Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard offers no excuses for their failure to compete for the European places this season.

Gerrard makes no excuses as to why Liverpool are clinging to a slim hope of climbing into a European position.

He said: "I think if you say that you haven't got what you deserved, then there's an element of feeling sorry for yourself.

"We know what our problem is and it's inconsistency. In the majority of games we've played well enough to be higher than where we are in the league.

"But when you look at performances like Southampton, Villa at home, West Brom away, Arsenal at home, there's a handful of games in there where this team hasn't turned up.

"That's the reason why we are sitting where we are in the table. In between those games there have been some fantastic performances, well worth a top four finish, so we know we're not far away.

"If there's a few improvements in the summer to the squad, we believe we can put in a better challenge to the top four next season."