Brendan assesses Swansea challenge
Brendan Rodgers acknowledged today that Liverpool will have to summon a strong performance on Monday evening to overcome the threats posed by an in-form Swansea City.
The Northern Irishman's former club are the next opponents in this festive period for the Reds, who returned to Merseyside from Burnley with three hard-earned points yesterday.
Swansea were victorious too, as Gylfi Sigurdsson's early goal at the Liberty Stadium proved enough to secure a 1-0 result over Aston Villa and maintain eighth place in the standings.
At his pre-match press conference from Melwood, Rodgers outlined the task ahead against a team one position above his own but expressed confidence of continuing a resolute run.
The manager told reporters inside Liverpool's training base: "They are all difficult challenges, like you saw yesterday at Burnley. It's a very difficult game. I know Swansea very well.
"We had a very good performance against them in the cup earlier on in the season, at home. We know it will be a tough match. But our performance levels have been getting better.
"The spirit and mentality in the team is still strong. This is a really difficult period of games in a short space of time, so we'll look to go and put in a performance that hopefully merits the three points."
He continued: "Garry Monk has done very well. We're in contact fairly regularly and I spoke to him the other day. It's a well-established way of working and way of playing.
"The players that have come in have done well, they have got some real threats. I know young Gylfi Sigurdsson very well and [Wilfried] Bony has obviously got goals.
"They'll be a threat and they'll come to Anfield and want to get the victory that they didn't in the cup competition. Because of the close nature of the games in this period, they are all difficult.
"But we now have two games at home after a really good result for us yesterday. We'll arrive into this game and hopefully continue in that mantra and get another three points."
A key component of Swansea's impressive campaign to date has been the productivity of Bony and Sigurdsson, who have struck eight and three times respectively in the league so far.
"Gylfi is a young player that I put in the team when I was manager at Reading," said Rodgers in his assessment of their rise into the Barclays Premier League top half.
"Then I took him on loan to Swansea when I was the manager there - he came back and had a great spell for me when we were in the Premier League together, from January through to the end of the season.
"He's a natural goalscorer, you have seen it with his country. The combination of Bony and Sigurdsson is as good as any in the league - they combine very well and both want to score goals.
"Bony is strong and powerful, and he gets goals. But they have got other players as well; Wayne Routledge is a wonderful player, Nathan Dyer on the sides.
"I'm very surprised those players haven't played for England because of their quality, technical ability, their understanding of the game and how they press the ball.
"Then they have Ki [Sung-Yueng] and young Jonjo [Shelvey] in there as well. It's a very good side. Ashley Williams is a top Premier League and international centre-half, he has shown that.
"So it's no surprise to me that they have been up and they are now very much an established Premier League team. We know it will be a difficult game for us, but we'll look forward to it and we want to continue with the momentum we have at the moment."