Peter Crouch today backed Liverpool to banish the memory of Saturday's defeat at Reading with victory over Marseille in Tuesday night's Champions League decider.
The Reds warmed up for the biggest week of their season in the worst possible way as they were beaten 3-1 at the Madejski Stadium.
But the striker insists the Reds can shrug off losing their unbeaten league record and keep their European dream alive.
“We are not used to losing but we have had many a setback in our time and we’ve recovered well from them," Crouch said.
"We have got enough characters in the dressing room that we can bounce back from this and get a great result against Marseille.
“The belief is still there. It was a blip against Reading but hopefully we’ll overcome that. If you look at the last few games we’ve played some great football and scored a lot of goals and won games convincingly.
“It’s a massive game and I think all of us are looking at it as a game that we have to win to progress.
"We’ve had a fantastic record in the Champions League over the last three seasons. We’ve got to two finals and we want to continue that. That starts with Marseille.
“We’ve got enough quality in our squad to beat whoever we come up against and obviously there’s a few tests coming up. We’ve got Manchester United and that will certainly test us."
Crouch shrugged off suggestions that the Reds were guilty of losing their focus ahead of the trip to France.
“None of the players were looking ahead to any fixture beyond Reading," he insisted.
"These things happen sometimes and Reading is a tough place to go. The manager has got them playing well and I think the credit has to go to them."
The Reds fell behind to Stephen Hunt's controversial penalty, but Steven Gerrard soon equalised with a cool finish.
In the second half Kevin Doyle's glancing header put Reading back in front and James Harper piled on the misery for the Reds.
Crouch found himself out on the left as part of boss Rafa Benitez's 4-3-3- formation, but insists tactics were not to blame.
He said: "It’s a formation that we have played before. I remember playing there at Blackburn and Watford and it has worked previously.
"Against Reading it didn’t quite go right, but if we had taken some of our chances and maybe had a penalty and a decision here and there we would have won the game.
“For their penalty, we could see with the marks on the pitch that it was clearly outside the box. We told the linesman and the referee, but I don’t think they were ever going to change their minds.
“Stevie got us back in it with a great goal and I thought we would go on and win it from there but it wasn’t to be.
"It was disappointing today but we will certainly make amends in the league if we get three points against Manchester United next Sunday."
Arsenal's 2-1 defeat at Middlesbrough yesterday means the fourth placed Reds remain seven points behind.
The Reds warmed up for the biggest week of their season in the worst possible way as they were beaten 3-1 at the Madejski Stadium.
But the striker insists the Reds can shrug off losing their unbeaten league record and keep their European dream alive.
“We are not used to losing but we have had many a setback in our time and we’ve recovered well from them," Crouch said.
"We have got enough characters in the dressing room that we can bounce back from this and get a great result against Marseille.
“The belief is still there. It was a blip against Reading but hopefully we’ll overcome that. If you look at the last few games we’ve played some great football and scored a lot of goals and won games convincingly.
“It’s a massive game and I think all of us are looking at it as a game that we have to win to progress.
"We’ve had a fantastic record in the Champions League over the last three seasons. We’ve got to two finals and we want to continue that. That starts with Marseille.
“We’ve got enough quality in our squad to beat whoever we come up against and obviously there’s a few tests coming up. We’ve got Manchester United and that will certainly test us."
Crouch shrugged off suggestions that the Reds were guilty of losing their focus ahead of the trip to France.
“None of the players were looking ahead to any fixture beyond Reading," he insisted.
"These things happen sometimes and Reading is a tough place to go. The manager has got them playing well and I think the credit has to go to them."
The Reds fell behind to Stephen Hunt's controversial penalty, but Steven Gerrard soon equalised with a cool finish.
In the second half Kevin Doyle's glancing header put Reading back in front and James Harper piled on the misery for the Reds.
Crouch found himself out on the left as part of boss Rafa Benitez's 4-3-3- formation, but insists tactics were not to blame.
He said: "It’s a formation that we have played before. I remember playing there at Blackburn and Watford and it has worked previously.
"Against Reading it didn’t quite go right, but if we had taken some of our chances and maybe had a penalty and a decision here and there we would have won the game.
“For their penalty, we could see with the marks on the pitch that it was clearly outside the box. We told the linesman and the referee, but I don’t think they were ever going to change their minds.
“Stevie got us back in it with a great goal and I thought we would go on and win it from there but it wasn’t to be.
"It was disappointing today but we will certainly make amends in the league if we get three points against Manchester United next Sunday."
Arsenal's 2-1 defeat at Middlesbrough yesterday means the fourth placed Reds remain seven points behind.
