Reina on spirit back against Blackburn

Pepe Reina is confident Liverpool are ready to fall back into the old routine – and prove they can be a Premier League force once again.

Roy Hodgson's side stopped a five-game rot at the weekend when registering their first win since August 29 with a 2-1 verdict over Blackburn Rovers.

It wasn't good enough to hoist Liverpool out of the bottom three but Reina, the club's influential goalkeeper, is adamant that will soon change judging by what he saw at the weekend.

For the first time this season, Liverpool moved the ball with great intensity and never allowed the opposition to settle from the word go and such an approach enabled belief to quickly spread.

In many ways, there were similarities to the ruthlessly efficient style Liverpool adopted a couple of seasons ago and Reina hopes it is a sign of things to come heading into a busy period.

"It was an important game," said Reina, reflecting on the Blackburn win. "We knew that. That's why we started with a high tempo on top of them, playing and pressing.

"I think the tempo was good and the supporters were great once again. We showed a little bit of the old spirit and we have to keep believing in ourselves. We are not a bad team.

"If we keep playing like that and maintain that type of performance, we will be getting many more victories rather than defeats. It's all about confidence.

"When you are not winning, it's difficult (for confidence) to be up there. You just don't have that confidence and it makes things harder.

"If we can now win a couple of games in a row and get ourselves in a better position in the table and if we can keep that philosophy that we have been having for the last seasons, we will be okay.

"I know we are not a bad team. We have to show it week in, week out and that is what we are going to be aiming to do."

Meanwhile, Ryan Babel is facing a spell on the sidelines after he damaged his ribs during the Reds' reserves' 2-1 defeat at Huddersfield yesterday afternoon.

Babel was taken to hospital for an X-ray but, in brighter news, Fabio Aurelio played 60 minutes as he stepped up his comeback.

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