Liverpool (1) v Steaua Bucharest (1), Anfield, 8.0 On TV: Channel 5: As captain of a Liverpool side anchored in mid-table, Steven Gerrard has become used to delivering rallying cries, though his latest will still have struck a nerve.

"If we don't put things right, starting from now, we're going to be playing in this tournament again next season. And nobody wants that."

Away from public platitudes to the contrary, and with Steaua Bucharest representing formidable opponents this evening, Liverpool endure rather than enjoy UEFA Cup football. This is a competition to which most sides perched ninth in the Premiership would aspire but, for players teased by two years in the Champions League, life in a second-class compartment is torturous.

Such an acknowledgement, albeit in private, makes Liverpool's stuttering league form all the more worrying. Steaua arrive at Anfield with the tie poised at 1-1 and relishing the prospect of competing on a pitch rather than the mud bath that rendered the first leg farcical. But, with Gerrard, the suspicion remains that priorities lie elsewhere.

"It's not as if it'll be difficult to get up for this game, but we'd prefer to be going into a Champions League match," he said. "As captain, I am feeling a bit more pressure when we are not picking up results. We're in this tournament and we've got to get on with it. Our aim is to do well in this competition and also get into the Premiership top four, so we're not playing in it again next season.

"It is a bit of a relief not to be playing a league game, but then I'm looking forward to the Birmingham match on Sunday as much as this one because I'm not happy lying ninth in the table. The sooner we get up towards those top four positions the better, and it's not just me who's frustrated. It's the whole squad. We'd normally expect to be in the top four and still in the title race, but it's no good feeling sorry for ourselves. If you dwell on it and sulk it'll keep happening. We've got to improve, become more consistent and look to the future."

Yet that very future could be shaped by the club's progress during the next few months. Only with an upturn in results will Michael Owen follow Gerrard's lead and pledge his long-term future to the club.

"I'm desperate for him to stay," he added, aware that negotiations remain painfully slow on a prospective new deal for his England team-mate. "If we finish in the top four and he is confident we can do well in the Champions League, I'm sure he'll commit."

To that end, fast improvement is required. Saturday's goalless draw at Middlesbrough provided only a second clean sheet since August, but profligacy up front is as much to blame as a porous defence.

The return of Dietmar Hamann from a shin complaint may well ease both problems, and should Liverpool prevail, as their first-leg dominance suggests, attention will turn swiftly to more pressing matters.

"If we get through we can put it to the back of our minds for a couple of months and concentrate on the league," added Gerrard. "The games we have coming up are games we should be winning. I don't think we have major problems - it's little things - and I'm confident that we can launch a run. After the weekend, if we are still in the UEFA Cup and have beaten Birmingham, life will be a bit brighter."

Manager Gerard Houllier will hope for a safe passage through to the next round but admits his mind is sometimes elsewhere.

"I am sick of watching Champions League football on Tuesday and Wednesdays without my team being involved," he said. It is a tournament that Liverpool crave, but are on the outside looking in.

PROBABLE LINE-UPS

LIVERPOOL (4-1-3-2): Kirkland; Diao, Hyypia, Biscan, Traore; Hamann; Gerrard, Murphy, Diouf; Kewell, Owen.

STEAUA BUCHAREST (4-5-1): Hamutovski; Radoi, Rachita, Mutica, Stoica; Dumitru, Falemi, Aliuta, Bostina, Oprita; Raducanu.

Referee: F Meyer (Germany).