Kenny Dalglish today called on Liverpool fans to help the Reds return to winning ways against Aston Villa this weekend.

The boss admits a run of six defeats in seven games has left confidence levels low within the squad, but he insists the backing of a packed Anfield on Saturday can give the players the belief to get back on track.

"It's really important to be supportive of each other," he said. "There's not one faction of the football club that's more important than the other - we can all help each other.

"We can help the punters by putting on a good performance and getting a good result.

"They can help us by giving us good support and encouragement that helps the players. I'm sure we'll get fantastic support on Saturday and that's when we really need them. When you think of the quality of the players we have got, and you say they maybe lack a bit of confidence or belief, you say that can't be right because they are great players.

"But confidence and belief is a huge thing.

"It doesn't matter how good you are, that's still a large proportion of where your performance comes from.

"If they are confident and they have the belief, it's going to be helpful. And if they feel other people have the belief in them that's going to help as well.

"It seems strange when you talk about players of really high quality having taken a wee confidence knock but that's a fact of life."