Source: Daily_Mail
We know we've flopped! Daniel Agger admits Liverpool have let standards slip
Liverpool defender Daniel Agger admits standards have slipped at the club buthas stressed they cannot afford to fall any further. Saturday's 2-0 defeat at Portsmouth on Saturday was the Reds' seventh of theseason and, combined with other results, saw them slip to eighth in the BarclaysPremier League table.They are now closer to Pompey, still rooted to the bottom despite a fourth winof the campaign, than they are to leaders Chelsea and the pressure is increasingon manager Rafael Benitez. Responsibility: Daniel AggerHowever, Agger said the players have to take responsibility for their below-parperformances, which they had to put an end to heading into the busy festiveperiod.'It goes without saying that we are extremely disappointed and we know that itsimply isn't good enough for this club,' said the Denmark defender. 'We have got to change this around. It didn't happen against Portsmouth but wecan't let it go on any further.' Confidence appears to be at an all-time low among the squad and in recentmatches the concession of a goal has immediately provoked a negative reactionfrom many of the players.That is partly down to a woeful run of just four wins in 17 matches. 'Why is this happening? It's a bit of everything I suppose but we have got totry to get some confidence from somewhere soon,' the 25-year-old Agger told theLiverpool Echo. Return: Under pressure Benitez could recall Alberto Aquilani'You get that by winning games but we are not doing that at the moment. It's a fight every game for this club. Every game we need to focus and needto make sure we get three points. 'It's always a question of sticking together and we need to do that now morethan ever.'Benitez continues to put up a steadfast defence of his methods and is confidentthe players can lift themselves out of their current slump. 'Obviously we prefer to win. We have quality and if we play well we can scoregoals,' said the Liverpool manager. He will have to change his preferred line up over the next four matches,however, as defensive midfielder Javier Mascherano will serve another suspensionafter being sent off at Portsmouth. The Argentina captain would have missed the festive games regardless as heinjured the medial ligament in his left knee tackling Tal Ben Haim in thechallenge which led to his sending-off. 'The player had a scan which confirmed the medical team's initial diagnosisthat he suffered a medial ligament sprain in his left knee,' a club spokesmantold liverpoolfc.tv. He is expected to be sidelined for two to three weeks.It means Benitez has to decide whether to drop Steven Gerrard back from hisattacking role behind striker Fernando Torres or possibly play £20million summersigning Alberto Aquilani, who was left out at Fratton Park after injuring a calfin training.