Jamie Carragher believes Liverpool have plenty of reason to look forward to 2011-12 with excitement.

While disappointed by ending the season with two defeats and missing out on Europa League qualification, the Reds vice-captain feels the side's form as a whole since Kenny Dalglish returned to the helm in January is cause for optimism.

"We have to not just look at the last two games," said Carragher. "It's gone well since the manager came in, but we would have liked to have finished the season better.

"We don't want to say, 'It's gone great' and accept we lost the last two games, we're disappointed by that of course.

"It gives us time to reflect now and also maybe a chance to come back to a little bit of reality of where we really are, but I think we've got things to be positive about."

Having seen Liverpool break their transfer record twice during the January transfer window to land Luis Suarez and Andy Carroll, Carragher admits he's looking forward to seeing how the Reds decide to strengthen the playing staff this summer.

He said: "We're the same as any Liverpool fans. We'd love to see ourselves going for top players and getting top players but that's nothing to do with us, that's down to the manager and who he decides is good enough to come in.

"I'm sure there'll be a few changes in the summer, as there is every year no matter how well you're doing. Hopefully we can do a lot better next season."

Meanwhile, having backed the fans' decision to vote Lucas Leiva as their Player of the Season, Carragher admits he's been pleased with his own form since returning from a shoulder injury in February.

"I think Lucas was rightly our player of the year - he's had a great season," he said.

"I've been pleased with the way I've played this season coming back after the shoulder injury.

"From a personal point of view, I'm very pleased with the way I've played, but things like that don't matter. We finished sixth and we haven't done well in the cups so we can't look back on a great season. Football is a team game and that's where we need to look."