Liverpool’s Rickie Lambert eager to take his Capital One Cup chance

Posted Tuesday, October 28, 2014 by theguardian.com

· Forward likely to face Swansea despite his goal drought
· ‘I think I can forge a partnership with any of the strikers’
· Rodgers admits Liverpool are feeling Sturridge’s absence
· Daniel Taylor: Balotelli’s flaws lead Rodgers up blind alley

Liverpool’s Rickie Lambert eager to take his Capital One Cup chance
Mario Balotelli and Rickie Lambert have both struggled for goals since their summer moves to Anfield.

The spotlight is fixed firmly on Mario Balotelli at Liverpool but Rickie Lambert has conceded the Italian is not the only new striker desperate to kickstart his Anfield career against Swansea City on Tuesday.

While Balotelli’s problems in front of goal continued against Hull City on Saturday, the £16m arrival from Milan has at least had the opportunity to add to his meagre total of one Champions League goal for Liverpool.

Lambert, by contrast, has started only once for Brendan Rodgers’ side since his £4.5m transfer from Southampton – a below-par display against Middlesbrough in the third round of the Capital One Cup – and has not scored in nine appearances for his boyhood club.

Lambert may make his second Liverpool start in the fourth-round tie against Gary Monk’s team and, with his playing time restricted by the addition of Balotelli this season, admits he must seize the opportunity at Anfield.

“It is a chance to impress if I am playing and I hope I am,” said the former Southampton captain, who may again be joined in the Capital One Cup squad by the youngsters Jordan Rossiter and Jordan Williams. “It’s a chance to shine and do well and try to get on the scoresheet. I’m not going too deep on how it has gone so far here. I’m just looking forward to Tuesday.

"Obviously you want to hit the ground running and you want to score and for it to go in. The longer it goes on [without a goal], sometimes the harder it is. It depends how you are mentally. If you are OK and stay calm, sometimes that is hard to do, it will come and I’m confident it will come.”

Liverpool’s performance in the goalless draw with Hull improved once Lambert joined Balotelli in attack and the 32-year-old believes a partnership could help both strikers overcome their difficulties.

Lambert added: “I think I can forge a partnership with any of the strikers. There are four strikers here fighting for a place to start. It doesn’t matter who plays, it is what is best for the team. I thought Mario did well against Hull. He held the ball up well and did all the things he was asked to. He was unlucky with a couple of chances and he played well.

"Obviously the fluency between every single department is not the way we want it but it is building and it is getting better. At the minute it’s not quite there but we are not losing games, we are picking up wins and we are not in the worst position [in the table]. And when we are firing on all cylinders we are in a position to start getting into serious places.”