Oster says the Liverpool crowd's reaction to him has been mixed (Getty)

Reading midfielder John Oster says the pressure of eight defeats in a row was beginning to effect the squad.

Last weekend's win against Manchester City lifted Reading up to 13th in the Premier League table.

"It's the same as anything in life, if things aren't going well you start pointing the finger and it's never your fault," Oster told BBC Radio Berkshire.

"You start having little niggles in training. But we've got our heads down and we got a good result last week."

But Oster feels the squad have been in much better heart after registering successive wins - against Middlesbrough and Manchester City.

In the last few weeks they've been firing them in in threes and fours - it's going to be a real test for the lads. John Oster

Oster added: "The lads have shown that overnight you can't just become a bad team. After the eight straight defeats, we just thought we've got nothing to lose now, it can't get any worse than this.

"We went up to Middlesbrough in a good frame of mind. We go up to Liverpool who are flying at the moment, knowing it's going to be difficult but we'll give it our best shot."

Despite sitting 13th in the table, Oster feels Reading are not taking anything for granted.

"It's only three points, only one game away. We're not getting carried away, we're going to knuckle down now," explained Oster.

"We'll just try to win as many games as we can. We can't do anything about other teams and equally, they can't do anything about us.

"We have the teams around us to play here. If we get good results against them, then that will see us playing Premier League football next season."

Oster, formerly an Everton player, acknowledged that winning at Anfield would be a major achievement.

Oster played 40 times for Everton in the late 90s (Getty)

"In the last few weeks they've been firing them in in threes and fours - it's going to be a real test for the lads," said Oster.

"But we've had two clean sheets on the bounce, which is something we haven't had for a while. Hopefully the defence will stay strong again.

"I had a mixed reception last time, when we played in the cup there they were okay with me. But when I came on in the league, they turned on me a little bit.

"I might get a few jeers if I stick one in the net."