Graphic: why defence is key to Liverpool's title shot

It might seem mildly ludicrous to be too critical of a team who have just moved to the top of the Barclays Premier League with Christmas looming, but it is a reflection of the weight of expectation at Liverpool this season and the high standards set by the manager and his players that a goalless draw against West Ham United at Anfield on Monday was almost being treated like a defeat on Merseyside.

As supporters filed out of the stadium after a brief chorus of boos had greeted the final whistle and others returned to the warmth and comfort of the hospitality suites, the air of despondency was marked.

Taken in isolation, a draw against a team who had not mustered a point at Anfield in the previous eight years would not have been so bad given that the result was enough to move Liverpool above Chelsea to the summit of English football's pyramid, but the memory of similarly underwhelming stalemates at home to Fulham and Stoke City was still fresh.

Games that most had imagined would yield nine points provided only three, but while it remains to be seen how damaging those results prove in the longer term to Liverpool's title ambitions, it required a defiant Jamie Carragher to call for perspective at a time when none of the so-called “big four” could be said to be firing on all cylinders.

Although Liverpool have taken only eight points from their past five league games, Chelsea and United have managed only ten apiece while Arsenal have mustered six over the same period.

“When you play at home and you draw it's two points lost, there's no doubt about that, but Chelsea are probably going through a little bit of a rough patch themselves,” the defender said. “But while Chelsea got beat in the Champions League [3-1 by Roma] and have still to qualify and went down a place in the league after losing to Arsenal [and Liverpool's result against West Ham], the good thing is that we've not been playing well but have qualified [from our Champions League group] and have just gone top of the league.

“Don't get me wrong, we would love to have gone three points clear, but I'm going to stay positive and say I'm delighted with where we are. It's not down to complacency [the draws against Fulham and West Ham]. At some point in every season you're going to have a rough spell. We're not playing well but we're not getting beat and there are positives to take.”

Liverpool have coped well without Fernando Torres for long periods this season, but the Spain striker's absence was keenly felt against Fulham and West Ham, and at home to Marseilles in the Champions League last week, especially with Robbie Keane suffering from another crisis of confidence.

With Torres expected to be out for another three weeks because of a recurrent hamstring problem, however, Carragher believes that everyone must try to chip in with goals, not just the strikers, starting against Blackburn Rovers at Ewood Park on Saturday.

“Even if you win games two or three-nil, you're still going to miss Fernando because he's one of the best strikers in the world, but scoring goals is something we all have to sort out together,” Carragher said. “We can't just rely on the strikers to score. You have to defend as a team but you also have to attack as one.”

Keane was substituted for the fifteenth time in 22 appearances (he has started 18 times) this season against West Ham, but Rafael Benítez, the manager, is confident that the Ireland striker will come good despite managing only two league goals since his £20.3million move from Tottenham Hotspur during the summer.

“Robbie is a better player than the one we are seeing now,” he said. “Robbie does get disappointed when things do not go his way, but he is a worker and he can improve.”

* Liverpool’s public display of support for Michael Shields, the fan serving a ten-year jail sentence for the attempted murder of a Bulgarian waiter in Istanbul in 2005, could land them with an FA charge. The governing body is to write to the club for an explanation after players wore T-shirts with the slogan “Free Michael Now” before the televised match against West Ham United on Monday. Fans on the Kop also held up a mosaic calling for the release of Shields, 22.