Barnes: Fans can help players kick on
John Barnes believes Liverpool's young squad can be inspired to new heights next season by the fervent backing of the club's famous support.
The Reds endured a disappointing conclusion to the 2014-15 campaign as they missed out on a top-four finish and saw their FA Cup dreams dashed at the semi-final stage.
However, former England winger Barnes was encouraged by the progress made by the club's summer signings as the season wore on.
And he believes that the atmosphere generated by both Anfield regulars and the travelling Kop can help the less experienced members of Brendan Rodgers' squad kick on again.
"The disappointment of the last eight or nine games really superseded the reality of looking at the squad we had, what we had achieved, the potential that we actually have," he told Liverpoolfc.com.
"[We must] stick with these players and support these players - and Liverpool fans have always been good at that.
"For example, Emre Can, [Adam] Lallana, [Lazar] Markovic; at other clubs they would not have been able to come out of the bad patch they started with but the fans supported them.
"None of them started well but because the Liverpool fans supported them, all of a sudden you see Can come to the fore, you see Markovic improve, you see Lallana improve.
"This is what we need. It was disappointing last year but what are we going to do? How are we going to get the club back to challenging for a top four place?
"What we can do is get behind the team, support the team, empower the team, inspire the team, rather than the other way round.
"We've always had players who can do it the other way round: [Luis] Suarez, [Steven] Gerrard, [Fernando] Torres, even from before then in Bill Shankly's time.
"We inspire the team, we support them, and that will bring out the best in them."