Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard has copped a fair bit of flak over his performance in the last couple of Premier League games, with that criticism intensifying after the 3 - 1 defeat at West Ham.

But is Gerrard's form symptomatic of a poor run or something more serious in his deep-lying role in front of the defence?

Tony Barrett of The Times thinks alarm bells should not be ringing just yet.

"I think it's a situation from which he'll come out and improve," he said, acknowledging that he is "off his game."

"At the age of 34, if you don't have a team functioning around you, you are past your best, it becomes much more difficult for you to produce your best and that's without taking personal form into account." 

Barrett also feels that Liverpool are looking to reassert the identity that they had last season when they pressed the opposition relentlessly with Luis Suarez leading from the front.

"I think they are caught between two schools. They don't know whether to attack and they don't really know how to defend. The big thing for me is that they are a team without an identity," said Barrett.