By Mighty Reds
October 18 2011

Pepe Reina has been talking about his delight at having Steven Gerrard back after a long injury lay off.  He’s also pleased with the direction the team is going in.

Reina said:                                                                                      

“Stevie is the badge of this football club, the soul of this team and we are more than happy to have him back in the team,” said Reina.

“Hopefully he will be back for a long, long time. Just by the fact that he is on the pitch it is an inspiration for us, he always leads by example and anything he does he does with passion and a lot of commitment. He is a born winner.

“It is a positive thing to be disappointed not at having beaten Manchester United,” he added. “It speaks well about the hunger of the team and the performance of the team that clearly we deserved three points. We have to keep going and keep winning games.

“We have been consistent; I think we have had just one poor game – Spurs – so I think that is not a bad balance at all.

“It shows without doubt the progress that has been made. We are all much happier than a year ago.

“It is not about belief. It is about the quality of the team and the squad and the strength we have as a group, as a group of players, as a football club. That is all that matters.

“It is still early days to speak about closing gaps or not, we will find out at the end of the season and hopefully the distance won’t be that big.”