Rodgers raves about growing Reds’ future
LIVERPOOL 1 vs NEWCASTLE 1
LIVERPOOL manager Brendan Rodgers praised the improved performance of his players in the belief that they were continuing to assimilate his ideas but regardless felt that they had squandered the opportunity of three Premier League points in yesterday’s draw with Newcastle.
Luis Suarez’s audaciously skillfull second-half equalising goal gave the home side over 20 minutes with which to secure a winner, but even after Fabricio Coloccini’s late dismissal they were simply incapable of making their dominance truly count.
“We went to sleep just before half-time but for every other moment of the game I thought we were brilliant, and we deserved three points but we could just not put away any of the chances we had,” said Rodgers, whose team had trailed from Yohan Cabaye’s almost-equally technically impressive goal.
“I believe we are moving forward and as you’ve seen from the performance it was absolutely outstanding and once we improve the group over the coming months hopefully we can turn these draws into wins. That we control games and dominate the ball with the young players we have, we clearly have a great future.”
Controlling the typically elusive Hatem Ben Arfa’s far-post cross, Cabaye unleashed a powerful dipping shot over the helpless Brad Jones in the 43rd minute. Suarez’s incredibly composed equaliser came when he deftly took Jose Enrique’s long ball with his shoulder before side-stepping Newcastle goalkeeper Tim Krul to stroke in the equaliser, and was then fouled by Coloccini for the latter’s 84th minute red card.