Brendan Rodgers hit back at criticism of his team selection in Liverpool’s 1-0 defeat to Real Madrid, insisting he was right to leave out so many key players and rejecting the allegation from Gary Lineker that he “threw in a white towel”.
Rodgers insisted Steven Gerrard had no problem with being made a substitute and revealed he had told the Liverpool captain a week ago he intended to leave him out of the game here. Some of the other players, Rodgers said, had been dropped because of their performance at Newcastle on Saturday and the Liverpool manager was unimpressed to learn Lineker had described it as “unbefitting of a club of Liverpool’s stature”.
“Gary is a figure I respect, he has been a top player, but he has never been a manager so he does not know what you’re up against with planning and training,” Rodgers said. “It was far from throwing in the white towel. Cristiano Ronaldo has scored in every one of his last 11 games so my players put in a performance that did befit this club with the quality and spirit. I think the performance says it.
“I am not really bothered by criticism. We do not have a team with a consistent run of form winning five or six games consecutively so the changes were to get a performance and result. That is what happens. As the manager you are open to criticism whether it is deserved or not – and I do not worry what people think or say, I worry about my players.
“This was my idea. I had to go with my gut feeling, and my gut feeling was that the performance on Saturday was not as good as we wanted.”
Rodgers made seven changes with Raheem Sterling, Philippe Coutinho, Mario Balotelli, Glen Johnson and Jordan Henderson joining Gerrard on the bench. However, Rodgers said it would be wrong to assume it was a one-off and added there was no guarantee all these players would return for Saturday’s game against Chelsea at Anfield.
“Tonight gives me food for thought. It was not players rested as such. We played a team to get the result and we nearly did. I thought we were very unfortunate not to get something out of the game. Irrespective of the Chelsea game, we picked a team to get a result. And it does not mean those who did not play will on Saturday.
“We have not been consistent enough to have guaranteed starters. I had to change the team after the performance against Newcastle. I have to show trust as a coach and a manager and now we have to be focused on Chelsea and pick a team to win that game.
“The players understood and they respect the squad will be used throughout the season. The players know the name is irrelevant to me. It’s not about the name, it is about the performance. I spoke to Steven Gerrard over a week ago and told him my plans and he was fine about it, a true professional.
“The main thing is we are disappointed with the result after an excellent performance. “We showed great courage and confidence to play and defended very well against a team that is winning by five or six goals every week – the best team in the world. Usually it is over after 50 or 60 minutes here but we deserved a point from the game.”
Rodgers was asked whether he had been worried that his own reputation might have suffered if his team selection had resulted in a heavy defeat. “Not worried at all,” he said. “We have seven games in 21 days. I did not see this as the big showpiece game where we have to play the big names. It might have seemed a gamble but for me it was not.”
Karim Benzema’s goal means Liverpool must now win their last two Champions League games, against Ludogorets and Basel, while hoping Real continue their immaculate record in Group B. “When the draw was made we thought it would come to the last game versus Basel so that is what we are focused on,” Rodgers said.
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