The summer signing is still looking for his first Premier League goal, and the defender is confident his hard work on and off the field will come good sooner rather than later

Liverpool’s players have full faith in striker Mario Balotelli, despite his poor start to life at Anfield, Martin Skrtel insists.

Balotelli endured another frustrating outing against Hull City on Saturday as missed chances and good saves from goalkeeper Eldin Jakupovic helped Steve Bruce’s men escape Merseyside with a 0-0 draw.

Reds boss Brendan Rodgers has defended Balotelli, and Skrtel echoed his manager’s sentiments – claiming the striker’s colleagues retain confidence that he will come good.

“He is working hard and showed some good moments. Unfortunately we couldn’t score the goal. I feel sorry for him,” Skrtel told reporters.

“He is working hard in training, he is working hard in the game. He just hasn’t got the goals. We just believe in him. We will be supporting him and just hope he will start scoring.”

Liverpool were prevented from scoring for just the second time this season, but their own clean sheet was their second.

The shut-out was not enough to appease Skrtel, who lamented the fact two points had been dropped.

He added: “It’s nice to get a clean sheet but we didn’t get the three points, so that’s not good enough. We played football for the points. We could have won and it’s disappointing.”