Steve McManaman has seen enough in Liverpool's performances this season to convince him the Reds can close the gap on their rivals at the top of the table next term.

The winger, who played 364 games for the the club during his nine-year spell at Anfield, is desperate for Brendan Rodgers' men to re-establish themselves among the country's top sides.

But McManaman insists patience is required if the team are to successfully build on the performances of this season.

"All we want to see at the moment is progression," McManaman explained to Liverpoolfc.com.

"We know that we have fallen behind other sides in recent years, so all we want as fans is to close the gap - and to do that we'll also need to have patience.

"The performances against the likes of Manchester City, Chelsea and Manchester United have been really strong. But then draws at home against West Ham or away at Reading, have hurt us.

"I think you can see the performances and you can see the way we have hammered teams this year.

"We just need to try and drive forward to a level where, 80 per cent of the time, we are putting these performances in and getting the points."

With four games remaining in the Barclays Premier League, the Reds sit in seventh place, five points behind Everton.

McManaman wants to see the Reds finish the season in style, in order to give the fans added optimism to take into next season's campaign.

He added: "Ideally, you want to see winning performances and really good team showings. The players have got to show the fans and give them something that they can look at and think, next year we're going to really catch everybody up."