Aquilani's Reds vow

Alberto Aquilani admits Liverpool are not firing on all cylinders at the moment - but the midfielder is determined to play his part in helping the Reds return to top form.

The 25-year-old made his first start for the club in Wednesday evening's Champions League clash with Fiorentina at Anfield.

A last-gasp goal secured a 2-1 victory for the visitors and Aquilani acknowledges Liverpool have room for improvement.

However the Italian is adamant he has seen enough both on the field and in training to suggest the Reds will soon be back to their best.

"It is a difficult time for me to come into the team, because we are in a difficult place at the moment," he said. "That makes it harder for any player to start with a new side. But I am here at Liverpool to make a difference, to help the team out of that difficult time.

"I have seen plenty of reasons while I have been here to be positive about where the team is going, both on Wednesday and in training.

"We have a lot of things to improve on, but we also have all the ability we need to get better. I am certain we will get better. With the players we have available to us, we can only get better.

"I don't have any doubts about that at all."

Aquilani played for 76 minutes against Fiorentina before being replaced by Dani Pacheco, and he was afforded a standing ovation from an impressed home crowd.

Having come through the game unscathed, the No.4 is confident his injury troubles are now firmly behind him.

He said: "I feel good. I'm really happy to have come through my first game.

"My ankle is better, fully healed and there weren't any problems after basically a year without playing it's great to have played so many minutes, because it means I can have more faith that I'm fully fit again.

"There's no fear at all that it might flare up again, I know it's better, so I'm not worried at all about that. I just feel really happy to have played again. It's really important for me to have played, because the more I play, the better I'll get and the fitter I'll be."

With a full debut now under his belt, Aquilani is hoping to gel quickly with his new teammates and forge partnerships with those around him.

"It's great to have finally got on to the pitch with players like Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres," he added.

"That's what I came here to do, to play with those sorts of players.

"The more we play together, the more they will have faith in me and the better our partnership will be.

"It was very hard to start for the first time in so long. While the result was not good, from a personal point of view it's been good physically. I can play better but it was important to start and to run.

"I need to play, play, play because I'm in a new team.

"The first half I was okay and then after that a little bit tired, but that's normal.

"Now I need to work hard in training for my body. I hope I can play against Arsenal."