BR: There's room for improvement
Brendan Rodgers insisted his Liverpool team still have improvements to make after the Reds regained top spot in the Barclays Premier League with a 2-2 draw against Swansea City on Monday.
Having fallen behind to an early goal from former player Jonjo Shelvey, first-half efforts by Daniel Sturridge and debutant Victor Moses handed Rodgers' side the advantage at half-time.
A precise finish by Spanish striker Michu levelled the scores midway through the second half, however, and ensured both sides took a point from an entertaining evening at the Liberty Stadium.
"I thought for the first 65 minutes we were very good," the boss told reporters at his post-match press conference.
"Probably no-one knows the stadium as well as I do here and what the crowd are like when the momentum gets up - so we showed incredible character to get back into the game so early after they had scored.
"We had done some work on the counter-attack and flooding forward, because we knew there were going to be spells in the game that we wouldn't have the ball. We exploited that quite well for the second goal.
"Until 65 minutes, we had good control. We're disappointed with the second goal that we gave away; obviously then the momentum changes into Swansea's hands for the last 20-25 minutes.
"Then we've got to show another side, especially when you're away from home, of character and resilience. And we did that. Make no mistakes, we've got a lot of improvements still to make.
"But I thought we showed enough evidence tonight that our game is getting better and we have a character in the team that is going to allow us to pick up a lot of results. So, in the end, it's a point gained for us."
With injury ruling vice-captain Daniel Agger out of the encounter, Rodgers gave transfer deadline day signing Mamadou Sakho a Liverpool debut in central defence.
On-loan Chelsea forward Victor Moses made his first appearance in Liverpool colours and notched his maiden goal too, and the Northern Irishman delivered a glowing report on both players.
He continued: "Sakho did very well; he hasn't played a lot over the course of pre-season. He has come back in and trained very well for a couple of weeks.
"I thought he was excellent and assured. He stepped out maybe a wee bit too far for the second goal but that's something that, once he gets used to working with us, he'll improve on. Overall I thought he was strong, aggressive and passed it well.
"When I had been here as the Swansea manager, I always felt when Victor played here against us that he was a real threat, and scored against us here.
"I know when he came with Chelsea he scored here last year. I just had a feeling for Victor and his quality, and his goal was very good tonight. He's still getting up to speed - these are boys that haven't played a great deal over pre-season.
"But overall, we had moments in our game which were very good and we showed some of our quality and fluency. When Coutinho went off, we probably lost the connection between our midfield and front, and we suffered a wee bit for that."
Philippe Coutinho was withdrawn from the clash on 54 minutes with a shoulder problem; "He is in a bit of pain in the changing room - we'll have a scan on that to see how it is," said the manager.
He also provided further information on the knock which left Agger on the sidelines and whether the Denmark international is likely to be available for Saturday's match at home to Southampton.
"It's too early to say," he added. "He just had a really freak incident in the gym before coming out to training.
"He overstretched when he was trying to prevent a dumbbell from falling on his foot. He has overstretched and pulled his side.
"We'll see if that settles down over the next couple of days; but if it doesn't, we've got ample replacements now. That was why we brought in extra players, to cover us for any injuries."
Journalists questioned Rodgers on the importance, or not, of leading the Premier League standings during the opening weeks of the season.
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The 40-year-old said: "You can't look too much at it. You would rather be there than be at the bottom. The more you're up there, the more aggression and will and desire you have to stay there.
"It's only four games but we've sort of had four tough games. We've only lost once in the last 16 or so games. We're getting a level of consistency here and that was the biggest thing for me.
"Now we churn out wins and if we can't win, we draw games with resilient performances like in the last 25 minutes. I believe that we'll get better and more fluent as the season goes on. We're happy to be there and it gives us a fight to stay there.
"It's a point and it's the early stages but it takes us back to the top again and keeps our momentum going from January. Our run and form has been excellent.
"In the next couple of weeks, we've got one of the best strikers in the world coming back into the group. We're progressing quite well, but I repeat, we have a lot of improvements still to make."