Liverpool 2-1 Sunderland
Coach Rodgers reacts:
“It was a game in which we were the dominant team, but no matter how dominant you are, when it gets to 2-1 it’s always going to be tight for the last 10 minutes or so.
“I thought we showed great character and we certainly deserved to win the game.
“It was always going to be difficult because Sunderland came with a 3-5-2 and sat in with a block of three centre-halves, two wing-backs tucked in, two defensive midfielders and the goalkeeper, so we found it difficult to penetrate that eight in the opening period.
“Once we got the goal, the fluency of the game was good for us and at 2-0 we looked like we were going to go on and score more goals. But poor defending at a corner when we switched off at the back post and, all of a sudden, Sunderland have some oxygen.
“Credit to them, they kept fighting because they’re in a difficult position, but it showed the character of our team to stay with it, showed a winning mentality and finished with another great victory.
“I think the whole perception of Liverpool is that we’re going to get three, four, five or six goals every game, which is wonderful, but we knew this was a game we were going to have to be patient in and show calmness.
“To get the win, and seven wins on the spin now at this level in the Barclays Premier League, is a huge credit to the players and also to the supporters tonight.”
“We’ve just got to keep working well and stay calm. We’re one point behind Chelsea now, having played the same games; we’ve still got to play them here.
“More importantly, we just now recover and look to our next game. We just keep chalking up the wins – seven wins in a row, which is incredible at this level with teams so competitive. We’ll aim to keep that going at the weekend”.
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