Video courtesy of nhlsarok
Liverpool seem to have shaken off their poor run of Premier League form by claiming their second win in three days with a 3-1 victory over relegation battling Leicester City yesterday evening. Full points pushed the Reds out of the wrong half of the table and into eighth place ahead of a meeting with Sunderland at the weekend and an all important showdown with FC Basel in the Champions League early next week.
“What’s important for me is the spirit. We had a good performance at the weekend even if it was a tight game. I think being competitive is very important for us” explained the Northern Irishman following the win. “We’ve changed it around and looked at the mentality of the team going into the games and the focus and the concentration and that, over the last three games, has been excellent. That’s three good performances now and results, so it’s small steps but we’ve still got a lot of work to do. You saw the spirit in the team tonight. They kept fighting right until the very end and we ended up with a very good result.”
The Liverpool boss will be hoping the shift in momentum does his side well with a busy run of important fixtures on the horizon, but he’ll be given food for thought with Steven Gerrard, who he left on the bench until the closing stages of the win against the Potters, putting in an inspirational performance yesterday — something that Rodgers didn’t miss an opportunity to talk about.
“I think you saw the energy in his legs tonight and his influence in the game, especially as [the match] wore on. It was an outstanding performance from Steven and an excellent goal” he continued with a noted sense of enthusiasm. “At this stage of his career, it’s about the level of the game. Like you saw tonight, he’s not 24 anymore. You have to do that with players at this part of their career. So for me it’s about mapping out the rest of the season for him and looking at the games to play him in. That’s what you have to do as a manager – plan forward.”
