replicate the endeavour and hard work which epitomised their efforts at Goodison, the cultured Brazilian defender warns that everything good about last weekend will go to waste.
“Our target is to get back into the top four as quickly as we can,” Aurelio said. “We’ve got to start moving up the table and to do that, we need to win every game we have got coming up; it was important to get a result at Everton but it is the same at Blackburn.
“It will be the same after that when we play Arsenal. We have to be ready for these games and fight in the same way we did at Goodison. But it was just three points and we have to make sure we follow up.
“We did a great job last Sunday and you could see how much we wanted it. But it won’t mean anything if we don’t make sure the next result is a positive one as well. It is a thin line of getting the results in our favour.”
Few would argue with that claim; had Liverpool emerged from the 212th derby with the wrong result, the hysteria regarding their league position, coming so soon after being jettisoned from the Champions League, would have been intolerable.
Although there is no disputing the level of performance can improve dramatically, Aurelio is quick to point that Liverpool are unbeaten in their last five games.
And should they collect another three points at Ewood Park and results elsewhere go their way, Benitez and his squad could find themselves in the third place by the close of play this weekend.
“It was really important to beat Everton,” Aurelio reflected. “We need to get a result and it was great for confidence that we did it in a derby. We had to match them in terms of fighting for possession and there was a big battle in the first half.
“When the game started to open up in the second half, we were able to pass it a little bit easier and created some chances, but it was a very difficult game and it’s likely to be the same against Blackburn.
“We are starting to build momentum and the win feels so much better than Debrecen. It was difficult there because we knew it wasn’t just about us but against Everton, we did our job and showed we can start to move up the Premier League.
“We have got our targets. The most important thing was to take three points but now we can start to look ahead a bit more. We know from now until the end of the season, every game is going to be massive for us.”
If things do go the way Aurelio hopes and anticipates, he will not forget the role Reina has played to keep Liverpool in the thick of things.
Reina may have fewer clean sheets than he might not normally expect to have at this stage of affairs but that does not detract from how consistent his performances have been since August.
“Pepe has been showing that all season,” Aurelio declared. “He has been helping us a lot with some of the saves he has made and it was brilliant to see him do the same against Everton. They had a clear chance to score but that’s what Pepe does.
“He’s such a quick goalkeeper that you know he is going to get to the ball most of the time first; he’s got great quality with his feet. You don’t really have to talk about how good he is because everyone can see it on the pitch.”
Last Sunday’s hard fought 2-0 win over Everton has, at long last, released some of the pressure that had been building on Liverpool and given Rafa Benitez and his players reason to breathe out a little.
After all, many Reds came away from Goodison Park feeling a corner had been turned and the autumn gloom which had enveloped their club was finally starting to disperse.
No wonder. When a Javier Mascherano shot from 30-yards that was going wide loops into the opposite corner of the net he was aiming for and Pepe Reina makes a save which he had no right to, it’s easy to see why people are saying Liverpool’s luck has changed.
But as happy as Aurelio is going into the next assignment on Liverpool’s agenda – a trip to Blackburn Rovers tomorrow – he is also mindful of making any rash predictions as it is not too long since they were in a similar situation.
You only need go back six weeks to be reminded that, unless the focus is good and the application matches, football has a nasty habit of ensuring that frustration follows the days when elation rules.
Manchester United’s visit to Anfield should have been the defining afternoon of the campaign but that was wiped out by a wretched performance six days later at Fulham, when Liverpool lost 3-1 and finished the game with nine men.
So despite Benitez’s men being odds-on to record back-to-back wins for the first time since September at Ewood Park, Aurelio is quick to sound a note of caution, as Sam Allardyce will inevitably have the Carling Cup semi-finalists fired up.
What’s more, if Liverpool don’t replicate the endeavour and hard work which epitomised their efforts at Goodison, the cultured Brazilian defender warns that everything good about last weekend will go to waste.
“Our target is to get back into the top four as quickly as we can,” Aurelio said. “We’ve got to start moving up the table and to do that, we need to win every game we have got coming up; it was important to get a result at Everton but it is the same at Blackburn.
“It will be the same after that when we play Arsenal. We have to be ready for these games and fight in the same way we did at Goodison. But it was just three points and we have to make sure we follow up.
“We did a great job last Sunday and you could see how much we wanted it. But it won’t mean anything if we don’t make sure the next result is a positive one as well. It is a thin line of getting the results in our favour.”
Few would argue with that claim; had Liverpool emerged from the 212th derby with the wrong result, the hysteria regarding their league position, coming so soon after being jettisoned from the Champions League, would have been intolerable.
Although there is no disputing the level of performance can improve dramatically, Aurelio is quick to point that Liverpool are unbeaten in their last five games.
And should they collect another three points at Ewood Park and results elsewhere go their way, Benitez and his squad could find themselves in the third place by the close of play this weekend.
“It was really important to beat Everton,” Aurelio reflected. “We need to get a result and it was great for confidence that we did it in a derby. We had to match them in terms of fighting for possession and there was a big battle in the first half.
“When the game started to open up in the second half, we were able to pass it a little bit easier and created some chances, but it was a very difficult game and it’s likely to be the same against Blackburn.
“We are starting to build momentum and the win feels so much better than Debrecen. It was difficult there because we knew it wasn’t just about us but against Everton, we did our job and showed we can start to move up the Premier League.
“We have got our targets. The most important thing was to take three points but now we can start to look ahead a bit more. We know from now until the end of the season, every game is going to be massive for us.”
If things do go the way Aurelio hopes and anticipates, he will not forget the role Reina has played to keep Liverpool in the thick of things.
Reina may have fewer clean sheets than he might not normally expect to have at this stage of affairs but that does not detract from how consistent his performances have been since August.
“Pepe has been showing that all season,” Aurelio declared. “He has been helping us a lot with some of the saves he has made and it was brilliant to see him do the same against Everton. They had a clear chance to score but that’s what Pepe does.
“He’s such a quick goalkeeper that you know he is going to get to the ball most of the time first; he’s got great quality with his feet. You don’t really have to talk about how good he is because everyone can see it on the pitch.”
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