Gerrard wheeled out to call on fans to keep the faith

SOCCER:LIVERPOOL'S RELIANCE on Steven Gerrard took a twist yesterday when the midfielder was put forward to call for calm in the wake of the team's defeat to Northampton Town in the League Cup.

Gerrard was not even on the bench for the third-round tie, which Liverpool lost on penalties after it finished 2-2 in extra-time at Anfield, but believes those who did play on Wednesday can learn from such a chastening experience.

“Football isn’t just about the highs,” Gerrard said. “Throughout my career I have experienced both highs and lows and probably learnt more from the lows because you look at yourself first, look at what went wrong and try to learn from your mistakes.

“The players are allowed to be down but it’s up to players like myself to pick them back up.

“What I would ask all the supporters is to trust the players. I’ve been reading and listening to what they’ve been saying and they’ve all said we’ll get it right in the end – and we will.”

The club captain’s upbeat mood was not shared by Milan Jovanovic, who gave Liverpool the lead against Northampton with a ninth-minute strike before goals from Billy McKay and Michael Jacobs put the visitors in front.

It took a 116th-minute equaliser from David Ngog to drag the match into a penalty shoot-out, which Ian Sampson’s side eventually won 4-2.

“Catastrophe. I am so disappointed,” Jovanovic said.

“We know this is not Liverpool. It is very bad. I am surprised by the performance. I have not had good experience of English football but I didn’t expect this. Northampton played a really good game. We played a bad game.”

The defeat was the third Roy Hodgson has suffered since taking over at Liverpool and after the game the manager spoke of his “bitter disappointment” with the performance of the players selected to take on opponents who are 17th in League Two.

The entire Liverpool line-up was changed from that which lost 3-2 to Manchester United last Sunday but the team against Northampton still contained five internationals and a group of youngsters who have already featured for the club in the Europa League this season.

“I have to accept responsibility for the changes but I did it because I thought the players I put on the field would be good enough to go out and win the game,” Hodgson said.

“They weren’t, so the obvious conclusion is that I shouldn’t have changed so many players and should have let some of those who played against Manchester United play.”

The majority of those that did feature at Old Trafford are expected to return to the starting line-up for the visit of Sunderland tomorrow.

Even without the defeat to Northampton the match is one Liverpool need to win given a start to the Premier League season that has seen them win only one of five fixtures.

“We need to get everyone’s head focused on Sunderland now,” Gerrard said.

“We’re still a fantastic squad and there’s still a lot of things to achieve this term and a lot of football to be played.”