I'm running out of time at Anfield, says Gerrard

The Liverpool skipper accepts that only fourth place now is acceptable as the club battles to secure entry into Europe's elite competition next season. But he said: 'You don't get any prizes in football for finishing in second place, never mind fourth.

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'I don't think that the fans would accept fourth as an accomplishment and for me it's not nearly good enough. We need to improve dramatically and even if we do finish fourth, it doesn't mean we have had a good season.'

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Out of it by January - again: Steven Gerrard cannot believe Liverpool have no chance of winning the Premier League

Liverpool officials will be alarmed by Gerrard's admission that his patience is wearing thin and manager Rafa Benitez may have to reconsider his priorities after the England midfielder's demand for an end to domestic mediocrity.

Benitez always defends his record by pointing to his success in Europe but it cuts no ice with the Liverpool skipper, who gave vent to his pent-up frustration by saying: 'I have been looking at the league table and it hurts to see where we are at the moment.

'I am pretty gutted every time I see the gap between us and Arsenal, because we believed we had the players to challenge this time.

'Arsenal's turnaround has been remarkable and if they can do it this season, there is no reason why we can't next time. But I am getting tired of saying the same thing over and over again.

'We can't keep talking about next season all the time. There are only so many times you can say it and believe it. Sooner or later we have to make a season the one where we actually make it happen.

'I am 27 now and I don't want to be talking about next season for Liverpool when I am 32. We've got the stadium, the fans, the manager and the players to compete for the Premier League.

'But we've no chance of doing it if we are already well out of it by the first week in January. After losing to Barnsley in the FA Cup, we went out to play Inter Milan knowing a negative result would leave us with nothing to play for over the remainder of the season.

'Fourth place, perhaps, but that would have been it. It is the least that is acceptable between now and the end of May but we have bigger ambitions than that.

'The Champions League is the only way we can fulfil those. But I'm not going to pretend even winning that - and we are still a long way off at the moment - would make up for the disappointment of the League campaign.

'It is the one we wanted more than any other trophy available to us. I am a Liverpool fan and believe the league is the most important trophy.

'The Champions League can be harder to win in some ways, but if you asked the 41,000 at the Inter Milan game to choose between the title and European Cup, the majority would want to see the league back at Anfield.'

Liverpool are closing in on a Champions League quarter-final place after a 2-0 first leg win over runaway Serie A leaders Inter Milan at Anfield and Gerrard added: 'Now we want to finish fourth and win the European Cup again.

'It is in our own hands, there for us to do, and we must take the chance to lay down a marker for next season.'

Gerrard admitted behind-the-scenes wrangling over co-owners Tom Hicks' and George Gillett's stewardship of the club and their public fall-out with Benitez had intensified his disillusionment over the current campaign.

'It is sad that club business has been conducted in public,' he said. 'I am a Liverpool fan, always have been and always will be. The club I grew up supporting always did its business behind closed doors and that is what we have to get back to.'