Rodgers: It was about the collective
Brendan Rodgers hailed the collective spirit of his Liverpool side after they demolished Newcastle 6-0 at St James' Park on Saturday.
In the absence of Luis Suarez, Jordan Henderson and Daniel Sturridge weighed in with braces after Daniel Agger nodded the Reds in front and Fabio Borini fired on his return.
And afterwards the manager was keen to heap praise on the focus and determination of his players.
He told reporters: "You saw today that it was very much about the collective.
"We pressed together and we passed together. We scored six goals and maybe could have had a few more but the clean-sheet was important.
"We're certainly no one-man team - we're very much a collective and the focus and concentration from the group today was very good.
"I've never thought that we rely on Luis. He's been an outstanding player for us this season and I'm sure he'll continue to be. Other players have scored goals but he has just been a talent.
"We're up to 67 goals now. I've seen progress previous to today. The players have been outstanding since I have come in."
Philippe Coutinho was at the heart of every attack for Liverpool as the Brazilian conjured two assists and pulled the Newcastle defence to pieces with his fine range of passing.
Rodgers said: "I think he's a top player already, considering he's 20 years of age.
"He might be small in stature but you can see his strength. Technically, if you look at him, he's got all the passes in the bag. He makes some wonderful passes and the weight of his passing is incredible.
"Look at his strength for the third goal, where he outmuscles Hatem Ben Arfa on the line and then dinks the ball between two defenders. After that, Sturridge's finishing was awesome.
"Coutinho's a wonderful player, who fits well with what we're trying to do and the great thing is that he'll only get better."
With three games remaining, the Reds can now look forward to a Merseyside derby at Anfield next Sunday, where a win would close the gap on neighbours Everton to two points.
"It was a great performance, we'll enjoy it and move on - we've got a great game coming up at the weekend against Everton," said Rodgers.
"We need to keep pushing and keep progressing. There are still elements of our game that we can improve. Even today we could have been better.
"The players really want to improve and learn and that bodes well for us. We knew that we had to be at our best because they needed a win. I think you could see the concentration and the character of the players. It was different class."