Liverpool really need “all hands on deck” right now because the club is without a few key players during the final push of this BPL season. James Milner, a versatile player who can fit in on the wing, midfielder and the back line if needs be, maintains that the Reds must continue to push on and fight for a top four finish, in spite of all the injury setbacks.
He also said that he will literally be sick if the club fails to qualify for the UEFA Champions League.
Milner missed a penalty kick on Sunday against Southampton, and had he converted, the Reds would have taken all three points from the goalless draw instead of just one.
Asked how he would feel with a fifth-placed finish, Milner replied: “Sick. This is a team and a club that needs to be in the Champions League. We will be in Europe but the Champions League is where everyone wants to play. For the chances that we haven’t taken – this was another big moment in terms of missing the penalty. There was a lot riding on it and I have to take the responsibility but hopefully we will get a bit of luck and finish the job.”
“We have made improvements this year and we know where we need to improve again. We have shown on any one day we can beat anyone so, if we could get in the Champions League, we know we could be a match for anyone. We have got to do it consistently. I don’t think we have been as up and down as last year. In the games we haven’t got the points we wanted we have dominated the game.
“We’ve dropped points where we shouldn’t have done.”
James Milner believes there will be no excuse. They have to suck it up so to speak and find the resolve to close out their season with a top four place in the standings, earning them UEFA Champions League qualification. They have only spent two weeks outside the top four since September, and if they take all six points from their last two matches (against now relegated Middlesbrough and a West Ham United side having a really off year) they will qualify.
It definitely won’t be acceptable, at a giant club like the Anfield outfit, to be left out again. Especially in a season like this, in which they had no European football, and their destiny lies within their own hands.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net and TheBank.News, partnered with FOX Sports Engage Network. and News Now. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, currently contributes to WGN CLTV and KOZN.
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