Ryan Gravenberch: “We Have to Start Winning Games”
When the 2025-26 season was released and everyone was focused on a potential title defence for Liverpool, most people looking at the fixture list saw a schedule setting up a more difficult start and finish while the easiest run would be through the months of December and January.
Back to back fixtures against Newcastle United and Manchester City to kick off February marked when things got difficult again, and the hope was that the Reds would have enough points piled up on that point to at least have a shot at defending their crown. Things obviously haven’t worked out that way.
“We have to start winning games,” midfielder Ryan Gravenberch said after a 2-1 defeat to City on Sunday, not a terrible result perhaps in isolation but in the context of a season that very much hasn’t gone to plan another major blow given they were up 1-0 late in the second half.
“I’m confident. It’s a difficult position but I’m not really concerned because I know the quality we have, but we will see. We have to keep pushing still. We deserved more, I think, in the second half because we played a good game. But overall, I’m disappointed that we have not got the points.”
The silver lining for Liverpool is that the top five this season are nearly certain to qualify for the Champions League this season. The less than silver bit is they’re currently sixth, four points back of Chelsea and with a massive goal differential disadvantage compared to the Blues.
Five points, then, is what they realistically need to make up, and based on their slightly improved form and performances through December and January, one might even be inclined to feel positively about their chances. Except, of course, that December and January were the easy bits.
“We will try to keep pushing every game,” Gravenberch added. “I think the first half we didn’t have a good start, but then we went in the dressing room and said to each other, ‘We go out and give our all,’ and that’s what we did, so hopefully we can get that more in the games we have.”
Liverpool next head to Sunderland for a rare mid-week league fixture in a game where anything less than the full three points will be seen as a disaster and, potentially, a return to the crisis mode of last autumn. Then they get a reprieve from league play, facing Brighton in the FA Cup.
Source: liverpooloffside.sbnation.com
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