Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard admits continuing off-fieldspeculation about the club is making it difficult for the side toconcentrate fully on football.
Uncertainty over the ownership of the Anfield outfit and the position ofmanager Rafael Benitez have made for recurring headlines recently.
Form on the pitch has also been disappointing and the Reds needed a late PeterCrouch equaliser last night to earn a 2-2 Premier League draw withAston Villa at Anfield.
'It is not just this week, it has been going on for some time and it iscertainly not helping the players,' Gerrard told Setanta Sports.
'I have got to be careful what I say about the situation but it is certainlynot helping the team.
'We know what is going on, but as players you have got a job to do on thepitch.
'You try to put what is going on off the pitch to the back of your mind butsometimes it is impossible, when it is every day.'
The result left Liverpool outside the Champions League places but Villa bossMartin O'Neill still believes they must be favourites to claim the fourth spot.
Everton, Liverpool, Villa and Manchester City are separated by just two pointsin positions four to seven in the table.
O'Neill said: 'Liverpool are the strongest of the four sides going for fourthspot. We do not have a big enough squad and we would need a lot of luck tocontest fourth spot.
'Everton have achieved fourth spot before, and they are a much bigger andstrong squad now than when they achieved fourth a couple of seasons ago.
'I believe that we are the least experienced of the sides in the race forfourth.'
Villa hit back after Yossi Benayoun's 19th-minute goal to take the lead atAnfield.
Liverpool paid for their failure to defend two set-pieces as Marlon Harewoodstruck and then Fabio Aurelio turned into his own goal in the space of threesecond-half minutes.
O'Neill hailed his side's recovery.
He said: 'In the first half we did not play the way we know we can. Maybe itwas the Anfield atmosphere, but I told them at the break they needed to showself-belief.
'It took time to get there, but we started to turn the tide. Marlon Harewoodmade a big impression when he came on and I am just disappointed we did not seeit through to the end and a victory.
'I suppose 2-2 was a fair result in the end. But it was a great effort frommy team.'
