Rodgers on Andre, Phil and Sturridge
Brendan Rodgers was full of praise for several members of his squad following the 3-1 win over Fulham. Here's his post-match press conference in full...
Rodgers on Daniel Sturridge...
Daniel was outstanding. He scored three goals; he could have had maybe six. That's his 11th in 15 league games since he's joined Liverpool, so he's made a great start to his career and he keeps improving. If he keeps training well, then I think he'll have a outstanding couple of years for us.
Perhaps he should have squared one, but he was on two goals and he's a goalscorer. To be greedy you've got be good and he's an outstanding player. At times his touch maybe went away but you can't complain. When you've got three goals in a Barclays Premier League game, you can't have too much to fault. He knows there are still areas of his game he need to improve and work on. But across the board, his finishing was superb.
For his first goal today, he had the pace, the power to get there, he followed that with a great trick and his finish was brilliant. The second goal, he guides it into the corner after great play from Coutinho. With his third, you can't talk all about Daniel, because it was a wonderful pass from Coutinho. The young guy, at 20 years of age, has been phenomenal since he's come in.
Rodgers on coping without Suarez...
I think it's been an opportunity for Dan. People ask me if I feel he is standing in really well for Luis, but I didn't bring him here to be a substitute. I brought him to play at Liverpool, because I believe that he can get goals. I think what we're seeing without Luis is that we've still got goals in the team. That's 38 goals we've scored this year away from home - which is a record away for any Liverpool team since 1989. It's a lot of goals.
Rodgers on Fulham fans giving stick to [former Chelsea striker] Sturridge...
He's a good boy, Daniel. I've seen him develop since he was a really young player and I've just always felt that he needed an opportunity. It was always going to be difficult for him at Chelsea - they had some world-class players like Didier Drogba, who was one of the top European strikers for many years. Daniel needed a run of games and he's got that with us. His tally of 11 goals in 15 games since January is an outstanding record.
Rodgers on Philippe Coutinho...
He made over 100 appearances before he came in here. Even though he is only 20 and though he may be small in stature, he's got real strength and he has the right temperament. For me it was going to be interesting to see how he would cope with the physicality. His body work is incredible. How he rolls the ball and the way he passes. His comfort on the ball is amazing. He fits perfectly into what we're trying to do. We're trying to build a team of winners, who are technically competent and he's got wonderful technique.
Rodgers on 3-5-2...
I wanted to have a look, in the pressurised situation of a Premier League game, at a different sort of system. It's okay doing it on the training ground, but to do it in the Premier League is a different idea.
So we've done some work on it and it's important for me that the team has tactical flexibility. How we played in the first half, I was able to see little areas that we would have to improve if we did it again. At half-time, it was 1-1, so we decided to go back to the structure that we know well and which has got us many goals this season. You could see in the second half that the creativity was outstanding.
Rodgers on Andre Wisdom's substitution...
It was nothing to do with performance. We wanted to win the game. I had seen what I needed to see out of the system. Andre is only a young kid and he has done great this year. He turned 20 recently and today was another day of experience for him. It was nothing to do with Andre's performance - we just reverted back to what we have been working on a lot this year and it worked very well for us in the second half.
Rodgers on Jamie Carragher...
It will be a strange week. Jamie's a remarkable man. There will be many things said about him this week. His humility and sheer professionalism is incredible. He'll move on to the media next year and he'll demonstrate his intelligence. His knowledge of football means he will be a joy to watch. For supporters next year he will give an amazing insight because he is stepping right off the top of the bill to the television screens. But you saw his performance today and for me he can play on. He's always wanted to go out at the top and there's no doubt he's doing that because he's a top, top performer.
He's never had a lazy day since I came in here. He hasn't had a lazy day since he was eight years of age and he walked into Liverpool. He is a phenomenon. I've worked with a lot of top players during my time at Chelsea and I've just been amazed [by Carragher]. There's a real sadness for me because he epitomises everything that I want. Jamie has never wanted an easy day and he's an absolute credit to his football club, his family and he's a sheer joy to work with.
When I came in here, it was about putting in place a philosophy. Everyone associates philosophy with a certain system, but philosophy for me is a way of life. It means bringing in a code and a style. And then the system becomes irrelevant. It can be 4-2-3-1, 4-4-2, 4-3-3 or whatever.