By David Anderson
Steven Gerrard claims Liverpool have the character Brendan Rodgers is demanding from his players.
Rodgers criticised his players because of their inconsistent form over the festive period, claiming they "can't turn character on and off".
Gerrard agrees that Liverpool's displays in their defeats to Aston Villa and Stoke were unacceptable.
The Reds' skipper puts their inconsistency down to the number of young players in their squad and insists they are making progress ahead of Wednesday night's clash with Sunderland at Anfield.
"There will be a few blips along the way like the Villa defeat, because we are a very young squad," said Gerrard.
"But clubs are defined by how they react to adversity and I know this group shares plenty of character and togetherness. As a collective, we will learn and we will get better.
"I'm excited about this Liverpool team. I genuinely believe we are moving in the right direction."
Gerrard does admit that Liverpool's mid-table position in the Premier League is not good enough and says improving this will be their target in 2013.
"The league position needs to be improved and that needs to be our focus," said the England captain.
"But we've got games in two major cup competitions to look forward to in the second half of the season as well.
"Overall, going into the New Year, there's plenty to be positive about."
Daniel Agger agrees with Gerrard that the Reds must start climbing the table.
"The league position is not the best and we want to improve that," he said. "The only way to do that is to win some games.
"Beating QPR [on Sunday] was a step towards that and now we need three points against Sunderland.
"It doesn't matter how, we just need to get the three points. That's the most important thing now.
"It's about one game at a time. We are in a place where we aren't happy and where we are in the table now is not good enough and we want to get higher. And the only way to get that is to get three points every week, or at least try to get three points every week."
Agger claims he is still hurting over Liverpool's lame showing at Stoke on Boxing Day night and cannot explain why they were so poor.
He has told his team-mates they must be focused for every game if they want to be at a club like Liverpool.
"I don't know," said the Denmark centre-half. "I cannot explain this. Every time you play a good game and then a bad game, it is the same question. I honestly think it is impossible to explain.
"It would be too easy if you could say, 'that's the problem' because then we could go and work on it.
"When things like that happen, it is difficult to explain.
"If you play for a football club like this, you need to have the motivation every single week. It doesn't matter what the result was last week. And if you don't have that, then you shouldn't be here."
By Simon Bird
Stephane Sessegnon claims Sunderland can cash in on Liverpool's inconsistency.
The Benin striker has conceded that, on their day, Brendan Rodgers men are one of the best around and will be tough to beat at Anfield.
Sessegnon reckons there is a ray of hope for Martin O'Neill's side though, and said: "Liverpool have had some inconsistent results and they would hope to be in a better position, although they are still a very good side.
"It will be a difficult game, but if we play as we have then we can get something there.
"We need to play with the same desire, confidence and aggression that we've shown in recent games and you can get a result - teams have gone to Anfield this season and taken points.
"From our point of view, we are playing better and you can see that with the confidence in the team."
Boss O'Neill said: "I won almost every time there with Leicester - three consecutive games! It is an atmospheric place."
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