Rafa eyes Italian job

Ahead of Liverpool's clash with Fiorentina the boss took time out of his busy schedule to speak with radio journalists. Here is what he had to say...

On Liverpool's mentality going into the Fiorentina match...

We go into the game a little bit disappointed because you always want to be able to play for something. In this case, we have to do well for the fans and we have to try to win. If players like Aquilani have an opportunity it will be good for them.

On Alberto Aquilani...

When you have a player who has been out for a while you need to keep working with him. He has been ready so it has been a question of deciding when we can give him some minutes. We had a game against Wigan reserves but the game was cancelled. That was a pity because we wanted to see how he was. He is doing well in training sessions but it is not the same. He needs to settle into the Premier League and putting him in against Everton or Blackburn would have been very difficult, especially when you think that he has been out for a while. We were trying to wait for the right moment and we couldn't give him the minutes on the pitch because the games were tough and very tight. I think now is a good time and we will see if he can do well. We will see how many minutes we can give him. He has been very positive and understands why we have been cautious. He knows that match fitness is very important and has just been patient and waited for his chance. We will see how well he combines with his teammates because training is good, but a game situation is different. As for the team, it's an opportunity to try and play well, play good football and score some goals. The problem we have is that Fiorentina are well organised tactically and it will be difficult to find spaces.

On the possible return of Torres...

Fernando cannot start. He did not train for three or four weeks but we will try to give him some minutes. We will decide during the game. It is a different kind of match so we can prepare things differently.

On the possibility of resting players ahead of Arsenal...

We will change some players but we will still play some big names. It is important to pick them and give some of them the opportunity to improve. We will have to rest others though, because they are playing too many games. With the injuries, we have been playing the same players most of the time. We have a chart that details the minutes each player has played and some are way ahead of the others, so we will have to manage the situation and try and give minutes to others.

On finding the right balance between attack and defence...

It's clear we are trying to find the right balance. At the start of the season we were attacking and scoring a lot of goals but people were saying you need to improve in defence because we were conceding goals too. Now, we have three clean sheets in a row and we are told we need to be more offensive to win games. It is difficult when you are not winning .You can find 60 million people with different opinions from across the world, so we know we have to find the balance of being strong in defence, like in the past, and also keep the offensive mentality that we have.  We started the season with some injuries in defence and we were too weak. We conceded goals that we weren't doing last year. But I think we have more players playing consecutive games in a row together and that is really good for the understanding and the confidence of the players. Hopefully we will also have Torres back and Gerrard will still be fit.

On seeing a Champions League run come to an end before the knockout stage...

It's always difficult. But when you are an experienced manager, you know about playing just one game a week from times with other teams. Sometimes you'd be fighting relegation, other times to get into the top four or win a title. Clearly I'd prefer to fight for the title, but you have to accept the situation and try to be positive with the things you can manage. We now have the opportunity to bring players back, play better and score goals. We will see if we can progress in the Europa League and try to climb higher in the league. We also have an opportunity in the FA Cup.

On the prospect of recreating famous European nights in the Europa League...

If we progress then there are some big clubs involved. People say we have to win it, but we could play against some of the top sides in Europe, so it could be difficult. After one or two rounds of the knockout the atmosphere could be really good because they want to see the team winning trophies.

On having a Barclays Premier League focus...

If we had qualified we wouldn't be playing again in the Champions League until February, so it could be a similar situation anyway. Obviously you want to progress in the Champions League, but being knocked out could help us to concentrate on the league. We must try to play a good match against Arsenal, then we will have another game on Wednesday and then on Saturday. So we don't have too much time to think about them. We must just play and carry on.

On returning to the Champions League next season...

We know what it means to play in the Champions League. We have confidence that we will finish in the top four - at least. So it depends on our performances over the next few games and we will see if we can improve our confidence further.

On the improvement of David Ngog...

You can see that he has improved but he needs to be stronger. The centre backs are powerful in England and although he is only 20 years old and a big lad, he still needs to work hard in the gym and during games. We are really pleased with him. It's a question of time but you can see his quality. I think you will see an improvement from him every week. The idea was to keep him on the bench if Torres was playing and if Fernando tired, we could use him or Kuyt up front. We have different options, but to play him from the start was not one of our ideas. We had to do it because we needed to use Kuyt as a winger and we have had problems in the wide areas too. It has been a good experience for him and hopefully it will be good for us in the remainder of the season.

On Fiorentina and revenge...

In football you cannot think about this too much. They played a good game against us in Italy and were positive. We will try to win because we want to win every game. We lost over there but we will try to prove we can beat anyone.

On whether this season's Champions League campaign is the biggest disappointment of his Liverpool career...

Not really. I think we played badly for 45 minutes in the first-half against Fiorentina. The second-half was much better and it was the same against Lyon and Debrecen. I think the late goals against Lyon in both games have cost us. I think I was more frustrated in my first year though. We were trying to be in the top four and we couldn't get there. Every week we were trying to win but we couldn't. Now I have more experience and can manage it in a different way.