Liverpool's manager, Rafael Benítez, has blamed his side's struggles up front for the 2-0 defeat at Middlesbrough on Saturday, adding that if Fernando Torres had been playing there might have been a different result.
"The title was difficult before, it is more difficult now," he admitted. "What we have to do is take our chances, and that is something that has been the same problem the whole season.
"Maybe if Torres had not been injured so much things would be different, but we cannot change the situation now. Everybody has players who get injured.
"We have had some problems [following the 1-0 Champions League win at Real Madrid], several players have been injured, among other things. The worst thing has been the injuries to Torres. He has been our main striker and scored a lot of goals for us last season. And this season could have been totally different with him."
Liverpool will be aiming to cut Manchester United's Premier League lead to four points when they play Sunderland at Anfield tomorrow – with Torres again absent – and then hope that the Carling Cup winners, who have a game in hand, trip up at Newcastle United on Wednesday.
In the wake of the reverse at Middlesbrough Benítez is acutely aware recriminations are beginning to fly with Liverpool having won only one of their last seven league games.
Referring to his contract negotiations, Benítez would only say that talks "will take place in maybe two days, maybe two weeks". The Spaniard also side-stepped questions over whether he had discussed the squad's lack of depth with the club's American owners.
He admitted he had talked to co-owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett, as well as his players: "We have talked about the mistakes we made [at Middlesbrough] and the future. And the immediate future is playing Sunderland, trying to get three points and then waiting to see what happens with Manchester United.
"But we played with anxiety at Middlesbrough, we gave the ball away too easily with simple passes. These are things we have to improve if we are going to fight for the title. But we must not forget that our league performance is better than last season.
"Still we have to improve. Yes, we have had key players injured and maybe that could have cost us four or five points. In this title race that would be a massive difference. We are in a good position but we could be in a much better position.
"We are now rated in the Uefa rankings as the best team in Europe over the last five years. That underlines how we have done in those seasons. But we must go forward for the rest of the season, and in the future. The squad is good, but there are too many games when things go wrong and that makes a massive difference.
"We had confidence and we were in a very good position for a long time. It has been our best performance for several seasons. But when we need fresh legs when senior players are injured, things are not easy. To improve in attack is not easy, you can improve in defence with hard work but forwards need accuracy and confidence."
Benítez's mood was hardly improved by being asked whether he admired Sir Alex Ferguson's achievements. He said only: "Manchester United are a good team, they have very good players and they have a good manager."
