Rodgers: Reds can keep rising

And he now setting his sights on second-placed Manchester City.

After the club's worst start to a campaign for more than a century, the Reds now sit just four points behind fourth-placed Everton, with their record over the last 11 matches bettered only by the top two of Manchester United and City.

But having seen his players criticised early in his Anfield reign, Rodgers now believes they should now not be restricting themselves to thinking purely about securing Champions League qualification.

"They have been hammered left right and centre by numbers of people," said the Northern Irishman. "When you are a club that is the size of Liverpool then that criticism comes.

"It is well documented, which is incredible really, but when you have won the titles and championships you have before that will come your way.

"But I was quite calm because their focus and concentration has been first class, our mentality was very much relaxed as we can only worry about ourselves.

"The cause we created here was to continue to fight.

"We know what will come our way when you don't win games and we are trying to still improve so the feeling was fine.

"You can see in their performances it hasn't affected them and, if anything, we have grown from that and it has been the lever for us to continue to work well.

"Everyone has their opinion on Liverpool and I understand that because of the standards set by this club in the 1970s and 1980s.

"But for a club that has been very poor and disastrous by all accounts from other people we lie four points off top four.

"For me the ambition is to grow higher. We are 11 points off second and that can all turn around very quickly so you need to get consistency - and that is what we have at the minute."

Many of the players criticised - Stewart Downing, Jordan Henderson, Jose Enrique and in particular Joe Cole - were signed by Rodgers' predecessors Kenny Dalglish and Roy Hodgson.

Liverpool's former director of football Damien Comolli, who helped bring most of those players to the club, has said they have all been judged too early.

"I don't know what Damien said and it's none of my business," added the Reds boss, who was pleased to see Cole score in Sunday's 3-2 win at West Ham.

"It was important for Joe to contribute. This season has been very difficult for him because he has been injured for the majority of it.

"The responsibility has always been with the players and if Joe continues to work how he has been when he gets the opportunity he has to take it.

"He works very hard at his game and when the chances come I know in his own mind he wants to take them and be effective for the team.

"That is the challenge for all the players. It is a challenge for us all to improve and we want to keep rising up the table."

Liverpool defender Jose Enrique likely to miss Premier League clash with Aston Villa

The Spaniard was forced off with a hamstring problem after 27 minutes of Sunday's victory over West Ham at Upton Park.

While the injury is not considered serious, the Villa game may come too soon for the 26-year-old to recover.

Enrique told the club's website: "I am OK but I don't know if I'll be ready for the game. It's nothing bad but I don't know if I'll be able to play.

"I've had some treatment and then we will see. I hope I can be fit for the game."

After suffering from a knee injury early in the season that kept him sidelined, the Spanish star fell down the first-team pecking order but has recently been re-integrated into the side in a more advanced midfield role.

Brendan Rodgers' side are only four points behind city rivals Everton, who currently hold the final UEFA Champions League qualification spot, and the packed festive schedule gives them a chance to reduce the gap further.

"We will have many, many games. We have to think we can be there," said Enrique.

"We have beaten good teams this season. The teams at the top have been losing a lot of games so we have a chance.

"We're just four points behind the Champions League places and we have a big chance to be there before January finishes.

"We have to take it step-by-step. We have two games at home (against Villa and Fulham) now and we'll try to win them both.

"Then if we can get some good players in the transfer window, maybe we can do something."

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Mansfield Town beat Lincoln City 2-1 to seal a clash with Liverpool in the FA Cup third round

The second round replay between the non-league pair was decided late on as Louis Briscoe as he smashed home from just inside the box.

The Stags took the lead just 14-minutes in when John Dempster converted from a Chris Clements free-kick.

Lincoln came back into the game when winger Adam Smith neatly finished just before the break - but was the home side who prevailed courtesy of Briscoe's effort.

Mansfield have now set-up a money spinning home clash with Premier League Liverpool in the third round.

Rodgers coy over Cole future

Cole, who scored his first Premier League goal since April 2011 in Sunday's 3-2 win at his old club West Ham, has featured only sporadically for the Reds this season.

The 31-year-old midfielder has been out of action due to injury for bits of the season, but when fit for selection this term he has only started cup matches and reports have suggested he could be set for a move.

On that matter, Rodgers will "see what happens" and insists the way the situation develops from here is very much down to Cole.

"I'm just going along game by game," said Rodgers on the Liverpool Echo website.

"There is every opportunity for every player.

"It's not just about the games. Every player gets a chance every single day to show what they are all about.

"Is his future here? You would have to ask him that.

"The guy is still a Liverpool player and while he's a Liverpool player I'll work as hard as I can with my staff to try to make him the b est we possibly can.

"If he's not going to play as often as he wants then he's no different to any player really. Players are about game time and money.

"But he's not any kind of problem, he's a good guy and we will see what happens over the coming months."

Rodgers not setting CL target

The win moved Liverpool into the top half of the Premier League, and a run of form that has seen the Anfield club lose just once in the league since September 23 means they are just four points off the top four.

Rodgers is keen for his players to continue to develop their understanding of the style of football he has been implementing since taking charge of the club in June, rather than setting end-of-season goals.

When asked if the top four was now a realistic target Rodgers said: "We are just trying to build our momentum. We had a difficult opening fixture list and coupling that with trying to play a certain way of football was always going to be difficult.

"Certainly over the past couple of months we have been progressing and just let's see where we finish.

"This is one of the biggest clubs in world football and everybody knows where it should be but we are making steady progress and climbing the league and it is important for us to do that."

Attorney General makes formal application to quash verdicts of Hillsborough inquests

The Government's top lawyer believes there is a "good" case for setting aside the accidental death verdicts and holding new hearings into the deaths of the 96 Liverpool supporters killed at Sheffield Wednesday's ground in 1989.

The latest move follows a damning report into the tragedy revealed a cover-up which attempted to shift the blame on to the victims.

Mr Grieve is planning to appear in person at the High Court to argue that new evidence means fresh inquests should be held.

"I believe that the case for the High Court to quash the original inquests is a good one," he said.

"My application has now been lodged with the Court. It is my intention to appear to argue the case at the hearing that will take place in the High Court."

Gerrard eager to build on win

Sunday's 3-2 win over West Ham ensured the Reds reduced the gap to fourth place to just four points.

Their sequence of fixtures over the next four weeks sees them face the likes of Aston Villa, Fulham, Stoke, QPR and Sunderland, and Gerrard believes they need to capitalise on the momentum they have started to generate.

"We're building slowly towards where we want to be," Gerrard told the Liverpool Echo after the club's first back-to-back Premier League victories since last December.

"We've got two home games now against Aston Villa and Fulham.

"If we can capitalise and make it 12 points out of 12 then we will find ourselves a lot closer to fourth.

"It's a platform to build on. We just have to focus on Villa now.

"Come the end of December we're really looking to be close to that fourth position.

The result at Upton Park saw Liverpool come back from 2-1 down without suspended top scorer Luis Suarez, scoring more than two goals in the league for only the third time this season.

Strikes from Glen Johnson and Joe Cole, in addition to James Collins' own goal, have added to recent efforts by Daniel Agger and Jose Enrique which have given the hope that the goalscoring burden carried by Suarez can now be spread around the team.

"I think before the game people were doubting us and thinking we would be a bit toothless in the final third without our top striker," added Gerrard.

"But we've gone away from home, scored three goals and got the three points.

"We showed a lot of character and determination to come back like that.

"Every win does a lot for the group and we did it without not only our top scorer but one of the top scorers in the Premier League

"People will always doubt you and question what's going to come from this team.

"A lot of people have said for years we're a one-man team or a two-man team.

"We can't control what people say and t heir opinions, but we know we have got a lot of good players here.

"If we play in the right way and do what the manager asks us then we will win games."

Gerrard also singled out Johnson, Liverpool's best player this season, for praise after his superb strike put them ahead, only for a contentious Mark Noble penalty and Gerrard's own goal to give West Ham the advantage.

"It was a special goal from Glen and he's a player in form," said Gerrard.

"He's been fantastic for us since the start of the season. It's no shock to me. I play for Liverpool and England with him.

"His consistency levels, and not just this season but for a long time now, have been very good.

"He's certainly up there with the best right-backs in the world."