Javier Mascherano today heaped praise on David Ngog for kick starting Liverpool’s improbable bid to haul themselves back to the forefront of this season’s title race.
The French youngster scored Liverpool’s opener in Tuesday night’s 2-0 home win over Sunderland and also helped set up the Reds’ second for the in form Yossi Benayoun.
Mascherano hailed Ngog’s impact on the team in what was his first league start and backed the 19-year-old to build on his second goal in a red shirt.
“It was very important for David to score because he is a young player and this goal will give him more confidence,” said Mascherano.
“You can see in every training session that he is working very hard and when he is given his chance in the team he has to try and take it and by scoring a goal and doing a good job for the team he can be happy with his performance.
“It is really good for him and I am very happy for him because he deserved his goal.”
After a goalless first 45 minutes Liverpool struck twice in the second half to ease the tension at Anfield and put themselves within four points of Man United who have two games in hand.
Though Mascherano admits it will be extremely tough to get back into a position to really threaten the league leaders he insists Liverpool will not be giving up on doing just that.
He said: “Obviously, we were really disappointed with the result at Middlesbrough and we knew that we needed to win against Sunderland.
“We are not as close to Man United as we would like to be but we have to carry on fighting to see what happens.
“There is no point in looking at the standings in the league table, all we can do is concentrate on every game, try to win them and then see what happens.
We had some chances in the first half but could not score and maybe the supporters and ourselves were a little bit nervous because in the last game we could not take our chances.
“This made it important that we scored in the second half because we knew this would help the team to play well and allow the people to go home happy.
“It was an important victory for us and we are still fighting. At the time being we are fighting for second place with Chelsea and after that we will see what happens.”
Mascherano played at right back for the first time in his career on Tuesday night as Rafa Benitez sought a new temporary solution to fill that position as the Reds boss again had to make do without injured duo Alvaro Arbeloa and Philipp Degen.
The Argentinian midfielder reckons it was only a one off but insists he is happy to play anywhere required for the good of the team.
“The boss told me that he needed someone to play in that position so I tried to do my best,” he said.
“I don’t know if I was good or not but I tried to give the team as much as possible.
“Everyone knows that I am a central midfielder but sometimes I have played on the right hand side for the national team but never before at right back.
“It was a new experience but I hope that I helped the team because that is the most important thing.
“I always try to think about the team and if the team needs me to play in that position I will try to do my best.
“I know that I am at my best in the centre of midfield but you never know what can happen and if we have some players with injuries – like we did on Tuesday night with Arbeloa and Degen – then I do not have a problem with filling in for them.”
The French youngster scored Liverpool’s opener in Tuesday night’s 2-0 home win over Sunderland and also helped set up the Reds’ second for the in form Yossi Benayoun.
Mascherano hailed Ngog’s impact on the team in what was his first league start and backed the 19-year-old to build on his second goal in a red shirt.
“It was very important for David to score because he is a young player and this goal will give him more confidence,” said Mascherano.
“You can see in every training session that he is working very hard and when he is given his chance in the team he has to try and take it and by scoring a goal and doing a good job for the team he can be happy with his performance.
“It is really good for him and I am very happy for him because he deserved his goal.”
After a goalless first 45 minutes Liverpool struck twice in the second half to ease the tension at Anfield and put themselves within four points of Man United who have two games in hand.
Though Mascherano admits it will be extremely tough to get back into a position to really threaten the league leaders he insists Liverpool will not be giving up on doing just that.
He said: “Obviously, we were really disappointed with the result at Middlesbrough and we knew that we needed to win against Sunderland.
“We are not as close to Man United as we would like to be but we have to carry on fighting to see what happens.
“There is no point in looking at the standings in the league table, all we can do is concentrate on every game, try to win them and then see what happens.
We had some chances in the first half but could not score and maybe the supporters and ourselves were a little bit nervous because in the last game we could not take our chances.
“This made it important that we scored in the second half because we knew this would help the team to play well and allow the people to go home happy.
“It was an important victory for us and we are still fighting. At the time being we are fighting for second place with Chelsea and after that we will see what happens.”
Mascherano played at right back for the first time in his career on Tuesday night as Rafa Benitez sought a new temporary solution to fill that position as the Reds boss again had to make do without injured duo Alvaro Arbeloa and Philipp Degen.
The Argentinian midfielder reckons it was only a one off but insists he is happy to play anywhere required for the good of the team.
“The boss told me that he needed someone to play in that position so I tried to do my best,” he said.
“I don’t know if I was good or not but I tried to give the team as much as possible.
“Everyone knows that I am a central midfielder but sometimes I have played on the right hand side for the national team but never before at right back.
“It was a new experience but I hope that I helped the team because that is the most important thing.
“I always try to think about the team and if the team needs me to play in that position I will try to do my best.
“I know that I am at my best in the centre of midfield but you never know what can happen and if we have some players with injuries – like we did on Tuesday night with Arbeloa and Degen – then I do not have a problem with filling in for them.”
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