Steven Gerrard has claimed that the past three months have probably been the worst of his life, but insists that he won't let the disappointments have an impact for too long.
The Liverpool captain saw the Premier League title go to Manchester City on the final day of last season, before failing to progress from the group stage at the World Cup, but he believes that it is his responsibility to boost morale once again ahead of the new campaign.
"I've probably been through the worst three months of my life," Gerrard told reporters. "There's nothing else to say is there? But if you ask how it's affected me – it hasn't. I have football to play in the future so you have to look forward, not back.
"Every time I speak to the media it's going to be mentioned and that's the only time I think about it, really. I appreciate how big it is when you go out of a World Cup, when you fall short, after going so close in the Premier League title race.
"Everyone in this group of players looks to me to see what sort of mood I'm in, to see how I'm behaving round the place, so I have to shake it off pretty quick."
Liverpool begin their Premier League campaign against Southampton on August 17.
Callum Mulvihill
