Reds alert to Russian threat, says Pascoe
The Reds make the short trip to Goodison Park on Sunday to face Everton knowing they will fall nine points behind the Toffees in the Barclays Premier League if they lose.
Before then though, there is a European assignment to be tackled with the visit to Anfield of Anzhi, the Russian outfit currently leading Group A after two rounds of fixtures.
Liverpool are third, and having been beaten at home by Udinese in their previous outing in the competition, they could do with bouncing back with a win to boost their qualification hopes.
That, according to Pascoe, is the only job the squad is concentrating on for the time being.
“Everton against Liverpool is a massive game, but it hasn’t been talked about and isn’t being thought about at the moment,” said Pascoe.
“We are thinking just purely about the game [tonight].”
Liverpool will again be without Jose Reina and the Reds are unsure whether or not the goalkeeper will recover from his hamstring problem in time to play in the derby.
Brad Jones deputised for the Spaniard in the 1-0 win over Reading last weekend and is set to do so once more tonight.
The nouveaux riche club — coached by Guus Hiddink — have several notable names among their ranks, including former Barcelona and Inter Milan striker Samuel Eto’o.
Jones is fully aware of Eto’o’s threat, but says that given the calibre of players he has to contend with every day in training with Liverpool, he is not worried by the prospect of facing the Cameroon international.
“For me, playing against whoever, it doesn’t particularly bother me which player it is — it is the same idea when you go out, which is that you don’t want to concede goals,” Jones said.
“You know you are going to have to be on top of your game, but I have to do that every day with the likes of Luis Suarez and Steven Gerrard anyway.”
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