Brendan Rodgers: Liverpool showed great character to beat Stoke

Milner’s previous team were on the receiving end of a spectacular Coutinho goal last season and the England worldwide believes the Brazilian has set the tone for a commanding individual campaign.

“Liverpool have invested a lot of money this summer but I did not see £80m worth of difference between the teams”, said Hughes.

Glen Johnson has backed former Liverpool team-mate Philippe Coutinho to become one of the world’s best players.

“Coutinho did very well, he has only been back three weeks but he is at a good level of fitness”. Benteke is an aerial threat and displayed his leaping ability by winning almost every aerial battle against the Potters.

Brendan Rodgers praised his side for a “really good performance” after earning some revenge for their humiliation by Stoke in May with a 1-0 win at the Britannia.

Gomez arrived at Anfield earlier this summer from Championship club Charlton Athletic and the youngster was entrusted with his first Premier League start by Rodgers during the Reds’ visit to the Britannia – the site of their crushing 6-1 defeat last season. “Defensively we were strong and then we know we have the quality to win a game“. The away team were understandably eager that the same fate did not befall them again and while they defended considerably better than that fateful day in May, there was not much to be said about them going forward. “It was a poor day and it was important for us to come here and get a result”.

When asked whether Liverpool’s No10 can develop into a major star of the Premier League, Rodgers replied: “I think he already is”. The beginning of this season has seen a great start for Liverpool after their performance on Sunday.

“I can’t profess to being any sort of genius – it was lucky he was still on”.

Firmino made a 12-minute cameo at Stoke – but manager Brendan Rodgers felt the 23-year-old and other players short on match practice needed extra work. But I thought we’ve worked really well pre-season on the training field and in the games and I think today we showed resilience and Philippe showed a bit of magic to get the win.