Saturday 13 December 2014 15:03, UK
Brendan Rodgers believes a trip to Old Trafford to face an in-form Manchester United is "perfect" for his Liverpool side to rediscover their confidence.
United have won five games in a row to climb into third spot in the Premier League, while the Merseysiders are lying in mid-table and failed to get out of their Champions League group this week after drawing 1-1 with Basel.
Defeat for the Reds this weekend would leave them 10 points adrift of their arch-rivals and put Champions League qualification even further out of sight.
But Rodgers insists facing United away could be the ideal remedy.
The game against Manchester United is perfect for us and we hope to take confidence and spirit into the game.
"The game against Manchester United is perfect for us and we hope to take confidence and spirit into the game," he said.
"You've just got to find the ways to refocus the minds of the players, forget and learn from the experiences, and look at it as an opportunity to go and get onto a winning run.
"We're very much focused on improving that performance level. We know that we can do that - we can put a run of results together that can keep us climbing.
"But really we want to keep improving on the performance level. As my teams have shown, we'll get better as the season goes on but we want to start that sooner rather than later."
Having guided the Reds to within reach of winning the title last season the tables have turned for Rodgers, who is now third-favourite to be the next manager to lose his job.
The Northern Irishman, who signed a new contract in May, said he is not worried about the club's American owners wielding the axe.
"One thing I have always had with the owners and the players is solidarity," he said.
"Of course the owners have seen the progress over the last couple of years and like us all are disappointed with performances this season.
"But it is about reinforcing what we have done well in the last couple of years but planning to keep the club moving forward.
"That is the key objective for them and a primary objective for myself."
Watch Manchester United v Liverpool live on Sky Sports 1 at 1.30pm on Sunday.
