Liverpool striker Fernando Torres hampered by lack of support, says Pepe Reina

Torres has found his body language under ever more intense scrutiny, his commitment to Anfield questioned and his manager, Roy Hodgson, forced to contend that the player was suffering from the "vilification" he received during the World Cup after starting the campaign looking a shadow of his former self.

Many of those doubts will have been erased by his winning goal against Blackburn on Sunday – just his second of the season – but while Reina admits both Torres and his international strike partner, David Villa, appear to be suffering from a post-World Cup malaise, he believes his troubles say more about how poorly Liverpool have played than the striker himself.

"All strikers are about goals," said Reina. "They want to score them and they want to score winners, like Fernando did against Blackburn. I think he can build up now to what he was like of old.

"What has happened to him is more or less what has happened to Villa at Barcelona [who has scored just twice this season]. They are both great players but when strikers are not scoring, people are always disappointed in them. It is not fair.

"I do not think we have been assisting him like we should, particularly in the last few weeks. He has not been able to do anything at all. We know he is the type of player that can win a game just like that, but we cannot expect him to keep doing it on his own. We have to feed him in. That is the point."

It is not just Torres, of course, who can look forward to a fresh start. Liverpool's second league win of the season was watched by Tom Werner, chairman of the club's new owners NESV, although John W Henry, the principal backer, will have to wait – most likely for the home game with Chelsea – to witness his new acquisition in action.

Reina, one of the most outspoken members of the Anfield dressing room on the failings of their predecessors, insists he is impressed with what he has heard from and seen of NESV and believes their arrival – and an injection of transfer funds in January – can help Liverpool put their poor start to the season behind them.

"It was an important step," he said. "It has been a great moment for the club, a step forward. They are very committed to the club now. What I understand is they have been doing really good stuff in Boston, so let's be optimistic. Let's see if we can build from here and maybe they can help us a little bit in the winter transfer window."

Before that, Liverpool must attempt to use the performance against Sam Allardyce's side as a springboard to get their campaign back on track, a task made immeasurably easier without any off-the-field worries.

"The last thing the players have done is hide behind the fact we have had an issue off the field," said Steven Gerrard. "We find ourselves where we are in the league because we have not been good enough. It is nice and refreshing to know things are sorted [in terms of ownership] but now it is all about getting a sequence of results. Now we will find out if this team is capable of doing it. That is the challenge."

Manager Roy Hodgson refused to highlight the last week as significant but does believe the team is on an upward curve.

"I'd be lying if I said it felt like a turning point. That would be a facile thing to say," he said. "I've got faith in the team and the way we played in several of the games. We were worse at the beginning but we have got better."

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