Rodgers upbeat

LIVERPOOL. – Liverpool boss Brendan Rodgers hopes a derby victory over Everton can kick-start their season. The Reds have struggled to pick up where they left off when finishing second last term with three defeats in their opening five games of the current campaign.
Liverpool face Everton today and Rodgers is taking inspiration from the last Merseyside meeting at Anfield when his side triumphed 4-0 to continue his unbeaten record in the derbies and launch their storming late run which almost brought them the title.

He said: “I have loved every second of them, home and away, but the performance at Anfield last season was really special.

“They were on a good run of form and building well. They came to Anfield maybe with an eye on winning and we were exceptional in the game and our finishing was fantastic.

“We enter into this as a great opportunity to get a victory in a derby game which we hope can provide a platform for us to go on consistently like we did last year.

“We took 34 out of 36 points after that the derby win. We went on a great run and we hope we can continue to work like that.”

Last season’s crushing win at Anfield was only Everton’s second defeat in 16 English Premier League games and came courtesy of two goals from Daniel Sturridge and one apiece from Luis Suarez and Steven Gerrard.

Liverpool have felt the absence of the departed Suarez and Sturridge, whose injury on international duty with England has kept him out of the Reds’ last four games.

The striker is training again following his recovery from a thigh injury but is not certain to play on Saturday.

“It will be great to have him back. Hopefully that will come this weekend but we will assess it over the next couple of days,” added Rodgers, who is looking for an upturn in performances.

“We haven’t made the best of starts. Winning two games and losing three is not ideal. But we can still take positives.

“We have introduced young players into the team which is what you look to achieve to educate them and help them to come through into the first team.
“From like-to-like games last season there is only one point difference and we ended up doing okay.

“But we know we need to improve our performance levels and by doing that we will get results.”

Meanwhile, Rodgers said he is not concerned that Liverpool are one of a number of clubs set to be investigated by Uefa for possible breaches of Financial Fair Play Rules.

He said: “It’s something that will be dealt with by the board of directors. It’s something we are comfortable with because we are great advocates of Financial Fair Play.” — The Daily Telegraph.