Brendan Rodgers has expressed delight after his side recovered from what he termed a “traumatic” week to defeat Newcastle 6-0.
On Wednesday, the club’s star striker Luis Suarez was banned for 10 games after admitting to biting Branislav Ivanovic during last Sunday’s 2-2 draw with Chelsea.
But Rodgers’ men made headlines for all the right reasons on Saturday, as goals from Daniel Agger, Fabio Borini and two each for Jordan Henderson and Daniel Sturridge completed the rout.
“It’s been a traumatic week for the football club but we accepted that. Luis did wrong, he took his punishment and we move on,” Rodgers said.
“We had to move on with a performance today and I don’t think we could have done any more. I thought we were absolutely brilliant, from the very first whistle our pressure and intensity during the game and right through to the end was brilliant.
“To come to St James’ Park, whether you’re Liverpool or any other club and win 6-0 is very, very impressive.
“The players have been outstanding since I’ve come in. It’s only small margins now with us. We’ve shown enough this year to show that we can improve and certainly the players have improved but obviously we need to keep pushing and progressing elements of our game.”
The Northern Irishman also claimed that the performance at St James’ Park was proof that his side are not over-reliant on Suarez.
“Luis has been an outstanding player for us this season,” he added.
“I’m sure he’ll continue to be in the future. But you see today it’s about the collective, how we press together, how we pass together and how we penetrate together. We’ve scored six today and probably could have had more but I’m happy with the clean sheet.”
Brazilian attacker Philippe Coutinho was particularly impressive against Newcastle, and Rodgers is relishing seeing the 20-year-old develop.
“I think he’s already a top player,” the 40 year-old commented.
“He might be small in stature but you look at him and he’s got all the passes in the bag and the weight of passes is incredible.
“But you look at his strength for the third goal where he out-muscles [Hatem] Ben Arfa on the line, runs with it, then dinks the ball between the two defenders to set up Daniel Sturridge.
“He’s a wonderful player that fits well into what we’re trying to do and the great thing is he’ll only get better.”
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