Milner confident in midfield options
James Milner has already seen enough to be confident that Liverpool have the midfield options to implement the energetic approach wanted by Brendan Rodgers.
The No.7 made his first Anfield appearance as a Reds player on Monday evening as a 1-0 win was secured over Bournemouth through Christian Benteke’s strike.
An unchanged line-up had been named by the manager, meaning Milner – the recently-appointed vice-captain – again paired with Jordan Henderson in the centre.
But an injury to the skipper forced a reshuffle early in the second half.
Milner took the armband for the remainder, while Emre Can was brought on. Adam Lallana also dropped into midfield later in the game as Liverpool preserved the three points.
On the various set-ups available to Rodgers, the Englishman told Sky Sports: “It depends how the manager wants to play – two or three, or one of us sitting or moving out. There’s plenty of energy in there.
“Emre came on as well, Adam played in there and Philippe [Coutinho] played in there [at Stoke City].
“There’s a lot of options for us and a lot of different styles of players, and a lot of energy. That’s how we want to play, we want to move the ball but we want to put teams under pressure as well when they have it.”
The gritty victory against Bournemouth followed Liverpool’s success at Stoke on the opening weekend of the new season.
Only four sides in the Barclays Premier League have won both of their two matches so far.
That maximum record, and consecutive clean sheets, will be put on the line when the Reds journey to the Emirates Stadium to meet Arsenal next Monday night.
Milner said: “It will be a tough game. They look sharp.
“They had a disappointing result in their first game but they are a quality team and will want to bounce back from that and try to get their run going.
“We have defended well in the first two games of the season and we’re going to need to do that there. But if we can keep improving and keep clean sheets, we have quality going forward.”