Source: Liverpool_Echo
Rafa Benitez out to banish storm clouds gathering over 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.[LNB]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.[LNB]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.[LNB]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.[LNB]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.[LNB]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.[LNB]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.[LNB]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.[LNB]'The main thing we took from last year is that we can win any game,' said Benitez.
