Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez has brushed aside his side s Premier League title decline by insisting that finishing second will still be an achievement.
Liverpool entertain Sunderland at Anfield on Tuesday with their hopes of winning the championship for the first time since 1990 in tatters after last Saturday s 2-0 reverse at Middlesbrough.
Having topped the table going into 2009, Benitez s side now trail leaders and favourites Manchester United by seven points after winning just two of the last seven games.
They have also played one game more than Sir Alex Ferguson s defending champions and are down to third in the table.
Yet Benitez has tried to put a brave face on Liverpool s domestic capitulation by claiming that finishing second will not be a disaster and instead will be a sign of the club moving forward under his leadership having finished fourth last season.
Second would still be an achievement, but we have to think about getting three points against Sunderland and then our position because where we will finish will depend on United, Chelsea, Arsenal and Aston Villa, said Liverpool s Spanish manager.
We just have to keep doing our job. We just have to keep trying to improve.
We can talk about positions, but at the end of the day we just have to win the next game.
Middlesbrough was a game which normally we would think we could win, but now we think ?it was a bad day, bad result and the next one must give us another chance.
Despite having one foot in the last eight of the Champions League after establishing a one-goal first leg lead in Spain against Real Madrid, Liverpool s erratic league form has raised doubts whether they will even finish in the top two.
Tuesday s match is their final league game before hosting Real in the second leg at Anfield on March 10. Their next league game after Sunderland is away to Manchester United on March 14.
Before the (Middlesbrough) game it was difficult and now it will be more difficult (to win the title), addeed Benitez.
We have to think about Sunderland and wait to see if United make mistakes or not.
The players were very disappointed at the end. Clearly the Champions League is the best option we have now. Before we play Real again we have Sunderland and we must be ready for that game.
Captain Steven Gerrard is expected to start despite coming off with cramp against Middlesbrough while Nabil El Zhar could be given another chance to impress if Fernando Torres fails to recover from the hamstring injury which forced him to miss the Middlesbrough match.
Torres is still a doubt for Tuesday night, but we will see. It depends on the doctors again and what they say, said Benitez.
El Zhar was good. In the first half he was a threat and had some chances. He had an opportunity in the second half and I decided to make some changes because we needed players with more experience, but not because he was playing badly.
Sunderland are in mid-table but arrive at Anfield with confidence sky high after a four-match unbeaten league run.
Ricky Sbragia s team frustrated Arsenal on their last outing, holding Arsene Wenger s side to a goalless draw on February 21.
We will have to be on top of our game if we are to get anything at Liverpool, said Sbragia.
We have enjoyed a decent run of late and I was very pleased with how we performed against Arsenal.
But we will have to be on the ball from the start against Liverpool. They are unbeaten at home and are a very good team.
