Liverpool star Jamie Carragher insists the players still believe
they can finish fourth in the Premier League despite defeat at Old
Trafford.
Sunday's 2-1 loss against Manchester United left Rafael
Benitez's side four points adrift of the final Champions League
qualification spot, currently occupied by Tottenham.
Liverpool have played more matches than Spurs, Manchester
City and Aston Villa but do have a slightly easier-looking run-in
on paper.
Carragher said the players had to forget the United defeat
and focus on trying to win all their seven matches.
"We have just got to recover from this as quickly as possible
and get on a run of victories," said the 32-year-old. "Of course we
believe we can still close the gap. They (Liverpool's rivals) will
have difficult spells and we have got to make sure we take maximum
points when they do.
"Maybe there will be more criticism of us now and at a club
like Liverpool, the pressure is never off.
"Things are a bit more difficult but we have still got lots
of points to play for."
Carragher felt their third match in a week, after victories
over Portsmouth last Monday and Lille on Thursday, took its toll at
Old Trafford.
"We did well to a certain point but we played last Monday,
then again on Thursday and then had to come into this match,"
Carragher told the Liverpool Echo. "The squad hasn't been strong
enough for one reason or another this season but it was still a big
ask to go there after that run, particularly as United had all week
to prepare.
"But we have lost and you have got to move on, as this was
the most difficult fixture we had before the season end."
Should Liverpool fail to qualify for the Champions League
there will be speculation about the futures of the likes of
Fernando Torres and Steven Gerrard.
The Liverpool captain, for one, has failed to find his best
form this season and his body language at times has suggested all
is not well.
Against United he was a peripheral figure for long periods
and in the latter stages, as Benitez threw on Alberto Aquilani and
Yossi Benayoun in an attempt to salvage a point, he was moved
around the pitch.
That, according to former team-mate and close friend Jamie
Redknapp, will not have impressed the England international.
"Don't get me wrong, Steven Gerrard was not at his best
again, but he's hardly being given the platform by his manager,"
Redknapp wrote in the Daily Mail. "I'm not sure if Stevie played in
three, or was it four different positions against United.
"That's no way to treat your best players. Give him a
platform, trust him with the role and watch him play. It's not as
if he hasn't proved that before."
