Pepe Reina has called for consistency as Liverpool look to get themselves back in the higher echelons of the Premier League.
The Reds surprisingly missed out on UEFA Champions League football last season as they finished seventh and won just one of their opening eight league games this term.
But Liverpool have gradually turned the corner and Monday’s 3-0 home win over Aston Villa took them up to eighth – their highest position of the season so far.
The clean sheet was also Reina’s 100th in 198 league matches for Liverpool, breaking the previous record held by legendary goalkeeper Ray Clemence, who took 217 games to reach the landmark.
And the Spain international believes the players must continue to take care of matters on the pitch if they are to get back into Champions League reckoning and convince the new owners to invest during the transfer window.
“I am always talking about these things and I don’t want to be annoying saying the same things,” Reina said.
“We all expect Liverpool to be one of the top clubs and it is on the manager and the new owners to level that up but all we can do is play football and do as well as we can.
Unpredictable
“We know anyone can beat anyone and it has happened so many times this season so we have to be consistent and find that balance which makes us stay up there and fight to be as high as possible.
“We are 10 points adrift of the leaders (Arsenal) but it is just some space. Knowing the ideas and keeping the shape and philosophy we have to find ourselves playing with more confidence now and aim a bit higher.
“We are happy just because we have shown, especially in the first halves, better performances and the team has been more consistent and more focused from the first minute.
“That is something which the team lacked in the first 10 matches and now we have found ourselves better from the first minute. We have to keep that.”
Roy Hodgson took over from Rafa Benitez in the Anfield hotseat in the summer and Reina stressed it was always going to take time for the new manager and his signings to settle in.
Positive run
But after the upcoming league games at Newcastle on Saturday then against Fulham, Blackpool and Wolves, the 28-year-old keeper reckons the Reds will have a realistic idea of what they can achieve this season.
“We said when we played Birmingham – the fourth league fixture – we knew it was going to take a while with a new manager, new players coming in and new ideas,” Reina added.
“Hopefully we can once again build from a good home win. There is never an easy game – we lost to Blackpool at home and we have to play them in Blackpool – and we know the Christmas period is vital, crucial.
“After those next four games, we can start talking about where the team is going to aim.”
