Rodgers: History shows we'll improve

The Reds have won three and lost two of their opening five fixtures this term, though have so far not produced the kind of form that saw teams blown away at Anfield as was so often the case in 2013-14.

Rodgers, though, is unequivocal in his conviction his team will soon be reaching their attacking best - a point he believes is backed up by history.

"There's no magic formula, it's just constant work on the training field," the manager told reporters at Melwood on Thursday afternoon.

"I remember this time last year, we were sat in press conferences and the questions I was getting asked were about whether we were going to be able to score goals. We ended up with 101 goals.

"It's just time and patience with players. The way we were playing in March, April and May last season, we weren't playing that way last September. It'll be the same this year.

"If you look over the course of my teams, I've always said by the time the second part of the season comes, we'll always be stronger and better.

"We've had to bring in a lot of new players this summer because of the demands of the Champions League and the other competitions, so that naturally takes a little bit of time.

"We've got players adapting to a different country, not just a new team, so naturally that takes that little bit more time.

"I've been really pleased with how the players have settled in and experience tells me they'll get better." 

Liverpool bounced back from last weekend's 1-0 Anfield reversal to Aston Villa with a hard-fought 2-1 success over Ludogorets Razgrad in the Champions League opener on Tuesday night.

The Reds were made to work hard for the three points, with Dani Abalo cancelling out Mario Balotelli's opener in the 90th minute, only for Steven Gerrard to successfully dispatch a Kop end penalty with virtually the last kick of the game.

Rodgers said: "Last week against Aston Villa, we weren't at our level in the final third. They defended well and got the result, but we moved on from that. We got a great result.

"The team that we played had beaten Lazio and PSV Eindhoven away, and if we had beaten either one of those two teams it probably would have been deemed a really good result.

"But because many people had maybe not heard of them, it was maybe deemed that we would go and win the game more comfortably.

"There are never too many easy games in the Champions League, but we showed the character and mental qualities that successful teams have by coming through in the end, and that was something that was very pleasing. We'll look to take those characteristics into the weekend's game as well."

West Ham United at the Boleyn Ground are Liverpool's next test on Saturday evening. 

Both teams will go into the contest on the back of positive results, with the Hammers having come from behind twice to snatch a spirited point in a 2-2 draw at Hull City in their last league encounter.

"I saw the game the other night and thought they played very well," said Rodgers. "They showed great resilience to come back from being behind twice.

"Sam [Allardyce's] teams are well set up and always make it difficult for you. It'll be a real good test for us again. 

"They have got good players - Stewart Downing, who I thought was the best player on the field the other night, is one of our former players.

"It'll be a really tough game for us but we'll go there with confidence and look to impose our game, and hopefully cause them problems."