Liverpool captain Virgil Van Dijk has spoken about the hurt that the squad felt after their heartbreaking extra-time defeat to Man United in the FA Cup.
Three weeks down the line and the league leaders are preparing themselves to meet their bitter rivals at Old Trafford once again and very keen to extinguish those bitter memories.
The cup defeat will arguably go down as one of the more infuriating in recent times as for most of the game, it seemed like the visitors were in control only for defensive sloppiness and lack of a clinical finish in the final third costing them dearly.
What added to the frustration from a fans point of view was that it was another game that this vastly superior outfit failed to clinch a victory at the home of their beleaguered rivals.
But the beauty of Football is that it produces an opportunity to correct the record and that will occur tomorrow afternoon.
And going by comments from Van Dijk (per the Echo) they will carry that loss with them.
“Of course it is still fresh, it was very disappointing, losing is never good. Especially the way we lost that day, it's something that hurt in the 24 hours after the game.
“You want to go to Wembley, you want to go and play that semi-final, but we had to quickly switch to the national team.
“What do we need to do better? Win the game! They started the game well and got the crowd behind them and it gave them a push. Conceding the goal was disappointing but after that we controlled the game and scored two good goals and could have done better.
"But we kept them alive and they made use of it in the best way possible. That's credit to them but we are going there on Sunday to turn it around and make sure we get the three points.”
While the general consistency of Liverpool this season has been impressive, one thing they do need to rectify if they want to lift the league trophy is May is their record against other members of the current top six.
It currently sits at one win ( vs Aston Villa in Early September) four draws and two defeats.
With the fixture tomorrow along with games against Tottenham and Villa to come, it presents an opportunity to rectify that.
And you sense that is what Van Dijk is referring to when he mentions not focussing on the one opponent as to him and the team in general it is just one more hurdle on the way to potential glory.
“We want to win every game, that's the focus at Liverpool. We know how much it (Man United fixture) means and how big it is for the outside world but for us we are in a phase that we can't lose points so we are going there in order to get the three points.
“We have only one goal going there, to try and win the game, and we're going to give everything and we need everyone at their best. I think [composure] is key. In nervous moments, the crowd could get nervous, you want to rush things, that can be part of the game.
"The difference-maker will be being calm and making the right choices but still be full of aggression and going for it. I think we've been showing it already for a very long time that we have that quality and we have to keep doing it."
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