Recently by Mark Lawrenson
NEVER mind going for the Champions League - Liverpool played like a team trying to avoid getting relegated at Wigan the other night.
And this negative mindset where you try to make yourself tough to beat before you try to go out and win a game finally came crashing down at the DW Stadium.
LIVERPOOL'S worries over not making the Champions League have hung over them like a dark cloud all winter.
But now it is starting to lift. And as the weather hopefully gets a bit brighter, so do the prospects of Rafael Benitez's team holding on to the place in the top four they secured with victory over Everton in the Merseyside derby.
In fact, forget top four. Top three will become a genuine target with a good result at the Emirates tomorrow.
IT might not be the Liverpool way - but putting hard work and endeavour over the quality of the football is a policy Rafael Benitez's side might just have to settle for in the second half of the season.
Or at least until Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres are fit again.
Which is no bad thing when it yields results like the 2-0 victory over Tottenham last week.
THERE were many calls for changes at the top when Liverpool woefully crashed out of the FA Cup against Reading last week.
But a week is a long time in football - and now the shock of that exit has died down there are many reasons why Rafael Benitez should not be sacked as manager.
NEW year, same old story. It's Fernando Torres who conjures up the late finish to beat Aston Villa and it's Steven Gerrard who rescues Liverpool from potential FA Cup embarrassment at Reading.
But one year does make a big difference. This time 12 months ago, Liverpool's two main match-winners were about to embark on a second half of the season in which they - and as a result the team - were unstoppable.
This time round I fear things could be very different.
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