'99 reasons I have confidence'

Despite positive results in both the Europa League and Capital One Cup in recent weeks, the Reds have yet to register a victory in the league so far after five attempts.

The manager has no intention of pressing the panic button, though, and with 99 league points still to play for, backed his side to put a winning run together - starting against Norwich City on Saturday.

"I'm only looking at Saturday," the Northern Irishman explained at his pre-match press conference. "Every game is important but we've got 99 points to play for. Our first five games, performance-wise, have been good.

"We haven't got the points that we really wanted in the games, or even deserved in the games. There's a hell of a long way to go.

"Certainly on Saturday we'll really be looking to hopefully get the points that we deserve and take it from there. I look no further on than that, really."

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Performances in the league have merited more than the two points the Reds have yielded from their five fixtures to date, a point Rodgers was keen to stress.

The boss continued: "I'm not concerned at all. We'll assess it after the opening 10 or 11 games. Certainly in performance levels, the players have been brilliant.

"They've got their rewards in the cup competitions. In the league, they haven't quite got the points for what the performances are. But very, very soon that will change.

"The thing for me at the moment is that I'm seeing the elements of the game that we've been working on - our domination of the ball and creativity has been excellent. But we need to convert and importantly we need to get points.

"But I don't want that to take away from the performance level because that has been very good for a number of weeks now."

A trip to Carrow Road is next on the agenda for Rodgers and his players this Saturday, and the 39-year-old is hoping the Reds can take inspiration from their last visit to East Anglia.

"I know Liverpool had a great result there last year, I remember the three goals of Luis Suarez," recalled the manager. "Three unbelievable finishes, to be fair. If we can replicate that scoreline, we'll be okay.

"I know all about them in the last couple of seasons, having come up alongside them in the Championship and done fantastic last season as well, so it's going to be a difficult game. It's a difficult place, Carrow Road.

"We're in a good moment in terms of our performance and it's only a matter of time before we can go on a run and put the points together, and that will be the idea starting Saturday."

Midfielders Jordan Henderson and Nuri Sahin could feature against Norwich after being picked out for particular praise by Rodgers following their performance against West Bromwich Albion on Wednesday.

"He's a quality player. He's got a wonderful left foot, you can see why he was the German player of the year, a big talent and got his move to Real Madrid," Rodgers said of Sahin, who is at Anfield on a season-long loan from the Spanish champions.

"When Nuri arrived here he wasn't totally fit for the demands of the Premier League.

"But certainly every day since then he's a wonderful professional, he works very, very hard and as he has adapted to the way of working, his physical condition and tactical condition in the game has been very good.

"These games - the Europa League and last night - have been great for his fitness. You can see he is now really getting up to speed and he's got two goals. He's going to be a great asset for us.

"I think Jordan Henderson as well has been outstanding. We've spoken a lot to Jordan about his game and ways in which we can improve it.

"He's a wonderful athlete and we're just trying to get Jordan to combine that athleticism with the tactical adaptations to how I want to work. I've got to say, in the Europa League last week and last night he has been exceptional.

"He is only going to get better as he starts to understand more how I want to play. I've got a number of players that can come in and it's important that we have that."

Rodgers has increased the options available to him by promoting young prospects from the Academy into the first team - something he intends to continue throughout his reign.

"With young players, you never know until you put them in," the boss explained.

"The people at the Academy who work with the youth players have done a fantastic job and when the players have come up here to work I've been impressed by their qualities.

"But you never know entirely until you put them in. For a number of them, they have done terrific, but it's only the start.

"They have played in a couple of games, in the Europa League and the tournament last night. They have shown up very, very well. They have got that good mixture of talent and hunger.

"When you've got that in a team, mixed along with brilliant senior professionals like Jamie Carragher and guys of that ilk, then the mix in the team is very good.

"Between now and January, the young players will get the opportunity and as long as they show the hunger and the ability to want to learn then they'll get an opportunity.

"We've got some terrific talents and that's the job here. We want to have top-class players here but I also want to grow top-class players.

"Those clubs with the philosophies of developing talent are some of the best clubs in the world. This club has been renowned for that over a number of years.

"It's important that we get some world-class players from the outside but for me it's equally as important to look to grow the talent from within. We can already see that there are a number of talents here."