The mind games behind Jose Mourinho's assertion that

"Liverpool pose less of a threat to Chelsea's Premiership title than either Arsenal or Manchester United"

may have backfired on the champions, with Peter Crouch suggesting last night that the Portuguese's comments merely indicated his real concerns for the season ahead.


Mourinho had suggested that, although Liverpool were "tactically very good and are potentially fighting for first place", what he implied to be Rafael Benítez's favoured defensive style of play would hamper their challenge. The comments were made against a backdrop of simmering enmity between the two clubs, and their managers in particular, and were a result of recent combustible meetings in the Champions League and FA Cup semi-finals in which Liverpool prevailed.

Follow up:

"We haven't said a single thing about Chelsea and have been concentrating solely on ourselves,"

said Crouch, who learned of Mourinho's comments, made with the Charity Shield meeting between the two clubs only 12 days away, at Liverpool's training camp in Switzerland.

"If Mourinho is talking about us again we're obviously on his mind. We're confident when the season starts we'll show what we're about.
"How many teams in the Premiership will be playing with two out-and-out wingers this season? We've got some of the best passers of the ball in the world, never mind the Premiership. There are no better passers than Steven Gerrard and Xabi Alonso, and everything we do at the club is all about receiving the ball and playing a good style."

Benítez preferred to stress that Liverpool remain in the market for a forward to help maintain a title challenge.

"We still need an extra striker, just in case, and I'm confident we'll sign one,"

he said, with interest in Feyenoord's Dirk Kuyt continuing.
Yet Luis García backed up Crouch's assertion that Liverpool will be ready to challenge Chelsea's supremacy at the top of the Premiership, regardless of Mourinho's insistence to the contrary.

"Why shouldn't we believe that we can catch Chelsea and win the Premiership this season?" García said. "We beat them in two semi-finals and that was not lucky. Last season we know Chelsea had the strongest, most consistent team and were worthy champions, but in each of my first two years at Liverpool I have won a trophy. This year I would like the league title.
"We are a team who haven't peaked yet. We're improving and growing all the time. With the base we've set, plus the new signings, we'll be a difficult team to beat."

Source: Guardian Unlimited


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