Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Daniel Agger Feels Confident

Daniel Agger believes his commanding start to 2011-12 is a result of getting a full pre-season schedule under his belt - though he's convinced he has yet to hit peak form.

The Dane has started all four of Liverpool's Barclays Premier League matches so far this campaign having worked tirelessly over the summer to regain full fitness following a knee injury that ruled him out of the tail end of last term.

So imperious has been Agger, compatriot and Anfield legend Jan Molby last week hailed the No.5 as being in the 'form of his life'.

The man himself, however, feels there is more to come.

Agger told Liverpoolfc.tv: "The fact I got the full pre-season has helped me a lot. I feel a lot stronger, a lot better, but I still have more to come, hopefully.

"I feel I can give some more, have more to offer, so hopefully I can carry on playing games and that will help me.

"Fitness-wise I am happy right now, but as the season carries on you get more games under your belt and you get stronger, quicker and better."

On Molby's glowing praise, the centre-back added: "It's difficult to compare to other years or games. It's so difficult for me to say something like that.

"But I feel really good now, I feel comfortable but as I said, I feel I have more to give and so that's what I'm working at."

Despite having starting each of Liverpool's league matches this season, Agger knows he faces stern competition for his place in Kenny Dalglish's line up, particularly after Sebastian Coates was drafted in to bolster the defensive ranks on the eve of the transfer deadline.

However, the 26-year-old welcomes the increased challenge for a first-team berth and believes it can only be of benefit to the Reds in their quest for honours.

"I haven't seen too much of him yet, but he's a big, strong guy and I hope he will be well suited to the Premier League," said Agger.

"I have been here almost six years now and every year there are new players coming in and players going.

"It is normal for a big club like Liverpool to bring in players to add to the competition. Everything changes every year, so it's good to have healthy competition as we have now. It's good for the club and the players."

Meanwhile, Agger acknowledged his disappointment at Saturday's 1-0 defeat to Stoke City - but stressed the importance of the squad putting the result behind them as they begin to gear up for the trip to Tottenham Hotspur.

He said: "It was disappointing, of course, because we wanted to get more out of it, but it was just one of those days and we just have to carry on, work hard and aim for the next game.

"But no matter how you've played, you're always down if you lose. I will always be down no matter how we lose. The rest of the lads were as well because it was so disappointing.

"We don't want to lose games like that. We need the points and we need to get as many points as we can. It was a game we could have taken all of them.

"You have to give Stoke credit. They got what they wanted and played how they wanted, like they normally do, so I think we have to give all the credit to them because they got the result and we didn't."

No comments: