Reds are feeling blue

Former Liverpool forward John Aldridge claims the club have become a laughing stock and that the recent slump has made it embarrassing to support the Anfield outfit.

Despite ending the club's six-year trophy drought with the Carling Cup success against Cardiff City in February, Liverpool have since seen their hopes of Champions League qualification evaporate following a run of six defeats in seven league games.

Kenny Dalglish's team now lie eighth, a point behind Everton and a staggering 34 adrift of league leaders Manchester United.

And Aldridge, who scored 50 goals in 83 appearances for Liverpool in the 1980s, admits that the club are now in their worst position for more than half a century.

Speaking to the Liverpool Echo, Aldridge insisted: "There is no getting away from the fact that Liverpool are now in a crisis.

"To lose six out of seven in the league is something the club won't ever tolerate.

"To have picked up just eight points out of 36 since the turn of the year is shambolic - that's relegation form. The fact that this is the worst run in the league since 1954 speaks volumes. Questions are being asked and they need to be answered.

"The eyes of the world are on Liverpool and the critics are having a field day. We are becoming a laughing stock.

"We're all proud to be associated with the club and everything it has achieved over the years. But at the moment being a Liverpool fan is just embarrassing and that's something I haven't had to say before."

Liverpool's recent dismal run has piled pressure on manager Dalglish, with the club's American owners understood to be deeply concerned by the latest failure to challenge for Champions League qualification.

But Aldridge claimed that many of Dalglish's underperforming players should shoulder the blame for the club's demise.

"The team just seems to have lost their belief," he said.

"You can blame the manager and coaching staff but at the end of the day it comes down to the players. They are getting paid unbelievable amounts of money and aren't producing the goods. Some of them should take a long, hard look in the mirror.

"They are playing for Liverpool Football Club, one of the biggest clubs in the world. It doesn't get much better than that.

"They need to realise how lucky they are and start doing it, or their Anfield careers won't last much longer."