Brendan Rodgers: 'Stewart Downing was brilliant'

Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers has described Stewart Downing's performance against Fulham this afternoon as "brilliant".

Downing scored one and set up another in a 4-0 win for the Reds just one week after the winger revealed that he was free to leave the club.

However, Rodgers insists that he would rather keep the player and that if he continued to produce similar performances to today's then he would not have to move for regular first-team football.

"Stewart's been brilliant, he's a real good guy. I want him to be a part of the group here but at his age, we talked at him playing regularly and if the opportunity had come for him to go then him and I would look at it," said the Northern Irishman.

"But the reaction from that conversation six or seven weeks ago has been outstanding. He's played a lot of games and today I thought he was brilliant. If he keeps playing like that then he'll be in the team so there's no need for him to leave to get a game.

"I always have wanted him to stay. It's not about me pushing him out the door, he's a quality player. When you arrive in the latter part of your twenties and you want to be playing regular and obviously he wasn't at the time."

Downing's goal was his first league goal for Liverpool in 44 games for the club.