Last season’s runners-up recorded just their third win of the season against West Brom on Saturday but the manager is encouraged by his squad work-rate in the 2-1 victory
Brendan Rodgers feels his Liverpool side still have much to improve upon if they are to come close to matching last season’s achievements after beating West Brom on Saturday.
Goals from Adam Lallana and Jordan Henderson saw the Reds beat Alan Irvine’s side 2-1, just their third victory of the Premier League season.
Rodgers is encouraged by Liverpool’s improvements against West Brom after showing determination to regain their lead and seal the three points after Saido Berahino’s penalty had levelled the score after Lallana’s opener, and the manager hopes to have a fully fit squad following the international break.
“Performance-wise, we’ve still got a way to go,” he told reporters. “The speed of our game, movement in our game [and] intensity in our game is still developing and improving.
“I’d rather have that now and get better and better as the season goes on, but whilst searching, it is important to find a way to win.
“The players have got remarkable character. It was a very important win for us today, hopefully we’ll come back from the international break to what we were at Tottenham with a full squad to pick from.”
Rodgers was delighted to see Henderson cap an impressive performance with the decisive goal, citing the former Sunderland man’s newfound freedom to break on as crucial.
“We gave him more licence [to get forward],” Rodgers said.
“He’s the one player in the country who can dominate the game without the football with his running capacity and his great physicality and today was about getting him forward that bit more.
“That running allows him to offer the combination with Adam for the first goal and the second he arrives in the box and finishes really, really well. It was a big performance from him today.
“He has wonderful physical capacity to run. His size surprises a lot of people, he’s got great running ability [and] lovely technique on the ball.”