Riise: Gerrard told me to toughen up
John Arne Riise has revealed that Liverpool skipper Steven Gerrard has told him to be more aggressive.
The Norwegian full-back has not been booked this season and has never been sent off.
He will make his 50th appearance of the season at Portsmouth in Sunday’s last league match of the campaign, and the FA Cup final the following weekend is set to take his club tally to 255 matches.
Riise, 25, said: “In my whole five years at the club I cannot remember more than half a dozen cautions.”
“I have never been sent off in my career, never mind at Liverpool. And I have hardly been booked. I don’t know why that is. I do make tackles and I do have to do some of the ugly things that you do on the pitch to get results, but I do not seem to be collecting bookings like some other people do.
“Even when I get my tackles wrong and give away fouls, I still don’t seem to get booked. I do not have a reputation as that type of player. Most people would think that is a good thing but the more I think about it the more I am not convinced it is.”
Speaking in an LFC magazine interview, Riise added: “I was talking to Steven Gerrard recently about this very thing and he said I have to be more aggressive in the tackle and put myself in the thick of it more.
“I just want to be more aggressive while still doing the things that I do well and have done well since I came to Liverpool.
“I have always been a laid-back and chilled character. Even when there are incidents on the pitch and everyone runs to get involved, if you look I am never involved.
“It’s not that I am scared to get involved, but I know there are 30 cameras and the world is watching. If you do something stupid either the referee is going to catch you at it or you are going to be pulled up by the TV. Nowadays you do not get away with anything.”
Riise will no doubt try to follow Gerrard’s words, starting at Fratton Park where Liverpool will be aiming to snatch runners-up spot.
Midfielder Dietmar Hamann still believes Liverpool can overhaul Manchester United. Liverpool must win on Sunday while United have to lose or draw at home to Charlton for that scenario to happen.
The German midfielder said: “Finishing second is a major target for us and we really fancy our chances.
“If possible we want to avoid having to play the Champions League qualifier because we know how good the teams could be in that draw and how difficult it could be to get through.
“That’s why this weekend’s game at Portsmouth is as important as the cup final to us. It didn’t look like we had a chance of finishing second a few weeks back when United had more points than us and games in hand.
“But they’ve unexpectedly dropped points of late and we’re back in with a chance now because we’ve been winning all of our games.
“We know we have to win on Sunday now and then see what happens. A draw is no good to us so we have to go for it.”
Boss Rafael Benitez also believes Liverpool can finish second.
He said: “We know it’s still going to be difficult, but at least now we no longer have to think about the goal difference.
“At one point it looked like we would not only have to win, but also score a lot of goals to catch Manchester United even if they lost. That would have been very difficult.
“Now it’s straightforward now. As long as we concentrate on winning the game, that’s all we can do. We don’t need to think of goals we’ll need.
“The advantage is still with them, but we have a chance. We can go into the game feeling no pressure.
“If we win, we already know there are some good records to achieve. We have already played a good season and can be happy with what we’ve done so far.”
