Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard has hailed the performance of youngster Raheem Sterling in his side’s 1-1 draw with Sunderland, adding that the winger has a bright future in the game.
The 17-year-old provided the assist for Luis Suarez’s equaliser for the Reds as he skipped past Danny Rose before crossing for the Uruguayan to fire past Simon Mignolet.
Gerrard believes Sterling has a lot of talent but feels he will need guidance from the senior players at the club as he adjusts to life in the Premier League.
He told ESPN: “I think that’s why everyone is talking about him because he’s burst onto the scene and he’s got the fans on the edge of their seats.
“He’s still a young boy and he’s still got a lot to learn with the likes of Glen and myself around we can help him to develop and improve and become even better. He’s got a bright future and I’m glad he’s a Liverpool player.”
Gerrard believes the team are close to clicking under Brendan Rodgers, who are yet to register a league win under their new boss since his arrival in July, and insisted that Liverpool were the dominant force throughout against Sunderland – with their showings on the pitch not being reflected in their current lowly standing in the table.
He said: “I think it can be different it all depends how quickly the players take the message that the manager’s trying to put across on board.
“You’ve seen our performance today I think that’s a message it won’t be very long for us, we know the first win is around the corner and let’s hope that’s against Manchester United next week.
“We knew it wasn’t going to happen overnight we were very disappointed with our performance against Arsenal we tried hard but it just didn’t happen.
“Today we tried hard and even though we were one down at half-time I thought for the 90 minutes we completely controlled this game their goal was against the run of play I think anyone watching that game would say Liverpool should have won the three points.”
Following the release of the Hillsborough report which exonerated Liverpool fans of any wrongdoing in the disaster 23 years ago, Gerrard felt it would have been good to mark the occasion with a win but believes the supporter will be pleased with the commitment shown by the players
He said: “Of course every time you put the Liverpool shirt on it’s always important to give everything you’ve got I think we showed that today but it would have been really nice to take the three points home today and dedicate it to the supporters.
“But I think every fan who watched that game today will have been proud of the effort that the lads gave.”