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Premier League
Aug 29, 2015 at 3pm UK
 
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Live Coverage: Brendan Rodgers's weekly Liverpool press conference

Follow Sports Mole's live coverage of Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers's press conference ahead of his side's match against West Ham United.
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Brendan Rodgers has said that facing West Ham United will be his side's toughest challenge so far this season ahead of tomorrow's match at Anfield.

Liverpool are unbeaten in their first three matches of the Premier League season, sharing a goalless draw with Arsenal last time out.

The manager also spoke about defenders Joe Gomez and Nathaniel Clyne.

Read what Rodgers said below.


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Good morning. Brendan Rodgers will be talking to reporters in the next couple of minutes ahead of his side's match against West Ham United. In fact, he's already in his seat ready to address the media at the club's Melwood training ground.

Rodgers is asked about players potentially departing the club, and insists that Lazar Markovic, who has been linked with a move away from the club, still has a future at Anfield. He adds: "I won't be speaking on any transfers. [On Balotelli's loan move to AC Milan] It's a good move for Mario, he gets a season playing football."

Rodgers admits that he is pleased with the team's start to the season: "I think it was important for us to make a good start after everything that happened at the end of last year. It was always going to be important that we could get results. I think we showed in the last game in particular that we are starting to improve in terms of performance and players just being able to co-operate with each other and understand each other's games."

Joe Gomez has been a regular starter so far, and Rodgers insists: "He's a centre-half who can play at full-back. He was able to cope playing on the left side. You've seen from his three games that he's a phenomenal athlete, but he's also got a very good football brain. But we've seen that over the course of pre-season, he's got a very good personality. He's very humble, he doesn't think he's made it. He knows he's got a lot to learn."

The manager is expecting a difficult match against the Hammers: "This will be a tough game, this will be our toughest game so far. The Bournemouth game showed how well organised we are in terms of our game, so that was difficult for them. The new manager, who is an excellent manager, is still finding our about his players. I'm sure Slaven [Bilic] will do an excellent job there and will come here looking to get a result."

On the team's fitness, Rodgers confirms: "No great changes from the squad that was in place for the last game. No time line on Daniel [Sturridge], he's obviously been away in America. It's obviously about him working hard to get back to the level somewhere near the group. He's really excited and happy to be back amongst his teammates."

Rodgers is asked what has pleased him most about the start to the season, and he replies: "The players have come in and the hunger to get back into the team. The games that we've played, the ability to play with no fear. It was a difficult period for us at the end of last season. With new players in, new motivations, new ambitions, they're really enjoying the work and being here. There's real hunger in the team to do well, and that's something that's been really pleasing in these opening three games."

He adds: "That was one of our key objectives of the pre-season, reclaiming the mentality of the squad. It's been a lot of hard work, a lot of communication, for both coaches and players, and everyone working towards common goals. It's still early on, but we're excited about what the season can bring for us."

Turning his attention back to West Ham, Rodgers says: "They've got good players, players that can break quickly, good speed in the team, good athleticism. It's just going to take them that little bit of time to gel and form together. For us, our focus is to bring our game to Anfield and continue with our good moment rather than worrying too much about the opponent."

On Nathaniel Clyne's impact, Rodgers says: "He's an ultimate professional, he comes in every day and wants to be a better player. He's one of a dying breed where he wants to defend. He's been playing since he was 17 years of age, you can see in his game he wants to defend first. He knows how to use his body. I think he's an outstanding player, hopefully he'll be here and play to that level for a number of years. He brings a lot of experience to the club. He come in the other night and did very well, understands that roll as well as everyone."

Rodgers is asked about making new signings, and he admits: "You never know entirely until they come in, that's the reality of it. That's why we sign good players, you never sign bad players, but it's how they cope with coming in and working with such great expectancy. That's something you can never see until the player comes in."

Rodgers, admits that he's been working on defending set pieces: "We're putting in an awful lot of work in that organisation. We put a lot of new players into a system where they thought they could settle in quickly. The learning aspect, we needed to do more on that, making sure the players are clear on their responsibility. If you look at how I've always worked over the course of my career, people always associate with the flow, but that comes from getting possession and the ball and getting the ball back."

Rodgers is asked how busy he will be on transfer deadline day on Tuesday, and he laughs as he tells the reporter who asked the question: "You won't need to be set up around here. You can go elsewhere."

And on that note, Rodgers makes his exit. The Liverpool boss certainly seems content with his team after picking up seven points from a possibly nine so far.

So, if you want to see if Liverpool can maintain their unbeaten start to the season, join us again tomorrow when we'll have live coverage from the match, plus team news, half-time and full-time updates, post-match reaction and loads more. Until then, thanks for joining me this morning. Goodbye.

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Brendan Rodgers manager of Liverpool applauds on the touchline during the Barclays Premier League match between Liverpool and Newcastle United at Anfield on April 13, 2015
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