Brendan Rodgers finds positives in Liverpool defeat

Not even the staunchest Liverpool and Rodgers fan could’ve found much to be positive about in the 3-1 defeat yesterday, so leave it to the Brendan himself to find something to spin out as a positive result of the match: effort and commitment.

It became something of a running joke last season, that a bad result would be followed by Rodgers running out the overused ‘character’ statements, something which have been missing for much of the current season but while Rodgers may believe his players showed effort and commitment, most fans and onlookers only saw a total lack of direction and utter confusion at both ends of the field.

Speaking to the press following his press conference, via Liverpoolfc.com, Rodgers said: “We’re disappointed with the result and the performance. I thought in the first half we were fairly organised but technically could have been much better with the ball.

“We didn’t keep the ball for long enough to create opportunities, but we didn’t give away too much either in the first half – it was only really when we gave the ball cheaply and put ourselves under pressure. So it was 0-0 at half-time, we’re OK and looking to play better in the second half.

“We’re disappointed with the free-kick. I thought both players were tangling for the ball, both had their arms up and Ashley Young jumps on the player’s [Clyne] back and gets a free-kick. But they worked it well and get the goal and we then gave away the penalty.

“At 2-0 you’re up against it. We then got on the front foot, Christian scored an incredible goal with a high level of technique, so we were back in the game at 2-1 and looking at maybe getting something. But we then conceded within a minute and at 3-1 the game is dead.

“Overall, we had plenty of effort and commitment but we needed to be better with the ball.”

Benteke’s wonder goal aside, there is nothing to remember from Saturday’s defeat and, for many, the display as much as the result have proven to be a turning point.

But the manager believes there is hard work ahead of his team and seems to believe he can turn things around. He continued: “This is the biggest game in this country and maybe in the world in terms of a derby game. I’ve been in here and sat down when we won 3-0 and felt great and when you lose 3-1 you don’t feel so good.

“It’s difficult for the supporters and everyone connected to the club; when you win it, it’s a different feeling. We’ve just got to go away and work even harder at being better, and that’ll be the case.

“The players are bitterly disappointed because they know we can play better than that and over the course of the season I’m sure they will but as you can see there’s still a lot of hard work ahead for us. The players are still learning and adapting to how we work.”

While there may be a case for allowing some of the new signings to bed in, there is little case for the fact that the club has spent close to £300 million on new players during Rodgers’ time at Anfield and all we’ve got to show for it is a near miss title race.

It’s debatable how much time the manager will have to turn things around but there isn’t much time to dwell on this game, thankfully, with four quickfire matches approaching, starting with Bordeaux away on Thursday, before home games against Norwich, Carlisle in the League Cup and Aston Villa.