Liverpool FC - Rodgers Insists On Winning In 'Style'; Injury Updates About Sturridge And Enrique

Liverpool FC manager Brendan Rodgers insists winning with style matters a lot and provides injury updates on Jose Enrique, Daniel Sturridge and Steven Gerrard.

Liverpool travel to Goodison Park to face their rivals Everton in what is expected to be an exciting Merseyside derby. Liverpool have had the upper hand in recent fixtures with Evertonai??i??s last victory coming in 2010. The last two matches have ended in draw though and Brendan Rodgers will know that it will be hard to get a win against Roberto Martinezai??i??s men who have managed to win against Chelsea at home earlier this season.

Liverpool have made a flying start to their Premier League campaign and are currently sitting in second place ai??i?? just two points behind Arsenal. Rodgers has explained how changes have taken time to come into effect and now that the club is winning, they need to do so in ai???styleai??i??.

“We’re trying to win. When you’re a big club, ultimately that’s what you’re judged on.

“But there’s a process – when I arrived 17 months ago, the club was in eighth position, reached a couple of cup finals and won one of them.

“The improvements we needed to make were in the league. We needed to be more consistent and that has been one of the elements that I have been really pleased with.

“After that opening period of four or five months, the consistency within the team has been very good. The core idea is to win, but it’s to win in style and win in a certain way.

“Whenever you go into any season, you don’t set out to finish fourth or third, you always set out to win and be the best that you possibly can be.

“But you also have to be realistic as well – it’s unprecedented for any team to go from eighth or seventh and win the league. But that doesn’t stop us fighting to arrive there.

“We’re looking to introduce our identity to the team and that is going to take a bit of time. But what I have got from the players is the personality and fight; that’s something that is very important in football, as well as the ability.” ai??i?? The Liverpool manager told the press.

Brendan Rodgers also shared important team news ahead of this game. Left back Jose Enrique could possibly be out for a long time after it was confirmed that the Spaniard will require an operation on his troublesome knee. Liverpool have struggled with fitness of both their first choice fullbacks this season and this Enriqueai??i??s absence can once again provide some headache at the back for Brendan Rodgers.

“We’re just waiting for clarification on his injury, but it looks like he’ll probably need a small operation.

“It’s disappointing because he has been out for a couple of months and we’ve tried various ways to get him back fit. But he’s still in pain.

“The conclusion will be that he’ll need the operation and we’ll assess it from there. I just need to wait and see, wait to hear from our head doctor later on today, and we’ll get a better idea of how long that will be.” ai??i?? Rogders revealed.

There are also some concerns about the fitness of Daniel Sturridge. The Liverpool striker, who has been in fantastic form this season, missed Englandai??i??s friendly against Chile after failing to recover from a dead leg. He did however start in the match against Germany and Rodgers says that he will be accessed once again before making a final call on his availability.

The former Swansea manager was also full of praise for captain Steven Gerrard and how he manages his fitness. He praised his professionalism and the medical team that works with him.

“It’s very simple; he’s a brilliant professional. He is someone that manages his body really well – he knows he’s got a superb medical team here to support that.

“The training methodology helps him because he’s working in different spaces and different exercises on a daily basis. That takes away a lot of impact and physicality.

“He just manages himself really well. He knows his body. Over the last 18 months, you only need to look at his record since we came in – it has been very good.

“In big part, that is down to him and his professionalism.” ai??i?? The Northern Irishman said.

Kolo Toure missed out Liverpoolai??i??s win over Fulham before the international break, but Rodgers assured that the former Arsenal defender is back in training and is available for selection against Everton.