BR on Daniel double, Milner and Villa win
Brendan Rodgers praised the clinical finishing of two-goal Daniel Sturridge and the contribution of James Milner as captain after Liverpool claimed three points by beating Aston Villa on Saturday.
The latter opened the scoring in the Barclays Premier League fixture at Anfield by rifling a left-footer beyond Brad Guzan just 66 seconds after the action had got underway.
Milner, skippering the side with Jordan Henderson out injured, then turned provider to tee up a sensational volley from Sturridge which delighted those with the perfect view of it in the Kop.
Rudy Gestede ensured the Reds had to work hard to secure the 3-2 result, scoring an impressive brace of his own either side of another Sturridge strike, but the victory was theirs.
Rodgers said: “It was a really good performance in terms of the creativity and effort the players put into the game. I thought they were absolutely outstanding. It was a really good win for us.
“The last time we scored three goals was when [Sturridge] started the game against Tottenham here.
“If you’re going to compete at the top of the table, you need to have big quality and we have got some very good players here. But Daniel Sturridge has shown over his time here that he is a really top talent. And when you miss that type of quality out of your team, you can suffer for it.
“I thought he was outstanding today. He is probably disappointed he didn’t have a hat-trick, but his overall game and touch and two finishes were outstanding.
“And he showed a great combination with young Danny Ings, who obviously didn’t get a goal today but I thought he played his part up top with Daniel.
“They showed that understanding that good players do. Both can run in behind, both can come short and they pressed the game well. It was very good.”
On Milner, the manager added: “He’s a top-class professional. He has come here with much greater responsibility in the team, which was one of the big reasons why he wanted to come.
“It was only a matter of time before he got his goal – that’s what he’s done regularly in his career. It was a wonderful finish off his left foot and that gave us a good start in the game.”
The result ended Liverpool’s wait for a first victory since Bournemouth were defeated at Anfield last month and moved Rodgers’ side up to seventh in the Premier League table.
Having attempted 70 shots across the previous two home clashes, with Norwich City and Carlisle United, 21 efforts were recorded against Villa.
“I think it's a good performance, we can't get carried away,” the Northern Irishman reflected. “We played well but we've played well gradually.
“We've started to create in our last three games here at home in the competitions we've played in, we've had a lot of the ball and we've had I think around 80 shots over the course of three games.
“But today we were clinical, got our rewards, and it'll give the players that bit of confidence. Now we recover and just focus on our next game.”