Rodgers on....West Ham United

  • by Staff Writer No.2
  • Sunday, 9th December 2012

Liverpool boss Brendan Rodgers gives a strangely sycophantic press corps his views after his side's slightly fortunate win at the Boleyn...

Brendan, your thoughts on today's victory?...
It's a brilliant win for us. Sam's done a terrific job here and in particular he's made it very difficult for teams coming here as we saw when Chelsea arrived last week. But I thought my players were brilliant. We've been through a lot this week in terms of travel so to get the victory and the win I thought we thoroughly deserved it. I'm delighted for them because they put so much into the game.

After going behind it was a great second half for you

I thought we were outstanding for the first 25 minutes with some of our play which was capped off with a great goal from Glen Johnson, who's been brilliant for me this season. The penalty knocked us back a bit, probably because we thought it was a wee bit unjust. Then all of a sudden the last 20 minutes of the first half we stopped playing.

Half time was just about reinforcing to the players you've been good for 25 minutes but you have to keep playing. Keep passing and the opportunities would come for us. In the second half we done that. Terrific spirit. We showed that bit of steel today to get that result and it was a great testament to the players and how hard they worked.

How do you think Shelvey did today?

Outstanding

I think today you saw the two ways of playing the no.9 role. I know Carlton Cole from my Chelsea days he's a real handful and I thought he was outstanding today. But you were seeing 20 year old Jonjo Shelvey playing the no.9 role in a different way, coming into midfield and combining with the midfield to make the fourth man. He was a threat in and around the box, he had great feet.

I thought he was outstanding today the kid. Great credit to him because there was a lot of pressure on him. People were trying to compare him with Luis Suarez. He's been terrific in my time here. He's only 20 so he has a great future ahead of him.

The role seemed to suit him a little bit more when Joe Cole came on..

That was the idea. When you have a moving no.9 it causes the back four problems. If any of them get drawn out you have two wingers who can get behind and penetrate.

Joe Cole's was a terrific goal. Two wingers, one combining and creating the goal, the other breaking the line. When you see it again it's a wonderful finish. He's had to wait for that split second for his left foot.

I'm pleased for Joe. It took him a while to get the speed of the game. Second half he was first and foremost he was fighting for the team. After that his quality came through.

It was a terrifically weighted pass from Sterling as well. Shows how important it is to sort out his situation. Is there any progress on that?

Yeah that'll be fine. Raheem, as you see in that move, he was confronted by three players, plays a great combination between them, follows the pass. His pass was deadweight perfect for Joe.

Psychologically Brendan what does it mean to win without Luis Suarez? Some people thought it would be the end of the world..

Well you guys did! For us there was no drama. For us my focus was about the collective. We all share the ball, we must share the goals, share the workload. We're not asking anyone to do more than anyone else. I had great belief in the players, that we could score goals and create goals.

We've been doing that all season, we just haven't at times been clinical enough and had the good fortune to rack up the goals.


You said after the Chelsea game top 8 would be an achievement. Are you starting to re-evaluate that now?

We're trying to build a momentum. We had a difficult opening fixture list and trying to couple that with playing in a certain was was always going to be difficult.

Certainly over the last couple of months we've been progressing. Let's just see where we finish. This is one of the biggest clubs in world football. Everyone knows where it should be. We're making progress and climbing the league. It's important for us to continue to do that.

As I said it's a massive credit to the players and how hard they've been working. Then they'll get the reward from it.

Any thoughts on the Champions League places?

Yeah it's a very tight league this season and we're one of the top teams. We didn't make the start but it's more about how you finish. We've supposedly had an unbelievably bad season. Once we really hit form we'll be alright!

Jose Enrique went off early?

He was just a wee bit tight. He's suffered again. he's just come back into the team. He played during the week and he felt a bit tight. With all the travel he was really stiff yesterday. We gave him a go but he couldn't quite move the same. Big credit to Stewart Downing - he'd started really well with Glen Johnson on this side. He was maybe a wee bit disappointed to be pushed across but I though he was terrific. He stood up to the challenge well and got forward well. I was pleased for him.

Jordan [Henderson] did really well as well. there seemed to be a lot more purpose about his play...

He's understanding what his role is and the importance that he has within the group. He's done very very well. He's a terrific lad. The most important thing is that he wants to learn. He works very hard at his game. he scored the winner in midweek and you saw today that his ability to press and pass the ball today was good. He made that run that created one of the goals so I'm delighted.

You've beem at Chelsea and Swansea but the spirit in this team with all that you've beeen through - is it comparable to, say when you were at Chelsea?

This is a unique club. It's pleasure to manage because the history that comes with being a Liverpool player or manager is incredible. But that spirit doesn't just happen. It comes from simplicity, from working hard, doing the nuts and bolts of the game. Developing, learning, that's what this group are doing. Young players have been asked to do big jobs for a club of this status. They've been showing the mentality to come in and do it.

We'll just keep moving steadily. We don't want to be a flash in the pan. We want to keep making progress, developing our game, developing the team. That spirit is there for everyone to see, especially at a place like West Ham. This is a real tough place to come. Sam's done great here.

Having to stay an extra night, all that travel, it does take its toll but our condition was superb. That's a testament to our staff and players.

Cheers.


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