by greenred » Tue Dec 13, 2005 9:18 pm
Carragher puts victories before clean sheets Premiership aim as Reds go for first world title
Dominic Fifield in Yokohama
Tuesday December 13, 2005
The Guardian
Jamie Carragher and Sami Hyypia, pale and gaunt with the legacy of a 15-hour trek around the globe, had to wade through frenzied crowds of autograph hunters at their hotel here yesterday. Celebrity status for the linchpins of Liverpool's defence is guaranteed these days yet, once the adoring masses had dispersed and the centre-halves could turn their thoughts to breaking one of Liverpool's most impressive records, a sense of proper perspective soon sunk in.
Should the European champions beat Deportivo Saprissa - the Costa Ricans having edged past Sydney FC 1-0 yesterday - on Thursday in their semi-final of the Fifa Club World Championship, then an 11th consecutive clean sheet would set a new club record. Kenny Dalglish's title-winning side of 1987-88 registered 10 successive blanks, though there the comparison with that great team ends. "The thing is, players like Alan Hansen and Mark Lawrenson won championships and Liverpool around that time had won all those European Cups," said Carragher. "Statistics are nice and it's great to break records, but the main thing is to win the silverware."
Should Liverpool beat the Costa Rican side they will have an opportunity to flourish where their predecessors floundered, against Flamengo and Independiente in 1981 and 1984, by winning the final, which takes place here on Sunday. For the centre-halves, though, it is domestic success which must prove their legacy.
It may be 924 minutes since the Merseysiders last conceded, with Rafael Benítez's side currently Chelsea's most coherent challengers in the Premiership after seven straight wins, but the sense remains that this Liverpool side will not rest until a domestic championship has been won for the first time since 1990. "Those past players had won more than we have," said Hyypia, "but we still have time to match them in terms of the silverware we win for this club."
"Those players won titles with the club and that's the aim of everybody here at the moment," added Carragher. "Of course we'd like to beat their record - we've done well even to equal it - but our aim is very much to be as successful as that side in the future. It's about winning games, not just about keeping the clean sheets going. When we were playing Middlesbrough on Saturday, at 0-0 I started thinking it would be great to claim another clean sheet with the record in mind, but I'd have rather we'd won 2-1 than drawn. In the end we got the best of both worlds and it makes me proud to be involved in this defence, but we have to keep progressing."
Success in Japan would maintain momentum for the weeks ahead and help to nullify the effects of the 12,000-mile round trip, albeit only psychologically. Steven Gerrard admitted yesterday that there were "slight concerns" that the physical exertions could catch up with the Liverpool squad, although the focus remains on adding the world crown to the European Cup claimed in Istanbul in May. Already, a stodgy start to the current campaign, which saw the Champions League winners languishing in the lower reaches over the first few months of the season, has been forgotten.
"I've not been surprised at the way Rafa's turned things around," offered the chief executive, Rick Parry. "We're very pleased, not surprised. There's a hunger and an ambition within the club which is shared by the supporters, the players, the manager and the board of directors. We're pleased with the way things are going this year and delighted with the way things ended last season, but we're not finished yet. The aim is to go on, win a league title or two and maintain this progress. We've some way still to go, but we're delighted with the job Rafa's done and the way the players have responded this year."