Sami Hyypia has admitted that Liverpool were 'not good enough' in their opening day win over Sunderland.
Rafa Benitez's side were lacklustre for much of the game at the Stadium of Light, and had to rely on a late Fernando Torres strike to secure the three points.
And Hyypia, who can expect to find his opportunities limited with the return to fitness of Daniel Agger and the promise of Martin Skrtel, believes that Liverpool need to up their game.
"The first half in particular was not good enough, we know that" Hyypia told The Liverpool Echo.
"It was tough for us at the start of the game. They came out of the blocks really quickly and set a really high tempo, which you'd expect because it was their first home game of the season.
"They put us under a lot of pressure and maybe we were a little bit slow to get going.
"It was certainly not the best game we have played, but the important thing was that we got better in the second half and at the end Fernando popped up with a goal and that was enough to win the game.
"The most important thing is that we got the win. It was good to get three points and keep a clean sheet.
"We have to be happy with that but we have to look at what we can do better because there are many, many things that we can do better."
Hyypia follows Dirk Kuyt, who admitted that Liverpool would need to improve on their similarly poor showing in the Champions League against Standard Liege last week.
Kuyt said: "We will not play as badly as that again, we must improve and we will improve.
"It was a bad performance. We tried to do our best and it was not good enough.
"The forwards just did not have enough of the ball, and our man of the match was Pepe Reina, that says everything about us.
"We will need a big improvement at Anfield. We know we did not play our best game against Liege, we know that as a team."
Your Comments
AmericanScouser
"1.) We dont need wingers. 2.) We dont need any points against any of the top 4 teams to win the title 3.) Rafa knows more about fotball than all of you, than the media, the pundits and the yanks. 4.) Ezy_Rider and Lucas04 made more sense that the rest. 5.) The only people that hate Liverpool are the Press, Man U, Everton and Villa fans."
Fowlers_Rolin_9
"playing with a new formation a new striker, with mascha out, agger returning.. believe me. Liverpool will build on this and get better and better, please dont forget we have the best striker in the prem, we have the keeper whose won the golden glove 2 years on the bounce, we have mascha, babel, and lucas to return, we now have depth. we will get more points from chelsea man and arsenal this year than previous years and come closer to the title. "
Ezy_Rider
"I can bet you right now that if Arsenal went up north and scrapped a 1-0 over a decent side, people would be talking about how it was a sign of them developing as a side, becoming more mature, and how they were learning the crucial title-winning ability of playing badly and still winning. As I say, I'm far from being keen on Liverpool but you can understand why their fans get so wound up when they do the same and get lambasted for it. If they'd gone up their and put 4 goals past S'land and won at a canter, any sort of satisfaction of the performance from Liverpool fans would see an avalanche of people slating them for saying 'this is our year'; they win a scrappy game and it proves they're not good enough. Can't we just leave Liverpool alone for a few months and report on something outside the big four for a bit?"
Unspecial_One
"hi Snuffy, job done 3pt.. do u think this kind of performance can get you 3pt every wk? ya you can tok about how chelsea manage to win the title with this type of one goal winner.. but mind you, they do very well against the other top four.. but how did rafa fared against them? i may be negative but i am more realistic rather than being naive thinking this type of performance (this is the 5th year already!!) can win us the title.. it wont even bring us close.."
hanyefres
"i think we will see a different team this week. And last year we would have drawn or lost a game like that. If we can just hang on and get results than so be it til we find form. It will come"
Snuffy
"You guys are so negative, its rediculous...we basically played the whole pre season wih our reserves, had the spanish guys out for long and have 3 players at the olympics, Stop being muppets and look at the bigger picture. For me 3 points...job done....end of"
demon154
"how can this be the main story of the day? boring anti liverpool 365 zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz"
Lucas04
"You have to admit - although people seem to be bagging the (possible) signing of Barry, if you had a midfield of Masch, Gerrard, Barry, and a frontline of babel, Torres and Keane, that would eliminate the need for Plessis and Kuyt, and make the side a lot more deadly. Like some have said, if we can get over Gerrard playing on the right, it would give the Pool better balance, better technical skill, more assists and more goals. Anyone see Barry scored the other day? I love wingers, but we don't have them right now, so let's not worry about it. I don't see Man U or Chelsea complaining at their lack of true wingers, so why should we?"
Ezy_Rider
"Good Lord. As a Villa fan, I'm all for people criticising Liverpool this season and would love them to do badly, but come on, this is just ridiculous. They go away to Sunderland, who were hardly a pushover last season, and who have strengthened over the summer, with a number of new players in the squad, a (somewhat) new style of play, the off-pitch turmoil still going on, angry fans, manager and players, after a slating in the press earlier in the week, and win 1-0. What are they supposed to do before people are going to give them any credit?"
liv4pool
"i dont hear anyone predicting doom and gloom for united after their draw at home against newcastle, who where one of the whipping boys last season. i rather us play under par and win than play good and draw or loose. after all i remember everyone saying, "that what champions are made of" every time chelsea and man u pulled of difficult wins. and besides we are only 1 game into the season so can all just RELAX."
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