Liverpool FC Forum

Paco Ayesteran today insisted Liverpool should always be challenging to win the Champions League - but admitted the Reds' rapid improvement this season has even taken him by surprise.
Rafael Benitez's number two fully expected the squad to develop and build on last season's stunning European triumph, but he's honest enough to reveal he wasn't banking on the Reds enjoying such a consistent winning run and breaking club records on the way.

"I wasn't happy with our level at the end of last season, even though we won the Champions League," he said.

"This year the improvement has been really big. We are close to arriving at the level a team like Liverpool should be. At minimum, we should be close to winning the Premiership and the Champions League every season. That should be expected from us.

"We still need to develop to go further. There is a combination of factors which will decide how far we go in the coming months and years. It's a continuous process which, in football, never ends. There is always something to learn and areas to work on.

"We still need to improve the quality of our squad, for example. It's not enough for us to move up a level and then stop, because the other teams will continue to get better.

"It took three years in Valencia for Rafa and I to feel we had the right connection with the players. Only then did we know the players felt exactly as we did about the game.

"You must remember we've only been at Liverpool for eighteen months, so we feel we still have a long way to go before we're at that stage.

"At the same time, the improvement this season has come a lot quicker than we imagined. Over the last six months I thought the improvement would be gradual, rising steadily. Instead, it seems to have catapulted to a higher level at good speed.

"The aims of the team are changing and becoming more ambitious all the time depending on the level they are showing us. At this time we think we could have a much better season than we expected six months ago."

He added: "For me, the most important difference between the team this year and last is their determination.

"Also I think the team is fitter, particularly at the end of games. This is partly because the players are more clever in their movements.

"They now understand how to find and exploit space in the closing stages of a match. Fitness is in the mind as much as the legs. Last season, some players wasted energy with movements which were unnecessary.

"The synchronisation between the players in each of their roles wasn't good enough. That was an area Rafa and I knew we had to change, and now the players are understanding our ideas better."