my liverpool fc

FOOTBALL is a sport littered with quirks - and Liverpool will discover that once more tomorrow when they contest a game worth so much more than three points.

While a win against Manchester United would not be good enough to thrust the Reds back into the top four – they can, after all, only move their tally from 15 to 18 – there is no disputing it would disperse in a flash the storm clouds that have been gathering.

It has, undoubtedly, been one of the most difficult periods Rafa Benitez has experienced as Liverpool manager but there is little doubt that even this most pragmatic individual realises just what defeating their biggest foes could do for his side.

Impetus would be rediscovered, momentum would gather again and a feel-good factor that has gone missing after four successive defeats would be emphatically restored; you wouldn’t get the same sense of purpose, say, from beating Birmingham City.

Just look what happened last season: United arrived in town with a new £30m striker to lead their line and were expected to dismantle a team that had been robbed of its two most important players, Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres, in the days before.

Yet Liverpool roared back from conceding an early goal to win 2-1 and took so much heart from that performance that their unbeaten start to the campaign lasted way into November.

What’s more, it gave them the heart to turn around deficits against Manchester City and Wigan Athletic that had looked impossible, while they also won at Stamford Bridge and Goodison Park shortly after flattening their biggest rivals.

So while Benitez - who will take charge of his 200th Premier League game as Liverpool manager on Sunday - knows a victory cannot take his team any higher than fifth, he is well aware that rewards in the long-term could be far greater.

“The main thing we took from last year is that we can win any game,” said Benitez.

“It was good to win away but we showed character last season to win without two key players; we showed character, quality and how important are the people we have behind the place.

“It is really important because we can change everything. We know the gap will be 10 points if we lose - or four points if we win. Four points behind them without doing really well would be a fantastic position.

“We have to approach the game with total confidence that we can beat anyone. The fans will be 100 per cent behind the team and the players will be so focused that it will be easy for me to give the team talk.”

If Benitez does happen to take three points off Alex Ferguson for a third game in succession, it would give him the second best tally of wins by a Liverpool manager (114) during their first 200 games.

His record is better than Bill Shankly (106), currently equal to Bob Paisley’s and only places him behind Kenny Dalglish (120) in the all time list; Ferguson, for the record, managed just 87 victories in his opening double century.

Records, however, have been the last thing on Benitez’s mind in the last few days. He’s been working away at Melwood, trying to find solutions as to why the wheels have come off in the past three weeks.

But rather than moping around, Benitez has tried to find the happy medium between disciplinarian and motivator to cajole a response from his embattled squad; what he has seen in return has greatly impressed him.

“I’m just thinking about how to change things,” said Benitez. “You cannot go to every press conference and keep talking about pressure, pressure, pressure. We have to have confidence in ourselves - and we are training well.

“We were doing the same before Lyon. We would have been talking differently if we had taken the chances we had when it was 1-0. But experience tells you that you have to keep going and doing the things you have done in the past.

“We were winning doing these things. Before the game people can talk but maybe after the game everything will have changed. If we beat United, next week I am sure the headlines will be different. Everything can change.”

Added the Anfield boss: “When the players are working hard, you cannot blame them for anything. We have had some meetings and we have analysed things. We know we are not doing well but we can see the reason why and the atmosphere is quite positive.

“When you are not winning some games in a row, you have to be careful and analyse things properly. You cannot be too negative. When I push the players, it is because I know they can improve. So the main thing for me has been the mentality.”

Benitez is not a man who will let a situation get on top of him and nor is his central defender Daniel Agger; the Dane knows the Reds have been poor of late but says there is only one way to turn the tide.

“We just have to carry on,” he pointed out. “We were not good enough against Lyon but we have to keep doing the same things. We have trained hard and have got to carry on. We have got to turn it around.

“Every footballer wants to win. We have got three points to play for against United and we really need them. There is always pressure at Liverpool Football Club but that doesn’t matter. We will go for the win.”

* TOMORROW will be Rafa Benitez’s 200th league game in charge of Liverpool. He has tasted victory on 113 occasions and the only Reds manager in history with a better record over that period of matches is Kenny Dalglish (120). Bob Paisley also had 113 wins at the same stage, while Alex Ferguson won just 87 of his first 200 in charge at United.

* LIVERPOOL did the double over United last season with a 2-1 home victory followed by a stunning 4-1 triumph at Old Trafford in March. It was the first time the Reds had beaten United twice in a league campaign since 2001/02.

* THE Reds’ win over United at Anfield last season was the first time since 1966 they had come from behind to win a league game against their fierce rivals.

* THERE has been only one goalless draw between the sides in the Premier League. That came at Anfield in September 2005.