tribalfooball.com - November 14, 2006
John Arne Riise has attacked Liverpool teammate Jose Reina after the Spaniard admitted the title was out of reach for the Reds this season.
Riise, 26, has come out fighting and insisted Rafa Benitez's misfiring side CAN get back into the Premiership race.
And while not pinpointing Reina by name, the implications from the Norwegian defender were patently obvious.
He said: "We never give up. Cowards give up. Against Arsenal on Sunday, Rafa was calm in the dressing room after the match but he knew, and we knew, this was not good enough.
"I cannot understand why we play so bad away from Anfield, I really can't. Of course it will be hard to catch up with Manchester United.
"But at one stage last season we were many points behind Chelsea and in May we were only nine points off them."
The 3-0 defeat left Liverpool way back in ninth place - 14 points off leaders Manchester United.
Reina had earlier claimed: "Fourth place is our target now, we have to fight for that.
"The title's probably too far away for us, because mathematically United and Chelsea are very superior."
As i had posted in sports forum
I think Reina was right to be realistic and Riise is the one @ fault............4th place is not that easy consider teams like Villa , Bolton , Everton And Portsmouth are aiming for 4th place
but i think portsmouth will get the 4th place
I agreed with Riise's comments.
When you aim high, you work harder.
When you aim for 4th placing, you will become slacker and become chin chai.
It is a good time for the fans to see who are the players who throw in towels when the situation are bad.
Liverpool is now going through a bad patch as some of the players are guilty of giving up possession too easily.
Some of players are already giving up the fight. (Bring Dudek back)
Money does buy good players, but not loyal players.
Ironically, it was GH's team that won the CL for Ah Ben. (Spirit + Passion + Crazy fans)
Football is all about belief.
Just look at West Ham.
They go into every match a warrior even though they are facing strong opponents.
Same goes for Man Utd.
The fighting spirit won them points, not forgetting they also have a mis-match team.
Liverpool may not achieve any medals this season or even CL for next season.
I hope that those that do not wear the Liverpool heart leaves the club for greener pastures.
At the end of day, I want a Liverpool team that goes into a match and fight even though they may lost, they show us their spirit, gut and passion.
I believe they can win the EPL title if they change their mindset.