Rodgers encouraged by Liverpool display
Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers has taken plenty of encouragement from his side's 2-2 draw with Manchester City, but says his team needs to learn from their mistakes.
The Telegraph reports that, whilst Rodgers is happy with how his players performed at the Etihad Stadium, when they were just 12 minutes away from being only the 2nd team to beat City at home in nearly 2 years, it was disappointing that an error from his defenders resulted in Sergio Aguero's late equaliser. "It was an outstanding performance coming here, a notoriously difficult place where it is even difficult to score goals."
"We were brilliant. The only disappointment is that we were outstanding in our work but mistakes have cost us."
The incident Rodgers refers to is the equaliser, when Pepe Reina rushed from his line to confront Aguero, only for the Argentine striker to dance around the Spanish keeper and slot home from a tight angle. "Aguero's finish for the second was unbelievable," Rodgers continued. "But from our perspective, we are bitterly disappointed he was in that situation. It was a mistake, everyone is clear on that, but I can't fault the players."
The draw leaves Liverpool in 7th, 5 points behind 6th placed Arsenal and 9 points adrift of the Champions League berths. Liverpool held the lead when a goal from Daniel Sturridge and a long-range effort from Steven Gerrard had earlier cancelled out Edin Dzeko's opener. And for Gerrard, Rodgers saved special praise, saying, "It was a brilliant goal from his to beat Joe Hart, who is 6ft 5ins, from that distance. I thought his performance was immense."
Rodgers also defended his players for their controverisal first goal, when Sturridge scored whilst Dzeko was down injured from earlier in the move. "The refereee told a couple of players, Daniel Sturridge and Steven Gerrard, to play on which is why they kept going. There was no injury to Dzeko, it was purely the referee's decision."
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