Liverpool Lack Self-Belief

Kenny Dalglish hopes Liverpool can get by with a little help from their friends amid a crisis of confidence.

Ahead of Saturday's visit of Aston Villa to Anfield, the Carling Cup winners have slumped down the Premier League table after a dreadful run of just four points from a potential 24.

If their wretched form continues, FA Cup semi-finalists Liverpool are in danger of finishing the season in the bottom half of the table.

That would be inexcusable after last summer spending more than £50million and Dalglish hopes his squad can rediscover some self-belief with the backing of fans.

"It's really important to be supportive of each other," the Liverpool boss told their official website. "There's not one faction of the football club that's more important than the other. We can all help each other.

"We can help the punters by putting on a good performance and getting a good result. They can help us by giving us good support and encouragement that helps the players.

"I'm sure we'll get fantastic support on Saturday and that's when we really need them.

"When you think of the quality of the players we have got, and you say they maybe lack a bit of confidence or belief, you say that can't be right, because they are great players.

"But confidence and belief is a huge thing. It doesn't matter how good you are, that's still a large proportion of where your performance comes from.

"If they are confident and they have the belief, it's going to be helpful. And if they feel other people have the belief in them, that's going to help as well.

"It seems strange when you talk about players of really high quality having taken a wee confidence knock, but that's a fact of life."