Jordan Henderson: 'We need to defend better'

Liverpool midfielder Jordan Henderson has admitted that his side need to defend better as a team following Saturday's 2-2 draw with Aston Villa.

The Reds struggled in the first half of the match, with Villa overrunning them in midfield and racing into a two-goal lead, before Daniel Sturridge and Steven Gerrard scored to rescue a point for the hosts at Anfield.

"We have to defend better as a team. It's not just about the back four and the 'keeper, it's the whole team. I'm sure that's something we will work on. When we changed the formation we dealt with things better and got ourselves back in the game. Having got back to 2-2 with over half an hour left, we wanted to kick on and find a winner but we just couldn't get it," Henderson told the Liverpool Echo.

"Credit to Villa as they came with a game plan and their tactics in the first 20 to 30 minutes were working. We found it difficult to play and weren't at our best. They played a diamond formation with [Andreas] Weimann in behind me and Stevie. They had a lot of bodies in and around the middle for the flick-ons off [Christian] Benteke. It was difficult to cope with at times.

"We're disappointed. We set such high expectations here. We want to go into every game and win it. Unfortunately, we couldn't do that but the good thing is that from 2-0 down we showed our character and our fight. We showed that we didn't want to be beaten. Villa beat us 3-1 here last season and we were beaten away to Stoke last season. If you look at it that way then it's an improvement."

The result left Liverpool fourth in the Premier League table, eight points behind leaders Arsenal.