Liverpool midfielder Adam Lallana warns team-mates they must find consistency

Adam Lallana has warned his Liverpool team-mates that they have to find consistency if they want to make the top four.

The midfielder argued that Joe Allen’s last-minute equaliser against Arsenal on Wednesday night had given them momentum to take into this afternoon’s encounter against Manchester United.

However, he recognised that inconsistency had been the weak point of Jürgen Klopp’s regime at Anfield. Both Klopp and the Manchester United manager, Louis van Gaal, have found the routine fixtures more awkward than the big events.

“We need to take the opportunity at the weekend, I think,” said Lallana. “If we get three points, we put ourselves back in the mix. Even against Arsenal, with the other results sort of going our way, it felt like two points dropped considering how well we played.

“It feels like we keep getting within touching distance before taking a step back. We need to be more consistent in picking up wins; that’s how you find yourself in the top four.”

It says something that since coming second to Manchester United in 2009 with a points total that would have won the Premier League in most seasons, Liverpool have finished in the top four only once. For a club that still counts itself among the European elite, it has been a miserable return.